Calling All Hearts

Calling All Hearts is the fourth studio album by American R&B singer Keyshia Cole, released on December 21, 2010 in the United States by Geffen Records.[1] Appearances on the album include Nicki Minaj, Tank, Faith Evans, Timbaland and Yvonne Cole.

For the song by DJ Cassidy, see Calling All Hearts (song).

Calling All Hearts
Studio album by Keyshia Cole
Released	December 21, 2010
Recorded	2009–2010
Genre	R&B hip hop soul hip hop soul
Length	43:09 (standard) 54:50 (deluxe)
Label	Geffen Interscope
Producer	J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League Toxic Mave (N8 Tha Maven) Song Dynasty Big WY Tweek Beats Ron Fair Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis Justa Beast Big D Renan Harrigan Chink Santana Timbaland Dontae Winslow Eddie & KC Hustle
Keyshia Cole chronology
A Different Me (2008) Calling All Hearts (2010) Woman to Woman (2012)
Singles from Calling All Hearts
"I Ain't Thru" Released: December 7, 2010 "Take Me Away" Released: February 1, 2011

Background

Calling All Hearts is made of songs composed before and after Cole met her fiancé, Daniel Gibson. Shortly after revealing that she was pregnant with her first child, Cole went into a short hiatus. She made her first appearance since the birth of her son at the 2010 BET Awards, performing "Airplanes" with B.o.B. In October 2010, Cole leaked an unmastered version of her single, "I Ain't Thru" to her Twitter followers in celebration of her birthday. The single was digitally mastered and then officially released. During this time, Cole shot the video for the single as well as for the promo single "Long Way Down".

Release and promotion

Two editions of the album were composed and released on December 21, 2010—a standard and deluxe edition. The standard edition was revealed to preview on Cole's Myspace Music page on December 16, 2010.[2]

To promote the album, Cole made appearances on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, The Mo'Nique Show, and The Wendy Williams Show. She also made an appearance on 106 and Park on December 20 in which she did a 30-minute special performance.[3] Cole also opened for music act R. Kelly for the second time on his 2011 summer Love Letter Tour.

Singles

• "I Ain't Thru" is the lead single from the album. An unmastered version of the single was released on October 15, 2010.[4] After mastering, the official single was released for digital download and US radio on December 7, 2010. It peaked on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at #54.[5] The music video premiered on November 23, 2010 on 106 and Park.
• "Long Way Down" was a promo single from the album. The video was shot in New York City and premiered alongside "I Ain't Thru". Although never officially sent to radio, "Long Way Down" peaked at #91 on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[6]
• "Take Me Away" is the second single for the album. After being chosen as the next single from fans on Twitter, Cole sent the song to US radio on February 1, 2011.[7] She also performed the song on Conan on January 19, 2011.[8] The song peaked on the US R&B/Hip-Hop Songs at #27.[9] The music video premiered on April 18, 2011 on 106 and Park.[10]

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 9 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 128,000 copies.[11] It also entered at number five on Billboard's R&B/Hip-Hop Albums and number fourteen on the Digital Albums chart.[12][13] In its second week, the album dropped to number ten on the Billboard 200 selling 36,600 copies.[14]

Critical response

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[15]
The New York Times	(mixed)[16]
Rolling Stone	[17]
USA Today	[18]

Calling All Hearts received mixed to positive reviews from most music critics.[19] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 4 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[19] Allmusic writer Andy Kellman gave it a gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and commented that the album "drags in spots, due in part to an absence of a "Let It Go"-type track to break up all the introspection and pain", but it is the kind of album "for those who want to hear a moody, emotional outpouring".[15] Jon Pareles of The New York Times viewed that the album had a standard mix of featured artists and producers, but "after an initial bit of competitive posturing... the songs slip into the background".[16] Rolling Stone's Jonah Weiner gave it three-and-a-half out of five stars and wrote that "Cole is at her best when she's slugging".[17] Steve Jones of USA Today gave the album three out of four stars and commented that "Her passionate vocals still pack a wallop, even though they are no longer fueled by angst".[18]

Track listing

Standard edition[20]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"I Ain't Thru" (featuring Nicki Minaj)	Keyshia Cole, R. Gonzalez, Onika Maraj	The ARE, Ron Fair	3:59
2.	"Long Way Down"	Cole, E. Ortiz, K. Crowe, S. Jordan	J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League	3:59
3.	"Tired of Doing Me" (featuring Tank)	Cole, M. Nathaniel Qahhaar, F. Taylor, D. Babbs, J. Franklin, R. Newt, J. Valentine, K. Stephens	Mave (N8 Tha Maven), Toxic, Ron Fair, Song Dynasty	3:30
4.	"If I Fall in Love Again" (featuring Faith Evans)	Cole, W. Dillon, M. Myers, O. Harvey, C. Wallace, B. Bacharach, H. David	Big WY, Tweek Beats	3:29
5.	"So Impossible"	Cole, J. Harris III, T. Lewis, C. Carter	Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis	4:35
6.	"Sometimes"	Cole, J. Graham, D. Hendrickson, R. Harrigan	Justin "Justa Beast" Graham, DeShawn "Big D" Hendrickson, Renan Harrigan	3:47
7.	"Take Me Away"	Cole, Teray Jones, I. Gotti	Chink Santana, Irv Gotti	3:47
8.	"What You Do to Me"	Cole, Santana	Chink Santana	4:19
9.	"Last Hangover" (featuring Timbaland)	Cole, T. Mosely, J. Harmon, C. Nelson, T. Clayton, J. Beanz	Timbaland	4:18
10.	"Thank You" (featuring Dr. Yvonne Cole)	Cole, E. Clement, K. Clement	Eddie Hustle, KC Hustle	3:28
11.	"Better Me"	Diane Warren	Song Dynasty, Ron Fair	3:56

Deluxe edition[21]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"I Ain't Thru" (featuring Nicki Minaj)	Keyshia Cole, R. Gonzalez, Onika Maraj	The ARE, Ron Fair	3:59
2.	"Long Way Down"	Cole, E. Ortiz, K. Crowe, S. Jordan	J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League	3:59
3.	"Tired of Doing Me" (featuring Tank)	Cole, M. Qahhaar, F. Taylor, D. Babbs, J. Franklin, R. Newt, J. Valentine, K. Stephens	Mave (N8 Tha Maven), Toxic, Ron Fair, Song Dynasty	3:30
4.	"If I Fall in Love Again" (featuring Faith Evans)	Cole, W. Dillon, M. Myers, O. Harvey, C. Wallace, B. Bacharach, H. David	Big WY, Tweek Beats	3:29
5.	"So Impossible"	Cole, J. Harris III, T. Lewis, C. Carter	Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis	4:35
6.	"Confused in Love"	Cole, C. Harmon	Chuck Harmony	4:25
7.	"Sometimes"	Cole, J. Graham, D. Hendrickson, R. Harrigan	Justin "Justa Beast" Graham, DeShawn "Big D" Hendrickson, Renan Harrigan	3:47
8.	"Take Me Away"	Cole, C. Santana, I. Gotti	Chink Santana, Irv Gotti	3:47
9.	"What You Do to Me"	Cole, Santana	Chink Santana	4:19
10.	"Last Hangover" (featuring Timbaland)	Cole, T. Mosely, J. Harmon, C. Nelson, T. Clayton	Timbaland	4:18
11.	"Two Sides to Every Story"	Cole, D. Winslow	Dontae Winslow	3:54
12.	"Where Would We"	Cole, A. Thompson, J. Beckenstein	Antwan (Amadeus) Thompson	3:27
13.	"Thank You" (featuring Dr. Yvonne Cole)	Cole, E. Clement, K. Clement	Eddie Hustle, KC Hustle	3:28
14.	"Better Me"	Diane Warren	Song Dynasty, Ron Fair	3:56

Sample credits

• "If I Fall in Love Again" contains samples from "Warning" by The Notorious B.I.G. "Warning" contains samples of "Walk on by" by Isaac Hayes.[22]
• "Where Would We" contains elements of "Amber Dreams" by Spyro Gyra.

Personnel

Credits for Calling All Hearts adapted from Allmusic.[23]

Drew Adams – assistant The ARE – producer Burt Bacharach – composer Matt Bang – engineer Jim Beanz – vocal producer Big Wy – producer Carla Carter – vocals (background) Ariel Chobaz – engineer Cary Clark – engineer Kahron Clement – assistant Deron Cole – hair stylist Keyshia Cole – A&R, executive producer, vocal producer Hal David – composer Reginald Dowdley – make-up Ron Fair – additional production, executive producer, guitar, producer, string arrangements, string conductor, vocal producer Ashley Fox – marketing Chris Galland – assistant Chris Godbey – engineer, mixing Irv Gotti – producer Alicia Graham – A&R Justin "Justa Beast" Graham – producer Bernie Grundman – mastering Manny Halley – A&R, executive producer Renan Harrigan – producer, keyboards Deshawn Hendrickson – producer, keyboards Tal Herzberg – engineer, pro-tools Ghaz Horani – assistant Buffy Hubelbank – A&R Eddie Hustle – engineer, producer KC Hustle – producer Jimmy Jam – instrumentation, producer

Tiffany Johnson – product manager Sly Jordan – vocal producer J.U.S.T.I.C.E. League – producer Chris Lecky "Lucky" – engineer Terry Lewis – producer Onika Maraj – composer Matt Marrin – mixing George McWilliams – art direction, design Peter Mokran – mixing James Musshorn – assistant Mave (N8 Tha Maven) – producer David Nakaji – engineer Seanitta Parmer – stylist Dave Pensado – mixing Bill Pettaway – guitar Tresa Sanders – publicity Kam Sangha – producer Chink Santana – producer Allen Sides – engineer David Slijper – photography Song Dynasty – producer Eric Stenman – engineer Timbaland – producer Kyle Townsend – vocal producer Toxic – producer Tweek Beats – producer Van Nakari – assistant Diane Warren – composer Eric Weaver – assistant Tremaine Williams – drum programming, engineer Frank Wolf – engineer

Charts

Chart (2010)	Peak position
US Billboard 200[11]	9
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[12]	5

Release history

Region	Date	Format(s)	Label	Edition(s)
United Kingdom	December 21, 2010	CD, digital download	Polydor Records	Standard, deluxe
United States			Geffen Records, Interscope Records

References

1. Calling All Hearts in stores now! Archived 2012-03-16 at the Wayback Machine
2. "Calling All Hearts album premiere on Myspace!". Archived from the original on 2011-01-29. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
3. "Keyshia Cole on BET Monday December 20th!". Archived from the original on 2011-01-29. Retrieved 2010-12-28.
4. New Music: Keyshia Cole f/ Nicki Minaj
5. Chart History: Calling All Hearts. Billboard. Retrieved on 2011-02-03.
6. "Keyshia Cole Album & Song Chart History". Billboard. Retrieved 2012-07-14.
7. "Keyshia Cole – Take Me Away Lyrics and Video". Musicloversgroup.com. 2011-01-21. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
8. "Conan Show Schedule: Upcoming Guests On "Conan" @". Teamcoco.com. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
9. "Keyshia Cole Music News & Info". Billboard.com. Retrieved 2011-03-03.
10. "News : Don't miss the premiere of "Take Me Away" on 106 & Park Monday!". Keyshia Cole. 2011-04-17. Archived from the original on 2012-03-16. Retrieved 2012-02-09.
11. Caulfield, Keith (December 29, 2010). "Taylor Swift Gets Christmas Boost on Billboard 200, Foxx Earns Highest Debut". Billboard. Retrieved December 29, 2010.
12. R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Week of January 08, 2011. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-30.
13. Digital Albums – Week of January 08, 2011. Billboard. Retrieved on 2010-12-30.
14. Langhorne, Cyrus. Eminem Gets A Swift Kick To No. 2, Nicki Minaj Reclaims Top 5, Drake & Kid Cudi Rage Back Onto The Chart Archived 2011-01-08 at the Wayback Machine. SOHH. Retrieved on 2011-01-05.
15. Kellman, Andy (December 21, 2010). Review: Calling All Hearts. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
16. Pareles, Jon (December 20, 2010). Review: Calling All Hearts. The New York Times. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
17. Weiner, Jonah. Review: Calling All Hearts. Rolling Stone. Retrieved on 2010-12-21.
18. Jones, Steve (December 21, 2010). Review: Calling All Hearts. USA Today. Retrieved on 2010-12-22.
19. Calling All Hearts (2010): Reviews. Metacritic. Retrieved on 2011-01-21
20. "Calling All Hearts: Keyshia Cole: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
21. "Calling All Hearts [Deluxe Edition]: Keyshia Cole: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
22. "CD Reviews | Spark missing on latest from Keyshia Cole | The Columbus Dispatch". Dispatch.com. 2010-12-21. Retrieved 2011-02-23.
23. Credits: Calling All Hearts. Allmusic. Retrieved on 2010-12-12.