Beauty Marks (album)
Beauty Marks is the seventh studio album by American singer-singwriter Ciara. It was released on May 10, 2019, through Beauty Marks Entertainment. It is her first album since Jackie. The album was preceded by the singles "Level Up", "Freak Me", "Dose", "Greatest Love" and "Thinkin Bout You".
Upon release, Beauty Marks debuted at number 87 on the US Billboard 200, marking it Ciara's lowest charting album to date.
Background
After the release of her sixth studio album, Jackie, Ciara decided to leave Epic Records in early 2016. Although the album spawned the Platinum-certified single, "I Bet", it failed to make much of a commercial impact, selling only around 160,000 copies worldwide within a three-month period. The singer had planned to further promote the album with a second leg of the Jackie Tour in March 2016, after postponing the dates from November 2015; however, on February 27, 2016, Ciara announced that the remaining dates of the tour had been cancelled and that she'd instead focus on recording her seventh studio album, while expressing that the album would see her undertaking a new musical direction.On January 27, 2017, it was announced that Ciara had signed a new recording contract with Warner Bros. Records. Through the deal, Ciara's music will be distributed by Alternative Distribution Alliance, the independent music distribution arm of Warner Bros.
In 2017, Ciara launched her own record and entertainment company, Beauty Marks Entertainment ; the venture was launched for her to follow her own creative direction and release her music on her own terms, with the singer eventually hoping to sign additional artists. BME's first endeavor was the release of the singles "Level Up", "Freak Me", and "Dose" in 2018, while Ciara officially announced its formation on February 7, 2019 at the MAKERS Conference.
On March 28, 2019, Ciara announced that her seventh studio album would be titled Beauty Marks after her label and that it would be released on May 10, 2019. The album was made available for pre-order the following day, along with its fifth single, "Thinkin' Bout You". In speaking on the album's development process, Ciara expressed that she now feels as she did at the start of her career, stating:
Ciara revealed that she co-wrote the title track "Beauty Marks" with Skylar Grey.
Singles
"Level Up" was released via digital download and through streaming platforms on July 18, 2018 as the album's lead single, alongside a high-octane music video. The single peaked at 59 on the US Billboard Hot 100, while its music video inspired the viral "level up dance challenge". Ciara also challenged fans to share three ways that they hoped to "level up" in life in promotion of the single. The song was certified Platinum by the RIAA. With the success of "Level Up", Ciara released the album's second single, "Freak Me", featuring Nigerian rapper, Tekno, less than a month later on August 10, 2018."Dose" was released as the album's third single on September 14, 2018, after premiering on ESPN’s Monday Night Football halftime show. The song's music video premiered on October 25, 2018. The album's fourth single, "Greatest Love", was released alongside its music video on February 11, 2019, to coincide with Valentine's Day.
"Thinkin Bout You" was released as the fifth single on March 29, 2019, along with the album's pre-order. Its music video premiered that same day. Ciara released a music video for the album's title track on May 11, 2019 and was scheduled to release one for the album's third track, "Set", on June 14, 2019.
Critical reception
Beauty Marks received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 57, based on 4 reviews. Andy Kellman, writing for AllMusic, noted that Ciara "retreads just about every move she has made before," and praised the ballads for the ballads for "easily prevail over the up-tempo numbers, not one of which is a match for the singer's previous dancefloor conquests." In his Spin review, Alfred Soto called the album "mediocre", but remarked that " manages to land in the middle of Ciara's discography when boldness is required." Nick Levine rated the album with 3 out of 5 stars, claiming that "hough ‘Beauty Marks’ is rarely innovative, Ciara shows a respectable amount of range throughout the record. During his review for Pitchfork, Eric Torres perceived that "despite a handful of highlights, Beauty Marks is marred by filler, moving between frothy pop-R&B and stale empowerment anthems that leave Ciara's talents largely underused." In a more positive note, Steven J. Horowitz praised the album's themes of happiness and contentment, claiming that they "suit her well, as does her newfound openness. This is the Ciara that we deserve, and that she deserves too."Commercial performance
The album debuted at number 87 on the US Billboard 200 and number 48 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.Track listing
All songs were written by Ciara. Additional writers are noted below.Notes
- signifies a vocal producer, this may be in addition to music production
- "Level Up" contains a sample of the composition "Fuck It Up Challenge" by DJ Telly Tell, written by Telly Brown Jr.
- "Freak Me" contains a sample of the composition "Before NKO" by Tiwa Savage, written by Tiwatope Savage, Charles Enebeli and Michael Ajereh Collins.
Personnel
Performers and Vocals
- Ciara – primary artist, vocals, background vocals
- Macklemore – featured vocals
- Kelly Rowland – featured vocals
- Tekno – featured vocals
- Missy Elliott – featured vocals
- Fatman Scoop – featured vocals
- Theron Thomas – background vocals
- Marc Sibley – background vocals
- Nathan Cunningham – background vocals
- Carmen Reece – background vocals
- Benny Cassette – synths
- Kimberly Perry – wurltizer
- Josh Lopez – guitar
- J.R. Rotem – keyboard
- Space Primates – instruments
- Andy D.Park – instruments
- Simone Vitucci – cello
Production
- Ciara – executive production, vocal production, A&R
- Monti Olson – A&R Partner
- Benny Cassette – production, vocal production
- Tyler Dopps – vocal production
- J.R. Rotem – production, vocal production
- Moonbeat – production
- Andy D. Park – vocal production
- Space Primates – production
- Brandon Green – production
- Colby Green – vocal production
- J. Pierre Medor – production
- C. "Tricky" Stewart – production
- Kelly Rowland – vocal production
- Kyle Coleman – vocal production
- Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins – production
- Jasper Cameron – production
- Rod Cameron – production
- Skylar Grey – production, vocal production
- Eric Ross – vocal production
Technical
- Benny Cassette – programming, engineering
- Andy D. Park – engineering
- Tyler Dopps – engineering
- Jaycen Joshua – mixing
- Samuel Kalandjian – engineering
- Rodney Jenkins – mixing
- Space Primates – programming, engineering
- Chris Szczech – engineering
- Kyle Coleman – engineering
- Derek Keota – engineering
- Joseph Hurtado – engineering
- Manny Marroquin – mixing
Artwork
- Sasha Samsonova – photography
- Dianne Garcia – styling
- Alejandra Hernandez – styling
- César DeLeön Ramirez – hair
- Yolanda Frederick-Thompson – make-up
- Miho Okawara – nails
- JP Robinson – art direction and design
- Stevie – art direction and design
Charts