''It's About Time'' is the ninth studio album by the American band

Chic Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word. Etymology '' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...

released on September 28, 2018 through

Virgin EMI Records Virgin EMI Records was a British record label owned by the Universal Music Group that was formed in 2013. In June 2020, the label was rebranded as EMI Records, and operates Virgin Records as an imprint of the new EMI Records. History Virgin ...

. It was written and conducted by Chic guitarist

Nile Rodgers Nile Gregory Rodgers Jr. (born September 19, 1952) is an American musician, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. The co-founder of Chic, he has written, produced, and performed on records that have sold more than 750 million albums and 1 ...

. '' It’s About Time '' is the first album to be released in over two decades for the group, and is the first Chic album to not feature founding member

Bernard Edwards Bernard Edwards (October 31, 1952 – April 18, 1996) was an American bassist and record producer, known primarily for his work in disco with musician Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greates ...

who died in 1996. Originally scheduled for a 2015 release, heralded by the single " I'll Be There", the album concept kept changing and the release delayed for three years, partly due to the deaths of

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. The ...

and

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer, songwriter and actor. Regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, pa ...

. Eventually released on

in September 2018, the album cover is a homage to the group’s 1977 self titled debut album ''

''. The lead single, "Till the World Falls", featuring

Mura Masa Alexander George Edward Crossan (born 5 April 1996), better known by his stage name Mura Masa, is a Guernsey-born electronic record producer and songwriter. Crossan is best known for his 2016 song " Lovesick" (featuring ASAP Rocky), which pea ...

, Cosha and

Vic Mensa Victor Kwesi Mensah (born June 6, 1993), known professionally as Vic Mensa, is an American rapper. Born and raised in Chicago, he was a member of the regional hip hop groups Kids These Days (band), Kids These Days and Savemoney prior to releasing ...

, was released on June 22, 2018. According to Rodgers, ''It's About Time'' is the first of two albums that make up the "new Chic experience". The second album ''Executive Realness'' was originally scheduled for February 2019, and will "bring to a close the journey of Chic". It was later postponed to May 2019, but ultimately never materialized. , nothing is confirmed for the tenth and final album. One of the songs, "I Believe in Music", was broadcast on the BBC, but remains unreleased.

Critical reception

''It's About Time'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 64 based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". The album earned Chic a nomination for the

Brit Award for International Group The Brit Award for International Group is an award given by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), an organisation which represents record companies and artists in the United Kingdom. The accolade is presented at the Brit Awards, an annual cel ...

at the

2019 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2019 was the 39th edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music show, the Brit Awards. It was held on 20 February 2019 at The O2 Arena in London, with Jack Whitehall as the host for the second year running. Archit ...

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer.

Charts

References

External links

* * on NileRodgers.com {{Authority control 2018 albums Chic (band) albums Albums produced by Nile Rodgers Albums produced by Mura Masa Virgin EMI Records albums Albums produced by Danny L Harle Albums produced by Jeff Gitelman