The Declaration

The Declaration
Studio album by Ashanti
Released June 3, 2008 (2008-06-03)
Genre
Length 49:33
Label
Producer
Ashanti chronology
Collectables by Ashanti
(2005)Collectables by Ashanti2005		 The Declaration
(2008)		 The Vault
(2009)The Vault2009
Singles from The Declaration
  1. "Hey Baby (After the Club)"
    Released: October, 17. 2007
  2. "The Way That I Love You"
    Released: February 26, 2008
  3. "Body on Me"
    Released: June 10, 2008
  4. "Good Good"
    Released: July 16, 2008

The Declaration is the fourth studio album by American R&B/pop singer Ashanti.[1] It was released on June 3, 2008.[2]

The album includes the single "The Way That I Love You". Ashanti said during her June 2 appearance on the television program 106 & Park that she recorded fifty-two tracks for the album, of which fifteen—including the bonus tracks "Why" and "Hey Baby (After the Club)"—were used. This is her last album to be released on Irv Gotti's label The Inc. Records.

Singles

  • "The Way That I Love You" was referred to as the real "first single" in press material and media reports.[3][4][5][6] It was released in February 2008 to Urban radio. It was released to digital retailers in March 2008 and to Rhythmic radio in April 2008. It reached number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Ashanti's first song to reach the top forty since "Only U" in 2004.
  • "Good Good" was released to urban radio stations on July 16, 2008.[7] The song contains elements of Elton John's 1974 single "Bennie and the Jets", and has the same melody arrangement as Michael Jackson's "The Girl Is Mine".

Other Songs

  • In mid-2007, MTV News reported that the first single from The Declaration was "Switch",[8] which was produced by Shy Carter and released digitally in the United States on July 24, 2007. It was later reported that "Switch" will not be included on the album's track listing, and that the first single would be "Hey Baby (After the Club)".
  • "Hey Baby (After the Club)"[9] was released to radio and digital outlets on October 16, 2007. The music video premiered in September 2007. The song, which does not appear on the U.S. editions of the album, peaked at number eighty-seven on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
  • "Body On Me" was recorded not only for Ashanti's The Declaration, but also for Nelly's fifth studio album Brass Knuckles. The track is produced by Akon and Giorgio Tuinfort. It went to number one on Billboard's Hot Videoclip Tracks chart in its first week, becoming the first number one single from Nelly's album.

Other information

Ashanti performed the song, "Shine", at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as on FOX News in December. "Shine" was also played near the end in one of the televised previews for Will Smith's December 2008 movie, Seven Pounds.

The back insert for the physical CD release of the album has the runtimes misprinted, with some times being up to almost a minute under or over the song's actual run time.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic(52/100)[10]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[11]
The Boston Globe(unfavorable)[12]
Daily News (New York)[13]
Entertainment WeeklyC+[14]
NewsdayB[15]
Rolling Stone[16]
Slant Magazine[17]
This Is Music[18]
Toronto Star[19]
USA Today[20]
Vibe[10][21]

The Declaration received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 52, based on 11 reviews, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[10] Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK was impressed saying that the album may be " The best album of Ashanti's career," but that it may also be her most "overlooked."[22] Shanel Odum of Vibe gave a mixed review to the album saying that "More than half of the album is lukewarm," but also said: (The Title Track) is the album's "Diamond in the rough."[21] Christian Hoard also had a mixed review to the album stating: "This season, while R&B fans spin albums by Mariah, Usher and Janet, Ashanti needs more pizazz to compete."[16]

Chart performance

The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, selling 86,000 copies its first week. [23] As of February, 2014 the album has sold 297,000 copies in U.S.[24]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro"
0:45
2."The Way That I Love You"
  • Hutton
  • Douglas
4:32
3."You're Gonna Miss"
  • Douglas
  • Hutton
  • Hutton
  • Douglas
3:18
4."So Over You"
  • Jerkins
3:40
5."Struggle"
  • Douglas
  • Hutton
  • Hutton
3:49
6."Girlfriend"
  • Douglas
  • Hutton
  • Hutton
3:38
7."Things You Make Me Do" (featuring Robin Thicke)
  • Douglas
  • Thicke
  • Aurelius
  • Frenchie Vein
  • Chad Beatz
  • Keith Biz
  • Channel 7
  • Beats (co.)
  • Keith Biz (co.)
3:22
8."In These Streets"
4:36
9."Good Good"
  • Dupri
  • Seal (co.)
3:48
10."Body on Me" (featuring Nelly & Akon)
  • Akon
3:20
11."Mother"
5:17
12."Shine"
  • Peter Stengaard
  • Warren (exec.)
3:52
13."The Declaration"
  • Douglas
  • Aurelius
  • Yinon Yahel
  • Channel 7
  • Yahel
3:40

Charts

Release history

Region Date
United States[28] June 3, 2008
United Kingdom[29] June 9, 2008
Brazil[30] July 18, 2008

References

  1. ↑ "Ashanti's Incredible Year". Black Entertainment Television. 2006-12-11. Archived from the original on 2007-09-29. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
  2. ↑ Ashanti and Nelly Get New Release Dates. Accessed January 28, 2008.
  3. ↑ "America Loves 'The Way That I Love You,' Brand-New ASHANTI Smash". Business Wire. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  4. ↑ Rodriguez, Jayson (February 21, 2008). "Ashanti Snaps In TV-Inspired 'The Way That I Love You' Video". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  5. ↑ Quarles, Alicia (June 5, 2008). "After a 4-year absence, Ashanti makes a comeback". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  6. ↑ Jackson, Charreah. "Ashanti: A New Attitude". Essence.com. Essence Communications Inc. Archived from the original on 2008-06-05. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
  7. ↑ R&R :: Going For Adds :: Urban
  8. ↑ Shaheem Reid; Bridget Bland (July 2, 2007). "Ashanti, Nelly Get Their Beyonce-And-Jay-Z On For New Single 'Switch'". MTV News. MTV Networks. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  9. ↑ "Ashanti "Hey Baby (After The Club)" : premier single issu de "The Declaration"". Musique Radio (in French). December 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  10. 1 2 3 http://www.metacritic.com/music/the-declaration/ashanti/critic-reviews
  11. ↑ Allmusic review
  12. ↑ The Boston Globe review
  13. ↑ Daily News (New York) review
  14. ↑ Entertainment Weekly review
  15. ↑ Newsday review
  16. 1 2 "Rolling Stone review". Archived from the original on May 30, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-29.
  17. ↑ Slant Magazine review
  18. ↑ "This Is Music review". Archived from the original on January 15, 2009. Retrieved 2008-06-11.
  19. ↑ "Toronto Star review". Archived from the original on June 7, 2011. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
  20. ↑ USA Today review
  21. 1 2 "Vibe review". Archived from the original on June 8, 2008. Retrieved 2008-12-25.
  22. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20080628131007/http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/080623/33/21z8u.html
  23. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1045117/disturbed-scores-third-straight-no-1-album
  24. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-02-06. Retrieved 2012-04-24.
  25. ↑ "Ashanti Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  26. ↑ "Ashanti Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  27. ↑ "R&B/Hip-Hop Albums - Year-End 2008". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-24.
  28. ↑ The Declaration: Ashanti
  29. ↑ The Declaration: Ashanti
  30. ↑ Saraiva.com.br - Detalhe do Produto
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