0304 is the fifth studio album by American singer Jewel, released on June 3, 2003, by Atlantic Records. Inspired by the sudden success of scoring a number one on the US BillboardHot Dance Club Play chart with "Serve the Ego"—the final single from her previous album, This Way—in early November 2002, Jewel decided to make a radical departure from her previous folk-oriented musical efforts and recorded a pop album.
Within the liner notes to 0304, Jewel includes a note to her fans, explaining, "This album may seem different to you."[1] According to Jewel, the album is a result of her desire to create a "modern interpretation of big band music. A record that [is] lyric-driven, like Cole Porter stuff, that also has a lot of swing...that combined dance, urban, and folk music."[1] For the album, Jewel teamed with producers Lester Mendez (Shakira, Enrique Iglesias) and Rick Nowels (Madonna).[3]
0304 received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 63, based on nine reviews.[4]Stephen Thomas Erlewine from AllMusic stated that "it's the first album of hers that's a sheer pleasure to hear", while noting "[she] includes a note to her fans, explaining, 'This album may seem different to you,' which is putting it mildly", to convey the surprising, yet pleasing modern sound.[1] Erlewine also wrote that "she puts herself out on the line more than she ever has, and she's come up with her best record, with her best set of songs and best music yet."[1] Ron Slomowicz from About.com declared that "the album is balanced by dance pop that you would expect to hear on a Britney album."[3] Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine was also positive, writing that "the album breaks little musical ground and is, in fact, more pop than electronica, but it also presents one of the most startling—yet oddly fitting—transformations in pop history."[9] Cinquemani also compared the album to Madonna's Ray of Light (1998) and American Life (2003).[9] Barry Walters from Rolling Stone agreed with Cinquemani and wrote that the album "is essentially a wanna-be version of Madonna's American Life."[8] Walters also wrote that "she's found herself an artificial flavor that tastes good."[8] A positive review also came from Uncut, who wrote that "the tunes are stunning, her voice has never sounded better and she makes serious points few others would dare in a pop context."[11] Brian Hiatt from Entertainment Weekly opined that the "unexpected dance-pop vibrancy makes it Jewel's best album."[6]
The album also received some mixed reviews, with some critics criticizing the change of style adopted on the album. Alexis Petridis from The Guardian wrote, "Like Robbie Williams's Escapology, 0304 virtually knocks itself out in its attempts to win over the US public", while commenting that she looks "desperate" and "uncomfortable" on the album.[2] Darryl Sterdan from Jam! said that the album "isn't going to save her soul—or anyone else's."[12] Caroline Bansal from musicOMH described the album as "an enjoyable 54 minutes of pop, full of catchy, chirpy songs, proving Jewel's ear candy as well as eye candy credentials. The album could be the soundtrack of a summer's day at the beach, or for getting ready for a girly night out."[13]
Commercial performanceedit
0304 became the highest-debuting album of Jewel's career, entering the Billboard 200 at number two (behind Metallica's St. Anger) with 144,000 copies sold in its first week.[14] It earned a gold certification from Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) one month after its release, on July 14, 2003,[15] and had sold over 771,000 copies in the United States as of June 2010.[16]
Track listingedit
All lyrics are written by Jewel Kilcher; all music is composed by Kilcher and Lester Mendez, except where noted.
^"Jewel Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved January 1, 2014.
^"2003 Year End Charts – Top Billboard 200 Albums". Billboard.biz. December 27, 2003. Archived from the original on February 25, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2010.
^"Canadian album certifications – Jewel – 0304". Music Canada. February 11, 2004. Retrieved August 29, 2011.
^"0304". Amazon. United States. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
^"0304" (in Japanese). Warner Music Japan. Archived from the original on January 2, 2014. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
^"ARIA New Releases Albums – Week Commencing 23rd June 2003" (PDF). The ARIA Report. No. 696. June 23, 2003. p. 26. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2024 – via Trove.
^"Jewel – Veröffentlichungen" (in German). Warner Music Germany. Archived from the original on February 12, 2013. Retrieved August 20, 2012.
^"New Releases – Albums". Music Week. August 30, 2003. p. 22. ISSN 0265-1548.
^"ARIA New Releases Albums – Week Commencing 9th February 2004" (PDF). The ARIA Report. No. 728. February 9, 2004. p. 27. Archived from the original (PDF) on February 22, 2008. Retrieved April 15, 2024 – via Trove.
External linksedit
Bottomley, C. (May 16, 2003). "Jewel: Let's Face the Music and Dance". VH1. Archived from the original on November 12, 2006.