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Faithfully (Faith Evans album)

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Faithfully
Studio album by
Faith Evans
ReleasedNovember 6, 2001 (2001-11-06)
Recorded2000–2001
GenreR&B[1]
Length61:19
Label
Producer
Faith Evans chronology
Keep the Faith
(1998) 		Faithfully
(2001) 		The First Lady
(2005)
Singles from Faithfully
  1. "You Gets No Love"
    Released: July 17, 2001
  2. "I Love You"
    Released: February 19, 2002
  3. "Burnin' Up"
    Released: March 15, 2002
  4. "Alone in This World"
    Released: April 6, 2002

Faithfully is the third studio album by American singer Faith Evans. It was released by Bad Boy Records on November 6, 2001, in the United States. A reflection of her musical studies, Evans was inspired by a variety of classic R&B, pop, rock, and jazz artists such as Chicago, S.O.S. Band, Ella Fitzgerald, and Sarah Vaughn during the production of Faithfully. The result, a sample-heavy album, which the label described as "old school flavored", features production by Mario Winans, Buckwild, Vada Nobles, Michael Angelo Saulsberry, the Neptunes, Battlecat, and others, with material ranging from ballads to dance tracks that built upon the contemporary R&B, funk music and hip hop genres.

The album earned generally favorable reviews from most critics who called it her best effort yet, though others were critical with its length and the amount of ballads. It received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album[2] and debuted and peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 200, selling 101,000 copies in its first week, and went on to sell more than 1,000,000 copies, eventually reaching Platinum status in the United States. Faithfully spawned four total singles, including "You Gets No Love", "I Love You" and "Burnin' Up". Faithfully was Evans' last album to be recorded under the Bad Boy imprint before her departure in 2003.

Recording

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Evans worked closely with her husband and manager Todd Russaw on her third album. Before recording songs, the pair spent a year studying the work of classic R&B, pop, rock, and jazz artists such as Steely Dan, Michael Franks, Chicago, S.O.S. Band, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughn and others, sitting around and playing them to learn about their techniques and performances.[3] With her label Bad Boy Records nearing transition from distributor Arista Records to Universal Music and mentor Sean "P. Diddy" Combs being involved in several projects, including his second album Forever (1999),[4] Evans and Russaw started working on new songs their own.[5] After sending them to Combs, he urged them to come to Miami to start recording sessions for the album with him and his team, which Evans called "really enjoyable".[5]

While Combs and in-house producer Mario Winans would craft the majority of the album production, Evans also collaborated with Battlecat, Bink, Buckwild, Hozay Clowney, Kip Collins, Havoc, The Neptunes, Vada Nobles, Michaelangelo Saulsberry, and frequent contributor Chucky Thompson on Faithfully.[4] Producer duo Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis were also asked to contribute to Faithfully but declined after hearing previously produced material which they found too good to come up with better material.[3] While it took almost two years to finish Faithfully, Evans noted in a 2001 interview with MTV News that it reflected her music studies of the past five years, saying: "It took months and months of studying the songs, going back, putting in the elements. The feel is 'Faith has grown.' That's what I hope people get from it. I just been trying to get my history together."[6] The album title borrows from the same-titled album track.[5]

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
BBC Music(favorable)[7]
Entertainment WeeklyA−[8]
The Guardian[9]
The Independent[10]
NME6/10[11]
Robert Christgau(dud)[12]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[13]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[14]

Allmusic editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine called the album "her grittiest, funkiest, best record to date". While he found that it runs too long, Erlewine also noted that "Faithfully gels better than any previous Faith Evans record, in large part because so much of it is devoted to hard-edged, funky dance numbers [...] It is rich with vibrant songs, lively production, and Evans' best singing to date on what ultimately is not just her best album."[1] The Independent declared "Faithfully, by some distance Evans's most impressive album." The newspaper found that "the album has a far broader range than her previous releases", with "Evans's voice [dominating] proceedings."[10] Entertainment Weekly critic Craig Seymour wrote that "on her third and most accomplished album, Evans uses lush ’70s soul orchestrations for her ballads about love’s joys and hardships. Her vocals range from earthy gospel-schooled cries to breathy ethereal coos."[8] Billboard found that Faithfully was "a much stronger project than her previous outing", calling it "flavorful".[15]

Tracey E. Hopkins from Rolling Stone noted "the disc's minimalist, old-school soul production style [that] helps pushing [Evans'] pulpit-honed, honey-glazed vocals to the fore." She felt that "with her third disc, the gospel, jazz and hip-hop sprinkled Faithfully, Evans continues to challenge Blige's now drama-free reign."[13] People remarked that "keeping one foot in both the hip-hop and R&B worlds, Evans uses her gritty, gospel-informed alto to deftly mix components from the street and the church, bringing in guest rappers Loon and P. Diddy for two songs. But when she goes soulfully solo on the jazzy numbers "Do Your Time" and "Love Can't Hide," it's clear that this is Evans's party."[16] Christian Ward from NME wrote that Faithfully is "better than we might’ve expected" and called it "half a good album", feeling that the "final stretch is a long haul, everything getting mid-tempo and warbly".[11] Similarly, The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan found that Evans "sounds suitably rejuvenated" on the album, "teasing some memorable moments out of a collection of old-school love songs" but also noted that "the let down is the preponderance of generic ballads, most of which are simply unworthy of such a luscious voice."[9]

Commercial performance

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Faithfully debuted and peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 101,000 copies in its first week.[17] This marked Evans' highest opening sales up to then.[18] On Billboard's component charts, it reached number two on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[17] In total, Faithfully sold more than 834,000 copies in the United States.[17] It was eventually certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for the shipment of over 500,000 copies.[17]

Track listing

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Faithfully track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro"
0:52
2."Alone in This World"
3:53
3."You Gets No Love" (featuring P. Diddy & Loon)
  • Saulsberry
  • Evans[B]
4:01
4."Burnin' Up"
The Neptunes3:31
5."I Love You"
4:27
6."Everything" (Interlude)
  • Jamison
  • Winans
  • Diddy
  • Winans
0:49
7."Back to Love"
  • Evans
  • Mike Cleveland
  • Combs
  • Jamison
  • Winans
  • Diddy
  • Winans
  • Evans[B]
3:40
8."Faithful" (Interlude)
  • Thompson
  • Todd Russaw[B]
2:00
9."Do Your Time"
  • Diddy
  • Winans
4:20
10."Don't Cry"
  • Diddy
  • Winans
3:37
11."Faithfully"
3:57
12."Brand New Man"
  • Collins
  • Diddy
  • Winans
4:12
13."Ghetto" (Interlude)
  • Evans
  • Saulsberry
  • Saulsberry
  • Evans
1:21
14."Where We Stand"
  • Clowney
  • Evans
4:22
15."Heaven Only Knows"
4:15
16."Love Can't Hide"
  • Clowney
  • Evans[B]
5:04
17."Can't Believe" (featuring Carl Thomas)
  • Diddy
  • Winans
5:00
18."Love Song" (Interlude)
  • Evans
  • Thompson
  • Thompson
  • Evans[B]
1:49

Notes

  • ^A signifies a vocal producer
  • ^B signifies a co-producer

Samples

Charts

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Certifications

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Certifications for Faithfully
Region Certification Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[27] Gold 500,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Release history and formats for Faithfully
Region Date Formats Label Ref.
United States November 6, 2001
[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Allmusic review
  2. ^ "Faith Evans | Artist". Grammy Awards. Retrieved 2023-06-12.
  3. ^ a b Seymour, Craig. "The Re-Energizers". Vibe. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  4. ^ a b Reid, Shaheem. "Faith Evans Talks About Her Drug Arrest On New Single". MTV News. Archived from the original on November 26, 2017. Retrieved July 16, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c "Singer Faith Evans Sheds More Than 50 Lbs; Releases New CD 'Faithfully'". Jet. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  6. ^ Reid, Shaheem. "Faith Evans Flips Biggie, Studies Ella Fitzgerald For Faithfully". MTV News. Archived from the original on July 19, 2020. Retrieved October 9, 2001.
  7. ^ avis, Keysha (January 11, 2002). "Faith Evans: Faithfully: Review". BBC Music. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Seymour, Craig (March 17, 2020). "Faithfully". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  9. ^ a b Sullivan, Caroline (January 4, 2002). "All you need is Faith". The Guardian. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  10. ^ a b "Album: Faith Evans". The Independent. January 11, 2002. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  11. ^ a b "Evans, Faith: Faithfully". NME. September 12, 2005. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  12. ^ Robert Christgau Consumer Guide
  13. ^ a b Hopkins, Tracy E. "Album Reviews". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on January 26, 2009. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  14. ^ Brackett, Nathan; Christian Hoard (2004). The Rolling Stone Album Guide. New York City, New York: Simon and Schuster. p. 284. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. rolling stone faith evans album guide.
  15. ^ "Reviews & Previews". The Guardian. November 10, 2001. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  16. ^ "Picks and Pans Review: Faithfully". People. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  17. ^ a b c d "50 Cent Holds On In Slow Sales Week". Billboard. April 13, 2005. Archived from the original on July 18, 2020. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  18. ^ "50 Cent maintains momentum". The New Zealand Herald. April 18, 2005. Retrieved July 18, 2020.
  19. ^ "Chart Log UK: E-40 – E-Z Rollers" (scroll down to Faith Evans subtitles). Official Charts Company. zobbel.de. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  20. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved September 14, 2021.
  21. ^ "Faith Evans Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  22. ^ "Faith Evans Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  23. ^ "Canada's Top 200 R&B; albums of 2001". Jam!. January 8, 2002. Archived from the original on July 26, 2002. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  24. ^ "Canada's Top 200 R&B; albums of 2001". Jam!. Archived from the original on September 6, 2004. Retrieved March 25, 2022.
  25. ^ "2002 Year-End Chart – Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  26. ^ "2002 Year-End Chart – Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  27. ^ "American album certifications – Faith Evans – Faithfully". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 2017-04-12.
  28. ^ "Faith Evans: Faithfully". iTunes (US). Retrieved July 19, 2020.
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