''Forgive Me'' is the fourth
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 Swedish singer
Eric Saade
Eric Khaled Saade (; ar, إريك سعادة, ʾĪrik Saʿāda, ; born 29 October 1990), is a Swedish singer and songwriter.
He spent two years with the boy band What's Up!, leaving the band in February 2009 to pursue a solo career. After winn ...
. It was released on 28 August 2013 in Sweden through
Roxy Recordings
King Island Roxystars Recordings AB, more known as Roxy Recordings, or Roxy is an independent record label based in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden where their office is the former site of Cheiron Studios and its successor The Location. It was bo ...
.
In Sweden, the album debuted and peaked at number one on the
Sverigetopplistan
Sverigetopplistan (, lit. "the Sweden top list") is the Swedish national record chart, formerly known as Topplistan (1975–1997) and Hitlistan (1998–2007) and known by its current name since October 2007, based on sales data from the Swedish R ...
, becoming his third consecutive number one studio album there, since ''
Saade Vol. 1'' (2011). The album also marked a commercial success in Scandinavian countries, reaching the top 40 in
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and t ...
and
Denmark
)
, song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast")
, song_type = National and royal anthem
, image_map = EU-Denmark.svg
, map_caption =
, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark
...
.
The album has spawned six singles and one promotional single, including the hit single "Coming Home", which has accumulated more than 2.3 million streams on
Spotify
Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...
as of June 2020. Upon its release, ''Forgive Me'' generally received mixed reviews from
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 ...
.
Background
Prior to this album, Saade had released three albums in the space of 18 months, and after almost a two-year break, he returned with ''Forgive Me'', where he has co-written 12 of the 13 tracks.
Singles
"Coming Home" was released on 24 April 2013, as the lead single from the album. To promote the single, Saade embarked on the tour entitled ''Coming Home Tour'' from 25 May 2012 to 14 September 2012. The accompanying music video, was released on 24 June 2013, and has accumulated more than 1.9 million views on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
. Saade performed the song at the several music festivals and television shows including
Allsång på Skansen
''Allsång på Skansen'' (''Sing-along at Skansen'') is a Swedish show held at Skansen, Stockholm, every summer on Tuesdays between 8pm and 9pm. The audience is encouraged to sing along with musical guest stars to well-known Swedish and internati ...
and
Nyhetsmorgon
''Nyhetsmorgon'' is a Swedish morning news and talk show that is broadcast every morning on TV4 TV4 or TV 4 may refer to:
*TV4 (Poland), a private Polish television station
*TV4 (Sweden), a Swedish television network
**TV4 Group, owners of the ...
. The single generally received favorable reviews, some of which mentioned to the song's similarity to
Usher
Usher may refer to:
Several jobs which originally involved directing people and ensuring people are in the correct place:
* Usher (occupation)
** Church usher
** Wedding usher, one of the male attendants to the groom in a wedding ceremony
** Fiel ...
's work.
The second single from the album, "Forgive Me" was released on 15 August 2013, with the accompanying music video released on the same day. The song was initially released as a part of an extended play, ''Coming Home EP''.
"Flashy" was released on 23 August 2013 as the album's third single. Saade is featured as the guest vocalist on the song, while the Norwegian musician
A-Lee
Ali Pirzad-Amoli ( fa, علی پیرزاد آملی; born 17 May 1988), better known by his stage name A-Lee (also sometimes stylized as A-LEE), is a Norwegian pop recording artist, rapper, singer, songwriter and executive producer. A-Lee is the ...
being the lead artist. The artists performed the song on several television shows, including the Norwegian morning show, God Morgen Norge, to promote the song.
Saade released "Boomerang" on 1 November 2013 as the fourth and the last single from ''Forgive Me''. The accompanying lyric video was released on 9 November 2013.
Promotional single
On 24 October 2012, "Miss Unknown" and "Marching (In the Name of Love)" were released as the promotional singles, and the accompanying music videos were released on 7 December 2012 and 12 December 2012 respectively. Saade performed the singles on several television appearances, including ''
Svenska idrottsgalan
The Swedish Sports Awards ''( sv, Svenska idrottsgalan) ''is a show to honor the past year's Swedish sports and athletes' achievements. It is hosted annually at Ericsson Globe in Stockholm in mid or late January. The event was first held in the ye ...
'', ''
Musikhjälpen
''Musikhjälpen'' (; "Music Aid") is the Swedish version of the Dutch ''Serious Request'' radio and television campaign. The annual show is an appeal for money which each year helps a certain cause. Three radio/television personalities are locked ...
'', and ''
X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...
''. "Marching (In the Name of Love)" was also included on Saade's first compilation album ''Eric Saade: Deluxe'', which was released exclusively in Norway.
"Winning Ground" was released as a promotional single on 5 June 2013. The song served as the official theme for the football tournament,
UEFA Women's Euro 2013
The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...
, which was held at the
Friends Arena
Nationalarenan, currently known as Friends Arena for sponsorship reasons, is a retractable roof multi-purpose stadium in Stockholm, Sweden. Located next to the lake Råstasjön in Solna, just north of the City Centre, it is the biggest stadium in ...
in
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...
. The song was met with favorable reviews, praising the song's catchiness.
Critical reception
''Forgive Me'' received generally mixed to negative reviews from
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 ...
. Deban Aderemi from ''
Wiwibloggs
Wiwibloggs is a fansite and YouTube channel focusing on the Eurovision Song Contest, launched in 2009. It has a seasonal audience, peaking at 250,000 page views per day during the week of Eurovision in May 2016, based on Google Analytics data.
...
'' rated the album 2.5 out of 5 points, and called the album an "artistic failure" and "an endurance test", while admitting that the album was a commercial success and highlighting "Flashy" as "a great pop tune".
Sandeep Singh of ''
Verdens Gang
''Verdens Gang'' ("The course of the world"), generally known under the abbreviation ''VG'', is a Norwegian tabloid newspaper. In 2016, circulation numbers stood at 93,883, having declined from a peak circulation of 390,510 in 2002. ''VG'' is n ...
'' gave the album 3 out of 6 stars, pointing out the lack of personality reflected on the album.
Scandipop provided a favorable review, stating ""Miss Unknown" and the title track "Forgive Me" stop the album from being a totally perfect record
utother than that though, it's a fantastic album. Not what we expected. And not what we thought we wanted either. But it's an accomplished record that showcases an extraordinary amount of progression in his sound, yet still serves as an enjoyable listen from start to finish, for someone who has been an Eric Saade fan from Day 1."
Track listing
Credits adapted from booklet.
Personnel
Credits for ''Forgive Me'' adapted from the booklet.
Musicians
*Eric Saade - vocals
*Jason Gill – recording engineer, guitar, backing vocals, programming
*Beyond51 - recording engineer, keyboards, strings, additional vocals
*Ground Rules - recording engineer, programming, mixing
*Björn Engelmann - mastering
*Mats Lindfors - mastering
*Johan Kronlund - mixing, backing vocals
*Element - mixing
*Henrik Edenhed - mixing
*
Anders Hvenare - mixing
*Anne Judith Wik - programming
*Nermin Harambasic - programming
*Julimar Santos - backing vocals
*Cato Sundberg - guitar
*
Mattias Larsson
Mattman & Robin is a Swedish songwriting and production duo composed of Mattias Per Larsson and Robin Lennart Fredriksson. They are published by Wolf Cousins, a publishing company administered by Warner Chappell Music.
In 2016, they won a Grammy A ...
- guitar, bass
*
Espen Berg
Espen Berg (born 6 July 1981) is a Norwegian humanitarian. Espen is the founder and CEO of the United Youth Development Organization. Espen completed a BA (Hons) in International Business at Bournemouth University and an Msc in Development ...
- keyboards, programming, mixing
*
Simen M Eriksrud - keyboards, backing vocals, programming, mixing
*Henrique Verissimo Silva - backing vocals
*Sandra Bjurman - backing vocals
*
A-Lee
Ali Pirzad-Amoli ( fa, علی پیرزاد آملی; born 17 May 1988), better known by his stage name A-Lee (also sometimes stylized as A-LEE), is a Norwegian pop recording artist, rapper, singer, songwriter and executive producer. A-Lee is the ...
- vocals
Non-musicians
*Ricky Tillblad - design
*Mikael Jylhä - design
*Pia Börjlind - design
*Fredrik Etoall - photography
Chart performance
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Release history
References
{{Authority control
2013 albums
Eric Saade albums
Universal Music Group albums