''The Project'' is the third studio album and major label debut by Canadian

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

artist

Lindsay Ell Lindsay Elizabeth Ell (born 20 March 1989) is a Canadian-American country pop singer, songwriter, guitarist and television personality from Calgary, Alberta. Her music incorporates elements of rock and blues. She was signed to the US record labe ...

. It was released by Stoney Creek Records on August 11, 2017. ''The Project'' was the number-one selling country album the week of its release. The album was released in physical format in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2018.

Singles

Waiting on You Waiting on You may refer to: * "Waiting on You" (Ultra Naté and Michelle Williams song), 2012 * "Waiting on You" (Charlie Major song), 1996 * "Waiting on You" (Lindsay Ell song), 2017 * '' ...Waiting on You'', a 1974 album by Jonathan Kelly ...

", the album's lead single, was released on March 24, 2017 as part of Ell's EP, '' Worth the Wait''. The song was released to American country radio on May 29, 2017. The second single, "

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", was released to American country radio on December 11, 2017.

Promotional singles

"Champagne" was released as the album's first promotional single on July 21, 2017. "Good" was released as the second promotional single on July 28, 2017.

Production

Before recording the album, Ell was worried about what sort of music she wanted to make and brought her concerns to producer Bush. Upon being asked what her favourite album was, she replied with ''

Continuum Continuum may refer to: * Continuum (measurement), theories or models that explain gradual transitions from one condition to another without abrupt changes Mathematics * Continuum (set theory), the real line or the corresponding cardinal number ...

'' by

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Born and raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut, Mayer attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but left and moved to Atlanta in 1997 with ...

. Bush then tasked her with recording the entire album by herself in under three weeks so that she could determine what sounds and production elements she liked, resulting in The Continuum Project which was released separately in 2018.

Critical reception

Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' wrote that

Kristian Bush Kristian Merrill Bush (born March 14, 1970) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Bush is one half of the country music duo Sugarland with Jennifer Nettles, and was a member of the folk rock duo Billy Pilgrim with Andrew Hyra ...

's production "allowed Lindsay to shine in a way that accentuates every nuanced talent she has as a singer, songwriter and guitarist," and called ''The Project'' "a beautiful collection worthy of revisiting time and time again." Cillea Houghton of ''Sounds Like Nashville'' praised Ell's artistry, writing that "what makes ''The Project'' so compelling is not just the songs themselves, but the fact that they are so unique from one another but still work cohesively."

Commercial performance

''The Project'' debuted at number 40 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart dated September 2, 2017. On the Top Album Sales component chart, the album debuted at number seven. It also debuted at number four on the

Top Country Albums Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales a ...

chart, and at number one on the Country Album Sales component chart. The album sold 10,000 copies and 1,000

album-equivalent unit The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, is a measurement unit in music industry to define the consumption of music that equals the purchase of one album copy. This consumption includes streaming and song downloads in addition to traditi ...

s in its first week. As of September 2017, the album has sold 14,600 copies in the US.

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Project, The 2017 debut albums Lindsay Ell albums BBR Music Group albums