Corinne Bailey Rae (album)

Updated on Dec 15, 2023

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Recorded 2005–06 Artist Corinne Bailey Rae Label EMI		Length 45:53 Release date 24 February 2006

Released 24 February 2006 (2006-02-24) Studio The Idle Studio John Ellis's place Olympic Studios (London) Taxlight Producer Rod Bowkett Justin Broad Steve Brown Steve Bush Steve Chrisanthou Tommy D Andrew Hale Paul Herman Jimmy Hogarth Corinne Bailey Rae RKW Genres Soul music, Jazz, Pop music, Contemporary R&B, Rhythm and blues, Blues, Neo soul Nominations NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Album, Echo Award for Best International Newcomer Similar Corinne Bailey Rae albums, Soul music albums

Corinne Bailey Rae is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Corinne Bailey Rae, released on 24 February 2006 by EMI. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and was certified triple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Four singles were released from the album: "Like a Star", "Put Your Records On", "Trouble Sleeping" and "I'd Like To". Corinne Bailey Rae has sold over four million copies worldwide.

Corinne bailey rae 01 like a star

Release and promotion

"Like a Star" was released as the album's lead single in a limited-edition format in 2005, peaking at number thirty-four on the UK Singles Chart. When re-released in October 2006, "Like a Star" reached a new peak position of number thirty-two on the UK chart. The second single, "Put Your Records On", went straight to number two in February 2006. The follow-up single, "Trouble Sleeping", was released in May 2006, peaking at number forty in the UK.

"I'd Like To" was released on 12 February 2007 as the fourth and final single. On the same day, the album was re-released with a bonus disc containing a few of the B-sides and remixes included on previous singles, as well as three new tracks—one of which, a cover of Björk's 1993 song "Venus as a Boy", only previously appeared on a covermount for Q magazine. Several songs from the album appear in the 2006 comedy-drama film Venus starring Peter O'Toole. In the United States, "Breathless" was released as a promotional single in 2007.

Commercial performance

Corinne Bailey Rae debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, selling 108,181 copies in its first week. The album had sold 968,341 copies in the United Kingdom by May 2016, earning a triple platinum certification from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on 22 July 2013.

The album debuted at number seventeen on the Billboard 200 in the United States, selling 40,000 copies in its first week. On the issue dated 3 March 2007, it peaked at number four with 120,000 copies sold. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on 5 December 2006, and had sold 1.9 million copies in the US by January 2010. As of October 2009, Corinne Bailey Rae had sold over four million copies worldwide.

Critical reception

Corinne Bailey Rae received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, based on 13 reviews. While some critics perceived filler as a weakness of the album, Rae earned positive comparisons to female recording artists such as Billie Holiday, Norah Jones, Erykah Badu, Minnie Riperton, and Macy Gray. David Jeffries of AllMusic called it "pleasingly homegrown, warm, and poignant in parts". Los Angeles Times writer Natalie Nichols compared Rae's music to that of Sade and Stevie Wonder.

Rae received a nomination for Best UK & Ireland Act at the 2006 MTV Europe Music Awards. Also in 2006, she won a MOBO Award for Best UK Female and a MOJO Award for Best New Act. Rae won Outstanding New Artist at the 2007 NAACP Image Awards, and was nominated for Outstanding Female Artist and Outstanding Album. At the 2007 Grammy Awards, Rae received a nomination for Best New Artist, while "Put Your Records On" was nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The following year, Rae was nominated for another Grammy Award for Song of the Year for "Like a Star", and "Put Your Records On" won an ASCAP Award for Song of the Year.