''Crayons'' is the seventeenth and final
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
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, pe ...
singer
Donna Summer
LaDonna Adrian Gaines (December 31, 1948May 17, 2012), known professionally as Donna Summer, was an American singer and songwriter. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the " Queen of Disco", while her mus ...
. It was released through
Sony Burgundy on May 20, 2008 in the United States. Recorded over a period of two years since signing with the
Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...
label in 2006, ''Crayons'' marked Summer's first full-length studio album in fourteen years since 1994's ''
Christmas Spirit'', and her first album of original material since 1991's ''
Mistaken Identity
Mistaken identity is a defense in criminal law which claims the actual innocence of the criminal defendant, and attempts to undermine evidence of guilt by asserting that any eyewitness to the crime incorrectly thought that they saw the defendan ...
''. She worked with a number of different
producers
Producer or producers may refer to:
Occupations
*Producer (agriculture), a farm operator
*A stakeholder of economic production
*Film producer, supervises the making of films
**Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...
and
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
s on the album, including
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen Kurstin (born May 14, 1969) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. He has won nine Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year, Non-Classical in 2017 and 2018, and written and produced four songs t ...
,
J. R. Rotem
Jonathan Reuven Rotem is a South African-born record producer, songwriter and music publisher.
Biography
Early life
Rotem was born in South Africa to Jewish Israeli immigrant parents. He moved to Canada at the age of two and to Moraga, Cal ...
,
Wayne Hector
Wayne Anthony Hector is a British songwriter who is best known for his work with pop artists such as Nicki Minaj, One Direction, the Wanted, Toše Proeski and Olly Murs. He co-wrote seven of Westlife's number one singles, including "World of O ...
,
Toby Gad
Tobias "Toby" Gad (born 28 March 1968) is a Los Angeles-based German music producer/songwriter, best known for co-writing John Legend's biggest hit, " All of Me," the fifth-highest certified single in RIAA history, and for co-writing and producin ...
,
Lester Mendez
Lester Mendez is a multi-platinum, Grammy award-winning record producer, songwriter and composer. His production/writing credits include a multitude of successful hits with Shakira, Jewel, Nelly Furtado, Jessica Simpson, Enrique Iglesias, and ot ...
.
The album debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US
''Billboard'' 200 and entered the top fifty of the
Italian Albums Chart
The Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana (FIMI) is an umbrella organization that keeps track of virtually all aspects of the music recording industry in Italy. It was established in 1992, when major corporate labels left the previously exist ...
. ''Crayons'' was preceded by its first official single, "
Stamp Your Feet
"Stamp Your Feet" is a song by American singer Donna Summer. It was released on April 15, 2008 by Sony Burgundy as the second single from her 2008 album ''Crayons''. The song was written by Summer, Danielle Brisebois, and Greg Kurstin, who also p ...
", which was released to radio on April 15, 2008. A follow-up, "
I'm a Fire
"I'm a Fire" is the first single from Donna Summer's seventeenth studio album, ''Crayons''. The song was released on March 11, 2008 by Burgundy Records. It was written by Summer, Sebastian Morton and Al Kasha and produced by Morton. The club si ...
", reached number-one on the US
Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
, giving Summer her 13th number-one hit on that chart. ''Crayons'' marked Summer's last album released before her death on May 17, 2012.
Background
''Crayons'' marked Summer's first full-length studio album in fourteen years since 1994's ''
Christmas Spirit''. When commenting on the album, Summer explained, "I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it
..I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There's a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else
..like when you're cooking."
The lead track "Stamp Your Feet" was originally called "The Player's Anthem" and talks about "being a player in life, coupled with the idea of being a player on an actual field, the whole thing, dealing with the pain and doing things even though you are afraid."
Summer wrote "The Queen Is Back" and "Mr. Music" with
Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and
Evan Bogart
Evan Bogart (born January 23, 1978), better known as E. Kidd Bogart, is an American songwriter, music publisher, record executive and film & television producer. He is the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart and former music manager Joyc ...
, whose father, Casablanca Records boss
Neil Bogart
Neil E. Bogart (born Neil Scott Bogatz, February 3, 1943 – May 8, 1982) was an American record executive. He was the founder of Casablanca Records, which later became Casablanca Record and Filmworks.
Life and career
Born Neil Scott Bogatz in t ...
, died from cancer at the age of 39.
When Summer met Evan Bogart, she was struck by his uncanny resemblance to his label executive father, commenting: "Evan and I hit it off immediately; there was a synergy that happened really quickly."
"The Queen is Back," which discusses her musical legacy and public persona, samples "Lose Control" by
Kevin Federline
Kevin Earl Federline (born March 21, 1978), often referred to, and also known as K-Fed, is an American dancer, rapper, actor, model, wrestler and DJ. He is known for his two-year marriage to American singer Britney Spears, for whom he was previou ...
. Both songs were produced by Rotem.
About the song "Crayons", Summer said, "It encompasses a lot of what the album is about
..Everybody gets crayons at some point in their lives, everybody can relate to the basics. It comes down to that child in us, I think there's a commonality in the concept of crayons."
Critical reception
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, ''Crayons'' has an average score of 66 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews."
''
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 ...
'' felt that "this surprisingly lively set finds the former disco diva teaming with a crew of young collaborators for a series of uptempo forays into stomping dance-pop, juke-joint blues-rock, breezy Latin jazz and African-accented soul."
Christian John Wikane from
PopMatters
''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, fi ...
wrote that "the core theme of ''Crayons'' is variety. It brazenly flaunts a collage of sounds, while showcasing the multiplicity of Donna Summer's musical selves."
In his review for ''
The Village Voice
''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture paper, known for being the country's first alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf, Ed Fancher, John Wilcock, and Norman Mailer, the ''Voice'' began as a platform for the crea ...
'', Alfred Soto found that "on ''Crayons'', it's like no time has passed at all, and of course it hasn't: As Lloyd Richards says to
Margo Channing
''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does not receive a screen credit ...
in ''
All About Eve
''All About Eve'' is a 1950 American Drama (film and television), drama film written and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and produced by Darryl F. Zanuck. It is based on the 1946 short story "The Wisdom of Eve" by Mary Orr, although Orr does ...
'', the stars never die and never change."
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 ...
editor Andy Kellman found that ''Crayons'' "benefits from Summer's effortless energy; she was clearly into making this album, and her voice is as able and flexible as ever. However, almost all of the material with which she has to work
..would make more sense on an album by a female teen pop group from the UK or, in some cases, a young adult catering to the coffeehouse market
..In-fashion vocal effects, which Summer certainly does not need, detract from a handful of these tracks, but as a whole, the album won't have trouble pleasing fans who just want to hear their queen have a blast and tear it up."
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York ...
critic Eric Henderson wrote that the album was Summer's "attempt to finally share, but the results are about as personal as food-dyed wax. The music is harmlessly listenable, and the requisite nods to her dance-floor legacy."
Commercial performance
''Crayons'' debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US
''Billboard'' 200 first-week sales of 23,000 units, marking Summer's highest-charting album since her 1983 album ''
She Works Hard for the Money
"She Works Hard for the Money" is a song by American singer Donna Summer from her album '' She Works Hard for the Money'' (1983). The song was written by Michael Omartian and Summer, and produced by the former. It was released as the lead singl ...
''. By November 2008, it had moved 69,000 copies in the United States.
Track listing
Charts
Certifications
Release history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crayons (Album)
2008 albums
Albums produced by Greg Kurstin
Albums produced by J. R. Rotem
Albums produced by Toby Gad
Burgundy Records albums
Donna Summer albums
Hip hop albums by American artists
Albums produced by Sebastian Arocha Morton