''Epiphany'' is the second

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 and

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun ''soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest attes ...

singer–songwriter

Chrisette Michele Chrisette Michele Payne (born December 8, 1982) is an American R&B and soul singer. She won a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2009 for her song " Be OK" (featuring will.i.am). She was previously signed to Motown Record ...

, released May 5, 2009 on

Def Jam Recordings Def Jam Recordings (also simply known as Def Jam) is an American multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It is based in Manhattan, New York City, specializing predominantly in hip hop, contemporary R&B, soul and pop. The ...

in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place during 2008 to 2009. In January 2009, the title track "

Epiphany Epiphany may refer to: * Epiphany (feeling), an experience of sudden and striking insight Religion * Epiphany (holiday), a Christian holiday celebrating the revelation of God the Son as a human being in Jesus Christ ** Epiphany season, or Epiph ...

" was released as its lead single. ''Epiphany'' debuted at number one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, while selling 83,000 copies in its first week. Upon its release, the album received generally positive reviews from music critics, based on an aggregate score of 71/100 from

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 ...

.''Epiphany'' (2009): Reviews

. Retrieved on 2009-11-15.

Background

Chrisette Michele told ''

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 ...

''s Mariel Concepcion that her new album would be "more upbeat and youthful". Production for the album was handled by Chuck Harmony, Claude Kelly,

Bei Maejor Brandon Michael Green (born July 23, 1988), better known by his stage name Maejor (formerly Bei Maejor and later Maejor Ali), is an American record producer, singer, and songwriter from Detroit, Michigan. Green has written and produced songs f ...

, and

Ne-Yo Shaffer Chimere Smith (born October 18, 1979), known professionally as Ne-Yo, is an American singer, songwriter, actor, dancer, and record producer. He gained fame for his songwriting abilities when he penned Mario's 2004 hit " Let Me Love You ...

. Michele says one of her favorite tracks is the

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

-based " Blame It on Me", in which she croons, "Blame it on me/Say it's my fault/Say I left you out in the cold with a broken heart/I really don't care/I'm not crying no more/Say I'm a liar, a cheater, say anything that you want/As long as it's over." "On My Own", Michele says, reminds her of her father. "I'm very close to my dad, but recently I've learned how to handle situations on my own, without having him step in for me, and it took a lot of me to be able to do that", she admits.

Critical reception

Critical response to the album was generally positive.

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 wrote that "the material, while mostly well-crafted, runs together as a block of slow, serious songs broken up by only a couple brief upswings in energy" and how "Chrisette, naturally, sounds outstanding throughout, as a supernaturally talented vocalist whose songs are nonetheless easily relatable to anyone going through a breakup—or, to a significantly lesser extent here, newfound love." He also felt that the album "could have really used more rhythmic punch than a token throwback strutter." Maiya Norton of ''

Vibe ''Vibe'' is an American music and entertainment magazine founded by producers David Salzman and Quincy Jones. The publication predominantly features R&B and hip hop music artists, actors and other entertainers. After shutting down productio ...

'' commented on how her album gained some edge, expressing some anger and heartbreak. Despite noting its production as a weakness, ''

Miami Herald The ''Miami Herald'' is an American daily newspaper owned by the McClatchy Company and headquartered in Doral, Florida, a List of communities in Miami-Dade County, Florida, city in western Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County and the M ...

'' writer Adrian Ruhi gave the album 3 out of 4 stars and commended Michele for her vocals.Ruhi, Adrian
Review: ''Epiphany''
''

''. Retrieved on 2009-11-15. In a positive review, The Koalition said that "it would seem almost impossible for Chrisette Michele to avoid the "

sophomore slump A sophomore slump or sophomore jinx or sophomore jitters refers to an instance in which a second, or sophomore, effort fails to live up to the relatively high standards of the first effort. It is commonly used to refer to the apathy of student ...

", but she finds a way by simply catering to an age old rule: just create great pieces of music." In some reviews her voice has been compared to the likes of

Ella Fitzgerald Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917June 15, 1996) was an American jazz singer, sometimes referred to as the "First Lady of Song", "Queen of Jazz", and "Lady Ella". She was noted for her purity of tone, impeccable diction, phrasing, timing, in ...

. Giving the album four out of five stars, Timothy Michael Carson of

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favored her unique, distinctive strong vocals, her cohesiveness, and the song "Blame It on Me", but was disappointed in the fact it had less of a

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

influence than her debut album ''

I Am I Am or I'm may refer to: Language and literature * "I Am that I Am", a common English translation of the response God used in the Hebrew Bible when Moses asked for His name ** I am (biblical term), a Christian term used in the Bible * "I Am" (po ...

''.

Commercial performance

''Epiphany'' debuted at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200 with first-week sales of 83,000 units, giving Michele her first number 1 album on the chart.

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

*Chrisette Michele –

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

;

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are use ...

(track 5) *Jesse Bond –

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 stri ...

(tracks 4, 9, 12) *Chuck Harmony –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

(tracks 4, 12); guitar (track 2) *Claude Kelly – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6, 9, 10) *J. Michel – backing vocals (track 5) *Calvin Palmer – bass (track 4) * Brent Paschke – guitar (track 6)

Production

*Allstar – producer,

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(track 5) *June Ambrose – stylist *Ashaunna Ayars –

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

*A.J. Benson – A&R *Alan Branch – marketing *Keith Campbell –

hair stylist A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A Hairdresser may also be refe ...

*Carol Corless – package production *

Darkchild Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

– producer (track 6) *Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 11) *Mildred Delamota –

art direction Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the visi ...

*Mike "Handz" Donaldson – engineer (track 6) *Bojan Dugich – engineer (track 10) *Doug "Biggs" Ellison –

executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ...

*Stephen Ferrera – A&R *Moses Gallart – assistant engineer (tracks 1, 3, 11) *Anthony "Rocky" Gallo – engineer (track 10); vocal tracking *Tom Gardner – assistant engineer *Eshy Gazit – vocal tracking *Serban Ghenea – mixing *John Hanes – mixing *Chuck Harmony – producer (tracks 1–4, 7, 9–12) *Mike "Track Guru" Johnson – assistant engineer (tracks 2, 4, 7–9, 12) *Doug Joswick – package production *Claude Kelly – vocal producer *Bei Maejor – producer (track 8) *Tim Bullock - producer (track 8) *

– co-producer (tracks 1, 3, 7, 8); executive producer *Herb Powers, Jr. – mastering *Geno Regist – engineer (tracks 1–4, 7–9, 11, 12) *Jeff Riedel –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

*Tim Roberts – assistant *Mark Siegel - booking agent *Noah Tafua – mixing assistant *Kris Yiengst – art coordinator, photo coordination

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

External links

*
Epiphany
' at

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

* {{Authority control 2009 albums Albums produced by Rodney Jerkins Albums produced by Ne-Yo Albums produced by Maejor Albums produced by Chuck Harmony Chrisette Michele albums Def Jam Recordings albums Pop albums by American artists