Something Else is the third studio album by American R&B singer Robin Thicke, released on September 30, 2008.[1] It is a follow-up to Thicke's highly successful second album The Evolution of Robin Thicke (2006) and features a guest appearance by Lil Wayne.[2]
Background and Composition
After Robin Thicke finished his tour for The Evolution of Robin Thicke, he immediately went into the studio to start recording his next album.[3] The album features production from Thicke and Pro J. Thicke describing the recording process of the album:
We just went in to the studio and we jammed. A lot of the songs are just jam sessions that turned into songs and then some of the other ones are songs I would write and then bring the band in to help me record it, but the band is on every song because we’re not using synthesizers and drum machines ... We had like two different drums setup, ten different guitars, twenty percussion instruments, three different organs or Wurlitzers or Rhodes. So we had it set up that we could be like kids in a candy store and try to create something fresh, something else.[4]
The album drew musical comparisons from critics to the sounds of Philly soul, Motown, and disco funk which Thicke attributed to the use of live instruments, including string and horn sections.[5]
The song "Dreamworld" muses about Thicke's ideal world in which there is, among other things, no poverty and racism.[4] The song was partly inspired by his marriage to Paula Patton and observations of her personal and professional experiences as a black woman.[4]
The song "Tie My Hands" was written by Thicke after the events of Hurricane Katrina in 2005. He was motivated to write the song by his own feelings concerning his inability to aid in the midst of the tragedy, saying, "What happened there greatly affected a lot of us Americans. Because, though we felt like these people deserved to be helped immediately, we couldn't help. Instead we were all just watching this debacle happen in front of our eyes."[5] Months later, Thicke played his original iteration of the song for rapper Lil' Wayne which, according to Thicke, "moved" the New Orleans native. Thicke held on to the song and did not release it until he was contacted by Wayne in 2008 regarding it, which led to their collaboration,[5] marking their third time featuring on the same track following "Shooter" and "All Night Long".[6]
Thicke wrote the song “Shadow of Doubt” following a 2007 performance on The Oprah Winfrey Show (for which he felt uneasy and unprepared despite it being well-received); he described the song as being “about a nagging feeling of inadequacy, one that ceaselessly stalks, no matter how one ascends.”[7]
Speaking in October 2008 to noted UK R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul, Thicke explained the lyrical background to 'Something Else': "With me I think there's always been a little bit of self-examination, spirituality and love in the music. But, where the last album was more me sitting around my house with my piano writing all these songs to make MYSELF feel better, this time I've started talking more about OTHER PEOPLE'S experiences, rather than just my own. The feeling I had while writing these songs was that I wanted to embrace people, and that I wanted to BE embraced."[5]
Something Else received generally favorable reviews from critics who compared his voice and style to Marvin Gaye.[15] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 72 based on ten reviews.[8]AllMusic editor Andy Kellman worte that while "his sources remain numerous, this is [Thicke]'s most focused, least scattered, and least dilettantish set, and it benefits greatly from its brevity relative" to The Evolution of Robin Thicke."[9] In her review for Entertainment Weekly, Leah Greenblatt noted: "There may be very little here that is truly innovative, but Thicke proves that new dogs do old tricks pretty well."[12]
Sarah Rodman from The Boston Globe felt that "amid the attempts at sexual healing and cosmic, eco-soul unity, Thicke crafts some beautiful atmospheres. Lilting Latin-pop grooves punctuated with congas and guiros melt into tremulous pop symphonies that are equally influenced by the marching orders of Sgt. Pepper and the mist of the purple rain."[17]Billboard's Mikael Wood remarked that Something Else "picks up right where Thicke left off with the last album's hit single, "Lost Without U." Given his weakness for bongos and syrupy strings, the new set isn't without a whiff of schmaltz; more than once you'll think he's about to cover "Take My Breath Away." Fortunately, Thicke's strong singing—and a few winning uptempo numbers."[18]
Jody Rosen from Rolling Stone Magazine gave a mixed review to the album, giving the album three out of five stars. She found that "as a utilitarian background soundtrack, it'll do nicely [...] but Thicke's songwriting teeters into self-parody, and his mixed metaphors – "We're just spaceships in the night/Ripping the clothes off of the past/Making a new path" — could break the mood of the randiest couples".[13]Vibe editor Sean Fennessey called the album a "strange, refreshing amalgam: Alexander O'Neal-ish openness, Luther Vandross-style swing, Smokey Robinson-esque falsetto, even James Ingram’'s hokiness. That [Thicke] is less technically gifted than any of those artists is of concern. His voice is thin, his production a revision of other eras."[19]Blender editor Barry Walters concluded: "Every white soul traditionalist from Hall & Oates to Duffy demands catchy, impactful songs, yet that’s where Thicke is thinnest."[10]
Chart performance
The album debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 136,944 copies the first week.[20] In its second week, the album fell to number 12, selling 38,577 copies, but rose back up to number 11 the next week. As of April 2009, the album has sold over 435,000 units in the US.
^The Evolution of Robin Thicke (media notes). Robin Thicke. United States: Interscope Records. 2006.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
