The Dreaming Room

The Dreaming Room is the second studio album conducted and written by Laura Mvula.,[1] released three years after her debut album. It features production works from executive producer Troy Miller and has been heavily produced by the instrumental crew that make up The London Symphony Orchestra. The album was released on 17 June 2016 through RCA Records.

The Dreaming Room
Studio album by
Laura Mvula
Released17 June 2016
Recorded2015–2016
Genre
Length36:17
LabelRCA Victor, Columbia
Producer
  • Troy Miller
  • Laura Mvula
  • The London Symphony Orchestra
Laura Mvula chronology
At Abbey Road Studios
(2014)		 The Dreaming Room
(2016)
Singles from The Dreaming Room
  1. "Overcome"
    Released: 21 January 2016
  2. "Phenomenal Woman"
    Released: 4 May 2016
  3. "Show Me Love"
    Released: 27 May 2016
  4. "Ready or Not"
    Released: 4 November 2016

Background

After the moderate success of Mvula's debut album Sing to the Moon, she began working on different projects. On 6 December 2013, she recorded a track, entitled "Little Girl Blue", which ended up being part of the original soundtrack for the 2013 film 12 Years A Slave. The track was produced by Troy Miller, which was Mvula's first ever encounter with him. It was from this point which she wanted to work with him on her second album.

Then, within 2015, she recorded another track, which was entitled, "You Work For Me", which was her second soundtrack recording. It was released as part of the original soundtrack for the 2015 film The Man From U.N.C.L.E.. This song was also produced by Troy Miller.

Release

Then, on 21 January 2016, Laura Mvula released her first single in three years and was entitled "Overcome". It featured production works from electric guitarist Nile Rodgers whom, at the time, was working with other artists. It was later to be revealed that the song was Rodger's first ever major feature of 2016 as part of an ever-growing project of working with a variety of artists and musicians, such as NERVO, Sigala, Alex Newell, DJ Cassidy and Jess Glynne. The song was revealed to have been a concept that Mvula was working on since her first encounter with Troy Miller, who produced the song, and Rodgers asked if he could work with her, telling her through Twitter, "I want to be in your universe where angels live. I worship you! We must work together", to which she immediately replied, "let's make it happen soon please".[2]

After the song was released, the second album was announced under the title The Dreaming Room and that it was going to be released, originally, on 20 May 2016. It was also revealed that Mvula, with Troy Miller, was going to be producing the entire album, alongside the instrumental crew which make up The London Symphony Orchestra.

The album's first promotional single was released on 7 April 2016, entitled "People". The song featured vocals from rapper Wretch 32 and was released to all digital streaming platforms.

A couple of weeks later in May 2016, Laura released her second official single from the album, entitled "Phenomenal Woman". The song was revealed to have been inspired by her grandmother and classed it as being one of the most happiest songs on the album. She described it as being the kind of song that, if performed live, she could be able to "jump off the stage" if she wanted to.[3]

After the song was released, she announced that the official release date for the album was to be pushed back to 17 June 2016 to avoid direct competition with trending artists Kygo, Meghan Trainor, Ariana Grande and Yuna.

Then, on 27 May 2016, the album's second and last promotional single was released, entitled "Show Me Love" and was released to all digital streaming platforms.

Then, to promote the album further, Mvula released an album sampler which revealed snippets of each song off of the album. Many people took to comment on the sampler, some of them stating that the instrumental track "Renaissance Moon", which was primarily produced The London Symphony Orchestra, was likened to previous track "Sing To The Moon", which was released through her debut album.[4] This was later confirmed to be true, prior the album's release.

The album, was eventually released prior to its delayed release date of 17 June 2016.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.6/10[5]
Metacritic82/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[7]
Associated Press[8]
Exclaim!9/10[9]
The Guardian[10]
The Irish Times[11]
London Evening Standard[12]
Mixmag8/10[13]
Mojo[14]
Pitchfork Media7.8/10[15]
Q[16]
Uncut[17]

The Dreaming Room received critical acclaim 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 82, which indicates "universal acclaim", based on 12 reviews. Writing for Exclaim!, Ryan B. Patrick gave the album a rave review, calling it "a subconscious succession of visuals, emotions and ideas — sometimes abstract, sometimes allegorical, but always dredging up something for the conscious mind to ponder. The Dreaming Room is this and more."[9]

Track listing
The Dreaming Room — Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Who I Am"
  • Troy Miller
  • Mvula
1:18
2."Overcome" (featuring Nile Rodgers)
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:11
3."Bread"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:22
4."Lucky Man"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
  • Mvula
2:52
5."Let Me Fall"
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:40
6."Kiss My Feet"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:43
7."Show Me Love"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
  • Mvula
6:03
8."Renaissance Moon"
  • Mvula
  • Brown
  • Miller
  • Mvula
0:45
9."Angel"Mvula
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:41
10."People" (featuring Wretch 32)
  • Miller
  • Mvula
3:47
11."Nan"
  • Mvula
Mvula1:11
12."Phenomenal Woman"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
  • Mvula
2:44
Total length:36:17
The Dreaming Room — Special edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Ready or Not"
2:32
14."You Work for Me"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
  • Miller
2:49
15."Magic" (BBC Live Version)
5:06
16."Silence Is the Way" (Miles Davis & Robert Glasper featuring Laura Mvula)
5:18
17."Same Ol' Mistakes" (BBC Live Version)
3:37
18."Mellow Man"
  • Mvula
  • Miller
2:31
Total length:58:10

Notes

Charts
Chart (2016) Peak
position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[18] 52
French Albums (SNEP)[19] 170
Irish Albums (IRMA)[20] 23
New Zealand Heatseekers Albums (RMNZ)[21] 5
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[22] 85
UK Albums (OCC)[23] 21
UK R&B Albums (OCC)[24] 3
US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[25] 50
US R&B Albums (Billboard)[26] 23
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References
  1. The Dreaming Room: Amazon.co.uk Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  2. Laura Mvula - Overcome Lyrics Retrieved 30 August 2016
  3. Laura Mvula - Phenomenal Woman Lyrics Retrieved 30 August 2016
  4. Laura Mvula - The Dreaming Room Album Sampler - YouTube Retrieved 30 August 2016
  5. "Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved 15 January 2019.
  6. "Critic Reviews for The Dreaming Room". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  7. Kellman, Andy (17 June 2016). "The Dreaming Room - Laura Mvula". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
  8. Gorondi, Pablo (20 June 2016). "Album review: Laura Mvula has a lot to offer fans in The Dreaming Room". Associated Press. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  9. B. Patrick, Ryan (1 June 2016). "Laura Mvula The Dreaming Room". Exclaim!. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  10. Petridis, Alexis (16 June 2016). "Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room review – vivid, original, it's the real deal". The Guardian. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  11. Clayton-Lea, Tony (16 June 2016). "Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room album review: gorgeous soul hymns". The Irish Times. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  12. Aizlewood, John (17 June 2016). "Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room, review: ‘unashamedly epic’". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  13. "June: 18 Albums You Need To Hear This Month". Mixmag. July 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  14. Wilson, Lois (17 June 2016). "Laura Mvula's The Dreaming Room is MOJO's Album of the Week". Mojo. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  15. Tolentino, Jia (24 June 2016). "Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room Album Review". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  16. "Laura Mvula: The Dreaming Room". Q (361): 112. June 2016.
  17. "Laura Mvula - The Dreaming Room". Uncut: 78. June 2016.
  18. "Ultratop.be – Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  19. "Le Top de la semaine : Top Albums Fusionnes - SNEP (Week 25, 2016)" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  20. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 25, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  21. "NZ Top 40 Albums Chart". Recorded Music NZ. 27 June 2016. Retrieved 24 June 2016.
  22. "Swisscharts.com – Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room". Hung Medien. Retrieved 29 June 2016.
  23. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 25 June 2016.
  24. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 30 October 2016.
  25. https://www.billboard.com/music/Laura-Mvula/chart-history/BLP
  26. https://www.billboard.com/music/Laura-Mvula/chart-history/RBL
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