Brave is Jennifer's 6th studio album which was released on October 4, 2007 on Epic Records.
It was Jennifer's last album released on the Epic Records label and her least commercially successful album to date. The album also returned Jennifer to pop, R&B, and hip-hop music after her 2005 album, "Rebirth."
Background[]
In an "MTV News" interview while Jennifer was on the set of her music video for her single, "Me Haces Falta," Jennifer promised her fans that there would be "dancable music" on her next album. She stated that the album would be: "dance, funk, R&B, hip-hop, all that stuff, all mixed up together to make some great pop music" and described the album as: "a little Jamiroquai, a little Sade. It's real feel-good music."
Jennifer worked with music producers Ryan Tedder, J.R. Rotem, Bloodshy & Avant, Midi Mafia, The Clutch, and many more. The songs "Do It Well" and "Hold It, Don't Drop" were released as singles. The title song, "Brave" was supposed to be released as the 3rd single and it was revealed that a music video for the song was complete, but it was never released as a single, but it managed to top the charts in South Korea.
The song, "Mile in These Shoes" peaked at #16 in Finland and was believe to be the 4th single from the album, but never released after promotion for "Brave" was cancelled.
Reception[]
"Brave" received mixed reviews. Billboard's review of the album stated: "The album is another market-smart collection of radio fodder, rather than Lopez's artistic breakout. That said, no one does classy pop quite like she does." Dotmusic gave a positive review stating: "Brave is actually one of her strongest albums to date."
Allmusic's review of "Brave" stated: "It's nothing more than modest music for mellow good times, but it's lively enough to be fleeting fun, with enough good tunes for a mild party, preferably one that's held at home." Rolling Stone stated: "J.Lo has turned away from the slick, minimalist future funk currently ruling the pop zeitgeist for chintzy production that screams 1990."
Entertainment Weekly gave a negative review of the album stating: "Expensive beats and uplifting material are offset by listless vocals." They also placed "Brave" at #5 on their list of "Worst Albums of 2007." Vibe Magazine's review was similar to Entertainment Weekly's review stating that: "Brave on the whole is almost unapologetically poor isn't surprising--Jenny's never made a viable "Album of the Year," but never before has the fly-girl-cum-cover girl been so listless."
Tracklisting[]
- Stay Together-(written by Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, Chasity Nwagbara, and Evan "Kidd" Bogart; produced by Jonathan "J.R." Rotem)-[3:30]
- Forever-(written by Balewa Muhammad, Candice Nelson, Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Patrick "j.Que" Smith, and Chauncey Hollis; produced by Hit-Boy and The Clutch)-[3:39]
- Hold It, Don't Drop It-(written by Kevin Risto, Waynne Nugent, Jennifer Lopez, Allen Phillip Lees, Tawana Dabney, Janet Sewell, Cynthia Lissette, Dennis Lambert, and Brian Potter; produced by Dirty Swift and Bruce Wayyne)-[3:55]
- Do It Well-(written by Ryan Tedder, Leonard Caston, Anita Poree, and Frank Wilson; produced by Ryan Tedder)-[3:05]
- Gotta Be There-(written by Adam Gibbs, Michael Chesser, Crystal Johnson, Travis Cherry, Leon Ware, and Arthur Ross; produced by The Platinum Brothers and Travis Cherry)-[3:57]
- Never Gonna Give Up-(written by Michelle Lynn Bell, Peter Wade Keusch, and Jennifer Lopez; produced by Peter Wade Keusch, Michelle Lynn Bell, and Julio Reyes)-[4:21]
- Mile In These Shoes-(written by Chasity Nwagbara and Onique Williams; produced by Oak)-[3:16]
- The Way It Is-(written by Michelle Lynn Bell, Peter Wade Keusch, Jennifer Lopez, Rhonda Robinson, Gennaro Leone, and Bruce Rudd; produced by Peter Wade Keusch and Michelle Lynn Bell)-[3:07]
- Be Mine-(written by Michelle Lynn Bell, Peter Wade Keusch, Rhonda Robinson, John Hill, Caleb Shreve, and Jennifer Lopez; produced by Peter Wade Keusch, Michelle Lynn Bell, Johnny Rodeo, and Chuck Brody)-[3:19]
- I Need Love-(written by Michelle Lynn Bell, Peter Wade Keusch, Rhonda Robinson, John Hill, Caleb Shreve, Jennifer Lopez, and Bill Withers; produced by Peter Wade Keusch, Michelle Lynn Bell, Johnny Rodeo, and Chuck Brody)-[3:52]
- Wrong When You're Gone-(written by Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Balewa Muhammad, Candice Nelson, and Keri Hilson; produced by Bigg D and The Clutch)-[3:58]
- Brave-(written by Christian Karlsson, Pontus Winnberg, Ezekiel "Zeke" Lewis, Balewa Muhammad,Patrick "j.Que" Smith, and Candice Nelson; produced by Bloodshy & Avant and The Clutch)-[4:21]
- Do It Well (feat. Ludacris)-(written by Ryan Tedder, Christopher "Ludacris" Bridges, Leonard Caston, Anita Poree, and Frank Wilson; produced by Ryan Tedder)-[3:34]
- Do It Well (feat. Moto Blanco Remix)-(iTunes bonus track in some countries)-[3:03]
- Do It Well (feat. Ashanti Boyz Remix)-(iTunes bonus track in some countries)-[3:42]
- Frozen Moments-(written by Michelle Lynn Bell and Peter Wade Keusch; produced by Lynn & Wade LLP)-[3:45]-(iTunes Bonus Track)
- Song Samples
- "Hold It, Don't Drop It" — Contains a sample of Tavares' "It Only Takes a Minute" (written by Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter)
- "Do It Well" — Contains a sample of Eddie Kendricks' "Keep on Truckin'" (written by Leonard Caston, Anita Poree, and Frank Wilson)
- "Gotta Be There" — Contains a sample of Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Be Where You Are" (written by Leon Ware and Arthur Ross)
- "The Way It Is" — Contains a sample of Great Pride's "She's a Lady" (written by Gennaro Leone and Bruce Rudd)
- "Be Mine" — Contains a sample of Paul Mauriat's "Sunny" (written by Bobby Hebb)
- "I Need Love" — Contains a sample of Bill Withers' "Use Me" (written by Bill Withers)
Personnel[]
- Pedro Alfonso – Violin and Viola
- Jim Annunziato – Engineer
- Scott Barns – Make-Up
- Michelle Lynn Bell – Background Vocals, Producer, and Vocal Arrangement
- Big D – Producer
- Chuck Brody – Producer
- CFOS – Mixing Assistant
- Travis Cherry – Producer
- The Clutch – Producer
- Brandon Creed – A&R
- Alec Deruggiero – Engineer
- Warren "Oak" Felder – Producer
- William Garrett – Keyboards and Engineer
- Larry Gold – Conductor and String Arrangements
- Alexei Hay – Photography
- John Hill – Producer and Mixing
- Keri Hilson – Background Vocals
- Hit Boy – Programming, Producer and Instrumentation
- Peter Wade Keusch – Synthesizer, Programming, Producer, Engineer, and Vocal Arrangement
- Gelly Kusuma – Assistant Engineer and Mixing Assistant
- Jennifer Lopez – Executive Producer
- Manny Marroquin – Mixing
- Julie Ann Marsibilio – A&R
- Josh McDonnell – Guitar and Engineer
- Keith Naftaly – A&R
- Candice Nelson – Background Vocals
- Chasity Nwagbara – Background Vocals
- Ken Paves – Hair Stylist
- Philosophy – Producer
- Herb Powers – Mastering
- Julio C. Reyes – Engineer, String Arrangements, and Vocal Producer
- Jared Robbins – Mixing Assistant
- Corey Rooney – Executive Producer, Brass Arrangement, and Vocal Producer
- José Juan Sánchez – Engineer
- Ryan Santomauro – A&R
- Sizzler Ponderosa – Background Vocals
- Chris Soper – Mixing Assistant
- Corey Stocker – Engineer
- Bruce Swedien – Mixing
- Ryan Tedder – Programming, Producer, and Instrumentation
- Mike Tschupp – Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
- Peter Wade – Synthesizer, Guitar, Programming, and Mixing
- Bruce Waynne – Producer, Engineer
- Daniel Werner – A&R
- Monique Williams – Background Vocals
Album Chart Positions[]
| Chart (2007) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian ARIA Albums Chart | 46 |
| Austrian Albums Chart | 35 |
| Belgian Ultratop 50 Albums (Flanders) | 36 |
| Belgian Ultratop 50 Albums (Wallonia) | 18 |
| Canadian Albums Chart | 13 |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 24 |
| French (SNEP) Albums Chart | 28 |
| German Albums Chart | 41 |
| Greek International Albums Chart | 2 |
| Greek Albums Chart | 5 |
| Hungarian (Mahasz) Albums Chart | 17 |
| Italian (FIMI) Albums Chart | 10 |
| Japanese (Oricon) Albums Chart | 6 |
| Mexican Albums Chart | 36 |
| Polish Albums Chart | 31 |
| Spanish Albums Chart | 21 |
| Swedish Albums Chart | 59 |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 6 |
| UK Albums Chart | 24 |
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 12 |
| U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums | 7 |
Album Certification[]
Russia (NPNF): Certified 2x Platinum; sales: 40,000
Album Release Dates[]
| Country | Release Date |
|---|---|
| Netherlands | October 4, 2007 |
| Denmark | |
| Poland | |
| Germany | October 5, 2007 |
| Italy | |
| Switzerland | |
| Ireland | |
| Australia | October 6, 2007 |
| United Kingdom | October 8, 2007 |
| France | |
| Spain | |
| Portugal | |
| Greece | |
| Czech Republic | |
| Philippines | |
| Hungary | |
| Romania | |
| United States | October 9, 2007 |
| Canada | |
| Mexico | |
| Brazil | |
| Argentina | |
| Chile | |
| Cuba | |
| Puerto Rico | |
| Israel | |
| South Korea | |
| China | |
| Japan | October 10, 2007 |
| Thailand | October 11, 2007 |
| Russia | October 13, 2007 |
| Ukraine | |
| New Zealand | |
| India | October 16, 2007 |
Gallery[]
