''The Sound'' is the fifth studio album by American duo Mary Mary. It was released on October 21, 2008, by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

. A

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

suggesting an

FM radio FM broadcasting is a method of radio broadcasting using frequency modulation (FM). Invented in 1933 by American engineer Edwin Armstrong, wide-band FM is used worldwide to provide high fidelity sound over broadcast radio. FM broadcasting is cap ...

broadcast experience, the project was produced by

Warryn Campbell Warryn Stafford Campbell, Jr. (born August 21, 1975) is an American record producer. He has worked with a number of gospel, hip hop and R&B artists. Campbell originally got his start as a session musician and producer under the tutelage of DJ ...

. In advance of the album's release, the duo released a promotional song entitled "A Mother's Smile" in conjunction with a Mother's Day promotion with Colgate. The official lead single "

Get Up Get or GET may refer to: * Get (animal), the offspring of an animal * Get (divorce document), in Jewish religious law * GET (HTTP), a type of HTTP request * "Get" (song), by the Groggers * Georgia Time, used in the Republic of Georgia * Get AS, a ...

" was released on July 15, 2008, and won Best Gospel/Contemporary Christian Music Performance at the 2009

51st Grammy Awards The 51st Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 8, 2009, honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2007, through September 30, 2008. Robert Plant and Alison Krauss were the b ...

. The album was also nominated for a

Dove Award A Dove Award is an accolade by the Gospel Music Association (GMA) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the Christian music industry. The awards are presented annually. Formerly held in Nashville, Tennessee, the Dove Awards ...

for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year at the 40th GMA Dove Awards.Nominations Announced for 40th GMA Dove Awards
at CBN.com

Production

As with other Mary Mary recordings,

assumed production over the album. The duo covers a range of musical genres, including a

Marvin Winans Marvin Lawrence Winans (born March 5, 1958) is an American pastor and gospel singer, and a member of the musical Winans family. He is also known for his recurring role in the hit show '' Tyler Perry's House of Payne''. Life and career Early life ...

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message ("the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words an ...

song, "It Will All Be Worth It", and a nod to

crunk Crunk is a subgenre of hip hop music that emerged in the early 1990s and gained mainstream success during the mid 2000s. Crunk is often up-tempo and one of Southern hip hop's more dance and club oriented subgenres. An archetypal crunk track freq ...

with "Superfriend". They bring a

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

flavor with "The Sound", and an urban street sound to the third single "

God in Me "God in Me" is a song by American contemporary gospel duo Mary Mary featuring American gospel singer Kierra "Kiki" Sheard. It was released as the second single from their fourth studio album '' The Sound'' (2008), and was also featured on their gr ...

", featuring

Kierra Sheard Kierra Valencia "Kiki" Sheard-Kelly (born June 20, 1987) is an American gospel singer. She is the daughter of gospel singer Karen Clark-Sheard (member of gospel singing group the Clark Sisters) and granddaughter of gospel choral director Mattie ...

. Finally, the duo also incorporated

dance-pop Dance-pop is a popular music subgenre that originated in the late 1970s to early 1980s. It is generally uptempo music intended for nightclubs with the intention of being danceable but also suitable for contemporary hit radio. Developing from a ...

music in their lead single "

". The album's title track appeared on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

to the 2008 biographic film ''

Cadillac Records ''Cadillac Records'' is a 2008 American biographical drama film written and directed by Darnell Martin. The film explores the musical era from the early 1940s to the late 1960s, chronicling the life of the influential Chicago-based record-compan ...

''. The entire album is recorded to give the listener the illusion of listening to a

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

. ''The Sound'' employs inter-track drops and frequent station IDs (WMBR/MyBlock Radio).Gospel Flava Review
/ref>

Critical reception

Andy Kellman from

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 ...

gave ''The Sound'' a four out of five stars rating. He found that "once again, it's the instantly memorable, upbeat, radio-ready material that places Mary Mary at the forefront of contemporary gospel ..There's more walloping vigor than what can be found in nearly any given modern, platinum-seeking R&B album. The disc's latter half is relatively indistinct, but it could never be said that the duo is going through the motions." ''

Cross Rhythms Cross Rhythms is a Christian media organisation based in Stoke-on-Trent, England. It operates an FM and online radio station, produces radio shows sent internationally, and its website has resources about contemporary Christian music. Hi ...

'' editor Dave Brassington wrote that "far more focussed than previous projects, and with occasionally breathtaking production this shows Tina and Erica at their finest ..Clearly the sisters taking it up to the next level has been recognised by the public as this is their most successful album of the five they've recorded and wherever you look." Chris Rizik from SoulTracks wrote that "what's surprising about their newest disc, ''The Sound'', is how Mary Mary can sound so new – and maybe even better – five records into their career."

Accolades

In December 2008, ''The Sound'' was

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-nominated for the

of 2009 in the category "Best Gospel Album". The album's first single "

" also received two Grammy nominations for "Best Gospel Song" and "Best Gospel Performance," of which it won "Best Gospel Performance." At the 52nd Grammy Awards in 2010 the duo won another Grammy for Best Gospel Song for God In Me. The album was also nominated for a

for Contemporary Gospel Album of the Year at the 40th GMA Dove Awards. The song "

" was also nominated for Country Recorded Song of the Year.

Chart performance

''The Sound'' debuted at number seven on the US ''Billboard'' 200, selling 37,800 copies it first week. This marked Mary Mary's highest-charting album to date. In addition, it peaked at number two on the ''Billboard''

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 Jan ...

chart, as well as number 1 on both the

Top Gospel Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

and

Top Christian Albums Top Christian Albums is a weekly chart published in ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the best-performing Christian albums in the United States. Like the ''Billboard'' 200, the data is compiled by Nielsen Soundscan based on each album's weekly ...

. ''The Sound'' has remained on the ''Billboard'' 200 for 55 weeks.

Singles

Leading single, "

", was released digitally on July 15, 2008. The song peaked at number 30 on the

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 ...

, number two on the

Hot Gospel Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in '' Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and topped the

Hot Dance Club Play Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...

chart. A music video for Mary Mary's next single "I Worship You" was released through several online channels in August 2008. An additional single, "God In Me", featuring singer

gained airplay on both hip-hop and R&B formats. According to a bulletin post on Sheard's official MySpace page, an internet contest to appear in the music video for "God In Me" was announced in December 2008. It peaked at number 68 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, number five on the

and again, topped the Top Gospel Songs chart. It became the first song since their debut single "

Shackles (Praise You) "Shackles (Praise You)" is the debut single by American gospel singer-songwriter duo Mary Mary, released on February 29, 2000, in the United States. It is considered the group's signature song. Stan North of GospelFlava.com deemed it one of the p ...

" to chart on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. "God In Me" reached the top ten of the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs in its 42nd week, the longest climb to the top tier in the survey's 67-year history. It spent 76 weeks on the

.God in Me Songfacts
/ref>

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sound, The 2008 albums Columbia Records albums Mary Mary albums Electronica albums by American artists