logo
Welcome Guest! To enable all features please Login or Register.

Notification

Icon
Error

2 Pages12>
Options
Go to last post Go to first unread
Offline C4AJoh  
#1 Posted : 22 December 2010 03:22:33(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
UserPostedImage


Background

Waking Up is the second studio album by R&B singer-songwriter/musician Alicia Lena. It follows her highly successful debut This Is Who I Am and is set to be released worldwide in April 2011 on Junction Records almost a year after her 5x Platinum debut effort.
She began writing the songs which are set to make up the album between May - December 2010 and recording sessions for the album are booked at 3 highly rated record studios, Avatar Studios, New York City, New York, Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, California and Atlantic Studios, Paris, France and are set to take place between February and March 2011. Alicia will oversee production alongside New York based producer Will.Rocca and one of the biggest names in music, Ryan Ross Hernandez.

Having had the success of her debut album Alicia’s star has continued to rise over the year and she has cemented her place as one of music’s biggest names. Winning the Best Newcomer award at the Music Hall Of Fame Awards and gaining recognition from many of her peers.
The majority of songs for the album were written while on tour and have been described as a more in depth view into her life. “My debut album was very pop oriented which isn’t necessarily a bad thing but the songs were almost all about love and I feel like when I listen to it back, it didn’t really give people a glimpse into my life as much as I thought it would when I wrote those songs, I think the songs my follow up are very much more in depth than before and hopefully are more representative of me as an artist.”

The song sees a shift in musical direction, it continues with the pop sound of her debut record but with less radio-friendly pop ballads and even shows a darker side to Alicia’s song writing. It’s main focus is on her R&B/Blues-Soul roots and gives us a much better idea of who she is and where her first album was full of catchy pop songs this is darker and deeper and looks likely to bring in a set of whole new fans.
There’s a distinct lack of love songs on here but they haven’t completely disappeared but you get a whole host of topics including, Fame, Redemption, Fear, Loss and Self-Loathing. “It’s so much more autobiographical than before. I’ve felt a lot of different emotions, dealing with the sudden fame and struggling to figure out the best way to handle that. Also battling with loneliness and loss is heavily featured. I honestly feel it’s my best work yet.”

The singles from the album are unknown as of yet but if This Is Who I Am is anything to go by then we’re sure to be hearing a lot more of Alicia in the next year and a half, songs like Clichés Come Easy, Good Girl, Everybody‘s Fine and Pretty Little Liars. But for the people who purchase the album, they have choice of plenty. The album is set to come in 4 different packages, A) the 12 song album, B) Bonus Edition with 3 bonus tracks, C) Itunes Bonus Track 3 bonus tracks of covers and D) Tour Edition & DVD with 4 live songs and a documentary DVD titled on the road. With the latter only being available from merchandise stands during her 2011 world tour in support of the album.

So this is the album in my opinion which turns Alicia from the young pop prodigy into R&B princess. It’s sure to not disappoint, Alicia certainly doesn’t think so. “I’ve worked on these songs for a long time now and they’re cemented into my mind, I’m so incredibly excited about releasing this and really do think that this eclipses my debut album, of course it’s not recorded yet but If recording goes well then I think it’s gonna be incredible. A couple of people from Junction Records have heard some demo’s of the songs and are very excited so we’ll see how it goes.”

And there’s no collaborations in sight for this, apart from a bonus track Pretty Brown Eyes which is the only song not written by Alicia, it was written and produced by her close friend Tisha Jackson and could easily become another hit single for Alicia but for now we’ll just have to wait and see.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Album Details

Recorded
Avatar Studios, New York City, New York
Capitol Studios, Los Angeles, California
Atlantic Studios, Paris, France

Genre
R&B, Pop, Soul, Blues

Label
Junction Records

Producer(s)
Alicia Lena, Will.Rocca, Ryan Ross Hernandez

Tracklisting

1. Clichés Come Easy
2. Wishing On A Star
3. Good Girl
4. You Can’t Handle This
5. Another Face In The Crowd
6. Everybody’s Fine
7. The Needy And The Reckless
8. Your Breath Keeps Me Warm At Night
9. Tug At My Heartstrings
10. The Butterfly Effect
11. Who I Am, Who I’m Not, Who I Wanna Be
12. Pretty Little Liars

[Bonus Tracks]
13. Pretty Brown Eyes (*Written by Tisha Jackson)
14. Humble Beginnings
15. One Of A Kind

[Itunes Bonus Editions]
16. Stand By Me (Ben E. King Cover)
17. My Girl (The Temptations Cover)
18. Change Is Gonna Come (Same Cooke Cover)

[Tour Edition & DVD]
19. New York Love Affair (Live)
20. Rooftops (Live)
21. More Than You’ll Ever Know (Live)
22. Party-Starter (Live)
23. On The Road (DVD)


Chart Performance
The lead single from this album, Clichés Come Easy was released in March 2011, 3 weeks before the release of the album, it went on to storm the singles charts including the Top20 Airplay Charts, where it went straight to number 1 in it's first week of release and continues to sell in high numbers, this is the first solo number 1 of Alicia's career, discounting two number 1's as a featured artist with Matty and more recently Hard Sugar.
The album was released on April 3, 2011 and peaked at number 4 in the USA album charts.
She announced the second single would be The Butterfly Effect and is set to be released on April 17, 2011.

Edited by user 16 November 2011 02:47:37(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline C4AJoh  
#2 Posted : 28 December 2010 02:23:35(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
INTERVIEW COMING SOON
Offline Moquel  
#3 Posted : 28 December 2010 02:39:40(UTC)
Moquel
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 02/01/2010(UTC)
Posts: 4,981
Location: Houston,TX

Thanks: 1171 times
Was thanked: 1391 time(s) in 964 post(s)
" Yes Yes Alicia. Very excited about this album."
- Radio Vine
UserPostedImage
Offline C4AJoh  
#4 Posted : 28 December 2010 02:48:00(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Moquel wrote:
" Yes Yes Alicia. Very excited about this album."
- Radio Vine


Alicia: Thanks. I Hope you like it.
Offline Famouss7x7  
#5 Posted : 29 December 2010 08:51:45(UTC)
Famouss7x7
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 30/07/2010(UTC)
Posts: 19,422
Location: USA

Thanks: 12745 times
Was thanked: 20070 time(s) in 6660 post(s)
Chloe: I can tell this will be an epic album!
UserPostedImage
UserPostedImage
Cristina LakeAubrey MikkelSabinaJames UrieAustin NimmoMandy Williams The Wolverines
Jerry Holmes • Marina Balan • MiamiBYSNaomiSuzieAaron StylesCory DionneThe Kittens
Brittany KnoxDennis Shaw • Gemma • Payton • Cassie Valentine • JT RodriguezJay-CNick UriePRÓXIMO

Offline C4AJoh  
#6 Posted : 01 January 2011 03:58:43(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Famouss7x7 wrote:
Chloe: I can tell this will be an epic album!


Alicia: Thanks, I hope it can live up to everyone's expectations.
Offline C4AJoh  
#7 Posted : 02 January 2011 04:12:49(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
INTERVIEW AND DETAILS COMING SOON
Offline C4AJoh  
#8 Posted : 09 January 2011 01:25:40(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
--- * ---

Edited by user 09 January 2011 02:21:12(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline C4AJoh  
#9 Posted : 09 January 2011 02:22:26(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
UserPostedImage

Clichés Come Easy
This topic of this song is something I struggled with early on. It was actually written about when I spoke to a label owner after an audition, I think I sang a Mariah Carey song, I didn’t get signed by the guy but he said something that I’ve always remembered, he said, “Clichés Come Easy But Substance Is Hard To Find.” He then gave me tips for other auditions which helped me a lot along the way.
It’s an upbeat R&B track, it’s in my opinion one of the best songs I’ve written, I think to start the album with it is kinda to show how much I’ve grown since the first record, I was very eager to please with my debut album and there was a lot of cheesy, predictable clichés on the album so to start off my follow up album with this I think shows my growth as an artist and as a writer.


Wishing On A Star
It’s a song about regret which is something we all have, some people can make up for decisions they chose not to take but some live life with regret and a lot of my friends who I grew up with have a lot of regret, it’s never tough to see someone who had it all throw it away but it’s just part of life.
It follows on from the first song with a similar melody, I chose for it to have a similar melody as a sort of continuation from it.
Like I say it’s a song about regret, It’s a song that means a lot to me even though I think I took my chance I still can’t help but feel that this mirrors my life without music.


Good Girl
It’s about finding the most perfect version of yourself, I always try to be a better person, there’s no limit, it’s infiniteness really when you think about it. You can never be too good, too polite or just too kind, it’s impossible to be too much of a good girl. Of course sometimes you have to let your hair down and have fun but it’s the basis of who you are that make up who you will become. I don’t want to be a 50 year old woman and look back and think, “Oh god what possessed me to be such a bad person.” I wanna look back and think, “Yeah I was the best possible version of myself and I helped a lot of people along the way, some teenagers are pressure into becoming a bit of a rebel but it’s about figuring out what kinda person your gonna become.
It’s got a more modern beat to it, and is definitely a more modern feel to it than the previous two, if those first two songs were the Motown sounding songs then this is my modern interpretation of Motown, it’s not wildly different but there are a couple of very modern sounding beats in it.


You Can’t Handle This
It’s like a flip-side to the first record, the first album was all about love and this is a anti-love song. It’s about a girl who refuses to get close to anyone, you could say it’s kinda autobiographical. She never wants to let her guard down, she always dodges the tricky subjects and always try’s to stay alone preferring her own company and deep down she’s just scared of falling in love and getting her heartbroken, so it’s essentially just about a girl who refuses to fall in love.
It’s a blues-type of song, the sound is a little bit reminiscent to a Ryan Ross Hernandez melody, he’s been a massive influence on me since we first worked together last year, I think he’s just got this unbelievable ability to listen to a song and change it from sounding basic and flat to actually sounding like the first song you’ve ever heard, he just doesn’t get the credit for what he does from behind the scenes, in my opinion the guy is a modern day genius.


Another Face In The Crowd
It’s just what we all are, we’re all another face in the crowd. Yeah some of us will make more of a lasting impact on the world and they may go down in history but we’re all just a very small part of something very huge, It’s a song about feeling lonely in a world where a million different faces pass my way, it’s something that people have to deal with in their lives a lot and I think it’s important for people to know that even someone with seemingly everything can still get lonely sometimes.
It’s a straight up R&B song and it fits in pretty well with the rest of the album. I think that this song is one of the most raw songs on the album, it’s just me playing the piano and singing, there’s no effects, no drums, no guitars, no bass nothing but a piano and a voice which in my opinion is one of the most powerful tools you can have.


Everybody’s Fine
Again it’s another song that has a lot of importance and meaning to me personally, As you listen to the album you’d have heard the song You Can’t Handle This which is about a girl who refuses to let anyone into her life with fear of being let down and disappointed and this is sort of like a part 2 to that, it touches on her ability to make everything seem good, she’ll smile and get on with things and it makes everyone think that she’s fine when inside she’s struggling.
It’s a more soulful track, heavily influences by songs like The Tracks Of My Tears. I listened to a lot of that kinda music, Smokey Robinson, Sam Cooke, Otis Redding, Stevie Wonder and I think that those influences are much more noticeable on this song more than any other.


The Needy And The Reckless
This is as close to a rock based song as you’ll ever get from me, I have times when I just wanna rock out with my friends, classic bands like AC/DC, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, The Eagles, Led Zeppelin and Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers are all influences on this song, I wanted to have a go at created one of those 70‘s-80’s classic rock anthems, like a Stairway To Heaven or a Hotel California.
So I sat down with a friend of mine who plays guitar and he just started playing with this incredible intro and within 2 hours we had the basis of this song.
It’s a quite similar to Led Zeppelin’s What Is And What Should Never Be. I think it may surprise some people because I’m not the typical rocker chick and I don’t want my fans to be put of by the songs influences because it’s still got that very commercial Pop/Bluesy vibe to it. It’s not like I’m imitating Robert Plant or Axl Rose, It’s still me, don’t worry.


Your Breath Keeps Me Warm At Night
It’s sort of like a song that probably would be better suited to my first record, It’s a very open and honest love song and it follows like every rule for a commercially succesfull song. I doubt I’d release it as a single because I see it as a decent album track but it’s not something to build the album around.
It’s got a little bit more of a dance/electro feel to it which is due to the influence of Will.Rocca on the production, I think it’s a familiar sound to my previous work but it’s also got a little bit of freshness about it, it’s kind of like a rehash of my previous work but with a little bit of a 21st Century feel to it.


Tug At My Heartstrings
Again it’s a song about battling my own personal demons, I’ve said time and time again that I struggle to let my guard down and I keep this kind of wall up against people who I feel I could end up falling for, it’s another song about keeping people at a distance and it’s a story type of song. It’s about a girl who doesn’t allow herself to fall in love and a guy comes along who is perfect in every way for her, he’s everything she could ever want but she continue’s to refuse to not let him into her life, she has feelings for him and she’s just scared.
It’s the most obvious pop song on the album and it’s been talked about as a possible single.


The Butterfly Effect
It’s a song in two parts. It’s about that theory that something so insignificant can have a major impact on something. A small change at one place in a complex system can have large effects elsewhere, it’s a fascinating theory to me. I spoke to this girl who had a story which inspired me to write a similar kind of story and put it in a song.
Her story goes like this, A girl called Jessica woke up and got ready to head off to work, it was just a normal day and she was on her way to get the train to work when she saw a huge traffic jam, she’d always go the same way to work each day for 15 years and for some reason on this day she decided to take the longer route because she didn’t want to be stuck in a traffic jam on a bus for so long and that decision became hugely important. She took the longer route, which led to her missing her train, she had never missed the 7:45 train to work in 15 years and this one time she missed the train was the time when the train was in a horrific accident, there was something wrong with the track and the train overturned, sadly killing everyone on it. That one decision to take the longer route essentially saved her life and I find that so scary but also so mind blowing that one decision can result in life or death.


Who I Am, Who I’m Not, Who I Wanna Be
It’s another song about being the best version of yourself. When you leave school or college and you’ve gotta head out into the big bad world you have no idea what to expect, you don’t know the person you’re gonna become or even the person you wanna be. And it’s tough to make these decisions you can never just know everything, it’s all about learning, you’ve gotta make mistakes to learn from them and I think it’s a scary world for 16-19 year olds trying to find their way in the world, I’d like to think that this song could maybe give them perspective because I felt just as scarred when I was that age and I never had anyone to tell me that everything would work out eventually.

Pretty Little Liars
It’s almost written like a short story. It’s about how you can seemingly get away with everything as long as your pretty and popular, I was never the popular cheerleader type of girl in high school and I never really felt like I fit in anywhere, I always felt sort of like an outcast and I always looked at the pretty girls with resentment because everything just came so easy for them, if they wanted to date the popular guy then it would happen, if they wanted anything it was always seemingly handed to them on a plate and I hated that the people who worked hard never got the recognition. So this is basically a song about that, I’d called my own opus for the outcasts.

Edited by user 16 November 2011 02:48:22(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline ang3licd3vil  
#10 Posted : 09 January 2011 02:26:42(UTC)
ang3licd3vil
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 05/08/2010(UTC)
Posts: 2,703
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 561 times
Was thanked: 959 time(s) in 483 post(s)
Cherise: thats one hot album Alicia cant wait to hear it all xxx
My Acts


Tragic R'N'B Diva R.I.P


Original Best Baddest Bitch Around


Offline Wiz Khalifa  
#11 Posted : 09 January 2011 02:59:59(UTC)
Wiz Khalifa
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 30/10/2010(UTC)
Posts: 165
Location: BR

Rel: I'm ready for this album to drop..from what I've heard so far..It sounds great
UserPostedImage
Offline C4AJoh  
#12 Posted : 09 January 2011 03:05:56(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Alicia: Thanks for the positive feedback guys, I'm very excited about it.

Edited by user 09 January 2011 03:06:36(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline Moquel  
#13 Posted : 09 January 2011 03:23:27(UTC)
Moquel
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 02/01/2010(UTC)
Posts: 4,981
Location: Houston,TX

Thanks: 1171 times
Was thanked: 1391 time(s) in 964 post(s)
" See, that's why I have to have this girl perform and be apart of anything XXL because she is talented, strong and very beautifuil. XXL Staff cant wait to pick up this one! I sure one for the XXL Awards."
- James Clark, XXL President
UserPostedImage
Offline C4AJoh  
#14 Posted : 09 January 2011 03:58:36(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Moquel wrote:
" See, that's why I have to have this girl perform and be apart of anything XXL because she is talented, strong and very beautifuil. XXL Staff cant wait to pick up this one! I sure one for the XXL Awards."
- James Clark, XXL President


Alicia: Thanks, also I can't wait to perform at the 2011 show.
Offline C4AJoh  
#15 Posted : 10 January 2011 02:45:45(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
INTERVIEW COMING SOON
Offline C4AJoh  
#16 Posted : 21 February 2011 00:20:07(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
ALBUM WILL BE RELEASED ON MARCH 21, 2011.
LEAD SINGLE, CLICHÉS COME EASY WILL BE RELEASED ON MARCH 6, 2011
Offline C4AJoh  
#17 Posted : 11 March 2011 03:45:29(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Recording is going great, we're just putting the finishing touches to the album. The release date has been changed slightly, the album will now be released on 3rd April 2011. The debut single from the album, Clichés Come Easy will go on sale from Sunday 13th March.

Edited by user 17 April 2011 01:26:48(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline C4AJoh  
#18 Posted : 17 April 2011 01:28:53(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
"Hey everyone, sorry for the delay but I have now got the chart positions for the album's first week of release."

Week One
USA - 4
UK - 6
Canada - 5
South America - 11
Europe - 7
Aus & NZ - 8


OOC: I hope those aren't too unrealistic, I was actually waiting for the chart heat but it's been delayed.

Edited by user 17 April 2011 01:32:09(UTC)  | Reason: Not specified

Offline Andre Gandra  
#19 Posted : 17 April 2011 03:51:34(UTC)
Andre Gandra
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Registered
Joined: 12/04/2010(UTC)
Posts: 4,147
Man
Location: Brazil

Thanks: 2880 times
Was thanked: 3513 time(s) in 1683 post(s)
Magie: We were so busy with our world tour, that almost forgot to buy good music recently, but now with some days off I went to a store and I found your album in a new releases section, I bought it and Girl you made an increase, sounds so beautiful and touching, good job!
Characters

Magie Lena
Abie Lena
Julia Volkova
mISTER_b
Groove In Downtown

I was gone for a while, but I'm back (not that you care about LOL)
Offline C4AJoh  
#20 Posted : 17 April 2011 04:00:16(UTC)
C4AJoh
Rank: Advanced Member

Groups: Moderators, Registered
Joined: 18/05/2009(UTC)
Posts: 13,281
Man
United Kingdom

Thanks: 4083 times
Was thanked: 8533 time(s) in 2672 post(s)
Andre Gandra wrote:
Magie: We were so busy with our world tour, that almost forgot to buy good music recently, but now with some days off I went to a store and I found your album in a new releases section, I bought it and Girl you made an increase, sounds so beautiful and touching, good job!


Alicia: Oh thank you so much, the positive reaction has certainly made it all worth while. I'm glad it's going down so well.
Users browsing this topic
Guest
2 Pages12>
Forum Jump  
You cannot post new topics in this forum.
You cannot reply to topics in this forum.
You cannot delete your posts in this forum.
You cannot edit your posts in this forum.
You cannot create polls in this forum.
You cannot vote in polls in this forum.

Powered by YAF.NET | YAF.NET © 2003-2024, Yet Another Forum.NET
This page was generated in 0.809 seconds.