Awake (Josh Groban album)

Album information

The album's first single is "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)". The album features producers Imogen Heap, Marius De Vries, Guy Sigsworth, Eric Mouquet, Glen Ballard, and David Foster (who also worked on previous Groban works). As with all Josh Groban albums, songs on Awake are performed in English, Italian and Spanish. The album offered a more modern vibe to his voice by using more instruments aside from the occasional classic piano accompaniment in his previous albums. The album also featured Groban's head voice technique as evident in most of the tracks in the album.

Awake additionally features tracks that credit Groban's recent movements in South Africa. "Lullaby" and "Weeping" (album tracks 11 and 12) are sung by him in conjunction with the renowned South African musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, with further contributions from Vusi Mahlasela and Dave Matthews. "Weeping", a pop song originally composed in South Africa, is thematically oriented with the country's history of Apartheid. "Lullaby" is a track included in the album as a supplement to "Weeping", considered one of the album's major highlights. "Lullaby" is meant to flow gaplessly into "Weeping", but the rest of the album uses gaps. The song "Now or Never" was produced and co-written with English singer/songwriter Imogen Heap.

"You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" peaked at #9 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, while "February Song" and "Awake" each peaked at #13 on the same chart.

Track listing

1. "Mai" (Leo Z., Andrew Sandri, Marco Marinangeli) - 4:35
2. "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)" (Thomas Salter) - 4:49
3. "Un Día Llegará" (Oksana Grigorieva, Claudia Brant) - 4:18
4. "February Song" (Josh Groban, Marius de Vries, John Ondrasik) - 5:12
5. "L'ultima Notte" (Marinangeli) - 4:22
6. "So She Dances" (Asher Lenz, Adam Crossley) - 4:54
7. "In Her Eyes" (Michael Hunter Ochs, Jeff Cohen, Andy Selby) - 4:54
8. "Solo por ti" (Mark Hammond, Marinangeli) - 3:59
9. "Now or Never" (Groban, Imogen Heap) - 3:38
10. "Un Giorno per Noi" (Nino Rota, Lawrence Kusik, Edward A. Snyder, Alfredo Rapetti) - 5:11
11. "Lullaby" (featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo) (Groban, Dave Matthews, Jochem Van Der Saag) - 2:32
12. "Weeping" (featuring Ladysmith Black Mambazo and Vusi Mahlasela) (Dan Heymann) - 4:45
13. "Machine" (featuring Herbie Hancock) (Groban, Eric Mouquet, Dave Bassett) - 4:54

Bonus track listing

1. "You Raise Me Up" (Brendan Graham, Rolf Løvland) (European bonus track) – 4:50
2. "Verità" (Richard Page, Per Magnusson, David Kreuger) (Special edition bonus track) - 4:01
3. "Awake" (Groban, Mouquet, Salter) (Special edition bonus track) - 5:11
4. "Smile" (Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner) (Website exclusive) - 3:43