''Beautiful Nightmare'' is the second studio album by British-Australian recording artist

Reece Mastin Reece Mastin (born 24 November 1994) is an English-born Australian singer and songwriter who won the third season of ''The X Factor Australia'' in 2011. Mastin subsequently signed with Sony Music Australia. His debut single " Good Night" reac ...

, released on 19 October 2012, by

Sony Music Australia Sony Music Entertainment Australia is the predominant record label operated by American parent company Sony Music Entertainment in Australia. SMEA also formerly published and distributed video games in Australia & New Zealand on behalf of Sony ...

. It is the follow-up to Mastin's self-titled debut album, and his first album to be made up of solely original material. In composing the album, Mastin collaborated with several songwriters and producers, including

DNA Songs DNA Songs is a songwriting and production company founded by Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci in Australia in 2004. They have worked with a variety of international and local artists including Ricky Martin, Geri Halliwell, The Veronicas, Guy S ...

Benji Madden Benjamin Levi Madden (né Combs; born March 11, 1979) is an American musician. He is the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for the band Good Charlottefor which he has received various awardsas well as pop rock collaboration the Madden Brothe ...

, Lindsay Rimes,

Damon Sharpe Damon Sharpe, born Damon Jared Reinagle, is an American record producer, songwriter, DJ and recording artist who works in Los Angeles. He first reached notability as a member of Guys Next Door. He has since contributed to various albums that hav ...

Louis Biancaniello Louis John Biancaniello is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Biancaniello's skills were developed while working alongside producer Narada Michael Walden with whom he produced hits for Shanice '' I Love Your Smile'', Whitney ...

, Brian Howes and Rune Westberg, among others. ''Beautiful Nightmare'' debuted at number three on the Australian

ARIA Albums Chart The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling songs and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA became the offici ...

and number two on the

New Zealand Albums Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

. The album was preceded by the

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

" Shut Up & Kiss Me" in April 2012, which debuted at number one on the

New Zealand Singles Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart ( mi, Te Papa Tātai Waiata Matua o Aotearoa) is the weekly New Zealand top 40 singles and albums charts, issued weekly by Recorded Music NZ (formerly Recording Industry Association of New Zealand). The Music ...

and number two on the ARIA Singles Chart. The song was certified platinum by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing ...

(ARIA), and gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). The second single " Shout It Out" was released in June 2012, which debuted at number one on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified platinum. " Rock Star" was released as the album's third single.

Development and writing

''Beautiful Nightmare'' is the follow-up to Mastin's self-titled debut album, which features selected songs he performed as part of the top twelve on ''The X Factor'' (Australia). ''Beautiful Nightmare'' also serves as Mastin's first album to include original material. In an interview with

MTV Australia MTV is a 24-hour general entertainment channel specialising in music and youth culture programming which serves Australia and New Zealand. It is operated by parent company Paramount Networks UK & Australia headquartered in London with a local of ...

in December 2011, Mastin said he had already written new material for the album. He described the material as a mixture of old school and modern sounds "that's not really on the radio at that moment, which I think is cool". Mastin went on to say that most of the lyrical content in the songs "are about girls ..But there's lsoa lot about going out with the boys and having a good night". In April 2012, Mastin announced he was in the studio writing songs with

Good Charlotte Good Charlotte is an American rock band from Waldorf, Maryland that formed in 1996. Since 2005, the band's lineup has consisted of twin brothers Joel Madden (lead vocals) and Benji Madden (guitar and vocals), Paul Thomas (bass), Billy Mart ...

, and

Ilan Kidron Ilan Kidron (born 22 April 1976), also known as iKid, is a Sydney-based singer songwriter with over one billion combined streams, best known as the lead singer for Australia's multi-platinum selling dance music act The Potbelleez. As a writer ...

The Potbelleez The Potbelleez are a three-member Irish-Australian electro-house and dance music group, which formed in 2003 as a duo by DJs Dave Goode (a.k.a. David Greene) and Jonny Sonic (Jonathon Murphy). In 2005 they were joined by rapper Blue MC (Mar ...

. Mastin and Madden collaborated on the song "Give Up the Girl". Reminiscing on working with Madden, he said, "It was awesome, he was just a dude. He just came in and sat down, and we hung out for about an hour and a half and just started writing. We came out with something pretty awesome!." In an interview with MTV Australia in May 2012, Mastin described the songs he wrote with Kidron: "It doesn't sound like The Potbelleez – I didn't wanna go in and write a Potbelleez track – but it's cool, what we came out with is awesome". The album's first single " Shut Up & Kiss Me" was written by Mastin,

Hayley Warner Hayley Warner (born 23 January 1992) is an Australian singer-songwriter. In 2009, she finished as runner-up in the seventh and final ''Australian Idol'', and was noted for her high-energy performances and vast vocal range. In 2013, ''The Dail ...

, and Anthony Egizii and David Musumeci of the production duo

. Note: enter "Reece Mastin*" as 'Performer' then click 'Search'. The latter two also wrote the second single " Shout It Out" with Mastin. He also collaborated with other songwriters and producers, including Lindsay Rimes, Khalil Walton, Michael Gerrard, and Jenna & Wac of

Tonight Alive Tonight Alive are an Australian rock band from Sydney. As of 2018, the band consists of lead vocalist Jenna McDougall, guitarist Jake Hardy, bassist Cameron Adler, and drummer Matty Best. Formed in 2008 by Hardy, Adler and Whakaio Taahi, so ...

. In an interview with ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'', Mastin described the album's sound, saying " t'sa lot of fun. It's rock blended with everything. If you think of your favourite rock song, it's that combined with pop stuff and club stuff ..to make it awesome. It's Reece from all angles, really – it's everything I could think of."

Music and lyrics

Musically, ''Beautiful Nightmare'' is of the pop and

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

genres. Its first song "Addictive" is a

synth A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

-driven rock song, which features "light

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

segments". The second song " Rock Star" is a

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre with an emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than rock music. Originating in the late 1950s as an alternative to normal rock and roll, earl ...

song, which features "American sounding

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

riffs A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accomp ...

". A writer for

Take 40 Australia ''Take 40 Australia'' was Australia's first and longest-running music countdown. It counted down the official top 40 singles on the ARIA chart on a weekly basis. It was broadcast nationally each week to over 1.2 million listeners. Starting i ...

likened the song's sound to

Wheatus Wheatus are an American rock band from Northport, New York, formed in 1995. They are known principally for their 2000 single " Teenage Dirtbag", which appeared in the films '' Loser'' and ''Bully'', as well as the HBO miniseries '' Generation ...

and Jimmy Eat World. Cameron Adams of the '' Herald Sun'' noted that the song "channels" Wheatus' "

Teenage Dirtbag "Teenage Dirtbag" is a song by American rock band Wheatus. It was released on June 20, 2000, as the lead single from their eponymous debut album (2000). The song was written by guitarist and vocalist Brendan B. Brown and was inspired by a chil ...

" (2000) Avril Lavigne's "

Sk8er Boi "Sk8er Boi" (pronounced "skater boy") is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, released as the second single from her debut album, '' Let Go'' (2002). It was written by Lavigne and the Matrix (Scott Spock, Lauren Christy, and Graham ...

" (2002). The album's title track "Beautiful Nightmare" is a

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

and

horror rock Horror punk is a music genre that mixes punk rock and 1950s-influenced doo-wop and rockabilly sounds with morbid and violent imagery and lyrics which are often influenced by horror films and science fiction B-movies. The genre was pioneered by ...

song "slightly reminiscent of

Muse In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Muses ( grc, Μοῦσαι, Moûsai, el, Μούσες, Múses) are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the ...

". "Stars" has been described as a "romantic song", which sees Mastin "heading back to more

traditional pop Traditional pop (also known as classic pop and pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standard ...

". In an interview with the ''Herald Sun'', Mastin revealed that the song is about his girlfriend

Rhiannon Fish Rhiannon Marie Fish (born 14 March 1991) is a Canadian-Australian actress. Her first screen acting role was Lisa Jeffries in the television soap opera '' Neighbours''. She starred as Rocky in the Disney Channel show '' As the Bell Rings'' and a ...

. The album's fifth song "Dirty Paradise" is a pop punk song, which "features fast lyrics such as 'You gave it up last week / now I've been losing sleep / thinking about what we used to do'". "Alive" is an "uplifting" rock song, which uses the

tom-tom drum A tom drum is a cylindrical drum with no snares, named from the Anglo-Indian and Sinhala language. It was added to the drum kit in the early part of the 20th century. Most toms range in size between in diameter, though floor toms can go a ...

. Its lyrics depict the tale of Mastin "learning to believe in himself again". He stated that the song is about his ''X Factor'' mentor

Guy Sebastian Guy Theodore Sebastian (born 26 October 1981) is an Australian singer and songwriter who was the winner of the first ''Australian Idol'' in 2003, judge on Australia's ''The X Factor'' from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2016, and coach ...

, saying "It's an important thing for me; that's where it all started for me. I changed so much over the show and Guy definitely helped with that." "She's a Killer" features a "funky Panic! at the Disco-esque"

introduction Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to: General use * Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music * Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...

and contains lyrics about "a super-hot girl". "Freakshow", the ninth song from ''Beautiful Nightmare'', is a contemporary rock song with influences by Muse. " Shut Up & Kiss Me" is an

upbeat Up beat may refer to: *Upbeat, in music, the last beat in the previous bar which immediately precedes the downbeat *Anacrusis, a note (or sequence of notes) which precedes the first downbeat in a bar in a musical phrase * ''Upbeat'' (album), by t ...

pop punk song, which contains lyrics about "making out with a girl". Mastin described it as "a

tongue-in-cheek The idiom tongue-in-cheek refers to a humorous or sarcastic statement expressed in a serious manner. History The phrase originally expressed contempt, but by 1842 had acquired its modern meaning. Early users of the phrase include Sir Walter Scot ...

, muck around song". "She Calls This Love" features lyrics about a "boy stuck in a relationship who realises that he's not in love with his girl anymore". The album's last song "Give Up the Girl" is a rock song that makes reference to Superman.

Reception

Cameron Adams of the '' Herald Sun'' awarded ''Beautiful Nightmare'' three and a half stars, writing that the album "Sounds like teen spirit". ''

The Border Mail ''The Border Mail'' is a daily newspaper and online news brand published in Albury-Wodonga, Australia, serving the twin cities and the surrounding region. It was originally published as ''The Border Morning Mail and Riverina Times'' and later a ...

s Jamie Horne also gave the album three and a half stars, calling it "fun and punchy — there's equally great pop to rock moments". ''Beautiful Nightmare'' debuted at number three on the

on 29 October 2012, becoming Mastin's second consecutive top-five album on the chart. That same week, the album debuted at number two on the

. ''Beautiful Nightmare'' was certified gold by the

(ARIA), denoting shipments of 35,000 copies. It was also certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ), denoting shipments of 7,500 copies.

Release and promotion

''Beautiful Nightmare'' was released through

on 19 October 2012, as both digital download and CD formats. On 16 October 2012, Mastin performed "Rock Star" during the live results show of the fourth season of ''The X Factor'' (Australia). During the week of the album's release (19–25 October), Mastin toured several Westfield shopping malls in

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...

and Sydney, to perform songs from ''Beautiful Nightmare'' and sign CD copies of the album for fans.

The Summer Nights Tour

To further promote the album, Mastin embarked on The Summer Nights Tour across Australia and New Zealand, which began on 1 December 2012 in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

, and ended in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

on 24 February 2013. Justice Crew and Janoskians served as the supporting acts for the nine capital city show dates of the Australian leg of the tour, and Evan Sinton was the supporting act for all eight show dates of the New Zealand leg.

Singles

" Shut Up & Kiss Me" was released as the album's

on 20 April 2012. The song debuted and peaked at number two on the ARIA Singles Chart, and became Mastin's second number-one single on the

. "Shut Up & Kiss Me" was certified platinum by the

(ARIA), and gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ). " Shout It Out" was the second single released from ''Beautiful Nightmare'' on 29 June 2012. It was certified platinum and became Mastin's second number-one single on the ARIA Singles Chart, following his debut single " Good Night". Mastin became the first Australian artist to achieve two number one singles during the 2010s decade. In New Zealand, "Shout It Out" reached number eight. The album's third single " Rock Star" was released on 5 October 2012. It peaked at number 16 on the ARIA Singles Chart, and at number 14 on the New Zealand Singles Chart. "Rock Star" was certified platinum by the ARIA. " Timeless" was released as the fourth single on 1 March 2013. It debuted and peaked at number 85 on the ARIA Singles Chart.

Track listing

;Notes * signifies a vocal producer

Credits and personnel

Adapted from the liner notes of ''Beautiful Nightmare''. ;Locations *Recorded at New Holland Studios, Sydney; The Rockpool, Los Angeles; Sony Studios, Sydney; Studios 301, Sydney. *Mixed at New Holland Studios, Sydney; The Rockpool, Los Angeles; Song Rimes Studio. *Drums engineered at Ultimate Rhythm Studio in Los Angeles. *Mastered at Studios 301 in Sydney. ;Creative and vocal credits *Jeff Darmanin – photography *Killanoodle – artwork design *

– additional backing vocals *

– lead vocals, backing vocals *David Musumeci ( DNA) – backing vocals *

Louis Schoorl Louis Schoorl (born 23 December 1976) is a Dutch-born Australian songwriter, composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist. Career Based in Sydney, Australia, Schoorl has written or produced for 5 Seconds of Summer, Taylor Henderson, Jessica ...

– backing vocals *

Scott Stevens Ronald Scott Stevens (born April 1, 1964) is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. As a defenseman, Stevens played 22 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Washington Capitals, St. Louis Blues and New Jers ...

– backing vocals ;Technical credits *Brian Allison – engineering, mixing * Michael Avenaim – drums *

– songwriter, producer *Michael Biancaniello – songwriter, producer *Marcus Catanzaro – songwriter * Gary Clark – songwriter, producer, mixing, guitar, synth, bass, programming *Carl Dimataga – additional acoustic guitars *Anthony Egizii (DNA) – songwriter, producer, mixing, programming and keys *

Matthew Gerrard Matthew Gerrard is a Canadians, Canadian record producer and songwriter. Biography Gerrard grew up in Don Mills, a suburb of Toronto's north-east end. He attended George S. Henry Academy, George S. Henry Secondary School where he played trombone ...

– songwriter, producer, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming *Robin Grubert – songwriter, producer, vocal producer, mixing * Anton Hagop – drums and bass engineering * Brian Howes – songwriter *Jon Ingoldsby – songwriter, producer, vocal producer, mixing *Sean Ingoldsby – additional mastering *Dave Jenkins Jnr – songwriter *

Chris Lord-Alge Chris Lord-Alge is an American mix engineer. He is the brother of both Tom Lord-Alge and Jeff Lord-Alge, both of whom are also audio engineers. Chris and Tom are known for their abundant use of dynamic compression for molding mixes that play wel ...

– mixing *Benji Madden – songwriter *Reece Mastin – songwriter, guitar, additional guitars, synth * Mike Morgan – guitars engineering *David Musumeci (DNA) – songwriter, producer, guitars, bass *Brian Paturalski – mixing *Lindsay Rimes – songwriter, producer, mixing, instruments, programming *Ben Rodgers – guitars, bass *Benjamin Rogers – songwriter *Louis Schoorl – producer, recording, mixing, drums, guitars, bass, keyboards, programming *

– songwriter *Scott Stevens – songwriter, producer, mixing, instrumentation, programming *

Andy Stochansky Andy Stochansky is a musician and songwriter from Toronto, living in Los Angeles. Early years Born and raised in Toronto, Stochansky began tinkering with the family piano at the age of five. To stop him from making music with anything he could ...

– songwriter *Nathan Tuffin – drums * Khalil "Cassius D. Kalb" Walton – songwriter *

– songwriter *Charlie Waymire – drums engineering * Rune Westberg – songwriter, producer, mixing *

Leon Zervos Leon Zervos is a mastering engineer who has worked with many world-renowned artists, including Pink, Rihanna, Maroon 5, Beastie Boys, and Willie Nelson. Life and career Leon Zervos began his mastering career in 1982 at the then EMI Stu ...

– mastering

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Reece Mastin albums Sony Music Australia albums Albums produced by DNA Songs