The Original High

The Original High is the third studio album by American singer Adam Lambert, released on June 12, 2015, by Warner Bros. Records. Its executive producers are Max Martin and Shellback, the duo responsible for co-writing and producing Lambert's early-career hits "Whataya Want from Me" and "If I Had You". The album marks Lambert's first release since leaving previous record label, RCA Records. The record's style has been described as EDM,[1] pop-house,[2] synth-pop,[3] and electropop.[4]

The Original High
Studio album by
Adam Lambert
ReleasedJune 12, 2015 (2015-06-12)
Recorded2014–2015
StudioStockholm, Sweden
Genre
LabelWarner Bros.
Producer
Adam Lambert chronology
Playlist: The Very Best of Adam Lambert
(2015)		 The Original High
(2015)		 Spotify Sessions
(2016)
Adam Lambert studio album chronology
Trespassing
(2012)		 The Original High
(2015)		 Velvet
(2020)
Singles from The Original High
  1. "Ghost Town"
    Released: April 21, 2015
  2. "Another Lonely Night"
    Released: October 9, 2015

The album was preceded by the release of its lead single, "Ghost Town", on April 21, 2015. "Another Lonely Night" was released as the album's second single on October 9, 2015.

The Original High peaked within the top 10 of 11 national album charts. It debuted at number 3 on the Billboard 200 chart selling 42,000 copies in its opening week. It also became Lambert's first ever UK top 10 album, debuting and peaking at number 8.

Background

In July 2013, it was reported that Lambert had left his record label of five years, RCA Records, due to "creative differences"; the label was allegedly pushing him to record an album composed of cover songs from the 1980s.[5][6] The day after his announcement, Lambert was contacted by Warner Bros. Records.[7] A deal with the label was confirmed by Billboard in January 2015, along with news that his upcoming album would be executively produced by Max Martin and Shellback and was scheduled for release in the summer of 2015.[8] Songwriting for the album began in early 2014, with recording taking place between 2014 and 2015 in the producers' native Sweden.[7]

Lambert first revealed the album title on social media on January 29, 2015, also his birthday.[9] In March 2015, he unveiled additional details regarding the musical direction of the album in an interview with Hunger TV magazine.[10] Describing the style of the album as less "campy" and theatrical than his previous material, Lambert also identified the album's genre as "definitely pop but not bubblegum."[10][11]

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[12]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Digital Spy[13]
The Guardian[2]
Houston Chronicle[14]
Idolator4/5[15]
The Irish Times[16]
The New York TimesPositive[17]
New York Daily News[18]
NewsdayA-[19]
Rolling Stone[20]

The Original High received positive reviews from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70 based on six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[12] Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, commenting that "Adam Lambert demonstrates he's in perfect control of his style and sound and knows how to combine both into a sterling modern pop record."[21] Jon Caramanica, music critic of The New York Times was also positive on the album, found the star focused and committed to his style and in the end noted: "While there are a few missteps--Mr. Lambert doesn’t have the R&B sultriness required for “Underground,” and “Rumors” bizarrely cribs the jaunty synth pattern from Lil Wayne’s “Lollipop”--there are almost no extravagances. After years of spectacle, Mr. Lambert may have been saved by modesty."[17]

Lauren Murphy from The Irish Times gave only two stars out of five, commented "this unfortunately titled record is neither original nor uplifting enough to generate a high of any description."[16] Brittany Spanos from the Rolling Stone magazine gave the album three out of five stars, stating that "even when the lyrics verge on ridiculousness [...], he's one of the biggest personalities in pop."[20] Maura Johnson from The Boston Globe wrote that the album is "an appealing snapshot of how Lambert has grown, and how he’s still willing to surprise his listeners and himself."[22] Joey Guerra of the Houston Chronicle was similarly impressed, writing that the album "builds on the brash appeal that made [Lambert] a star."[14] Pip Ellwood of Entertainment Focus called The Original High "the strongest record that Lambert has released to date."[23]

Commercial performance

In the US market, music industry forecasters predicted that the album could enter the top 10 of the US Billboard 200 chart dated 4 July, with about 35,000 units in its first week.[24] It debuted on the Billboard 200 at number three, selling 42,000 copies in its first week, but totalling 47,000 units including streams and tracks.[25]

On the UK Albums Chart, The Original High debuted at number eight, selling 9,817 copies in its first week, giving Lambert his first-ever UK top ten debut.[26][27] The album also achieved Lambert's highest-ever album position in the Netherlands, debuting at number ten.[28]

Track listing
The Original High – Standard edition[29]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Ghost Town"
3:28
2."The Original High"
3:26
3."Another Lonely Night"
  • Lambert
  • Martin
  • Fox
  • Payami
  • Martin
  • Payami
3:45
4."Underground"
  • Payami
  • Janiak
3:37
5."There I Said It"
  • Lambert
  • Payami
  • Janiak
  • Payami
  • Carlsson[a]
4:21
6."Rumors" (featuring Tove Lo)
3:45
7."Evil in the Night"
  • Shellback
  • Holter
  • Payami
3:56
8."Lucy" (featuring Brian May)
  • Lambert
  • Payami
  • Freja Blomberg
  • Fredrik Samsson
  • Martin
  • Payami
  • Samsson
  • Carlsson[a]
3:32
9."Things I Didn't Say"
  • Ilya
  • Holter
3:58
10."The Light"
  • Lulou
  • Carlsson[a]
3:35
11."Heavy Fire"
  • Lambert
  • Anton Rundberg
  • Hampus Norlander
  • Joakim Jarl
  • Elin Blom
  • Jimmy "Svidden" Koitzsch
  • Julia Karlsson
  • Eklöw
3:19
Total length:40:42
Deluxe edition bonus tracks[29]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
12."After Hours"
  • Lambert
  • Schuller
  • West
Axident2:44
13."Shame"
  • T. Karlsson
  • Alan
  • T. Karlsson
  • Payami[b]
3:26
14."These Boys"
  • Alan
  • T. Karlsson
T. Karlsson3:25
Total length:50:17
Japanese bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
15."Ghost Town" (Blood Diamonds Remix)
  • Lambert
  • Fox
  • Martin
  • T. Karlsson
  • Payami
3:49
16."Ghost Town" (SeventyEight Remix)
  • Lambert
  • Fox
  • Martin
  • T. Karlsson
  • Payami
  • Martin
  • Payami
  • Carlsson[a]
  • SeventyEight[c]
3:13
17."Ghost Town" (Tritonal Remix)
  • Lambert
  • Fox
  • Martin
  • T. Karlsson
  • Payami
  • Martin
  • Payami
  • Carlsson[a]
  • Tritional[c]
5:10
Total length:62:29

Notes

  • ^[a] signifies a vocal producer
  • ^[b] signifies an additional producer
  • ^[c] signifies a remixer

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of the deluxe version.[30]

  • Adam Lambert – vocals (all tracks)
  • Shellback – keyboards (2, 6, 7), programming (2, 6, 7), guitar (2, 7), bass (7), backing vocals (2, 6, 7), production (2, 6, 7) exec. production (all tracks)
  • Mattman & Robin – keyboards (2), programming (2), guitar (2), bass (2), percussion (2), production (2)
  • Ali Payami – programming (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 13), bass (1, 3, 4, 5, 8), keyboards (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8), percussion (1, 3, 4, 5, 8, 13), production (1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8) additional production (13)
  • Tobias Karlsson – guitars (1, 13, 14), keyboards (13, 14), bass (13, 14), programming (13, 14), production (13, 14), engineering (13, 14), vocal recording
  • Tove Lo – vocals (6)
  • Oscar Holter – keyboards (7, 9), bass (9), guitar (9), programming (7, 9), backing vocals (9), production (7, 9), vocal production (9)
  • Ilya – programming (9), bass (9), keys (9), guitars (9), backing vocals (9), production (9), vocal production (4, 9)
  • Thrice Noble – programming (13), additional keys and guitar (13)
  • Savan Kotecha – backing vocals (9)
  • Lulou – guitars, keyboards, bass, programming, percussion (10), production (10)
  • Svideen – keyboards, bass, programming, percussion (11), production (11)
  • Jarly – keyboards, bass, programming, percussion (11), production (11), vocal editing (11)
  • Style of Eye – keyboards, bass, programming, percussion (11), production (11)
  • Andreas Schuller – percussion, synth (12)
  • John West – guitar (12)
  • Brian May – guitar (8)
  • OzGo – keyboards (6), guitar (6), programming (6), production (6)
  • Axident – guitar, percussion (2), production (12), engineering (12)
  • Max Martin – backing vocals (4), production (1, 3, 8) exec. production (all tracks)
  • Sterling Fox – backing vocals (1, 3)
  • Fredrik Samsson – production (8)
  • Cory Bice – engineering (1, 9), assistant engineering (3, 5, 8)
  • Michael Ilbert – additional engineering (1)
  • Peter Carlsson – engineering (9), vocal production (5, 8, 10, 11), vocal recording (2), vocal editing (3, 7)
  • Spyke Lee – assistant engineering (2, 6, 7)
  • Sam Holland – engineering (3, 5, 8, 10)
  • Jeremy Lertola – assistant engineering (3)
  • Eric Weaver – engineering (13, 14)
  • Serban Ghenea – mixing (1–9)
  • John Hanes – assistant mix engineering (1–9)
  • Michael Ilbert – mixing (10–14)
  • Tim Roberts – assistant mix engineering (2, 6, 7)
  • Nanni Johansson – assistant mix engineering (10–14)
  • Tom Coyne – mastering (all tracks)
  • Randy Merrill – assistant mastering engineering (all tracks)

Charts

Weekly charts
Chart (2015) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[31] 4
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[32] 43
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[33] 8
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 61
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[35] 110
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[36] 3
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[28] 10
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[37] 4
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[38] 20
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[39] 4
Irish Albums (IRMA)[40] 41
Italian Albums (FIMI)[41] 51
Japanese Albums (Oricon)[42] 47
South Korean Albums (Gaon)[43] 39
South Korean International Albums (Gaon)[44] 10
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[45] 6
Polish Albums (ZPAV)[46] 3
Scottish Albums (OCC)[47] 10
South African Albums (RISA)[48] 13
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[49] 51
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[50] 23
UK Albums (OCC)[51] 8
US Billboard 200[52] 3
US Digital Albums (Billboard)[53] 2
US Top Tastemaker Albums (Billboard)[54] 23

Year-end charts
Chart (2015) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[55] 87
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[56] 85

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada — 4,800[57]
United Kingdom — 9,817[58]
United States — 42,000[59]
Poland (ZPAV)[60] Platinum 20,000*
Russia (NFPF)[61] Platinum 10,000*

*sales figures based on certification alone
^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history
List of release dates, showing region, formats, label, editions, and reference
Region Date[29][62] Format(s) Label Edition(s) Ref.
Australia June 12, 2015
Warner Bros.
  • Standard
  • deluxe
 [62]
United States June 16, 2015 [29]
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References
  1. Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Adam Lambert – The Original High". AllMusic. Retrieved June 8, 2015.
  2. Tshepo Mokoena (June 11, 2015). "Adam Lambert: The Original High review – a bouncy pop-house journey". the Guardian.
  3. Adeel (June 8, 2015). "REVIEW: Adam Lambert – The Original High". pressplayok.com. Archived from the original on June 21, 2015. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  4. Davies, Jeffrey (March 24, 2020). "Adam Lambert Gets Nostalgic on 'Velvet'". PopMatters. Retrieved March 27, 2020. But his follow-up albums Trespassing and The Original High - both of which aimed towards mainstream electropop [...]
  5. Lipshutz, Jason (July 13, 2013). "Adam Lambert Leaves RCA Records After Turning Down Covers Album". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  6. Benjamin, Jeff; Hughes, Hilary (April 20, 2015). "The Complete Guide to Adam Lambert's 'The Original High': Tracklist, Cover Art Revealed". Fuse. Fuse Media. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  7. Halperin, Shirley; Angermiller, Michele Amabile (January 15, 2015). "Exclusive: Adam Lambert Signs New Major Label Deal, Max Martin to Executive Produce Album". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  8. Halperin, Shirley (January 15, 2015). "Warner Bros. CEO Cameron Strang on Why He Signed Adam Lambert". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  9. Adam Lambert [@adamlambert] (January 29, 2015). "Thrilled to announce the title of my upcoming album: THE ORIGINAL HIGH #theoriginalhigh" (Tweet). Retrieved April 20, 2015 – via Twitter.
  10. Fraser, Holly (March 24, 2015). "The Interview: Adam Lambert". Hunger TV. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  11. Halperin, Shirley (April 19, 2015). "Adam Lambert Reveals Cover Art to New Album 'The Original High'". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  12. "Reviews for The Original High by Adam Lambert". Metacritic. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  13. "Adam Lambert: The Original High album review - Tenacious modern pop". Digital Spy. June 15, 2015.
  14. Joey Guerra (June 17, 2015). "Album review: Adam Lambert proves an 'Original' on dark, dance-y album". The Houston Chronicle.
  15. Riggs, Jonathan (June 16, 2015). "Adam Lambert’s ‘The Original High’: Album Review". Idolator. SpinMedia. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  16. "Adam Lambert: The Original High - Album Review". The Irish Times. June 11, 2015.
  17. Caramanica, Jon. "Review: Adam Lambert Tones Down Excess on 'The Original High' - The New York Times". The New York Times. Retrieved June 15, 2015.
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  19. Gamboa, Glenn (June 11, 2015). "'The Original High' review: Adam Lambert lifts his game". Newsday. Retrieved July 7, 2016.
  20. "Adam Lambert's New Album: The Original High". Rolling Stone. June 16, 2015.
  21. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. "The Original High - Adam Lambert - Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards - AllMusic". AllMusic.
  22. Maura Johnson. "Album review: Adam Lambert, 'The Original High'". The Boston Globe.
  23. "Adam Lambert – The Original High album review". Entertainment Focus. June 20, 2015.
  24. Caulfield, Keith (June 17, 2015). "James Taylor Heading for His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200". billboard.com. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 18, 2015.
  25. Keith Caulfield (June 24, 2015). "After 45-Year Wait, James Taylor Earns His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard.
  26. Myers, Justin (June 21, 2015). "Muse are Number 1 album for a second week". officialcharts.com. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  27. Johnes, Alan (June 22, 2015). "Official Charts Analysis: Muse's Drones hover at No.1 for second week - Music Week: Home Stream". mediaor.com. Music Week. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved June 22, 2015.
  28. "Dutchcharts.nl – Adam Lambert – The Original High" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 20, 2015.
  29. The Original High American release:
  30. The Original High (Deluxe Version) (CD liner notes). Adam Lambert. Warner Bros. Records. 2015. 549641-2.
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  32. "Austriancharts.at – Adam Lambert – The Original High" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
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  35. "Ultratop.be – Adam Lambert – The Original High" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
  36. "Adam Lambert Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
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  41. "Italiancharts.com – Adam Lambert – The Original High". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  42. "Top of the Shops - アルバムの公式リストは、日本で数週間を販売しました" (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved December 14, 2015.
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  44. "South Korea Gaon International Album Chart". On the page, select "{{{date}}}", then "국외", to obtain the corresponding chart. Gaon Chart Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  45. "Charts.nz – Adam Lambert – The Original High". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 19, 2015.
  46. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLiS - Official Retail Sales Chart". OLiS. Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved August 10, 2015.
  47. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
  48. "South African Top 20 Albums Chart". RSG (Recording Industry of South Africa). Archived from the original on July 14, 2015.
  49. "Swedishcharts.com – Adam Lambert – The Original High". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 25, 2015.
  50. "Swisscharts.com – Adam Lambert – The Original High". Hung Medien. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  51. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved June 21, 2015.
  52. "Adam Lambert Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  53. "Adam Lambert Chart History (Digital Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  54. "Adam Lambert Chart History (Top Tastemaker Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  55. "ARIA Charts - End of Year Charts - Top 100 Albums 2015". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved January 6, 2016.
  56. "Összesített album- és válogatáslemez-lista - eladási darabszám alapján - 2015". Mahasz. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
  57. "Weekly Music News Sales Report and Analysis: 24 June 2015 - A Journal of Musical Things". June 24, 2015.
  58. "Official Charts Analysis: Muse's Drones hover at... - mediaor". June 22, 2015. Archived from the original on June 22, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2015.
  59. Keith Caulfield (December 20, 2015). "After 45-Year Wait, James Taylor Earns His First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200 Chart". Billboard.
  60. "Polish album certifications – Adam Lambert – The Original High" (in Polish). Polish Society of the Phonographic Industry. Retrieved March 2, 2016.
  61. "Russian album certifications – Adam Lambert – The Original High" (in Russian). National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPF). Missing or empty |url= (help); |access-date= requires |url= (help)
  62. The Original High Australian release:
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