Crayons is the seventeenth and final studio album by American singer Donna Summer. It was released through Sony Burgundy on May 20, 2008, in the United States. Recorded over a period of two years since signing with the Sony Music label in 2006, Crayons marked Summer's first full-length studio album in fourteen years since 1994's Christmas Spirit, and her first album of original material since 1991's Mistaken Identity. She worked with a number of different producers and songwriters on the album, including Greg Kurstin, J. R. Rotem, Wayne Hector, Toby Gad, Lester Mendez.
| Crayons | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | May 20, 2008 | |||
| Recorded | 2006–2008 | |||
| Genre | R&B[1] | |||
| Length | 50:18 | |||
| Label | Burgundy | |||
| Producer |
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| Donna Summer chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Crayons | ||||
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The album debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 and entered the top fifty of the Italian Albums Chart. Crayons was preceded by its first official single, "Stamp Your Feet", which was released to radio on April 15, 2008. A follow-up, "I'm a Fire", reached number-one on the US Dance Club Songs, giving Summer her 13th number-one hit on that chart. Crayons marked Summer's last album released before her death on May 17, 2012.
Background
editCrayons marked Summer's first full-length studio album in fourteen years since 1994's Christmas Spirit. When commenting on the album, Summer explained, "I wanted this album to have a lot of different directions on it [...] I did not want it to be any one baby. I just wanted it to be a sampler of flavors and influences from all over the world. There's a touch of this, a little smidgeon of that, a dash of something else [...] like when you're cooking."[2] The lead track "Stamp Your Feet" was originally called "The Player's Anthem" and talks about "being a player in life, coupled with the idea of being a player on an actual field, the whole thing, dealing with the pain and doing things even though you are afraid."[2]
Summer wrote "The Queen Is Back" and "Mr. Music" with Jonathan "J.R." Rotem and Evan Bogart, whose father, Casablanca Records boss Neil Bogart, died from cancer at the age of 39.[2] When Summer met Evan Bogart, she was struck by his uncanny resemblance to his label executive father, commenting: "Evan and I hit it off immediately; there was a synergy that happened really quickly."[2] "The Queen is Back," which discusses her musical legacy and public persona, samples "Lose Control" by Kevin Federline. Both songs were produced by Rotem.[2] About the song "Crayons", Summer said, "It encompasses a lot of what the album is about [...] Everybody gets crayons at some point in their lives, everybody can relate to the basics. It comes down to that child in us, I think there's a commonality in the concept of crayons."[2]
Critical reception
edit| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 66/100[3] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [1] |
| BBC | (favorable)[4] |
| Billboard | (positive)[5] |
| Boston Herald | B[6] |
| Canoe.ca | [7] |
| Digital Spy | [8] |
| The Guardian | [9] |
| Okayplayer | (78/100)[10] |
| Slant Magazine | [11] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Crayons has an average score of 66 based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3] Billboard felt that "this surprisingly lively set finds the former disco diva teaming with a crew of young collaborators for a series of uptempo forays into stomping dance-pop, juke-joint blues-rock, breezy Latin jazz and African-accented soul."[5] Christian John Wikane from PopMatters wrote that "the core theme of Crayons is variety. It brazenly flaunts a collage of sounds, while showcasing the multiplicity of Donna Summer's musical selves."[12] In his review for The Village Voice, Alfred Soto found that "on Crayons, it's like no time has passed at all, and of course it hasn't: As Lloyd Richards says to Margo Channing in All About Eve, the stars never die and never change."[13]
Allmusic editor Andy Kellman found that Crayons "benefits from Summer's effortless energy; she was clearly into making this album, and her voice is as able and flexible as ever. However, almost all of the material with which she has to work [...] would make more sense on an album by a female teen pop group from the UK or, in some cases, a young adult catering to the coffeehouse market [...] In-fashion vocal effects, which Summer certainly does not need, detract from a handful of these tracks, but as a whole, the album won't have trouble pleasing fans who just want to hear their queen have a blast and tear it up."[1] Slant Magazine critic Eric Henderson wrote that the album was Summer's "attempt to finally share, but the results are about as personal as food-dyed wax. The music is harmlessly listenable, and the requisite nods to her dance-floor legacy."[11]
Commercial performance
editCrayons debuted and peaked at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 first-week sales of 23,000 units, marking Summer's highest-charting album since her 1983 album She Works Hard for the Money.[14] By November 2008, it had moved 69,000 copies in the United States.[15]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Stamp Your Feet" | Kurstin | 3:52 | |
| 2. | "Mr. Music" |
| Rotem | 3:14 |
| 3. | "Crayons" (featuring Ziggy Marley) |
| Kurstin | 3:21 |
| 4. | "The Queen Is Back" |
| Rotem | 3:27 |
| 5. | "Fame (The Game)" |
| Gad | 4:03 |
| 6. | "Sand on My Feet" |
| Gad | 3:51 |
| 7. | "Drivin' Down Brazil" |
| Kurstin | 4:43 |
| 8. | "I'm a Fire" | Morton | 7:11 | |
| 9. | "Slide Over Backwards" |
| DiGesare | 4:10 |
| 10. | "Science of Love" |
| Gad | 3:48 |
| 11. | "Be Myself Again" | Mendez | 4:19 | |
| 12. | "Bring Down the Reign" |
| Houston | 4:33 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 13. | "It's Only Love" |
| Morton | 6:58 |
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14. | "I'm a Fire" (Matty Soulflower Club Mix) |
| Morton | 9:00 |
Charts
edit| Chart (2008) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] | 77 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[17] | 73 |
| Italian Albums (FIMI)[18] | 42 |
| Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[19] | 97 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[20] | 85 |
| UK R&B Albums (OCC)[21] | 24 |
| US Billboard 200[22] | 17 |
| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[23] | 5 |
Certifications
edit| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Russia (NFPF)[24] | Gold | 10,000* |
|
* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
Release history
edit| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| United States | May 20, 2008 |
|
Burgundy Records |
| Canada | |||
| Denmark | May 26, 2008 | ||
| Germany | June 6, 2008 | ||
| Australia[25] | June 7, 2008 | ||
| France | June 9, 2008 | ||
| Spain | June 10, 2008 | ||
| Brazil | June 16, 2008 | ||
| United Kingdom | June 23, 2008 | ||
| Japan | June 25, 2008 | ||
| Europe[26] | Jan. 13, 2023 | vinyl | Sony Music |
References
edit- ^ a b c Kellman, Andy. "Crayons > Review" at AllMusic. Retrieved 29 August 2011.
- ^ a b c d e f "Summer On Crayons". MySpace. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ a b Donna Summer - Crayons (2008) album reviews at Metacritic
- ^ Easlea, Daryl. "Crayons > Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ a b Wood, Mikael. "Crayons > Review". Billboard. Retrieved 2011-09-24.[dead link]
- ^ Katz, Larry. "Crayons > Review". Boston Herald. Archived from the original on 2011-06-13. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Campbell, Stephane. "Crayons > Review". Canoe.ca. Archived from the original on January 15, 2013. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link) - ^ Levine, Nick. "Crayons > Review". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Macpherson, Alex (2008-06-20). "Crayons > Review". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Book, John. "Crayons > Review". Okayplayer. Archived from the original on 2016-03-04. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ a b Henderson, Eric (20 May 2008). "Crayons > Review". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2011-09-24.
- ^ Wikane, Christian John (14 July 2008). "Donna Summer: Crayons". PopMatters. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ Soto, Alfred (3 June 2008). "Donna Summer's Crayons". Village Voice. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ Hasty, Katie (May 28, 2008). "3 Doors Down Cruises To No. 1 On Album Chart". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ Caulfield, Keith (October 31, 2020). "Ashanti, Nelly, Chate Moore, Donna Summer, Aretha Franklin, BlackGirl". Billboard. Retrieved October 17, 2020.
- ^ "Ultratop.be – Donna Summer – Crayons" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "Offiziellecharts.de – Donna Summer – Crayons" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ "Italiancharts.com – Donna Summer – Crayons". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Donna Summer – Crayons". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "Swisscharts.com – Donna Summer – Crayons". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ "Donna Summer Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
- ^ "Donna Summer Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved August 11, 2024.
- ^ "Russian album certifications – Donna Summer – Crayons" (in Russian). National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPF). Retrieved August 28, 2020.
- ^ Moran, Jonathon (May 25, 2008). Donna Summer's Back. The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved on May 25, 2008.
- ^ "Donna Summer: Crayons (limited pink vinyl reissue, run of 2000)". Music on Vinyl. Retrieved 2023-04-14.