Late Nights and Early Mornings

Updated on Dec 20, 2023

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Released March 1, 2011 Language English Release date 1 March 2011		Recorded 2009–2010 Artist Marsha Ambrosius Label J Records
Late Nights & Early Mornings (2011) Friends & Lovers (2014) Producers Marsha Ambrosius, Rich Harrison, Focus..., Just Blaze, Syience Genres Contemporary R&B, Soul music Similar Marsha Ambrosius albums, Contemporary R&B albums

Late Nights & Early Mornings is the debut studio album by English recording artist and former Floetry member Marsha Ambrosius. It was released by J Records on March 1, 2011. This was Ambrosius' only album for J Records before the label's dissolution seven months later. The album debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 with 96,400 copies sold in the first week.

Background

Songs from the album were produced and written by Ambrosius herself with other contributors, including Just Blaze, Dre & Vidal, Focus... and co-writing credits by Alicia Keys and Lauryn Hill The album also contains a cover version of Portishead's "Sour Times".

Music

Ambrosius said that the overall vibe of the album is "sensual, it’s sincere, it’s seductive" and also explained, “Not too many women get the opportunity to say what they want, and having controlled and written pretty much everything I get to do all of that on one album. J Records, they understood me as an artist and said, ‘What do you want? How do you want to sound? What do you feel like your album should be’ and they allowed me to go in the studio.” Ambrosius describes the song, "Hope She Cheats on You (With a Basketball Player)" as "the reality of a bad break up."

Singles

"Hope She Cheats On You (With A Basketball Player)" was released as the album's first single on August 13, 2010. The song peaked on the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart at number twenty-two.

"Far Away" was released as the album's second single on December 7, 2010. It is produced by Just Blaze and written by Marsha Ambrosius with co-writing by Sterling Simms. The track was inspired by one of Ambrosius's own friends who committed suicide, and discusses how it feels once someone she's loved is gone. This song has reached number three on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The title track, "Late Nights & Early Mornings", has been released as the third single.

Critical reception

The album has received positive reviews from Allmusic and DJBooth. DJBooth.net's Nathan Slavik referred to the album as a "near-classic," stating "Marsha Ambrosius’ debut is the R&B album of the year."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the United States Billboard 200 chart with 96,400 copies sold in the first week. As of June 15, 2011, the album has sold 306,700 units in the United States.