''Cee Lo's Magic Moment'' is the first
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
studio album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...
and overall fourth studio album released by American recording artist
Cee Lo Green Cee or CEE may refer to:
* C, third letter of the Latin alphabet
* Cee, Spain, A Coruña, Galicia
* Center for Excellence in Education, US
* Central and Eastern Europe
* Centre for Environment Education
* Centre for the Economics of Education, Lon ...
on October 29, 2012 in the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
. It was released to the US on October 30 by
Elektra Records
Elektra Records (or Elektra Entertainment) is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of contemporary folk and rock music between the 1 ...
. Green's versions of "
Mary, Did You Know? "Mary, Did You Know?" is a Christmas song addressing Mary, mother of Jesus, with lyrics written by Mark Lowry in 1984, and music written by Buddy Greene in 1991. It was originally recorded by Christian recording artist Michael English on his self ...
" and "
What Christmas Means to Me "What Christmas Means to Me" is the name of several different Christmas music, Christmas songs. The most-covered version was written by Allen Story, Anna Gordy Gaye, and George Gordy. It has been recorded by many artists, including:
* Stevie Wonde ...
" peaked at numbers 22 and 23 on the December 22, 2012 R&B Songs chart in the United States. The album has sold 181,000 copies in the United States in 2012.
It is Cee Lo Green's first solo album to not contain a
Parental Advisory
Advisory (abbreviated PAL) is a warning label introduced by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 1985 and adopted by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in 2011. It is placed on audio recordings in recognition of profan ...
label.
Background
The album features a variety of Green's interpretations of classic
Christmas
Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus, Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a religious and cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by country, around t ...
and seasonal songs. The album features collaborations with
Rod Stewart
Sir Roderick David Stewart (born 10 January 1945) is a British rock and pop singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is among the best-selling ...
,
Christina Aguilera
Christina María Aguilera (; ; born December 18, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and television personality. Known for her four-octave vocal range and ability to sustain high notes, she has been referred to as the " Voice of ...
,
Straight No Chaser,
Trombone Shorty
Troy Andrews (born January 2, 1986), also known by the stage name Trombone Shorty, is an American musician, producer, actor and philanthropist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He is best known as a trombone and trumpet player but also plays drums, ...
and
The Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
. Stewart and The Muppets joined Green for a performance of the festive set at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas on October 10, 2012. The special was filmed and premiered on Warner Music Group's YouTube channel on November 26.
A music video was produced for "All I Need Is Love", which featured Cee-Lo,
the Muppets
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, burlesque, and self-referential style of variety- sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, they are the focus of a media franchise that encompasses ...
and
Craig Robinson, as well as Muppet performers
Steve Whitmire
Steven Lawrence Whitmire (born September 24, 1959) is an American puppeteer, known primarily for his work on ''The Muppets'' and ''Sesame Street''. Beginning his involvement with the Muppets in 1978, Whitmire inherited the roles of Ernie and Kerm ...
,
Eric Jacobson
Eric Jacobson is an American puppeteer. He is best known for performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and Sam Eagle for The Muppets Studio, as well as ''Sesame Street'' characters Bert, Grover, Oscar the Grouch, and Guy Smiley—all role ...
,
Dave Goelz
David Charles Goelz (; born July 16, 1946) is an American puppeteer and puppet builder known for his work with the Muppets. As part of the Muppets' performing cast, Goelz performs Gonzo the Great, as well as Dr. Bunsen Honeydew, Waldorf (after ...
,
Bill Barretta
William Paul Barretta (born June 19, 1964) is an American puppeteer, actor, producer, writer, and director, who is best known for providing the puppetry and voice of characters such as Pepe the King Prawn, Johnny Fiama, Big Mean Carl, and Bobo ...
,
David Rudman
David Rudman (born June 1, 1963) is an American puppeteer, puppet builder, writer, director, and producer known for his involvement with the Muppets and ''Sesame Street''.
Career
David Rudman has been a ''Sesame Street'' Muppet performer sinc ...
,
Matt Vogel, and
Peter Linz
Peter Linz (born June 28, 1967) is an American puppeteer. His most prominent role is being the performer for the character Walter who was introduced in the 2011 feature film ''The Muppets''. Since 1991, Linz has performed on ''Sesame Street'', ...
.
Critical reception
''Cee Lo's Magic Moment'' received generally positive reviews from
music critic
''The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of mus ...
s. At
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, which assigns a
normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an
average
In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...
score of 63 based on 9 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".
Commercial performance
In the United States, the album debuted at No. 2 on the
''Billboard'' 200 albums chart on its first week of release, selling around 437,689 copies. It peaked at No. 1 on the chart. It also peaked at No. 4 on ''Billboards
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...
, and No. 6 on the Holiday Albums chart. It was ranked No. 153 on the 2013 Year End ''Billboard'' 200 chart. As of October 2015, the album has sold 225,000 copies in the US.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moment, Magic
2012 Christmas albums
CeeLo Green albums
Christmas albums by American artists
Contemporary R&B Christmas albums
Elektra Records albums
Warner Records albums