I Am is the third studio album

Studio album

A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...

 by German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 trio Monrose

Monrose

Monrose was a German pop band, first established in November 2006. Formed on the fifth installment of the German adaption of the international television talent show Popstars on the ProSieben network, the trio consisted of singers and songwriters Mandy Capristo, Senna Guemmour, and Bahar...

, released by Starwatch Music and the Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group

Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...

 on 26 September 2008 (see 2008 in music

2008 in music

2008 was a huge year in music history with the emergence of pop superstars Lady Gaga and Katy Perry into the mainstream. Also, this is the year that is widely agreed upon by critics as the start of the fall of hip hop from the mainstream and the rise of Synthpop into the mainstream due to acts such...

) in German-speaking Europe

German-speaking Europe

The German language is spoken in a number of countries and territories in West, Central and Eastern Europe...

 and 29 September 2008 in Poland

Poland

Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

. The album features production by Jiant

Jiant

Jiant was a British record production and songwriting team, headed by Tim Hawes and Pete Kirtley, working in the genres of pop, R&B and dance...

, Snowflakers, Guy Chambers

Guy Chambers

Guy Chambers is an English songwriter and record producer, perhaps best known for his long partnership with Robbie Williams.- Biography :...

, Edwin "Lil Eddie" Serrano, and OneRepublic

OneRepublic

OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...

 frontman Ryan Tedder

Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...

 among others.

Taking Monrose's work further into dance

Dance music

Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...

 and electro music, the album scored a generally negative reception from music critics, with laut.de calling them "the Sugababes

Sugababes

The Sugababes are an English pop girl group based in London, consisting of members Heidi Range, Amelle Berrabah and Jade Ewen. The Sugababes were formed in 1998 with founding members Siobhán Donaghy, Mutya Buena and Keisha Buchanan. Their debut album, One Touch, was released in 2000 under London...

 for discount store

Discount store

A discount store is a type of department store, which sells products at prices lower than those asked by traditional retail outlets. Most discount department stores offer a wide assortment of goods; others specialize in such merchandise as jewelry, electronic equipment, or electrical appliances...

-fans."

Production and songs

The songs on I Am were selected out of more than six hundred demo tracks

Demo (music)

A demo version or demo of a song is one recorded for reference rather than for release. A demo is a way for a musician to approximate their ideas on tape or disc, and provide an example of those ideas to record labels, producers or other artists...

. The album's opening track, "Strike the Match

Strike the Match

"Strike the Match" is a dance-pop song performed by German pop trio Monrose. It was co-written and produced by OneRepublic frontman Ryan Tedder and Deborah "SoShy" Epstein, involving additional co-production by Snowflakers and Jiant, and released as the lead single of off the group's upcoming third...

", was penned by OneRepublic

OneRepublic

OneRepublic is an American pop rock band from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Formed in 2002 by Ryan Tedder and Zach Filkins, the band achieved massive success on MySpace, becoming the most prominent unsigned act on the website then...

 singer Ryan Tedder

Ryan Tedder

Ryan Benjamin Tedder is an American singer-songwriter and record producer. He is best known as the frontman of the pop rock band, OneRepublic, though he has an independent career as songwriter and producer for various artists such as Beyoncé, Kelly Clarkson, Far East Movement, Jordin Sparks, Leona...

 and Deborah Epstein

Deborah Epstein

Deborah Epstein , better known by her stage name SoShy, is a French-American singer and songwriter.-Early life:Deborah Epstein was born in Paris to a French-Argentine-Italian mother and a French-Russian father...

. Selected out of several tracks in Tedder's repertoire, it was the first song confirmed to be appearing on the album. Released as its leading single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

, the song reached the top ten of the German Singles Chart. Second track "A Love Bizarre

A Love Bizarre

"A Love Bizarre" is a song written by Prince and Sheila E.. The song is a duet between both singers and it appears on Sheila E.'s 1985 album Romance 1600. It clocks in at 12:16, but the single version is 3:46 in duration....

" is a cover version

Cover version

In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...

 of the 1985 single by Sheila E.

Sheila E.

Sheila Escovedo , known by her stage name Sheila E., is an American drummer and percussionist, perhaps best known for her work with Prince, George Duke and Ringo Starr.-Early life and Prince period:...

 and Prince. Using the original instrumental

Instrumental

An instrumental is a musical composition or recording without lyrics or singing, although it might include some non-articulate vocal input; the music is primarily or exclusively produced by musical instruments....

 as produced by Prince, the song has been described as all-time favorite by band member Guemmour. "Certified" was written by longtime contributors Edwin "Lil' Eddie" Serrano and Jonas Jeberg, and has been described as "high-pitched, techincal, and scratching."

"Why Not Us

Why Not Us

"Why Not Us" is a song recorded by German pop trio Monrose. It was written by Alexis Strum and Guy Chambers produced by Pete Kirtley for the band's third studio album I Am . The track will be released as the album's third single on 28 November 2008 throughout German-speaking Europe...

" by Guy Chambers

Guy Chambers

Guy Chambers is an English songwriter and record producer, perhaps best known for his long partnership with Robbie Williams.- Biography :...

 has been categorized as an "emotional mid-tempo ballad [...] for the winter

Winter

Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...

time." Originally planned to be released as the album's second single, it was released as the third. In addition, the song served as a promotional track for the We Love Otto

Otto GmbH

The Otto group, or Otto , is the world's largest mail order company, operating in more than 20 countries. The family of executive board chairman Michael Otto owns the majority of the company. The company is based in Hamburg, Germany...

 mail order

Mail order

Mail order is a term which describes the buying of goods or services by mail delivery. The buyer places an order for the desired products with the merchant through some remote method such as through a telephone call or web site. Then, the products are delivered to the customer...

 campaign. "Stolen" features background vocals by Jamie Pineda

Jamie Pineda

Jamie Pineda, is an American pop singer-songwriter and former model. In late 2007, Jamie signed on to be the front woman of the international pop music project Sweetbox.-Early life:...

 from the successful pop music project Sweetbox

Sweetbox

Sweetbox is a Los Angeles based pop music project formed in 1995 by executive producer Heiko Schmidt and music producer Roberto "Geo" Rosan.Throughout the years Sweetbox has had several leading women including Kimberly Kearney, Dacia Bridges, Tina Harris, Jade Villalon and most recently and...

 after Jamie had recorded the song first. Fifth track "Going Out Tonight" incorporates elements of ragga

Ragga

-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...

 and dancehall music, including rapped verses by all three band members, while "You Can Look" combines dance-pop

Dance-pop

Dance-pop is dance-oriented pop music that originated in the early 1980s. Developing from post-disco, it is generally up-tempo music intended for clubs with the intention of being danceable or merely dancey...

 with rock music

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...

. "Teach Me How to Jump" deals with death

Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that sustain a living organism. Phenomena which commonly bring about death include old age, predation, malnutrition, disease, and accidents or trauma resulting in terminal injury....

. The song was recorded in dedication to lost ones, including Guemmour's father, who died in 1992.

Reviews

I Am received mainly negative reviews. LetMeEntertainYou entitled the album's tracks as "sorted out material from the collection of immoral books of Timbaland

Timbaland

Timothy Zachery Mosley , better known by his stage name Timbaland, is an American record producer, songwriter and rapper....

," calling it also "fiddling" and "sparsely innovative." Further criticisms stated that the girls' voices had been edited into digital cawings which get dislodged from the professional but overproduced music. Although CDStarts dismissed Monrose's original R'n'B/Pop-style, it deplored their attempt to go more into electro-pop as doing them no favors, and suggested that it could lead to a downfall from their established position in the German music scene.

Track listing

Release history

Country	Date
Germany Germany Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...	September 26, 2008
Poland Poland Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...	September 29, 2008

Charts

Chart (2008)	Peak position
Austrian Albums Chart	20
European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100...	35
German Albums Chart Media Control Charts The official music charts in Germany are gathered and published by the company Media Control GfK International on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustrie...	9
Swiss Albums Chart Swiss Music Charts The Swiss Music Charts are Switzerland's main music sales charts. The charts are a record of the highest-selling singles and albums in various genres in Switzerland.The Swiss Charts include:* Singles Top 75...	14