''The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' 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 singer-songwriter

Robin Thicke Robin Alan Thicke (born March 10, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for his 2013 hit single " Blurred Lines", which is one of the best-selling singles of all time. At the 56th Annual Grammy Awards, h ...

. It was released on October 3, 2006, by Star Trak Records and

Interscope Records Interscope Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group through its Interscope Geffen A&M imprint. Founded in late 1990 by Jimmy Iovine and Ted Field as a $20 million joint venture with Atlantic Records of Warner Mus ...

. The production on the album was primarily handled by Pro J and Robin Thicke himself with additional production by

The Neptunes The Neptunes are an American songwriting and production duo composed of Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, formed in Virginia Beach, Virginia, in 1992. Williams often provides additional vocals on records and appears in the duo's music videos, ...

. The album also features

guest appearance In show business, a guest appearance is the participation of an outsider performer (such as a musician or actor) in an event such as a music record or concert, show, etc., when the performer does not belong to the regular band, cast, or other p ...

s from

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American singer and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 for a career in the music business. After working as a backing vocalist for Al B ...

Lil Wayne Dwayne Michael Carter Jr. (born September 27, 1982), known professionally as Lil Wayne, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, and record executive. His career began in 1995, at the age of 12, when he was signed by rapper Birdman (rapper), ...

and

Pharrell Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

. In February 2007, a

deluxe edition The terms special edition, limited edition, and variants such as deluxe edition, or collector's edition, are used as a marketing incentive for various kinds of products, originally published products related to the arts, such as books, prints, r ...

of the album was released, which included all three new bonus tracks. ''The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' was supported by two singles; "

Wanna Love U Girl "Wanna Love You Girl" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Robin Thicke featuring fellow American musician Pharrell Williams as the lead single from his second album '' The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' (2006). There is a ...

" and "

Lost Without U "Lost Without U" is a song by American singer Robin Thicke. It was released on December 4, 2006 as the second single from his second album, '' The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' (2006). ''People'' magazine voted the ballad as 2007 sexiest song of th ...

". "Wanna Love You Girl" became an urban hit, while "Lost Without U" became a number-one hit on the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. The album received generally mixed reviews from music critics but despite that became a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

. It debuted at number 45 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 20,000 copies in its first week, but it later peaked at number five on the chart. In March 2007, the album 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

Recording Industry Association of America 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 ...

(RIAA).

Background

Thicke described the album to ''

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 ...

'' as being about “a guy who's been stripped of everything. He doesn't have any money and is about to lose his house. His wife is off becoming a movie star and everyone else is pretty much leaving him. All the cool friends I'd had stopped inviting me to parties. I was all alone at home writing songs on my piano about what I was feeling. Thus came 'Complicated,' 'Can U Believe,' 'I Need Love,' '2 the Sky' and 'Angels.' All these songs were about brokenhearted loneliness and hopelessness; trying to still believe in myself.”

Promotion

Thicke toured with

India.Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards ...

and then opened for

John Legend John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), known professionally as John Legend, is an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and record producer. He began his musical career by working behind the scenes, playing piano on Lauryn Hill's " Ever ...

in late 2006. Notable performances in support of the album and its single "Lost Without U" include the 2007

BET Awards The BET Awards is an American award show that was established in 2001 by the Black Entertainment Television network to celebrate black entertainers and other minorities in music, film, sports and philanthropy. The awards, which are presented annua ...

, The 2007 MOBO Awards,

American Idol ''American Idol'' is an American singing competition television series created by Simon Fuller, produced by Fremantle North America and 19 Entertainment, and distributed by Fremantle North America. It aired on Fox from June 11, 2002, to Ap ...

, and the 2007 Soul Train Music Awards. The song "Angels" appeared on ''

General Hospital ''General Hospital'' (often abbreviated as ''GH'') is an American daytime television soap opera. It is listed in ''Guinness World Records'' as the list of longest-running television shows by category, longest-running American soap opera in pro ...

'', aired on November 22, 2006, during

Luke and Laura Luke and Laura Spencer are fictional characters, and the signature supercouple from the American daytime drama ''General Hospital''. Luke is portrayed by Anthony Geary, and Laura is portrayed by Genie Francis. Though other supercouples came bef ...

's goodbye scene. The song "

Shooter Shooting is the act or process of discharging a projectile from a ranged weapon (such as a gun, Bow and arrow, bow, crossbow, slingshot, or Blowgun, blowpipe). Even the acts of launching Flamethrower, flame, artillery, Dart (missile), darts, ha ...

" was played, during

Jason Jason ( ; ) was an ancient Greek mythological hero and leader of the Argonauts, whose quest for the Golden Fleece featured in Greek literature. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. He w ...

and Sonny's shootout scene from April 12, 2007 to April 13, 2007. The song "

" was played on October 2, 2007, during a love scene between Sonny and

Kate Kate name may refer to: People and fictional characters * Kate (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or nickname * Gyula Káté (born 1982), Hungarian amateur boxer * Lauren Kate (born 1981), American autho ...

.What Song Was That?: Songs Used on General Hospital

Singles

The album's

lead single A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date. Release s ...

, titled "

" featuring

, was released on August 9, 2005, before the album was officially released. The single experienced chart success on urban radio in the United Kingdom. The remix to "Wanna Love You Girl" was released, adding to it was an American rapper

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

. The album's second single, "

" was released on January 30, 2007. The single began getting a lot of radio airplay in Urban & Rhythmic radio stations from 2006 to 2007. The song reached number 14 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and number 1 on the ''Billboard''

. As a result, Thicke became the first Caucasian male artist since

George Michael George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou; 25 June 1963 – 25 December 2016) was an English singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the most significant cultural icons of the MTV generation and is one of the best-selling musici ...

to top the R&B singles chart. Thicke and his record label Interscope soon considered a potential track to be released as the album's third single. Thicke's preference was the track "Can U Believe" (released on April 12, 2007), which has peaked at number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and at number 99 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. On October 2, 2007, "Got 2 Be Down" was officially released to radio airplay as the album's fourth single.

Commercial performance

''The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' debuted at number 45 on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 20,000 copies in its first week. After climbing the charts for five months, the album reached at a peak position at number five on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and sold 57,000 copies that week. The album also reached a peak position at number one on the US

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated J ...

chart. This became the first R&B number one album of Thicke's career. From February 24 to March 3, 2007, both his second single "Lost Without U" and his second album ''The Evolution of Robin Thicke'' simultaneously spent two consecutive weeks at number 1 on both the R&B single and album charts, respectively. On the March 3, 2007 issue of ''Billboard'' magazine, Thicke simultaneously topped 4 ''Billboard'' charts; including Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs,

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay (previously known as Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay) is a chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the top R&B and hip hop songs in the United States, based on audience impressions from a panel of radio stations monitored ...

and Hot Adult R&B Airplay. Due to the popularity of "Lost Without U", the sales of the album started to increase. On March 23, 2007, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for sales of over a million copies in the United States.

Track listing

*Track 10 produced by

; all other tracks produced by Robin Thicke and Pro J

Personnel

Credits adapted from album’s liner notes. * Ronnie "L.B." Breaux Jr. — drums (tracks 14, 16) * Andrew Coleman — engineer (track 10) * Larry Cox II —

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

(tracks 9, 14), organ (tracks 11, 16), bass (track 9) * Justin Derrico — guitar (tracks 9, 16) *

— vocals (track 1) *

Brian Gardner Brian Knapp Gardner, also known as Brian "Big Bass" Gardner, is an American mastering engineer. He has worked on a number of recordings since the mid-1960s, including classic rock, funk, disco, alternative rock, R&B, hip hop, pop punk and dance- ...

— mastering * Gary Grant — horn arrangements (track 15) *

Chad Hugo Charles Edward Hugo (born February 24, 1974) is an American record producer, multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. With close friend Pharrell Williams, he formed the production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he has prod ...

— producer and instrumentation (track 10) * Sean Hurley — bass (tracks 4, 11, 12, 14, 16), acoustic guitar (track 4) * Bobby Keyes — guitar (tracks 5, 11, 12, 14), guitar solo (track 4) * Harry King — piano (track 12) *

— rap (tracks 6, 12) * Bill Malina — engineer (tracks 9, 11, 14-16) * Bill Meyers — horn and string arrangements (track 12) * Pro J — producer (tracks 1-9, 11-16), mixing (track 3), engineer (tracks 1-9, 12, 13, 15), bass (tracks 12, 15), drums (tracks 11, 15), guitar (track 11), keyboards (track 15), instrumentation (tracks 1-6, 8, 12, 13) *

— vocals (all tracks), producer (tracks 1-9, 11-16), piano (tracks 2, 4, 11, 14-16), drums (track 2), guitar (track 3), keyboards (track 15) * Rich Travali — mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4-16) *

Pharrell Williams Pharrell Lanscilo Williams (; born April 5, 1973) is an American record producer, rapper, singer, and songwriter. Alongside close colleague Chad Hugo, he formed the hip hop and R&B production duo the Neptunes in the early 1990s, with whom he ...

— producer, vocals, and instrumentation (track 10)

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links

Interview: Robin Thicke - ''The Evolution of Robin Thicke''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evolution of Robin Thicke, The 2006 albums Robin Thicke albums Star Trak Entertainment albums Albums produced by Robin Thicke Albums produced by the Neptunes