Defying Gravity (Keith Urban album)
Encyclopedia
Defying Gravity is the title of the fifth studio album by Australian country music
artist Keith Urban
. It was released on 31 March 2009 (see 2009 in country music
) on Capitol Records
. The album's lead-off single is "Sweet Thing
", which topped the Billboard
Hot Country Songs
charts in March 2009. "Kiss a Girl" was released on 7 March 2009 as the second single. The album became Urban's first number-one album on the Billboard 200
, selling 171,000 copies in its first week of release. On 2 December 2009, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album
, but lost to Taylor Swift
's Fearless
.
(as a duet with Abra Moore
) on the album See What You Want to See
, and later in 2000 by The Kinleys
from their album II
. Both Foster's and The Kinleys' versions were singles.
"Sweet Thing" is the album's lead-off single. Written by Urban and Monty Powell, this song topped the Billboard
country singles chart in March 2009. They also wrote the second single, "Kiss a Girl," which peaked at number 3 later the same year. "Only You Can Love Me This Way" was released in June 2009 as the album's third single, reaching number 1 as well. The fourth single is "'Til Summer Comes Around." Urban's rendition of "I'm In" is the fifth single release.
albums chart, becoming the first album of Urban's career to do so.
gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that the album lacked the "rawness" of his earlier albums. He also said that most of the songs, including its first two singles, were "retread"s of his earlier hits, and that his vesion of "I'm In" was inferior to The Kinleys'. In addition, he considered the love ballads "schmaltzier impulses", although he also said that it was "a rebound from the bloated, self-indulgent Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing
" (Urban's last studio album) and noted that "Sweet Thing" showed Urban's and Huff's ability to use a banjo
effectively in a rock
-influenced song. Rolling Stone
critic Mark Kemp
, who gave the album two stars out of five, said that it lacked the ambition of Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing and had "idyllic" themes. Jim Malec, reviewing it for The 9513, gave a two-and-a-half star rating as well. He considered it overproduced and said that it lacked a more "artistically engaging" song to balance out the "lighthearted confection" such as "Sweet Thing." He cited that song and "If I Could Ever Love" as standout tracks, despite also describing the latter as "prefabricated," and added that his "I'm In" cover lacked the "urgency" of The Kinleys' rendition.
Thom Jurek gave a four-out-of-five rating in his review for Allmusic. Jurek also noted Urban's use of banjo in more rock-oriented songs, as well as the variety of instruments used overall. He described the first two singles and the "I'm In" cover favorably, saying of "I'm In" that its backing vocals recalled The Rolling Stones
, and he called the final track ("Thank You") a "nakedly open paean to wife Nicole [Kidman
]." In addition, Jurek considered the album's sound an expansion on Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing by "seamlessly combining hook-laden crafty songwriting with a pop sensibility in the modern country vernacular that blazes a new trail." In addition, Entertainment Weekly
critic Whitney Pastorek gave a B rating, saying that the album had "Kidman-centric lyrics" but also showed "a gift for making radio-baiting hooks
and production feel enthusiastically fresh."
" originally recorded by the Christian band Third Day
for their Revelation
album.
Urban appeared on Today and The Ellen DeGeneres Show
on 1 April. He sang "Sweet Thing" and "Kiss A Girl" on both shows. He performed "Kiss a Girl" at the Academy of Country Music
awards on 12 April.
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
artist Keith Urban
Keith Urban
Keith Lionel Urban is a New Zealand-born Australian, country music singer, songwriter and guitarist whose commercial success has been mainly in the United States and Australia. Urban was born in New Zealand and began his career in Australia at an early age...
. It was released on 31 March 2009 (see 2009 in country music
2009 in country music
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 2009.-Events:*August — After 36 years of using the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart as the basis of its program, American Country Countdown begins using the Mediabase chart....
) on Capitol Records
Capitol Records
Capitol Records is a major United States based record label, formerly located in Los Angeles, but operating in New York City as part of Capitol Music Group. Its former headquarters building, the Capitol Tower, is a major landmark near the corner of Hollywood and Vine...
. The album's lead-off single is "Sweet Thing
Sweet Thing (Keith Urban song)
"Sweet Thing" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban. The song is the first single from his 5th studio album, Defying Gravity. It was released to country radio on 3 November 2008, and it made its debut on the Hot Country Songs charts at #30,...
", which topped the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs
Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales...
charts in March 2009. "Kiss a Girl" was released on 7 March 2009 as the second single. The album became Urban's first number-one album on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
, selling 171,000 copies in its first week of release. On 2 December 2009, the album was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Country Album
Grammy Award for Best Country Album
The Grammy Award for Best Country Album has been awarded since 1994. The equivalent award, the Grammy Award for Best Country & Western Album was presented in 1965 and 1966...
, but lost to Taylor Swift
Taylor Swift
Taylor Alison Swift is an American country pop singer-songwriter, musician and actress.In 2006, she released her debut single "Tim McGraw", then her self-titled debut album, which was subsequently certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America...
's Fearless
Fearless (Taylor Swift album)
Fearless has been well-received by music professionals, with many praising Swift for her introspective lyrics, as well as her mature sound. According to the music review aggregator Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an...
.
Background
The title Defying Gravity comes from the lyrics of "If Ever I Could Love" ("your heart and mine tonight are defying gravity"), a phrase that Urban said "really defined the joyous, optimistic and uplifting spirit that seemed to show itself while making the album." The track "I'm In" was previously released in 1998 by Radney FosterRadney Foster
Radney Foster is an American Texas Country artist. Initially a songwriter in Nashville, Tennessee, Foster made his debut in 1986 alongside Bill Lloyd in the duo Foster & Lloyd...
(as a duet with Abra Moore
Abra Moore
Abra Moore is a folk-styled rock singer-songwriter. Her 1997 album Strangest Places included the hit "Four Leaf Clover", which received airplay in Midwest U.S. radio markets and VH1 and MTV2 rotation, and charted on the Billboard Hot 100.-Biography:Moore's parents named Abra after the heroine of...
) on the album See What You Want to See
See What You Want to See
See What You Want to See is American country music artist Radney Foster's third studio album. It was released in 1999 on Arista Records. The record features a number of notable guests, such as Darius Rucker from Hootie & the Blowfish, as well as Abra Moore and Emmylou Harris...
, and later in 2000 by The Kinleys
The Kinleys
The Kinleys was an American country music duo composed of identical twin sisters Heather and Jennifer Kinley, born November 5, 1970 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Between 1997 and 2000, they recorded two albums for the Epic Records label , also charting eight singles on the U.S. Billboard Hot...
from their album II
II (The Kinleys album)
II is the second studio album by the American country music duo The Kinleys. It was released in 2000 as their second and final album for Epic Records. It includes the singles "She Ain't the Girl for You" and "I'm In", both of which charted on Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks...
. Both Foster's and The Kinleys' versions were singles.
"Sweet Thing" is the album's lead-off single. Written by Urban and Monty Powell, this song topped the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
country singles chart in March 2009. They also wrote the second single, "Kiss a Girl," which peaked at number 3 later the same year. "Only You Can Love Me This Way" was released in June 2009 as the album's third single, reaching number 1 as well. The fourth single is "'Til Summer Comes Around." Urban's rendition of "I'm In" is the fifth single release.
Commercial
Upon its release, Defying Gravity reached number 1 on the all-genre Billboard 200Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
albums chart, becoming the first album of Urban's career to do so.
Critical
Defying Gravity has received mixed reviews from music critics. Jonathan Keefe of Slant MagazineSlant Magazine
Slant Magazine is an online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New York Film Festival.- History :...
gave it two-and-a-half stars out of five, saying that the album lacked the "rawness" of his earlier albums. He also said that most of the songs, including its first two singles, were "retread"s of his earlier hits, and that his vesion of "I'm In" was inferior to The Kinleys'. In addition, he considered the love ballads "schmaltzier impulses", although he also said that it was "a rebound from the bloated, self-indulgent Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing
Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing
Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing, or Love, Pain & the whole crazy thing as typeset on the cover art, is the fifth solo album by Australian country singer Keith Urban. It is his fourth album release in the United States, and his fifth for Capitol Records. The album was issued on November 7, 2006...
" (Urban's last studio album) and noted that "Sweet Thing" showed Urban's and Huff's ability to use a banjo
Banjo
In the 1830s Sweeney became the first white man to play the banjo on stage. His version of the instrument replaced the gourd with a drum-like sound box and included four full-length strings alongside a short fifth-string. There is no proof, however, that Sweeney invented either innovation. This new...
effectively in a rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
-influenced song. Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
critic Mark Kemp
Mark Kemp
Mark Kemp is an American music journalist and author. A graduate of East Carolina University, he has served as music editor of Rolling Stone and vice president of music editorial for MTV Networks...
, who gave the album two stars out of five, said that it lacked the ambition of Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing and had "idyllic" themes. Jim Malec, reviewing it for The 9513, gave a two-and-a-half star rating as well. He considered it overproduced and said that it lacked a more "artistically engaging" song to balance out the "lighthearted confection" such as "Sweet Thing." He cited that song and "If I Could Ever Love" as standout tracks, despite also describing the latter as "prefabricated," and added that his "I'm In" cover lacked the "urgency" of The Kinleys' rendition.
Thom Jurek gave a four-out-of-five rating in his review for Allmusic. Jurek also noted Urban's use of banjo in more rock-oriented songs, as well as the variety of instruments used overall. He described the first two singles and the "I'm In" cover favorably, saying of "I'm In" that its backing vocals recalled The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...
, and he called the final track ("Thank You") a "nakedly open paean to wife Nicole [Kidman
Nicole Kidman
Nicole Mary Kidman, AC is an American-born Australian actress, singer, film producer, spokesmodel, and humanitarian. After starring in a number of small Australian films and TV shows, Kidman's breakthrough was in the 1989 thriller Dead Calm...
]." In addition, Jurek considered the album's sound an expansion on Love, Pain & the Whole Crazy Thing by "seamlessly combining hook-laden crafty songwriting with a pop sensibility in the modern country vernacular that blazes a new trail." In addition, Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
critic Whitney Pastorek gave a B rating, saying that the album had "Kidman-centric lyrics" but also showed "a gift for making radio-baiting hooks
Hook (music)
A hook is a musical idea, often a short riff, passage, or phrase, that is used in popular music to make a song appealing and to "catch the ear of the listener". The term generally applies to popular music, especially rock music, hip hop, dance music, and pop. In these genres, the hook is often...
and production feel enthusiastically fresh."
Track listing
Promotion
iTunes had an exclusive offer called "Countdown To Defying Gravity" where every week fans would be able to download a podcast where Urban talks about the song. Also, iTunes had a "Complete My Album" where fans would complete the whole album and get a bonus track, a cover, "Call My NameCall My Name (Third Day song)
"Call My Name" is the first single from contemporary Christian band Third Day's album Revelation. It was released in 2008. It was the fifth most-played song on R&R magazine's Christian CHR chart for 2008....
" originally recorded by the Christian band Third Day
Third Day
Third Day is a Grammy award-winning Christian rock band formed in Marietta, Georgia during the 1990s. The band was founded by lead singer Mac Powell, guitarist Mark Lee and former member Billy Wilkins. The other band members are bassist Tai Anderson and drummer David Carr...
for their Revelation
Revelation (Third Day album)
Revelation is the ninth studio album and thirteenth overall release from Third Day, which was released on July 29, 2008. It debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on Christian Album charts. The first radio single released in promotion of the album, "Call My Name", was released on April 22, 2008...
album.
Urban appeared on Today and The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show
The Ellen DeGeneres Show, often shortened to Ellen, is an American television talk show hosted by comedian/actress Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it is produced by Telepictures and airs in syndication, including stations owned by NBC Universal. For its first five seasons, the show...
on 1 April. He sang "Sweet Thing" and "Kiss A Girl" on both shows. He performed "Kiss a Girl" at the Academy of Country Music
Academy of Country Music
The Academy of Country Music was founded in 1964 in Los Angeles, California as the Country & Western Music Academy. Whereas the Country Music Association, founded in 1958, was based in Nashville, the Academy sought to promote country music in the western states. Among those involved in the...
awards on 12 April.
Album
| Chart (2009) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums | 1 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 1 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 4 |
Certifications
End of year charts
| Chart (2010) | Year-end 2010 |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
129 |
| US Billboard Top Country Albums | 23 |
Singles
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US Country Hot Country Songs Hot Country Songs is a chart published weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States.This 60-position chart lists the most popular country music songs, calculated weekly mostly by airplay and occasionally commercial sales... |
US Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Pop Pop 100 The Pop 100 was a songs chart that debuted in February 2005 and was released weekly by Billboard magazine in the United States until its discontinuation in 2009... |
US AC Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks The Adult Contemporary chart is a weekly chart published in Billboard magazine that lists the most popular songs on adult contemporary and "lite-pop" radio stations in the United States... |
CAN Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine which ranks songs in Canada. The chart debuted in the Billboard issue dated June 16, 2007 and was made available for the first time via their online services on June 7, 2007... |
AUS ARIA Charts The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June... |
||
| 2008 | "Sweet Thing Sweet Thing (Keith Urban song) "Sweet Thing" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban. The song is the first single from his 5th studio album, Defying Gravity. It was released to country radio on 3 November 2008, and it made its debut on the Hot Country Songs charts at #30,... " |
1 | 30 | — | — | 45 | 96 |
| 2009 | "Kiss a Girl Kiss a Girl "Kiss a Girl" is the title of a song co-written and recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban. The song is the second single from his fifth studio album, Defying Gravity. It was released digitally on 10 March 2009, and it made its debut on the Hot Country Songs charts at #29... " |
3 | 16 | 20 | 11 | 34 | 87 |
| "Only You Can Love Me This Way Only You Can Love Me This Way "Only You Can Love Me This Way" is the title of a song written by Steve McEwan and John Reid. It was recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban on his fifth studio album, 2009's Defying Gravity. The song was released to radio on 29 June 2009, as the third single from that album and the... " |
1 | 34 | — | — | 49 | — | |
| "'Til Summer Comes Around 'Til Summer Comes Around "Til Summer Comes Around" is the title of a song recorded by Australian country music singer Keith Urban, co-written by him and Monty Powell. It is the fourth single release from his 2009 studio album Defying Gravity... " |
3 | 58 | — | — | 74 | — | |
| 2010 | "I'm In" | 2 | 67 | — | — | 74 | — |
| "—" denotes releases that did not chart | |||||||