Spellbound (Paula Abdul album)

Spellbound is the second studio album by American singer Paula Abdul, released in May 1991. The album was an international success and spawned major radio hits with the singles "Rush Rush", "The Promise of a New Day", "Blowing Kisses in the Wind", "Vibeology" and "Will You Marry Me?". The album went triple platinum in the United States and peaked at No. 1 on the Billboard 200.

Spellbound
Studio album by Paula Abdul
Released	May 14, 1991
Recorded	September 1990 – March 1991
Studio	Greene Street Recording (New York City, New York) Z Recording Studio (Brooklyn, New York) Hollywood Sound Recording Studio Institute of Social Disruption Studio Masters Sunset Sound Studios (each Los Angeles, California) Mad Hatter Studios (Silver Lake, California) Ocean Way Recording (Hollywood, California) Paisley Park Studios (Chanhassen, Minnesota)
Genre	Pop R&B dance-pop new jack swing hip hop soul
Length	49:03
Label	Virgin Captive
Producer	Peter Lord Paisley Park V. Jeffrey Smith Don Was Jorge Corante
Paula Abdul chronology
Shut Up and Dance: Mixes (1990) Spellbound (1991) Head Over Heels (1995)
Singles from Spellbound
"Rush Rush" Released: May 2, 1991 "The Promise of a New Day" Released: July 20, 1991 "Blowing Kisses in the Wind" Released: October 17, 1991 "Vibeology" Released: November 18, 1991 "Will You Marry Me?" Released: March 19, 1992

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Chicago Tribune	[2]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[3]
Los Angeles Times	[4]
Robert Christgau	[5]
Rolling Stone	[6]
Slant	[7]

Spellbound won a Grammy Award for Best Recording Package.

Some tracks are mixed using QSound.

Critical reception

In 2003, staff at Slant Magazine included Spellbound in its list of "50 Essential Pop Albums".[8]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number five on the Billboard 200 in its first week and rose four spots to number one the following week. It stayed at the summit for two consecutive weeks, selling 88,000 and 89,000 units respectively. The album distinguished itself by becoming the lowest selling number-one album in the Nielsen SoundScan era at the time of its release—a distinction it held until 2004, when Outkast's Speakerboxxx/The Love Below sold 86,000 copies while at number one.[9] This was primarily due to the newly implemented SoundScan tracking system, which had not been implemented into every major music chain, thus sales were not entirely accurate. Nevertheless, the album became a best-seller and emerged as the best selling album for the month of June, spending 16 weeks within the top 10, and was certified three-times platinum by the RIAA in January 1992.[10][11] Overall, the album spent 70 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart and was ranked as the 18th best-seller of the year.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"The Promise of a New Day^a"	Paula Abdul • Peter Lord • Sandra St. Victor • V. Jeffrey Smith	Lord • Smith	4:32
2.	"Rock House^a"	Abdul • Lord • St. Victor • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:11
3.	"Rush Rush"	Lord	Lord • Smith	4:52
4.	"Spellbound^a"	Abdul • Lord • St. Victor • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:48
5.	"Vibeology"	Lord • St. Victor • Smith	Lord • Smith	5:16
6.	"U^a"	Prince	Paisley Park	4:05
7.	"My Foolish Heart"	Lord • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:10
8.	"Blowing Kisses in the Wind^a"	Lord	Lord • Smith	4:41
9.	"To You^a"	Jorge Corante • Colin England	England • Corante	3:31
10.	"Alright Tonight^a"	John Hiatt	Don Was	4:28
11.	"Will You Marry Me?"	Abdul • Lord • St. Victor • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:24

Asian, European, Japanese and South American edition (bonus track)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
6.	"Will You Marry Me?"	Abdul • Lord • St. Victor • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:24
7.	"U^a"	Prince	Paisley Park	4:05
8.	"My Foolish Heart"	Lord • Smith	Lord • Smith	4:10
9.	"Blowing Kisses in the Wind^a"	Lord	Lord • Smith	4:41
10.	"To You^a"	Jorge Corante • Colin England	England • Corante	3:31
11.	"Alright Tonight^a"	John Hiatt	Don Was	4:28
12.	"Good Night, My Love (Pleasant Dreams)" (Bonus track)	George Motola • John Marascalco	Was	3:14

Notes

• ^{^a} denotes a song mixed using QSound.

Production

• Produced by Peter Lord, Paisley Park, V. Jeffrey Smith, Jorge Corante and Don Was
• Engineers: Wolfgang Aichholz, Ed Cherney, Don Feinerg, Arne Frager, Rod Hull, Michael Koppelman, Greg Laney, Dave Pensado

Personnel

• Lead vocals and Synclavier II: Paula Abdul
• Backing vocals: Sweet Pea Atkinson, Sir Harry Bowens, Sally Dworsky, Colin England, The Family Stand, Peter Lord, Arnold McCuller, Sandra St. Victor
• Guitars: Mike Campbell, Mark Goldenberg, Randy Jacobs, Clifford Moonie Pusey, V. Jeffrey Smith
• Keyboards: Jorge Corante, Tom Hammer, Peter Lord, Ivan Neville, V. Jeffrey Smith
• Organ: Jamie Muhoberac
• Bass: Tim Drummond
• Drums: Curt Bisquera, Rocky Bryant
• Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa
• Trumpet: Greg Adams
• Tenor sax: Steve Grove
• Baritone sax: Stephen Kupka
• Harmonica: Stevie Wonder
• Violin: Stuart Canin
• Lighting Director: Billy Heaslip
• Photography: Robert Lobetta

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1991) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[12] 3 Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[13] 6 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[14] 45 Japanese Albums (Oricon)[15] 12 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[16] 17 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[17] 14 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[18] 6 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[19] 25 UK Albums (OCC)[20] 4 US Billboard 200[21] 1 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[22] 31

Year-end charts Chart (1991) Position US Billboard 200[23] 18 Chart (1992) Position US Billboard 200[24] 40

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[25]	Gold	35,000^^
Canada (Music Canada)[26]	2× Platinum	200,000^^
Japan (RIAJ)[27]	Gold	100,000^^
Sweden (GLF)[28]	Platinum	100,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[29]	Gold	100,000^^
United States (RIAA)[30]	3× Platinum	3,000,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Bryan Buss. "Spellbound - Paula Abdul". AllMusic. Retrieved January 11, 2012.
2. Jan DeKnock (1991-05-23). "Paula Abdul Spellbound (Virgin)". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
3. David Browne (1991-05-17). "Spellbound". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
4. Dennis Hunt (1991-05-12). "Abdul Accents Vocals on 'Spellbound'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2013-03-28.
5. Christgau, Robert. "Spellbound". Robert Christgau.
6. Berger, Arion (1991-06-27). "Spellbound : Paula Abdul : Review". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 2007-12-11. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
7. Henderson, Eric (2004-07-17). "Paula Abdul Spellbound". Slant Magazine. Retrieved 2015-12-30.
8. "Vital Pop: 50 Essential Pop Albums | Feature | Slant Magazine". Slant Magazine. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
9. Inc (July 22, 2006). Billboard. Billboard. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
10. McAleer, Dave (1995). The All Music Book of Hit Albums. Hal Leonard Corporation. ISBN 9780879303938. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
11. "Album artist 456 – Paula Abdul". tsort.info. June 2, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
12. "Australiancharts.com – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
13. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 1557". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
14. "Dutchcharts.nl – Paula Abdul – Spellbound" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
15. "Spellbound – Oricon", Oricon (in Japanese), retrieved February 21, 2009
16. "Offiziellecharts.de – Paula Abdul – Spellbound" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
17. "Charts.nz – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
18. "Swedishcharts.com – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
19. "Swisscharts.com – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Hung Medien. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
20. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
21. "Paula Abdul Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
22. "Paula Abdul Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved September 27, 2016.
23. https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1991/top-billboard-200-albums
24. https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1992/top-billboard-200-albums
25. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988-2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
26. "Canadian album certifications – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Music Canada.
27. "Japanese album certifications – Paula Abdul – Spellbound" (in Japanese). Recording Industry Association of Japan. Retrieved March 6, 2020. Select 1992年11月 on the drop-down menu
28. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 1987−1998" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
29. "British album certifications – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Spellbound in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
30. "American album certifications – Paula Abdul – Spellbound". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH.