''Oh Aaron'' is the third studio album by American
teen pop
Teen pop is a subgenre of pop music that is created, marketed and oriented towards preteens and teenagers.Lamb, Bill"Teen Pop" About.com. Retrieved January 28, 2007. Teen pop incorporates different subgenres of pop music, as well as elements o ...
singer
Aaron Carter
Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of the ...
, released in the summer of
2001
The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...
through
Jive Records
Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...
. The album features three collaborations with
No Secrets and his older brother,
Nick Carter. Despite being not as successful as his
second album, it found success in the US, peaking at number seven and was certified
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the symbol Pt and atomic number 78. It is a dense, malleable, ductile, highly unreactive, precious, silverish-white transition metal. Its name originates from Spanish , a diminutive of "silver".
Platinu ...
by the
RIAA
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 ...
making this Aaron's second top 10 album and second platinum-selling album. This album was also his second album that was released under
Jive Records
Jive Records was an American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary to the Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chicago. Jive was best known for its successes with hip hop, R&B, an ...
.
''Oh Aaron'' was accompanied by a
concert DVD of the same name, which was released on March 26, 2002, and included footage of his 2001 concert in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as well as music videos and interviews.
Play Along Toys
Play Along Toys was a Florida-based toy company, and a wholly owned division of Jakks Pacific.
In 1999, the founders of Play Along (among them Charlie Emby, Jay Foreman, and Larry Geller) chose the Britney Spears Doll line as the first licensing ...
also created an Aaron Carter action figure in conjunction with the album's release.
Singles
*"Oh Aaron": is the title song and first single from Aaron Carter's third album "Oh Aaron". It features his older brother
Nick Carter of the
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida.
The gr ...
and pop girl group
No Secrets. The song talks about Aaron getting tickets to a Backstreet Boys concert. The music video was filmed in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
. In the video, Aaron promises his friends (and parents and their friends) tickets to the Backstreet Boys concert, thinking Nick would hook him up. Nick agrees to at first, but when Aaron states that is 3,003 tickets, Nick disagrees. After some short begging, Nick agrees to—only if Aaron raps at his concert. Aaron later gets chased by fans on his way to the concert. He begs Nick to make him stay inside, but Nick carries him outside. At the end, Aaron is carried by tons of his fans. No Secrets sings the chorus of the song in different locations.
*"
Not Too Young, Not Too Old
"Not Too Young, Not Too Old" is a pop song recorded by singer Aaron Carter. Produced by Scorpio and Mystery, the track was released in September 2001 as the second single off Carter's third album ''Oh Aaron''. "Not Too Young, Not Too Old" is Carter ...
"
*"I'm All About You": the third and final single of the album. In the video, Aaron is dancing and singing the song in a room. In a couple sub-plots, Aaron is sitting with a girl eating dinner, in a limousine, and enters a nightclub. The video can be seen on the Oh Aaron: Live In Concert DVD.
Critical reception
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
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of many artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance writer, occ ...
commended Carter's voice for sounding less childish but criticized his performance of kid-friendly songs with adolescent overtones and sexual themes, and the producers for utilizing "cut and paste commercialism" with various genres throughout the track listing, saying it comes across as "disturbing pandering".
Beth Johnson from ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...
'' said about the record, "Preteens across the country can rejoice: 13-year-old cutie-pie Aaron Carter has released his second sing-along album in less than a year. Apparently A.C. (as he name-checks himself) knows what his fans like: cheery
BSB/
’N Sync-style raps, puppy-love ballads, and songs with "You" in the title (there are four of them). As harmless (for kids) as it is unlistenable (for adults)."
In their look at the Least Essential Albums of 2001, ''
The A.V. Club
''The A.V. Club'' is an American online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was cre ...
'' awarded ''Oh Aaron'' the title of Least Essential Awkward Adolescence, with Stephen Thompson saying, "
pearing to have aged about five years since 2000's ''
Aaron's Party (Come Get It)
''Aaron's Party (Come Get It)'' is the second studio album by American pop singer Aaron Carter. It serves as the follow-up to his international debut album. ''Aaron's Party'' was released in the fall of 2000 becoming his first album under Jive ...
'' and now possessing a voice that's gone from chirpy to unsure, the singer/rapper seems ill-suited for inching his way into artistic relevance as he begins to sprout facial hair and think about muscle cars."
Track listing
Notes
*"Stride (Jump on the Fizzy)" contains a sample from "
Break My Stride
"Break My Stride" is a song performed by American recording artist Matthew Wilder. It was released in October 1983 as the lead single from his debut album, '' I Don't Speak the Language'', and became a major worldwide hit single for him in late ...
" written by
Matthew Wilder
Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. In early 1984, his single "Break My Stride" hit No. 2 on the ''Cash Box'' chart and No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 ...
and Greg Prestopino.
*The Australian edition includes two bonus tracks before the interview with Aaron as tracks 11 and 12, "Get Up on Ya Feet" and "One for the Summer".
*The Korean edition of the album included only "Get Up on Ya Feet". A Korean special edition included a bonus
VCD
Video CD (abbreviated as VCD, and also known as Compact Disc Digital Video) is a home video format and the first format for distributing films on standard optical discs. The format was widely adopted in Southeast Asia, Central Asia and the ...
with the music videos of "Oh Aaron", "Not Too Young, Not Too Old", "I'm All About You", and the song and music video for Aaron's promotional song featured in ''
Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius'', "Leave It Up to Me". It also featured an interview with Aaron along with brother Nick, and a look behind the scenes of the filming of the video for "I'm All About You". "Come Follow Me" was featured in the extended trailer for ''
Hey Arnold! The Movie
''Hey Arnold!: The Movie'' (also known as ''Arnold Saves the Neighborhood'') is a 2002 American animated adventure comedy film based on the Nickelodeon animated television series of the same name. It was directed by Tuck Tucker and written by s ...
''.
*Other Asian editions were special releases featuring most of the songs from Aaron's debut album as "bonus tracks". A similar concept was employed on an Eastern European edition, which featured several tracks from ''Aaron's Party'' (as well as a remix of the title track and another song from around the time, "Everybody Stand Up"), two songs from Aaron's debut, "Leave It Up to Me" from ''Jimmy Neutron'' and another song by Aaron's on the soundtrack, "A.C.'s Alien Nation". This edition contains several misspellings and what seem to be repeats of several tracks already on the album
Personnel
Vocals
*Aaron Carter – lead vocals (all tracks), background vocals (5, 7, 8)
*No Secrets – background vocals
*Andy Goldmark – additional vocals (1), background vocals (8)
*Jennifer Karr – additional vocals (1, 3)
*Brian Kierulf – additional vocals (1, 3)
*Audrey Martells – additional vocals (1)
*Josh Schwartz – additional vocals (1, 3), background vocals (5)
*Stacy Smith – additional vocals (1, 3)
*Nate "Billionheir" Butler – background vocals (8)
*Taylur Davis – background vocals (2)
*Marc Nelson – background vocals (7, 8)
*Tony T – background vocals (6, 9)
*Todd "Boogie" Terrell – background vocals (4, 10)
*Dana Williams – background vocals (2)
*Davida Williams – background vocals (2)
Instrumentation
*Brian Kierulf – guitar
*Josh Schwartz – guitar
*Paul Gendler – guitar (6, 9)
*Michael Thompson – guitar (7)
*Blake Eiseman – guitar (10)
*Mike Hartnett – bass (10)
*Myles 'Mad Myles' Schneit – scratches (1, 3)
Production
*Charles McCrorey – assistant engineer (1)
*Rowie Nameri – assistant engineer (1, 2, 4, 8, 10)
*John O'Mahony – assistant engineer (1, 3)
*Jason Rankins – assistant engineer (2)
*Rich Tapper – assistant engineer (4, 5, 7, 10)
*Tony Zeller – assistant engineer (10)
*Rich Travali – mixing (1, 3, 5, 7)
*Chris Trevett – mixing (2, 4, 10)
*Bob Kraushaar – mixing (6, 9)
*Brian Kierulf – programming
*Chaz Harper – mastering
Artwork
*Nick Gamma – art direction and design
*Robert Ascroft – photography
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
References
{{Authority control
2001 albums
Aaron Carter albums
Jive Records albums
Albums recorded at Chung King Studios
Albums recorded at Westlake Recording Studios