''Queens of the Summer Hotel'' is the tenth studio album by the American singer-songwriter
Aimee Mann, released on November 5, 2021, on
SuperEgo Records
Aimee Elizabeth Mann (born September 8, 1960) is an American singer-songwriter. Over the course of four decades, she has released more than a dozen albums as a solo artist and with other musicians. She is noted for her sardonic and literate lyr ...
.
Writing
Mann started work on ''Queens of the Summer Hotel'' in 2018, when she was commissioned to write songs for a stage adaptation of
Susanna Kaysen
Susanna Kaysen (born November 11, 1948) is an American author, best known for her 1993 memoir '' Girl, Interrupted''.
Background
Kaysen was born and raised in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is the daughter of Annette (Neutra) and economist Carl ...
's 1993 memoir ''
Girl, Interrupted
''Girl, Interrupted'' is a best-selling 1993 memoir by American author Susanna Kaysen, relating her experiences as a young woman in an American psychiatric hospital in the 1960s after being diagnosed with borderline personality disorder.
Th ...
.'' The memoir describes Kaysen's time at
McLean Hospital, a psychiatric hospital in
Belmont, Massachusetts
Belmont is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts. It is a western suburb of Boston, Massachusetts, United States; and is part of the Greater Boston metropolitan area. At the time of the 2020 U.S. Census, the town's population stood at 27,295 ...
.
The musical was to be produced by
Barbara Broccoli and
Frederick Zollo
Frederick M. Zollo (born 24 February 1953) is an American producer and director of both film and theatre.
Selected theatrical productions
* '' Once''
* '' On Golden Pond''
* ''The Farnsworth Invention''
* '' Frozen''
* '' The Goat: or, Who is S ...
, but was canceled by the
COVID-19 pandemic.
The album title was inspired by an
Anne Sexton poem.
The album was announced on August 6, 2021, with the release of the first single, "Suicide Is Murder".
Critical reception
Kirsten Lambert from the ''
Chicago Reader
The ''Chicago Reader'', or ''Reader'' (stylized as ЯEADER), is an American alternative weekly newspaper in Chicago, Illinois, noted for its literary style of journalism and coverage of the arts, particularly film and theater. It was founded by a ...
'' wrote, "Mann probes the depths of human experience, addressing some grim subject matter—including suicide, self-immolation, and incest." She concluded that the album "isn't a quick (or easy) listen. This one will stay with you for a while."
Alex McLevy of ''
The A.V. Club'' called it "an unusual (and unusually rewarding) project," writing, "It doesn't have the instant-classic pop of some of her earlier material, but as a more somber, measured collection of music (none of the jangly pop-rock of ''
Charmer'' to be found here), it's a winner."
Track listing
Charts
References
{{Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann albums
2021 albums
SuperEgo Records albums
Albums produced by Paul Bryan (musician)