All About Tonight (EP)
All About Tonight is the second extended play, and eighth studio release by American country music artist Blake Shelton. It was released on August 10, 2010, via Warner Music Group Nashville, under its Reprise label.[1] The first single, "All About Tonight," was released to radio in April 2010 and has become his seventh Number One hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Songs charts. The album's second single, "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" (previously recorded by Joe Nichols on his 2007 album Real Things), was released to radio in September 2010.
All About Tonight | ||||
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EP by | ||||
Released | August 10, 2010 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 22:36 | |||
Label | Reprise Nashville | |||
Producer | Scott Hendricks[1] | |||
Blake Shelton chronology | ||||
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Singles from All About Tonight | ||||
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Background
All About Tonight is Shelton's second "Six Pak", a concept that he and his record label decided to experiment with in 2010 starting with Hillbilly Bone. Shelton said, "We're looking for ways to remind people that we still make albums, and there's still cool music that you may or may not hear on the radio. So we decided to do a six-song album, and it's really cheap! It's like five dollars and change".[2]
Content
In an interview with "The Boot", Rhett Akins talked about the title track, a song he co-wrote along with Ben Hayslip and Dallas Davidson, saying "We decided that we wanted to write a song about how we just don't care about tomorrow because tomorrow can wait until tomorrow ... it's all about tonight! It's a good, fun party song about where the night is going to go. After we wrote it, we thought it sounds just like a Blake Shelton song".[3]
Critical reception
Review scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | [4] |
American Songwriter | [5] |
Billboard | (favorable)[6] |
Entertainment Weekly | B[7] |
The New York Times | (favorable)[8] |
The Washington Post | (favorable)[9] |
Upon its release, All About Tonight received generally positive reviews from most music critics.[10] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on 5 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[10]
Jon Caramanica with The New York Times said that the release is "a variety-pack of country styles" and said he sounded "flirty and convincing" on the release.[8] Thom Jurek with Allmusic gave it a three star rating, saying "Shelton does two things, and he does them extremely well: rowdy, rocking contemporary tunes about raising hell and making romantic mischief, and singing (mostly) believable ballads".[4] Gary Graff with Billboard gave it a favorable review, saying "the singer's latest set, All About Tonight, is a satisfying sprint without fat or filler but packs plenty of fun."[6] Bill Friskics-Warren with The Washington Post gave it a favorable review, saying "Shelton's latest "six pak" harks back to a time when Nashville rebels could be rowdy and real at the same time".[9]
Matt Popkin with American Songwriter gave it a 2½ star rating, comparing it to a comedy series saying "Blake Shelton’s All About Tonight is what I imagine being in the studio audience for an average sitcom would be like [...] And yes, you’re aware that somebody worked very hard on these jokes, but still, every time you laugh, you feel like a little part of you just died, and it’s located in the left hemisphere of your brain.[5]
Commercial performance
The album debuted at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200, and at number one on the U.S. Billboard Top Country Albums, selling 33,000 copies in its first week of release.[11] The number one debut on the Top Country Albums chart gave Shelton his first number one album of his career.[12] As of the chart dated January 8, 2011, the album has sold 149,385 copies in the US.[13]
Track listing
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "All About Tonight" | Rhett Akins, Ben Hayslip, Dallas Davidson | 3:27 |
2. | "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" | Earl Bud Lee, John Wiggins | 3:09 |
3. | "That Thing We Do" | Jeff Bates, Patrick Jason Matthews | 3:04 |
4. | "Draggin' The River" (featuring Miranda Lambert) | Jim Beavers, Chris Stapleton | 3:45 |
5. | "Suffocating" | Lambert, Hillary Scott | 4:12 |
6. | "Got a Little Country" | Tony Mullins, Craig Wiseman | 4:57 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
7. | "Addicted" | Cheryl Wheeler |
Personnel
- Rob Beckham – booking
- Steve Blackmon – assistant
- Brandon Blackstock – management
- Narvel Blackstock – management
- Brooke Boling – design
- Drew Bollman – assistant
- Holly Chapman – grooming
- Steve Crowder – assistant
- Steph Dufresne – assistant
- Russ Harrington – photography
- Scott Hendricks – digital editing, engineer, producer
- Steve Marcantonio – tracking
- Cheryl H. McTyre – a&r admin.
- Jacob Murray – assistant
- Tre Nagella – assistant
- Justin Niebank – mixing
- Allen Parker – assistant
- Katherine Petillo – art direction
- Nick Spezia – assistant
- Todd Tidwell – assistant
- Trish Townsend – stylist
- Hank Williams – mastering
- Brian David Willis – digital editing
- Tim Akers – hammond b-3 Organ, Piano
- Mike Brignardello – bass guitar
- Tom Bukovac – electric guitar
- Perry Coleman – background vocals
- Eric Darken – percussion
- Paul Franklin – pedal steel guitar
- Aubrey Haynie – fiddle
- Miranda Lambert – duet vocals on "draggin' the river"
- Troy Lancaster – electric guitar
- Brent Mason – electric guitar
- Greg Morrow – drums, percussion
- Gordon Mote – hammond b-3 Organ, Piano
- Tony Mullins – background vocals
- Hillary Scott – background vocals
- Blake Shelton – lead vocals
- Jimmie Lee Sloas – bass guitar
- Bryan Sutton – banjo, acoustic guitar, mandolin
- Craig Wiseman – jew's harp, background vocals
- Jennifer Zuffinetti – background vocals
Chart positions
End of year charts
Chart (2010) | Year-end 2010 |
---|---|
US Billboard Top Country Albums | 52[16] |
Singles
Year | Single | Peak chart positions | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
US Country | US | CAN | ||
2010 | "All About Tonight" | 1 | 37 | 63 |
"Who Are You When I'm Not Looking" | 1 | 46 | 72 | |
References
- "Blake Shelton Announces New Six Pak, All About Tonight". blakeshelton.com. 2010-07-07. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- Richardson, Gayle (2010-06-10). "Blake Shelton Getting Ready for a 'Six Pak' Summer – The Boot". theboot.com. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- Conaway, Alanna (2010-06-18). "Blake Shelton, 'All About Tonight' – Story Behind the Lyrics – The Boot". theboot.com. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- Jurek, Thom. "All About Tonight – Blake Shelton". Allmusic. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- Popkin, Matt (2010-08-18). "Blake Shelton: All About Tonight". American Songwriter. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- Graff, Gary (2010-07-30). "Blake Shelton, "All About Tonight"". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- Pastorek, Whitney (2010-08-04). "All About Tonight". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2010-10-08.
- Caramanica, Jon (2010-08-08). "Critics' Choice - CDs by Blake Shelton, Mike Posner, George Duke - Review - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- Friskics-Warren, Bill (2010-08-10). "Album review of Blake Shelton's  All About Tonight'". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
- "All About Tonight Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic". Metacritic. Retrieved 2010-10-18.
- Caulfield, Keith (2010-08-18). "Eminem Recovers No. 1 on Billboard 200, Matches Susan Boyle's Feat". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- Roughstock Staff (2010-08-18). "Blake Shelton Scores Best-Selling Country Album This Week". roughstock.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-23. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- "Final Holiday Sales #s of 2010 are Huge for Country Artists". Roughstock. 2010-12-29. Archived from the original on 2011-01-01. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
- "Get a new song from All About Tonight downloaded to your computer today! | Blake Shelton". iTunes. 2010-07-28. Retrieved 2010-07-27.
- "All About Tonight – Blake Shelton". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-10-23.
- "Best of 2010 – Top Country Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2010-12-31.