''Fairytales'' is the debut studio album by the

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

ian-

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

artist

Alexander Rybak Alexander Igorevich Rybak (russian: Александр Игоревич Рыбак) or Alyaxandr Iharavich Rybak ( be, Аляксандр Ігаравіч Рыбак; born 13 May 1986) is a Belarusian-Norwegian singer-composer, violinist, pian ...

. It was released in Norway and most of Europe on 29 May 2009, and in the UK on 15 June. Most of the songs on the album are written and/or composed by Rybak himself. The first single of this album is Rybak's "

Fairytale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful beings. In most cul ...

", the winning song from the

Eurovision Song Contest 2009 The Eurovision Song Contest 2009 was the 54th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Moscow, Russia, following the country's victory at the with the song "Believe" by Dima Bilan. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (E ...

. His entry broke the previous record of 292 in the festival and achieved a total of 387 points. All the participating countries (naturally excluding Norway) voted for the song. Rybak wrote English lyrics for one Russian and one

song, for the album. The chorus in the song "Abandoned" (track #7), uses music by Kirill Moltchanov, from the

theme Theme or themes may refer to: * Theme (arts), the unifying subject or idea of the type of visual work * Theme (Byzantine district), an administrative district in the Byzantine Empire governed by a Strategos * Theme (computing), a custom graphical ...

from the 1968 Russian film ''Доживем до понедельника'' (en. ''We'll Live Till Monday''). The song "If You Were Gone" (track #6), is an English version of the Norwegian song "Vårsøg", with music by

Henning Sommerro Henning Sommerro (born 3 May 1952 in Surnadal) is a Norwegian musician, composer and professor at NTNU. Biography Sommerro grew up on the Sommerro farm at Skei in Surnadal. His name became widely known in 1977 when the folk music group Vårs� ...

Critical reception

On 27 May 2009 Norway's biggest newspaper ''

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 ...

'' was the first to review the album giving it top score, 6 out of 6. "Alexander Rybak has not only become a star in no time, he deserves the status as well", the paper said. On the same day it was revealed that the album had been leaked illegally on the net. Norwegian newspaper ''

Dagbladet ''Dagbladet'' (lit.: ''The Daily Magazine'') is one of Norway's largest newspapers and is published in the tabloid format. It has 1,400,000 daily readers on mobile, web and paper. Traditionally ''Dagbladet'' is considered the main liberal newspa ...

'' was less enthused. "Rybak is seducing, but not entirely convincing" their critic stated, giving it 4 out of 6 points. ''

Aftenposten ( in the masthead; ; Norwegian for "The Evening Post") is Norway's largest printed newspaper by circulation. It is based in Oslo. It sold 211,769 copies in 2015 (172,029 printed copies according to University of Bergen) and estimated 1.2 milli ...

'' gave it 5 out of 6 stars, calling Rybak "a complete artist."

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

newspaper '' Aftonbladet'', however, caused a stir by giving the record merely 1 star and hurling epithets like "violin hobbit" and "smurf hits" at the artist. '' TV2'' in Norway gave the album 4 out of 6 stars, stating that Rybak was "no one-hit-wonder at all". ''

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest ...

'' gave Rybak a good review saying that Rybak was "a good pop composer." ''

Dagsavisen ''Dagsavisen'' is a daily newspaper published in Oslo, Norway. The former party organ of the Norwegian Labour Party, the ties loosened over time from 1975 to 1999. It has borne several names, and was called ''Arbeiderbladet'' from 1923 to 1997. ...

'' gave the record 5 points out of 6, exclaiming "the fairy tale continues!" The radio channel ''

P4 Radio Hele Norge P4 Radio Hele Norge AS Norway's leading national, private radio station with 24% national market share, about one million daily listeners and two million weekly. P4 Radio Hele Norge operates a nationwide public service-licence, with official req ...

'' gave the album a rather poor review. Calling it a record for "13 year old girls and Eurovision enthusiasts" it got 2 stars. ''

Bergensavisen ''Bergensavisen'' (lit. "the Bergen newspaper"), usually shortened to ''BA'', is the second largest newspaper in Bergen, Norway. The paper is published in tabloid format. The newspaper's webpage ba.no is Bergen's largest local newspaper webpage ...

'' was impressed by the record, especially by the album's "personal style", and gave it 5 stars.

Track listing

Bonus track Bonus track French edition Russian edition bonus track

Russian winter edition

Fairytales – Зимняя сказка ( en. Winter Fairytales) Standard-Edition ) , length2 = 3:05 , extra2 =

, title3 = Dolphin , length3 = 4:16 , extra3 = Rybak , title4 = Kiss and Tell , length4 = 3:20 , extra4 = Rybak, Kim Bergseth, Piotr Andrej , title5 = Funny Little World , length5 = 3:46 , extra5 = Rybak , title6 = Когда Уйдешь (Russian version of "If You Were Gone") , length6 = 4:31 , extra6 = Henning Sommerro, Rybak , title7 = 13 Horses , length7 = 5:42 , extra7 = Rybak , title8 = Song from a Secret Garden , length8 = 3:30 , extra8 =

Rolf Løvland Rolf Undsæt Løvland (born 19 April 1955) is a Norwegian composer, lyricist, arranger, and pianist. Together with Fionnuala Sherry, he formed the Celtic-Nordic group Secret Garden, in which he was the composer, producer, and keyboardist. He beg ...

, title9 =

Vocalise A vocal warm-up is a series of exercises meant to prepare the voice for singing, acting, or other use. There is very little scientific data about the benefits of vocal warm-ups. Relatively few studies have researched the effects of thesexercis ...

, length9 = 4:31 , extra9 = Sergei Rachmaninoff , title10 =

500 Miles "500 Miles" (also known as "500 Miles Away from Home" or "Railroaders' Lament") is a song made popular in the United States and Europe during the 1960s folk revival. The simple repetitive lyrics offer a lament by a traveler who is far from home ...

, length10 = 3:24 , extra10 =

The Proclaimers ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

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(Bonustrack) , length11 = 3:05 , extra11 = Rybak , title12 = If You Were Gone (Bonustrack) , length12 = 4:31 , extra12 = Henning Sommerro, Rybak Digipack-Edition 1. CD: Same songs as ''Standard-Edition'' 2. DVD:

Personnel

Musicians *

– lead vocals, violin, piano, strings. All string arrangements, song arrangements. *

Amir Aly Amir Aly (born 21 July 1976) is a Swedish songwriter and record producer. He has worked with some of the foremost artists in Sweden, including Jill Johnson, Elena Paparizou, Danny Saucedo, Robin Stjernberg, Sanna Nielsen and Shirley Clamp. Aly had ...

– acoustic guitar (track #5), guitar (#1, #6), bass (#1, No. 5, #6), programming (#1, #6) *Gunnar Flagstad – piano (#9) *Henrik Wikström – keyboards (#5), programming (#5) *Jorunn Hauge –

background 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 us ...

(#2) *Kai Morten Berg – percussion (#4) *Karianne Kjærnes – background vocals (#2) *Kim Edward Bergseth – background vocals (#4, #7), guitar (#3, No. 4, #7), bass (#2, No. 3, #4, #7), programming (#2, No. 3, #4, #8) *Laila Samuels – background vocals (#7) *Mattis Lerbak – drums (#3) *Sylvie Loche –

(French bonus track: "Fairytale") Recording and production staff *

– producer (track No. 1, #5, #6), mixing (#1, No. 5, #6) *Björn Engelmann Cutting Room Studios – mastering *Henrik Wikström – producer (#5), mixing (#5) *Kim Edward Bergseth – producer (#2, No. 3, #4, No. 7, #8) *Ulf Ø. W. Holand – mixing (#2, No. 3, #4, No. 7, #8) Album artwork *Baard Lunde – photos *Guro Synes – artwork, design *Trond Kulterud – artwork, design

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairytales (Alexander Rybak Album) 2009 debut albums EMI Records albums Alexander Rybak albums