Elevate (Big Time Rush album)

Elevate
Studio album by Big Time Rush
Released	November 21, 2011 (2011-11-21)
Recorded	2011
Genre	Pop dance-rock soul pop alternative rock
Length	40:46
Label	Nick Columbia
Producer	Ryan Tedder Noel Zancanella Brent Kutzle Lucas Secon Brian Kennedy Kay N' Dustry Tricky Stewart The-Dream J.R. Rotem OFM Christopher Rojas S*A*M and Sluggo Cutfather Damon Sharpe Antario Holmes Toby Gad Infinity Eric Sanicola Jonas Jeberg Fraser T. Smith Johnny Powers Severin Matt Squire Bei Maejor Mike Posner
Big Time Rush chronology
BTR (2010) Elevate (2011) Big Time Movie Soundtrack (2012)
Singles from Elevate
"Music Sounds Better with U" Released: November 1, 2011 "Windows Down" Released: June 25, 2012

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]
Common Sense Media	[2]

Elevate is the second studio album by American boy band Big Time Rush. It was released on November 21, 2011 by Columbia Records in association with Nickelodeon. The band worked with accomplished songwriters and producers for the album. These include those that assisted with the material from their debut album, such as Emanuel Kiriakou, Lindy Robbins, Nicholas Furlong, Damon Sharpe, Eric Sanicola and Lucas Secon, along with other notable songwriters and producers, such as JR Rotem, Christopher Stewart, The-Dream, Jay Sean, and Ryan Tedder. The production process of the album took place between nine months to a year, most of which was during their touring process.

The album acts as the soundtrack to the Nickelodeon television series of the same name, which features songs that appeared in the series' second season and the television movie, Big Time Movie. Following the success of their first release, the band was inspired to be more involved in the writing process for this album, writing together or separately a total of eight songs. Elevate is mainly a pop-inspired dance-rock album, also showcasing soul-pop and alternative rock.^[1] The first single from Elevate, "Music Sounds Better with U", was released on November 1, 2011.

Promotion

TeenNick hosted a listening party in support of the band's new album, premiering every song on the album along with playing episodes that contain songs from the album and playing the music video for the first single, "Music Sounds Better With You". Nickelodeon hosted a thirty-minute special called Big Time Rush: Music Sounds Better With U in which scenes from the band's tour and studio recording sessions are compiled together for airing.^[3] The scenes feature information about the recording and production of the album.^[3]

Better With U Tour

A tour for the album was announced in early fall 2011, with the title "Better With U" taken from the album's first single. The tour began on February 17, 2012 in Las Vegas, Nevada and ended at Radio City Music Hall in New York City on March 9, 2012. JoJo and One Direction were the opening acts for the tour. While visiting the United Kingdom in 2012, the band revealed 4 alternate covers for the album exclusive to the country, each one featuring individual pictures of each of the members and an autograph. These Special Editions were released at the same time the regular UK edition did (February 6) and share the same track list. These special covers are presented in slipcase package.^[4][5][6][7]

Singles

"Music Sounds Better With U", featuring Mann, was released as first single on November 1, 2011. The music video was released November 12, 2011 during their brand new special, Big Time Rush: Music Sounds Better With U. The second and last single was "Windows Down", released on June 25, 2012 from the re-released version.

Promotional singles

"If I Ruled the World", featuring Iyaz, was released on July 22, 2011. The music video was released July 23, 2011 and features the guys traveling and performing for their fans. It was predicted as a Future Hit by This Must Be Pop Awards.^[8] "Elevate" was re-released on April 21, 2012.

Reception

The album at first received mixed to extremely positive reviews with music critics mostly praising the production and much more mature sound that Big Time Rush had developed within Elevate. Fan response was so very strong as well that the album debuted at number one on the iTunes album chart as well as a number 12 debut on the billboard 200 with over 70,000 first week sales along with charting in over 20 different countries on its release to. within a two-year span following its original release in November 2011, Elevate was certified double platinum by the IFPI for a worldwide sales count of over 2,100,000 by November 2013. It Remains the Band's second highest selling album to date after their illustriously successful debut album BTR in 2010 which totals 5,000,000 plus worldwide. Elevates success also helped it attain monster success in countries worldwide, with Multi-Platinum/Gold selling certifications in Greece, Mexico, Colombia and Venezuela amongst other places.

Track listing

• "Music Sounds Better with U" contains elements from the 1998 song of the same name by Stardust, written by Thomas Bangalter, Benjamin Cohen, Alain Quême, Frank Musker, and Dominic Bugatti.
• "No Idea" is a re-arrangement of All Time Low's song, from the album Dirty Work and with the additional production of Kuk Harrell.
• "Windows Down", the bonus track from the 2012 re-release, samples "Song 2" by Blur.

Release history

References