Artist Annie Lennox Label Blue Note Records | Release date 30 September 2014 Genre Soul music | |
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Released 30 September 2014 (2014-09-30) (Vinyl)
21 October 2014 (2014-10-21) (USA)
27 October 2014 (2014-10-27) (Worldwide) Recorded October 2013 – mid-2014 Producer Annie Lennox
Mike Stevens Nominations Grammy Award for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album Similar Annie Lennox albums, Soul music albums | ||
Annie lennox summertime
Nostalgia is the sixth studio album by Scottish singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, released on 23 October 2014 by Island Records. It is Lennox's first album in four years, and her third album of covers. The album consists of cover versions of compositions from the Great American Songbook; researched and learned by Lennox as she studied archival footage uploaded to YouTube.
Contents
- Annie lennox summertime
- Annie lennox i put a spell on you
- Background and release
- Critical response
- Promotion
- Songs
- References
Nostalgia debuted at number ten on the Billboard 200 with first-week sales of 32,000 copies, earning Lennox her third US top ten solo album, as well as her first-ever number-one album on both Billboard's Jazz Albums and Traditional Jazz Albums charts. It has sold 139,000 copies in the US as of April 2015. The album debuted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Lennox's fifth UK top ten solo album. Nostalgia peaked inside the top ten in Austria, Canada, Italy and Switzerland. The album was nominated for Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album at the 57th Grammy Awards.
Annie lennox i put a spell on you
Background and release
On 15 August 2014, Lennox published a blog post on her official website announcing the upcoming release of Nostalgia. She stated that the album would initially be released on vinyl LP format on 30 September 2014 as a three-week vinyl exclusive.
Nostalgia was previewed to a small audience at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles on 12 August 2014.
Critical response
The album has met with generally favourable reviews from critics. On Metacritic, the album has a score of 68 out of 100 based on 8 reviews.
Mojo gave the album a positive review, stating it was "Straight and true, without a trace of rear-view-mirror sentimentality." Mike Wass of Idolator wrote that Lennox "breathes new life into the much-covered gems with perhaps the best vocal performance of her long and varied career," noting the assistance given by the "haunting arrangements". He stated that it would be an understatement to call the album "a departure from Annie's usual oeuvre," and that Lennox "puts her own inimitable spin" on the tracks. In a mixed review, The Guardian stated "Lennox can't hope to approach the anguish or disgust of Billie Holiday's original "Strange Fruit", so why even try, unless you're going to totally reinvent the song like the Cocteau Twins did? Lennox is at her best when she sounds most involved, and her beautiful takes on "Georgia on My Mind", "God Bless the Child" and "You Belong to Me" are full of poignancy and yearning."
Promotion
Lennox has explained that she does not plan to tour as extensively as she did in support of her album Songs of Mass Destruction (2007). She told Billboard, "at this point in time, less is more for me. I'm more about quality than quantity, and I think this is quite a niche place to be."
The single "I Put a Spell On You" received its first radio play on 15 September 2014 by Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2. Lennox performed the song at the 57th annual Grammy Awards in 2015, and coupled with the inclusion of the track as the opening song of the hit film Fifty Shades of Grey pushed it into the Billboard Hot 100 in February 2015. It also entered the UK Singles Chart at 63 the same month.
Songs
1Memphis in June2:47
2Georgia on My Mind3:53
3I Put a Spell on You3:32