Graffiti is the third studio album by American R&B and pop singer Chris Brown. It is the follow-up to his successful second album Exclusive (2007). The album was produced during 2008 to 2009 by several record producers, including Polow Da Don, Swizz Beatz, The Runners, and Brian Kennedy. Primarily an R&B and pop outting, Graffiti incorporates elements of electro-pop and hip hop music with synthesizers and electronic-influenced beats.

The album debuted at number seven on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, selling 102,489 copies in its first week. To date, "Graffiti" has moved 316,000 copies in the US^[1]. It became his third consecutive top-ten debut in the United States and produced three singles that achieved moderate chart success. Upon its release, Graffiti received generally negative reviews from most music critics.

Background

In 2008, Chris Brown commenced work on his third studio album and confirmed the title, Graffiti, at the 2008 American Music Awards. It was revealed in June 2008 that Brown was working with producers The Runners to create an "amazing, insane record. Something you've never heard before."^[2] Producer Scott Storch, who had previously worked with Brown, also announced his involvement in the album stating, "He's good. I'm working with him in Orlando on some stuff."^[3] Recording for the album primarily took place in Orlando and on September 5, 2009, via Twitter, Brown announced that he had completed the album, and also revealed that the album would be released outside of the US on December 7 and in the US on December 8.^[4][5][6] Speaking to MTV, Swizz Beatz revealed, "he's got something to prove," and "has worked on 60–70 songs."^[7]

Release and promotion

The album was released internationally on December 7, 2009, and in the US on December 8, 2009.^[8] It was released on all major formats and, in addition to the standard edition, an extended deluxe edition was also released, containing an additional six songs. The international edition differs slightly from the US edition, with one extra song ("Girlfriend") appearing on the standard edition and another ("Chase Our Love") appearing on the deluxe extended edition with the inclusion of track ("Movie") omitted.^[9][10] The European deluxe edition was issued as a single-CD, while US and Japanese deluxe editions are two-disc sets. To promote the album, Brown embarked on the "Fan Appreciation Tour" on October 27, 2009, in New Jersey. The tour took place in the US. The tour ended on December 15, 2009, in New York and a portion of the proceeds from the tour will go to charity to help the victims of domestic violence as well as people with developmental disabilities.^[11]

Composition

The album has been called a "forward-moving fusion of R&B, pop, rock and Euro-dance."^[12] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune said like on Rihanna's post-romance Rated R, "Brown aims to expand his music beyond hip-hop-flavored R&B by embracing Euro-disco, Goth-rock and new wave."^[13] Kot compared Brown's work to the "cross-genre experiments of Kanye West, Saul Williams, and Lil Wayne."^[13] According to Mikael Wood of The Los Angeles Times, most of the album is in "upbeat party mode", mixed with power ballads, assumingly to "illuminate" his remorse over the Rihanna incident.^[14] Giving the album a generally negative review, Kot said, the album's upbeat tracks would sound fantastic on the dancefloor.^[13]

Lead single "I Can Transform Ya", lyrically about introducing someone to a luxurious life, has an robotic-crunk groove, while making a heavy use of synthesizers and guitar riffs.^[14][15] "Pass Out" featuring Eva Simons,influenced by disco, samples the "Call on me" Steve Winwood's "Valerie", which was also used in Eric Prydz worldwide dance hit, "Call on Me".^[16] The song has been compared to Lady Gaga.^[17][12][18] "Sing Like Me" and "Take My Time" recall Brown's earlier R&B/pop work.^[12] The hip-hop-influenced "Wait", with Game and R&B singer Trey Songz features "bouncy sirens", and according to Jon Caramanica of The New York Times is closest to capturing the "frenetic energy" of Brown's early singles.^[13][19][20] The song has been called the male counterpart to Keri Hilson's "Knock You Down", which Brown references in the song and was also produced by "Wait" producer Polow da Don.^[21] Sarah Rodman of Boston Globe said the song needed a dance floor for full realization.^[21] According to Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK, "I.Y.A" is a tribute to 80's music, and the song has been compared to Blake Lewis' "Heartbreak on Vinyl.^[18][16] "So Cold" has been described as a "piano-laden apology" as "Famous Girl" has been called a "heavy hearted dance track."^[18] The previous track as well as "Crawl" feature an apologetic Brown, pining at points.^[20] The previous has been described to bear a sonic resemblance to Madonna's "Drowned World/Substitute for Love." The latter, "Famous Girl", featuring new wave influences and a bouncy, light melodic line, seems to through accusations of infidelity in Rihanna's direction, as well as implying she "had a temper of her own."^[21] The song also references songs Hilson's "Knock You Down", Keyshia Cole's "Heaven Sent", Beyoncé's "Halo", and Jazmine Sullivan's "Bust Your Windows", as well as Rihanna's "Disturbia" and his "Forever", as Brown laments on writing the first song and confronts the rumor about busting Rihanna's car windows.^{[14][22][23][16]} "Take My Time" features R&B singer Tank, and has slow drums, and heavy female breathing, prompting innuendo.^[20] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times said that "Lucky Me", lyrically about downs of life in the limelight, has a melody lifted from Michael Jackson's "Man in the Mirror."^[20]

Singles

"I Can Transform Ya" was released as the album's lead single on September 29, 2009.^[24] The song received mostly positive reviews, noting the song's club feel and catchiness.^[25][26] "I Can Transform Ya"'s reached the top ten of New Zealand, whilst achieving chart success in Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States.^[27] The song's dance-heavy accompanying music video features choreography with hooded ninjas, and makes puns on the Transformers series.^[28] "Crawl" and "Sing Like Me" were released on iTunes on November 24, 2009, the first as the album's second single, and the latter as a promotional single.^[29] The previous received positive to mixed reviews, reaching the top twenty in Japan and New Zealand.^[30][31][27] Its accompanying music video features Brown and American R&B singer Cassie as his love interest, as he yearns for their relationship on a winter night in a city and in a desert scene.^[32]

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number seven on the Billboard 200, selling 102,000 copies in its first week. Graffiti was the week's second highest debut, only behind Glee: The Music, Volume 2.^[37]

Critical response

Graffiti received mostly negative to mixed reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 39, based on 12 reviews, which indicates "generally unfavorable reviews".^[38] It is ranked fourteenth on the site's list of worst-reviewed albums.^[39] Gail Mitchell of Billboard was highly favorable of the album, calling it a "solid step" in regaining career footing.^[12] Mitchell said, "While listeners can't help but be reminded of his fall from grace, Brown also shows us on "Graffiti" that he's still a formidable talent."^[12] Thomas Golianpoulous of Spin said Brown sounded "generally remorseful", but said that Brown didn't "let any of this obstruct a good party, complimenting the album's "monster club tracks."^[19] Although Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK said the album had filler tracks, called it the "highest point of his career." Gennoe commented, "It's not jaw-droppingly amazing enough to distract from the lowest point, but it suggests that if the public's willing to give him a second chance, he may yet be a musically productive member of society."^[18] Leah Greenblatt of Entertainment Weekly said, "With his actions this year, Chris Brown strapped cement boots on the zero-gravity pleasures pop music is meant to provide. Graffiti won't magically fix that, but at its best moments, it still floats."^[17] Sarah Rodman of the Boston Globe disapproved of the album's lyrical content, yet commending the music and production, stating, "As co-writer of 12 of the 13 tracks, that’s where he sabotages a lot of the album’s purely musical promise." Rodman also said Graffiti was not a plus for his image control, stating "If a handful of the songs were judged solely on their merit they would be huge hits", and that "no matter how catchy a tune is", one could not enjoy Brown's lamenting or "junior R. Kelly sex stuff."^[21] Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle said the album might have worked, but much of it "never takes flight, instead recycling the usual slick touches and arrangements."^[16] Guerra also pointed out that Brown and critics both say he should move past the troubles, but through the lyrics, it seemed as if Brown was still stuck on it.^[16]

Eric Henderson of Slant Magazine said "Sadly, the only compelling thing about the incoherent Graffiti is the material (both external and internal) that makes it even less palatable than a simply below-average collection of paint-by-numbers R&B beats."^[23] Michaelangelo Matos of The A.V. Club gave the album an overwhelmingly unfavorable review stating, "The production is clean and often lively, and Brown sings well enough. The problem is what he’s singing." Matos also disapproved of Brown's seeming attempt for public sympathy, then turning around and portraying himself as "self-righteous."^[22] Andy Kellman of Allmusic also dismissed the album and wrote unfavorably of its songwriting and called Brown "exceptionally insufferable" on most of the songs.^[33] Chicago Sun-Times writer Jim DeRogatis said "Sometimes, great art is made by reprehensible human beings, and squaring the two is enormously difficult. Thankfully, that problem isn’t nearly as thorny when reprehensible human beings make art that is thoroughly mediocre and at times just garbage."^[40] Chicago Sun-Times. Pete Paphides of The Times panned its ballads, describing them as a "slopfest of mawkish penitence".^[35] Mikael Wood of The Los Angeles Times said that it was unlikely that the album would "convince listeners he's still the sweetheart that early hits "With You" and "Yo (Excuse Me Miss)" presented him as", stating that on the loving ballads that "Brown doesn't seem up to the task of contrition."^[14] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune was disappointed, stating, "In trying to restore his reputation, Brown ends up damaging it even more."^[13] Kot said, "The public rehabilitation campaign might be easier to swallow if Brown weren’t trying to sell his latest album on the back of it", calling his tone "inconsistent and sometimes contradictory", and commenting "He would’ve been better off to stay silent, or to avoid the topic altogether on an album that includes several top-notch pieces of innocuous dance music."^[13]

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References

External links

• Graffiti at Discogs
• Graffiti at Metacritic