Recorded 2014 Length 40:16 Producer Howard Benson | Genre Rock Label Interscope
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Released August 12, 2014 (2014-08-12) | ||
Testify is the debut album by American Idol season thirteen winner, Caleb Johnson. Its first single was released in July 2014 and the album was released on August 12, 2014, by Interscope Records and is produced by Howard Benson.
Contents
Background
The album was first announced soon after Johnson won American Idol. Then it was assumed that the album would be self-titled but on June 23, it was revealed that the album would be titled, Testify. Johnson co-wrote six of the ten tracks and worked with musicians such as, Blair Daly, James Michael of Sixx:AM, Sam Hollander, Aloe Blacc, Justin Tranter of Semi Precious Weapons, and Dave Bassett. The album's first single will be released in July 2014 and his Idol coronation song, "As Long as You Love Me" will serve as a bonus track.
Johnson recorded the album in three weeks in between the Idol finale and tour. He says, "The week after the show ended, I flew all over the place and did a press run," "Immediately after that, I flew back to L.A. and started working on the record. I wrote 12 or 13 songs. Out of those, we picked eight to put on the record." About the songwriting progress, "We really just bounced off each other and pulled these songs out. Most of these songs we wrote in half a day, because we were going so quickly", says Johnson.
Critical reception
The Knoxville News Sentinel's Chuck Campbell says that Johnson "has a likeable personality and a strong voice. But he's an underdeveloped performer on his undercooked new Testify, blandly molded to appeal to an overbroad audience, much like American Idol itself."
Commercial performance
The album debuted on Billboard 200 at No. 24 with 11,000 copies sold in its debut week, giving him the distinction of having the lowest first week sales and inaugural chart position of any American Idol winner. The album has sold 24,000 copies in the United States as of April 2016.
Johnson also has the distinction of being the first American Idol winner to have their Idol coronation song, "As Long as You Love Me," fail to chart on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Personnel
Adapted from AllMusic.