Turning Point (Mario album)

Turning Point
Studio album by Mario
Released December 7, 2004
Recorded 2003–2004
(see Locations and studios)
Studio
Genre R&B
Length 49:18
Label J
Producer
Mario chronology
Mario
(2002)Mario2002		 Turning Point
(2004)		 Go
(2007)Go2007
Singles from Turning Point
  1. "Let Me Love You"
    Released: November 16, 2004
  2. "How Could You"
    Released: March 15, 2005
  3. "Here I Go Again"
    Released: May 4, 2005
  4. "Boom"
    Released: October 3, 2005

Turning Point is the second studio album by American recording artist Mario, released by J Records on December 7, 2004 in the United States. A R&B record with heavy elements of soul and hip hop music, it involves a diverse roster of collaborators including Scott Storch, Lil Jon, The Underdogs, Carvin & Ivan, and Sean Garrett. The album guests include Cassidy, Juvenile, and Baby Cham.

The first single from the album was "Let Me Love You", which was written by Ne-Yo was a number one hit in the United States and number two in the United Kingdom, becoming Mario's biggest hit to date. The second single was a split single. In the US, "How Could You", a song written by Bay Area singer-songwriter J. Valentine, was released (reaching number 52) but in the UK, "Here I Go Again" was released (reaching number 11). The fourth and final single from the album in the US was "Boom", featuring Juvenile. In support of the album, Mario supported R&B trio Destiny's Child in their tour, Destiny Fulfilled ... And Lovin' It, as an opening act for the American leg.

Concept and themes

In an interview with MTV, Mario explained, "One of the biggest reasons I wanted to do it is that I did want to stand out from everybody. I get to share it with the world... It's good for me. I been blessed to be in this situation. Everything's been going great. I just been pacing myself, working real hard on this album. That's what my life is about right now: my transition into manhood."

The interviewer from MTV said, "If you look at the production credits for the mid-tempo record, you may be surprised to discover that the song was produced by Scott Storch, who's been making noise with club bangers like "Baby Boy" and "Lean Back" the last couple of years."

Mario said, "He did a lot of stuff back in the day, you'd be surprised," Mario said of the producer's talents and versatility. "He played me some stuff he did for Erykah Badu, for Lauryn Hill, for Eminem and 50 Cent. When I went to Scott, we went in the studio and freestyled and came up with some great records."

The interviewer stated, "Storch also produced "Call the Cops" and the "Let Me Love You" remix with Jadakiss and T.I. Mario called on Lil Jon and Juvenile for "Boom."

Mario said, "It's a straight club banger... There's another record called 'How Could You.' I did that with the Underdogs. It's a ballad about me being in a relationship with some shorty. She was doing some things behind my back. I'm telling her, 'Yo, how can you teach somebody the ghetto Kama Sutra?' It's a timeless record, real strong and powerful. Then there's a record called 'Nikes Fresh Out the Box.' I'm talking about a girl, but I'm comparing her to my Nikes."[1]

Release and promotion

Singles

  • The first single, "Let Me Love You", was released on October 12, 2004. Produced by Scott Storch, it was a worldwide success, peaking at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for nine consecutive weeks and #1 on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs for eleven consecutive weeks. In the UK, the single peaked at #2. It also peaked at #1 in New Zealand, Germany and the Netherlands, becoming his biggest hit to date.
  • "How Could You" was the second single, peaking at #52 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #14 on Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs. It was, however, a worldwide disappointment, only reaching #37 in Australia.
  • The third single, "Here I Go Again", failed to peak on the Billboard Hot 100 but reached #9 on the chart of Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs. Worldwide the single was a success; it reached #11 in the UK, #15 in Australia and #16 in Ireland.
  • The fourth and final single, "Boom", was his lowest charting song to date, peaking only #23 at Rhythmic Top 40.

DualDisc edition

Due to the success of the album, it was repackaged and released in a DualDisc format on April 19, 2005 in the US. It includes the album in enhanced stereo, the music videos for "Let Me Love You" and "How Could You", sessions at AOL Special Live Performances of "Let Me Love You" and "How Could You", and a photo gallery.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Blender[3]
Entertainment WeeklyB−[4][5]
MTV Asia(7/10)[6]
The New York Times(positive)[7]
The Situation[8]
Uncut[5]
USA Today[9]
Vibe[10]
The Washington Times(positive)[11]

Jason Birchmeier from AllMusic wrote, "Above all, though, it's 'Let Me Love You' and its remix that make Turning Point a noteworthy effort for this teenager and a fine second album overall."[2]

Baz Dreisinger from Blender said, "Though the Baltimore-born singer is newly legal (as he tells us on the too-terse club jam "18"), his enticingly even-toned voice—smooth as R. Kelly's—transcends teen-pop. It's even manly enough to convey lovelorn intensity ("Here I Go Again"), offer explicit "Directions" to an uncorrupted gal pal ("Trust me, I got skills"), then sweetly stage an "intimate talk" with her ("Like Me Real Hard"). Only his age-appropriate tracks—the singsong club jingle "Girl I Need", or the irony-free homage to "Nikes fresh out the box"—remind us that Mario is not a boy, but not yet a man."[3]

The review from Virgin Media said that "the production is tight throughout the album but not overly polished, and there is enough edge maintained from start to finish to suggest that Mario may indeed buck a few R&B trends in the months to come".[12]

The review from Entertainment Weekly said that "POINT is plenty catchy", giving the album a B-.[4]

Accolades

The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the Grammy Awards.[13]

Commercial performance

Its first appearance was in the Billboard Albums Top 200, selling roughly 161,000 copies in the first week, debuting at number thirteen. It was later certified Platinum in the US, selling over 1.2 million copies.[14] The album's last appearance was week 37/2005 in the Belgium Albums Top 50. Its peak position was number 6, on the Dutch Albums Top 100; it stayed there for one week. Its highest entry was number 9 in the Dutch Albums Top 100.[15]

Track listing

Turning Point – Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."18" (featuring Cassidy)
NEFF-U3:46
2."Let Me Love You"
Storch4:09
3."Couldn't Say No"
  • Feemstar
  • Garrett
  • Barrett
NEFF-U3:49
4."Boom" (featuring Juvenile)
Lil Jon4:06
5."How Could You"
The Underdogs3:56
6."Girl I Need" (featuring Baby Cham)
  • Harold Lilly
  • Robert Christianson
  • Marley Simms
  • Derryck Thornton
  • Robert Garrett
  • Big Tank
  • Lilly
3:44
7."Call the Cops"
Storch3:34
8."Here I Go Again"
  • Feemstar
  • Jason Argsheben
NEFF-U3:21
9."Nikes Fresh Out the Box"
  • Hume
  • Lilly
4:31
10."Directions"
  • Melvin Coleman
  • Lilly
  • Coleman
  • Lilly
4:11
11."Like Me Real Hard"
Carvin & Ivan4:50
12."Shakedown"
  • Dwayne Huff
  • Allen "Allstar" Gordon
  • Xavier Cordova
Allstar3:33
13."Let Me Love You" (Remix featuring Jadakiss & T.I.)
Storch4:29
DualDisc bonus tracks
  1. "Entire Album in Enhanced Stereo"
  2. "Let Me Love You" & "How Could You" (music videos)
  3. "Sessions @ AOL Special Live Performances: Let Me Love You & How Could You
  4. "Photo Gallery"
Sample credits
  • "Girl I Need" contains a portion of the composition "Gimme a Break," written by Robert Christianson, Robert Garrett, and Marley Simms.
  • " "Nikes Fresh Out the Box" contains a sample from "You Walk Your Way" and contains a portion of the composition "Shout," both performed by The Isley Brothers.

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic.[16]

  • Kamel Abdo - engineer, mixing, vocal engineer
  • All-Star - mixing, producer
  • June Ambrose - stylist
  • Johnta Austin - vocal producer
  • Marc Baptiste - photography
  • Ivan "Orthodox" Barias - producer, programming
  • Big Tank - engineer, producer, programming
  • Warren Bletcher - assistant
  • Joel Campbell - keyboards
  • Chris Carmouche - engineer
  • Cassidy - main personnel, primary artist
  • Cham - main personnel, primary artist
  • Melvin Coleman - producer
  • Eric Dawkins - background vocals
  • Peter Edge - executive producer
  • Theron Feemster - audio production, instrumentation, producer
  • Steve Fisher - vocal engineer
  • Delvida Flaherty - production coordination
  • John Frye - engineer, mixing
  • Sean Garrett - producer, vocal arrangement
  • Serban Ghenea - mixing
  • Conrad Golding - engineer
  • Carvin "Ransum" Haggins - engineer, producer, vocal producer
  • Reggie Hamilton - bass, guitar
  • Jaymz Hardy-martin iii - Assistant, Digital Editing
  • Dabling Harward - editing, engineer
  • Charles "CJ" Hilton, Jr. - background vocals
  • Bob Horn - bass, engineer, guitar
  • Kameron Houff - engineer
  • Alloy "Fai" Hume - producer
  • Larry Jackson - A&R
  • Phillip "Taj" Jackson - vocal producer
  • Jadakiss - guest artist, main personnel, primary artist
  • LaMarquis Mark Jefferson - bass
  • Juvenile - guest artist, main personnel, primary artist
  • Chris LeBeau - artwork
  • Lil Jon - audio production
  • Harold Lilly - audio production
  • Howard Lilly - producer
  • Craig Love - guitar
  • Kev Mahoney - assistant
  • Mario - main personnel, primary artist
  • Manny Marroquin - mixing
  • Dwayne Moore - bass
  • Pun Nio - vocal producer
  • Troy Patterson - a&r, executive producer, vocal producer
  • Herb Powers - mastering
  • Angelo Quaglia - engineer
  • Tim Roberts - assistant
  • Franky "Vegas" Romano - digital editing
  • Dave Russell - editing, engineer, mixing
  • James "Hal" Smith - background vocals
  • James H. Smith - engineer, vocal producer
  • Johnnie "Smurf" Smith - keyboards
  • Jonathon "Lil' Jon" Smith - producer
  • Scott Storch - audio production, producer
  • Frank Sutton - engineer, tracking
  • T.I. - guest artist, main personnel, primary artist
  • Mike Tyler - guitar
  • The Underdogs - audio production, musician, producer
  • Mike "Hitman" Wilson - vocal engineer

Charts

Certifications

Territory Certifier Certification Sales
United States RIAA Platinum 1.2 million+
United Kingdom BPI Gold[33] 100,000+
Worldwide IFPI 2x Platinum 2 million+[34]

Release history

Region Date Label Format
United States December 7, 2004 J Records CD release, digital download
Japan[35] February 28, 2005 BMG Japan
United Kingdom[36] March 7, 2005 J Records
Australia[37] March 14, 2005 J Records
Germany[38] April 4, 2005 J Records

References

  1. ↑ "Mario Sings About His Nikes And His Honeys On Turning Point".
  2. 1 2 Allmusic review
  3. 1 2 Blender review
  4. 1 2 Aswad, Jem (December 24, 2004). "Turning Point Review". Entertainment Weekly: 71. Retrieved 2012-10-13.
  5. 1 2 "Mario - Turning Point CD". cduniverse.com.
  6. ↑ "MTV Asia review". Archived from the original on August 31, 2006. Retrieved 2006-08-31.
  7. ↑ "Critic's Choice: New CD's". The New York Times. December 20, 2004.
  8. ↑ The Situation review Archived March 7, 2009, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ "USATODAY.com - 'Speak': Lohan is heard". usatoday.com.
  10. ↑ "Vibe". google.com.
  11. ↑ "Mario Comes of Age on 'Turning Point' - HighBeam Business: Arrive Prepared".
  12. ↑ "Mario – Turning Point Review". Archived from the original on October 11, 2007.
  13. ↑ "Mario grammy nominations". Rock on the Net. Retrieved January 18, 2009.
  14. ↑ "Billboard Bits: Sandy West, Mario, Thomas Dolby".
  15. ↑ "Mario – Turning Point – Music Charts". αCharts. Retrieved December 19, 2008.
  16. ↑ "Turning Point - Mario | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 19 December 2016.
  17. ↑ "Australiancharts.com – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  18. ↑ "Austriancharts.at – Mario – Turning Point" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  19. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Mario – Turning Point" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  20. ↑ "Ultratop.be – Mario – Turning Point" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  21. ↑ "Danishcharts.com – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  22. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – Mario – Turning Point" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  23. ↑ "Lescharts.com – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  24. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Mario – Turning Point" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  25. ↑ "Irish-charts.com – Discography Mario". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  26. ↑ "Italiancharts.com – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  27. ↑ "Charts.org.nz – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  28. ↑ "Swisscharts.com – Mario – Turning Point". Hung Medien. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  29. ↑ "Mario | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  30. ↑ "Mario Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  31. ↑ "Mario Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-18.
  32. ↑ "2005 Year-End Chart – Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved 2014-06-30.
  33. ↑ "BPI certifications".
  34. ↑ "R&B/Pop Star Mario Talks About His Upcoming New Album, Go, On J Records".
  35. ↑ "bestprices.com". bestprices.com.
  36. ↑ "Music - Virgin Media".
  37. ↑ "SANITY Error Page". sanity.com.au.
  38. ↑ Sony Music Entertainment. "Musicbox MP3 Downloads". musicbox.de.
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