Wildflower (Lauren Alaina album)
Wildflower is the debut studio album by season ten American Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina. The album was released by Mercury Nashville. on October 11, 2011 in the United States.[2][3] The album's first single, "Like My Mother Does", reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.[4] Wildflower debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, making Alaina the youngest female artist to debut that high since LeAnn Rimes' debut album, Blue, fifteen years prior.[5]
Wildflower | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | October 11, 2011 | |||
Recorded | 2011 | |||
Genre | Country | |||
Length | 44:33 | |||
Label |
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Producer | Byron Gallimore[1] | |||
Lauren Alaina chronology | ||||
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Singles from Wildflower | ||||
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Reception
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | (72/100)[6] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | |
Country Weekly | |
Entertainment Weekly | B[9] |
The New York Times | Positive[10] |
Wildflower received positive reviews 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 72, based on 4 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[6] AllMusic writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album 3 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Byron Gallimore, who previously produced Sugarland and Faith Hill, gives Wildflower an appealing gloss that helps disguise the ordinariness of the material along with any of Alaina's shortcomings, and that slickness serves Wildflower well, making it a much more enjoyable piece of product than McCreery's Clear as Day".[7] The New York Times gave a very positive review to the album and said: "It works, not only because Ms. Alaina has a big voice, but also because she doesn't portray herself as an aw-shucks beginner. She's skipped that step, and rightly so".[10] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly was also positive on the album and gave it a "B" and said: "On Wildflower, she captures the restless spirit of small-town girls who get grounded for French-kissing the boy next door".[9] Jessica Nicholson of Country Weekly gave the album 3 and half stars out of 5 and noted: "Despite the album's title, she plays it safe rather than wild".[8]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Georgia Peaches" | Blair Daly, Mallary Hope, Rachel Proctor | 3:07 |
2. | "Growing Her Wings" | Nicolle Galyon, Nicole Witt | 3:01 |
3. | "Tupelo" | Hillary Lindsey, Steve McEwan, Gordie Sampson | 3:39 |
4. | "The Middle" | Zac Maloy, Proctor, David Hodges | 3:56 |
5. | "Like My Mother Does" | Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose, Nikki Williams | 4:07 |
6. | "She's a Wildflower" | Lindsey, McEwan, Sampson | 3:38 |
7. | "I'm Not One of Them" | Tony Martin, Tom Shapiro, Sarah Johns | 3:18 |
8. | "The Locket" | Hope | 5:10 |
9. | "Eighteen Inches" | Ashley Gorley, Kelley Lovelace, Carrie Underwood | 3:44 |
10. | "One of Those Boys" | Marla Cannon, Benjamin Caver, Anthony Smith | 2:42 |
11. | "Funny Thing About Love" | Lauren Alaina, Brett James, Luke Laird | 3:57 |
12. | "Dirt Road Prayer" | April Geesbreght, Galyon | 4:14 |
Personnel
- Lauren Alaina - lead vocals
- Charlie Bisharat - fiddle
- Perry Coleman - background vocals
- Dan Dugmore - dobro, steel guitar
- Stuart Duncan - fiddle, mandolin
- Shannon Forrest - drums, percussion
- Larry Franklin - fiddle
- Paul Franklin - steel guitar
- Byron Gallimore - electric guitar, keyboards
- Lisa Gregg - background vocals
- Tania Hancheroff - background vocals
- Troy Lancaster - acoustic guitar, electric guitar
- Pat McGrath - banjo, acoustic guitar, resonator guitar, mandolin
- Jerry McPherson - electric guitar
- Kenny LeMasters - steel guitar
- Brent Mason - electric guitar
- Jamie Muhoberac - keyboards
- Steve Nathan - keyboards, organ, piano
- Jeannette Olsson - background vocals
- Michael Thompson - electric guitar
- Lonnie Wilson - drums, drum loops, percussion
- Glenn Worf - bass guitar
- Craig Young - bass guitar
- Chris "Tek" O'Ryan - sound engineer
Chart performance
The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 copies sold.[11] It has sold 303,000 copies in the United States as of January 2013.[12]
Weekly Charts
Chart (2011) | Peak position |
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Canadian Albums Chart[13] | 22 |
US Billboard 200 | 5 |
US Billboard Top Country Albums | 2 |
Year-End Charts
Chart (2011) | Peak position |
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US Billboard Top Country Albums | 47 |
Chart (2012) | Peak position |
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US Billboard Top Country Albums | 34 |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
US Country [14] |
US Country Airplay [15] |
US [16] |
CAN [17] | ||
2011 | "Like My Mother Does" | 36 | — | 20 | 50 |
"Georgia Peaches" | 28 | — | — | — | |
2012 | "Eighteen Inches" | 37 | 34 | — | — |
"—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||
References
- Shelburne, Craig (September 8, 2011). "New Album Preview: Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and More". Country Music Television. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- Dukes, Billy (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina 'Wildflower' Track Listing Revealed". Taste of Country. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- Mansfield, Brian (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina reveals 'Wildflower' tracklisting". USA Today. Gannett Company. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- Stromblad, Cory (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina Reveals 'Wildflower' Track Listing". The Boot. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
- http://www.laurenalainaofficial.com/news/default.aspx?nid=36948
- "Critic Reviews for Wildflower by Lauren Alaina". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved October 29, 2011.
- Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wildflower - Lauren Alaina". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- Nicholson, Jessica (October 20, 2011). "Wildflower by Lauren Alaina - Country Weekly". Country Weekly. American Media. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- Maerz, Melissa (October 13, 2011). "Wildflower review - Lauren Alaina Review". Entertainment Weekly. Time Inc. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
- "Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Claudia Quintet - New Albums". The New York Times. The New York Times Company. October 10, 2011. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
- Mansfield, Brian (2011-10-19). "Lauren Alaina's 69,000 sales mean a top-five debut". Idol Chatter. USA Today. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
- Mansfield, Brian (2013-01-07). "Phillip Philips' album sales rise". Idol Chatter. USA Today. Retrieved January 9, 2013.
- "Canadian Albums: Week of October 29, 2011". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
- "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
- "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Country Airplay". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
- "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
- "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.