''Chapter V'' is the fifth

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 ...

by American R&B recording artist

Trey Songz Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

. It was released on August 21, 2012, by

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. It was produced by several record producers, including Troy Taylor,

Eric Hudson Eric Hudson (born October 15, 1986) is an American and Grammy award-winning music producer. His parents are Curtis and Phyllis Bivins-Hudson. Curtis is a songwriter and producer, and most notably the co-writer of Madonna's song " Holiday", co-wr ...

Rico Love Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, songwriter, singer, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wiscon ...

, and

Benny Blanco Benjamin Joseph Levin (born March 8, 1988), known professionally as Benny Blanco (stylized in all lowercase), is an American record producer. He is the recipient of the 2013 Hal David Starlight Award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame. He is also ...

, among others. Recording sessions for the album took place at several recording studios in Miami—Circle House Studios and Songbook Miami Studios—and New York City—Downtown Music Studios, Engine Room Audio, Icon Studio, Lotzah Matzah Studios, and Premier Digital—as well as Stanley House Studios in London. The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 135,000 copies in its first week. It was promoted with four

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

, including the Grammy nominated hit "

Heart Attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which may tr ...

" UK hit "

Simply Amazing "Simply Amazing" is a song by American recording artist Trey Songz for his fifth studio album, '' Chapter V'' (2012). It was written by Songz, Najja McDwell with its producers Troy Taylor and Christopher Umana. It was released as the third singl ...

" and US hit 2 Reasons. Upon its release, ''Chapter V'' received generally positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its sound and Songz' singing, although some were ambivalent towards its songwriting and themes.

Release and promotion

''Chapter V'' was released on August 21, 2012, by

, and on August 17 as a digital download. Trey Songz toured in promotion of the album on his Anticipation 2our, a tour spanning from February 9 to March 11, 2012, in North America. Rapper

Big Sean Sean Michael Leonard Anderson (born March 25, 1988), known professionally as Big Sean, is an American rapper. Anderson began his music career in 2007 and gained popularity in 2010 with his third mixtape '' Finally Famous Vol. 3: Big''. He then s ...

was the tour's supporting act. Music videos for "Hail Mary" and "

Dive In ''Dive In'' is the debut album by Darius Danesh, released on 2 December 2002. It was a huge success and went platinum in the UK, charting at number 6 on the UK Albums Chart during the competitive pre-Christmas sales. He wrote all 12 songs on t ...

", directed by Justin Francis, were released, on August 20 and October 7, respectively. He also toured in 2012 on the

Chapter V World Tour Tremaine Aldon Neverson (born November 28, 1984), known professionally as Trey Songz, is an American R&B singer and rapper. His debut album, '' I Gotta Make It'', was released in 2005 through Atlantic Records. His follow-up album, ''Trey Day'', ...

. The album's lead single, "

", was released as a digital download on March 26, 2012. It charted at number 35 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming ...

, and number 28 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Its music video was released on May 4 and featured

Kelly Rowland Kelendria Trene Rowland (born February 11, 1981) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She rose to fame in the late 1990s as a member of Destiny's Child, one of the world's List of best-selling girl groups, best-selling girl ...

playing Songz' love interest. The second single " 2 Reasons" was released on June 12. Its video was premiered on June 12 by

BET Black Entertainment Television (acronym BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting African-American audiences. It is owned by the CBS Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global via BET Networks and has offices in New York City, Los A ...

's ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

''. "

" was released in the United Kingdom on August 12. It charted at number eight in the UK. Its music video, directed by Justin Francis, was released on July 23. "Never Again" was released as a single in the UK in November. Its music video was released on November 21.

Critical reception

''Chapter V'' received generally positive reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. 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 68, based on eight reviews.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

's Andy Kellman commended Songz for "singing about what ecan do for — rather than to" his female subjects and stated, "Those who tire of the coarse metaphors, disrobing scenes, and 'panty wetter' talk can get lost in the sleek, layered work of Troy Taylor and his associates. The snaking rhythms are just as remarkable as the hypnotic synthesizer textures." Sarah Godfrey of ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...

'' complimented Songz' "signature blend of soft-core imagery and sweet nothings" and wrote that the album "highlights Songz’s unique role in R&B: He bridges the gap between sexless boy bands and unromantic raunchy singers, between young guys who sing shallow songs about strip clubs and old guys who sing heavy songs about their divorces." Jon Caramanica of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' dubbed it "one of his most consistently strong albums" in spite of the potential "conundrum" of drawing on

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and sex offender convicted of racketeering and multiple sex offenses. During his recording career, Kelly sold over 75 million records worldwi ...

and Usher as influences. In a mixed review, Mikael Wood of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' was ambivalent towards its boudior-themed songs and felt that Songz "might be R&B's most single-minded star".

Jody Rosen Jody Rosen (born June 21, 1969 in New York City) is an American journalist and author. He is a contributing writer for ''The New York Times Magazine''. Career Journalism Rosen served as critic-at-large for '' T: The New York Times Style Magaz ...

of ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' found it to be "full of big ballads and bigger club beats that take dead aim at the pop mainstream", but added that "Songz is at his best playing to his R&B base".

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

's Natalie Shaw viewed that Songz does not "reveal a deeper side to his songwriting" until track nine. Ken Capobianco of ''

The Boston Globe ''The Boston Globe'' is an American daily newspaper founded and based in Boston, Massachusetts. The newspaper has won a total of 27 Pulitzer Prizes, and has a total circulation of close to 300,000 print and digital subscribers. ''The Boston Glob ...

'' felt that it "could use editing", but wrote that "throughout this he sings with urgency and expressiveness." Although he viewed that Songz lacks "natural charisma", Alex Macpherson of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' commended Troy Taylor for making the album "admirably cohesive" and Songz for "mov nginto traditional R Kelly territory", writing that it "helps to reinforce Songz's status as the formidable understudy of R&B."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first week sales of 135,000 copies. It was Songz' first album to top the chart. ''Chapter V'' was also Songz' first album to chart in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number 10 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

. As of October 3, 2012, the album has sold 238,400 copies in the United States, according to

Nielsen SoundScan Luminate (formerly Nielsen SoundScan, Nielsen Music Products, and MRC Data) is a provider of music sales data. Established by Mike Fine and Mike Shalett in 1991, data is collected weekly and made available every Sunday (for albums sales) and eve ...

. In August 2016, the album was certified

gold Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile met ...

by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA) for combined sales and streaming equivalent units of over 500,000 units.

Track listing

Notes * – co-production * – additional production

Personnel

Credits for ''Chapter V'' adapted from

. * Diego Avendaño – assistant * Darius Barnes – producer * Edgar Bautista – assistant * Nick Bilardello – art direction, design * Benny Blanco – engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming * Jo Jo Brim – management * Darhyl Camper – producer * Angelo Caputo – assistant engineer * Joseph Caravalho – assistant * Mike Caren – A&R * Chris Celestine – general manager * Cameron Chambers – guitar *

Mark B. Christensen Mark Christensen is the studio owner and Chief Mastering Engineer at Engine Room Audio in New York City. Christensen is currently known for Audio mastering, mastering, producing, and Audio mixing (recorded music), mixing music in the genres of r ...

– mastering * Talia Coles – stylist * Philip Cook – programming * Anthony Daniel – engineer * Diddy – featured artist * Jimmy Fontaine – photography * Lanre Gaba – A&R * Josh Garrison – producer * Serban Ghenea – mixing * Chuck Gibson – guitar * John Hanes – engineer * Dionne Harper – marketing * Trehy Harris – assistant * Benoit Holliger – assistant * Jean-Marie Horvat – mixing * Matt Huber – assistant * Eric Hudson – producer * Jaycen Joshua – mixing * Lil Wayne – featured artist * Kevin Liles – management * Rico Love – background vocals, producer, vocals * Andrew Luftman – assistant * Robert Marks – mixing * Thurston McCrea – engineer * John McGee – producer * Pierre Medor – engineer * Meek Mill – featured artist * Edrick Miles – producer * Dwayne Nesmith – keyboards, producer, programming * Alex Neverson – producer * Phillip Peterson – strings * Matt Prime – guitar, keyboards, producer, programming * Tony Rey – vocal engineer * Rick Ross – featured artist * Alagy Sanneh – producer * Phil Seaford – assistant * Sevyn – vocals * Jerren "J-Kits" Spruill – additional production, producer * Zach Steele – engineer * Skyy Stylez – producer * T.I. – featured artist * Troy Taylor – additional production, bass, executive producer, keyboards, percussion, piano, producer * Sean Thompson – assistant * Carolyn Tracey – package production * Trey Songz – executive producer, primary artist, vocals * Ty$ – additional production, guitar * Christopher Umana – producer * Scott "Yarmov" Yarmovsky – production coordination * Young Jeezy – featured artist

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2012 albums Trey Songz albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Drumma Boy Albums produced by Boi-1da Albums produced by Eric Hudson Albums produced by Rico Love Albums produced by Benny Blanco Albums produced by Troy Taylor (record producer)