Because I Love It

Because I Love It
Studio album by Amerie
Released	May 11, 2007 (2007-05-11) (see release history)
Recorded	2005–07
Studio	Wonderland Studios (Jersey City, New Jersey)[1]
Genre	R&B funk soul hip hop
Length	51:48
Label	Columbia Sony Urban
Producer	Lenny Nicholson (exec.) Amerie (exec.) Bryan-Michael Cox The Buchanans Cee-Lo Green Quran Goodman Destro One Up Chris & Drop Mike Caren Curtis "C Note" Richardson Bink! Kore & Bellek Rich Harrison
Amerie chronology
Touch (2005) Because I Love It (2007) Best 15 Things (2009)
Singles from Because I Love It
"Take Control" Released: October 17, 2006 "Gotta Work" Released: April 14, 2007 "That's What U R" Released: October 23, 2007

Because I Love It is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Amerie. Originally set for a late 2006 release, and originally to be called None of the Above, the album was released in the United Kingdom on May 14, 2007.^[2] In the United States, the album was released to various retailers on different dates—it was made available as online exclusives for Walmart.com on July 3, 2007 and FYE on January 15, 2008, while its physical release did not materialize until September 30, 2008, by which point all future singles and promotion had been scrapped due to Amerie's departure from Columbia Records. As a result, the album failed to chart on the US Billboard 200, being Amerie's only studio album not to chart in the United States. It was, however, moderate success in Europe and Japan, charting in several European countries and on Japanese Oricon albums chart. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Background

The recording sessions for Because I Love It started in 2005. It was originally titled None of the Above and scheduled for late 2006; however, plans were changed. The album was finished in early 2007. Amerie's first mixtape Because I Love It, Vol. 1 was also released. However, the album was not released in the United States until 2008, and Amerie was dropped from Columbia Records and Sony Urban Music due to low sales of Because I Love It and the low performance of its singles "Take Control", "Gotta Work" and "That's What U R".

Because I Love It is primarly a R&B album, also comprising funk, soul and hip hop. Tracks like "Some Like It" and "Crazy Wonderful" also contain elements from 1980s music. The album was executively produced by Amerie and her husband-manager Lenny Nicholson and produced by Bryan-Michael Cox, The Buchanans, Cee-Lo Green, Quran Goodman, Destro, One Up, Chris & Drop, Mike Caren, Curtis "C Note" Richardson, Bink!, Kore & Bellek and Rich Harrison. Harrison didn't produce the new tracks on the album, however, he produced the international edition bonus track and a huge hit "1 Thing" (2005). Also, Amerie co-wrote all of the tracks on the album.

Because I Love It was the final album by Amerie to be released through Columbia Records and Sony Urban, also her first not to be released through Harrison's recording label Richcraft Records. It was also Amerie's final album to be released through Sony BMG Music Entertainment and Sony Music Entertainment before Amerie signed a recording contract with Universal Music Group's Def Jam Recordings and Island Records in 2008.

Release and promotion

Because I Love It was released for the UK iTunes Store on May 11, 2007, through Columbia Records.^[3] It was released physically on May 14, 2007 in United Kingdom. It was released in Japan two days later and in Europe on May 28. It was released on Walmart.com on July 3, 2007 and on FYE on January 15, 2008, both for digital download. It wasn't released physically in North America until September 30, 2008, but before the release she left Columbia. Because of this, album wasn't promoted in United States. Worldwide, Because I Love It was promoted with three singles: "Take Control", "Gotta Work" and "That's What U R".

Singles

"Take Control" was released as the lead single from the album on October 17, 2006. Its accompanying music video debuted in the United States in December 2006. The song peaked at number sixty-six on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs but was considerably more successful overseas, reaching number ten in the United Kingdom. The official remix featured South Korean pop singer SE7EN and was featured as a bonus track on the East Asian edition of the album.

"Gotta Work" was released as the album's second single outside the United States on April 14, 2007. It was used to help promote TNT's coverage of the 2008 NBA All-Star Game in the United States, and AXN Television in Asia.^[4][5] The single peaked at number twenty-one on the UK Singles Chart and number six on the UK R&B Singles Chart.

"Crush" was scheduled as the third single, but its release was cancelled. A remix of "Crush" produced by Johnny Douglas was intended to be used for the radio version of the single.^[6] Instead, "That's What U R" was released as the album's third and final single for a limited promotional-only basis on October 23, 2007. The radio version was a remix featuring rap verses by Fabolous and Slim Thug^[7] The version can be found on some Asian limited editions of Because I Love It.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[8]
Evening Standard	[9]
The Guardian	[10]
NME	(7/10)[11]
The Observer	favorable[12]
Pitchfork Media	(7.3/10)[13]
Stylus Magazine	B[14]
Time Out	[15]
The Times	[16]
Vibe	favorable[17]

Because I Love It received wide critical acclaim from various music critics. AllHipHop.com praised the album giving it five out of five stars, stating that Amerie has the "ability to convey excitement without sounding insane" but pointing out that "doesn’t fit neatly into any specific genre anyway, so she might as well leave the standard R&B fare to the army of standard R&B chicks available to sing them."^[18] AllMusic also praised the album; giving it 4½ out of five stars, stating that the album "lassoe[d] each song, whether it require[d] salt, sugar, heartache, delight, or any combination thereof." and further noting that "[s]he is the only female singer on the album, and hearing her backgrounds dance and swim around her leads is as moving as anything else in modern R&B".^[8] Despite mixed criticism towards its ballads, Spin praised the album's sound and called it "R&B at its most dynamic".^[19] The Observer gave it a favorable review, writing "It's no classic, but the obligatory ballads are mercifully few, allowing a series of punchy, soulpowered tracks to shine".^[12] The Guardian gave it a 4 out of 5 stars while lauding Amerie as "one of the greatest singers in pop music" and that Because I Love It was a "spectacular work" because [Amerie] "catches the fleeting thrills and momentary rushes of intensity that permeate otherwise mundane days, and stretches those feelings out across four-minute songs without ever letting up."^[10] NME gave Because I Love It a rating of 7/10, describing it as "bar-raising pop" and calling it a "whip-smart collection of retro R&B that’s more Winehouse than Aguilera".^[11] Tim Finney from Pitchfork Media gave the album 7.3 out of ten stars, stating: "Amerie's 2002 debut album All I Have was so startlingly, sparklingly perfect that it was difficult to imagine that she could even make another album. All I Have simply didn't sound like the beginning of a particular artist's story: The album's irresistibility resided in its consummately generic take on R&B at all levels, writer/producer Rich Harrison constructing familiar-sounding but astonishingly voluptuous soul-loop grooves, and lyrically wresting the most exquisite sensations from clichés and universalist platitudes, while Amerie's equivocations between sweet clarity and ragged soul conveyed an idealist snapshot of an entire genre's arsenal of affects. Despite containing her breakout hit "1 Thing", 2005's follow-up Touch was a weaker affair: A handful of stunners and an ill-advised Lil' Jon collaboration aside, it felt like a retread of her debut in broader, less nuanced brushstrokes. Having now parted ways from Harrison, on the more successful Because I Love It, Amerie attempts to fashion for herself an individual persona, a quest that carries her further away from the attractions of her debut. Because I Love It's big, risky strategic manoeuvre is a plush, post-coital riposte to Ciara's recent electro-pop revivalism, with many of the songs here investing in a deliberately frothy eighties sound that smears together Prince, Jam & Lewis, and the SOS Band. As with Ciara, Amerie's tying herself so resolutely to the retro mast pays mixed dividends. She pulls off this gloriously inconsequential sound on "Crush" and "Crazy Wonderful", combining sugar-rush explosions of fizzy synth clouds with charmingly twee vocals. The danger for her is that in trying so hard to clinch this new style she leaves little room to assert her own individual qualities: most worryingly, the self-consciously fun "Some Like It"; is a gruesome pastiche, assembling dozens of hooks and reference points, but with no heart to pump life into them. This sense of making staged set-pieces rather than songs carries over into more familiar territory. The enjoyable but overrated "Gotta Work", an energetic funk number that liberally samples Sam & Dave's "Hold On I'm Coming", verges on empty formalism: one senses that its signifiers have been pressed into service primarily to remind listeners of how much they enjoyed "1 Thing" or J Lo's "Get Right", and coalesce into a song only as an afterthought. She does better when she doesn't try so hard: The more clipped disco-funk of "Take Control" might be closer to "anonymous R&B" (one could just as easily imagine it coming from Nicole Scherzinger or Christina Milian) but it's also a much better song; the enjoyment comes from listening to how Amerie still makes it her own, the song's own excitement strained through her expressive, almost hesitant phrasing. Perhaps the secret ingredient which enlivens Amerie's best work is her quality of earnestness: the best songs here are a trio of dead-serious ballads in the second half, all of which relinquish the urge to score points with savvy listeners. "When Loving U Was Easy" verges on Idol material, its sobbing accusations culminating in a gloriously indiscreet, almost painful climax worthy of Fantasia or Kelly Hudson. Meanwhile "All Roads" is garishly coloured, widescreen utopian wonder, somewhere between Mariah Carey and Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'". Best of all is the fragile, frustrated "Paint Me Over", a contender for Amerie's finest track to date, and a timely reminder of her longstanding secret weapons: the interplay between the breathy delicacy of her solo lines and the accusatory perfection and strength of the multi-tracked chorus lines. "Chorus" in both senses of the word: Amerie's finest moments flow seamlessly between the lost and befuddled Amerie singing alone, overwhelmed by the mysteries of love, and the righteous auto-harmonizing Ameries, whose clarity of vision is accompanied by exuberance or vengefulness. I prefer the vengeful moments: no R&B singer can make the listener feel as judged as Amerie can, like the world itself has risen up in anger against your uncaring ways. All three of these songs extend the album's dominant palatial 80s sound, but in a subtler and less self-conscious fashion, more focused on being vehicles for Amerie's emoting. Sonic revivalism in R&B usually works best when it sounds breezy and incidental – think of the gorgeous effervescence of Cassie's sweet mid-tempo numbers, or Teedra Moses' own, less self-conscious evocations of Prince and Jam & Lewis. Perhaps it's simply that you have to believe in these songs to take them into your heart, believe that the riotous drum breaks or frosty synthesisers being deployed are a true extension of the singer's own feelings. The balance between success and failure rests on the tension between the style, the singer and the song: Amerie is at her best when the three levels become indistinguishable."^[20] Lou Thomas from BBC Music called the album "a mix of the sweat-drenched sublime and the saccharine ridiculous", stating: "Unfortunately for Amerie she has no ostensible link with hip-hop midas Jay-Z. Beyoncé, perhaps the world’s best known contemporary R&B songstress, is his fiancé. And another hopeful, Rihanna, has teamed up with the rapper/mogul on "Umbrella", sure to be another massive single for her and him. Amerie has just her songs and on Because I Love It, these are a mix of the sweat-drenched sublime and the saccharine ridiculous. There’s still a flavour of the percussive, filthy Washington D.C. Go-go sound that gives her music a satisfying and unique feel within the pop world, but at other times the sugar content will repulse all but those with the sweetest tune tooth. Things begin brilliantly with "Hate2LoveU", with Amerie’s impressive vocal rolling along on a Kool & the Gang loop, then "Some Like It" is even better, with tough snares and a post-Pistols Malcolm McLaren sample on it. It’s followed by "Make Me Believe", essentially a Curtis Mayfield tune with a new vocal and some studio trickery. A blinding slab of symphonic soul for sure, but with such ace raw materials it'd take Scooch not to make something great. But here Amerie’s lyrics get weirdly submissive. She sings: "Anything you want I'll do it". This supine strangeness is immediately reinforced on next song "Take Control", the lead single on which our lass insists someone "take control of me" repeatedly. But as it’s also got a chorus reminiscent of Michael Jackson at his peak, jumpy brass stabs and Gnarls Barkley man Cee-Lo joining in the singing, we’ll let it slide. "Crush" is oddly like New Order's "Thieves Like Us" but with another twisted lyric: "I wished I could taste your love/ lick it off of your fingertips". Oh-kay. "Crazy Wonderful" is an 80s pastiche, but with a synths like a bass-bin avalanche. Yet from eighth ditty, "That’s What U R", this third Amerie album takes a dramatic downturn, into dreadful, simpering nonsense. The five songs that close BILI are only fit to soundtrack a dire TV dramatisation of a child’s tearjerking struggle to overcome leukaemia. It doesn't matter that there’s nothing here quite up to the towering standards of "1 Thing", Amerie's astonishing 2005 single. But the five stinkers that end this record provide a disappointing conclusion to what would have otherwise been a sure-fire, albeit sample-heavy, pop-funk classic."^[21]

Commercial performance

Because I Love It was moderate success but failed to repeat the success of previous studio albums All I Have (2002) and Touch (2005). It failed to chart on any United States nor Canadian chart, since it wasn't released in those countries until September 30, 2008 (more than a year after it was released worldwide). It only charted on some European charts (including Billboard's European Top 100 Albums chart, where it peaked at number fifty-six) and Japanese Oricon chart, where it peaked at number thirteen. It was success in United Kingdom. It peaked at number seventeen on UK Albums Chart and number four on UK R&B Albums Chart. It has sold over 60,000 copies in United Kingdom and was certified silver by British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

Track listing

Sample credits

• "Forecast (Intro)" — "Farandole" by Bob James
• "Hate 2 Love U" — "Give It Up" by Kool & the Gang
• "Some Like It" — "World's Famous" by Malcolm McLaren
• "Make Me Believe" — reworked version of the Curtis Mayfield's track of the same title
• "Take Control" — "Jimi Renda-Se" by Tom Zé and "You Make My Dreams" by Hall & Oates
• "Gotta Work" — "Hold On I'm Coming" by Mighty Dog Haynes
• "Paint Me Over" — "Mother's Theme (Mama)" by Willie Hutch
• "All Roads" — "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" by James Ingram & Patti Austin
• "1 Thing" — "Oh, Calcutta" by the Meters
• "Losing U" — "Didi" by Khaled Hadj Brahim

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

• Because I Love It at Discogs
• Dancefloor Dynamite at The Guardian