High Maintenance (Miranda Cosgrove EP)

In October 2010, Cosgrove announced a few tour dates for her previously-known Sparks Fly Tour, in support of her debut full-length studio album of the same name. It became known as the Dancing Crazy Tour, named after her single "Dancing Crazy". Rumors of an album titled Turn It Up: Remixed later surfaced, with the track listing being filled with remixes and acoustic versions from her previous album, along with the lead single and in-edited tracks "Sparks Fly", "Lovestruck" and "Turn It Up" (featuring Rivers Cuomo). The rumors were later denied on January 3, 2011 as it was revealed that her new work would not be a full-length remix or studio album, but an extended play instead. Eight days later, Cosgrove herself tweeted a picture from the photoshoot of the EP.[4] In an interview with Billboard, Cosgrove revealed the title of the EP to be High Maintenance, named after the track of the same name, which is a duet with Rivers Cuomo that was co-written by Cuomo, along with Josh Alexander and Billy Steinberg and produced by Cuomo and Dr. Luke.

"It's the first duet I've ever done, and it was really fun. My part of the song is this girl who's high maintenance, and Rivers is this guy who's having to put up with it. I really enjoyed working with (Cuomo). He's really cool. I've worked with Dr. Luke for awhile [sic]... and he ended up introducing me to Rivers.

— Cosgrove about new EP and collaboration with Rivers Cuomo"[1]

Along with the first two confirmed tracks, three more songs were confirmed for the EP which were: the electropop song "Sayonara" that was co-written by Greg Kurstin, Bonnie McKee and Nicole Morier and produced by Kurstin and has been performed on her tour, a cover of Shontelle's sentimental ballad "Kiss You Up" that was co-written by MoZella with Jimmy Harry and Tony Kanal, who produced it and was released on Shontelle's second studio album No Gravity,[5] and "Face of Love", which was co-written by Scott Cutler, Carsten Mortenson, Anne Preven and Lucas Secon, who produced it.

The EP's sound is pop music.[6] The EP's lead single, "Dancing Crazy", was reviewed by Common Sense Media: "Dancing Crazy, [...] has one thing on its mind: cutting loose on the dance floor until the wee hours of the morning. Written by Avril Lavigne, the song describes staying out all night, spending most of it dancing (with a little kissing thrown in) -- "You, me in the spotlight / Running around till the end of the night / Hot, hot keep it comin' / We can rock out till the early morning." Though the actions in this tune aren't necessarily irresponsible, they may be a little iffy for the youngest tweens."[7] Hiponline said of the album, "The High Maintenance EP is a pop-rock whirlwind, complete with sing-along choruses, candy-coated vocals and dance floor friendly beats." They later went on to say "Title track 'High Maintenance' sees Miranda trading tongue-in-cheek vocals about her carefree, fun-loving ways with Rivers Cuomo, who contributed as a songwriter and producer to the track. From the sentimental ballad 'Kiss You Up' to the explosive, electronic 'Sayonara' this album shows Miranda's true versatility as an artist embracing multiple styles and influences."[8]

Cosgrove headlined her own tour, titled Dancing Crazy Tour, which was named after the EP's lead and only single "Dancing Crazy", co-written by Avril Lavigne with Max Martin and Shellback, who produced it and was released on Cosgrove's second EP High Maintenance which was released on March 15, 2011. The tour began January 24, 2011 and ended February 25, 2011. The tour featured dates in House of Blues locations such as ones located in Houston, Texas and Anaheim, CA. She also performed at several theatres on the tour, including locations in cities such as Atlanta, GA, Tampa, FL and Orlando FL.[9][10][11] Accompanying Cosgrove on the tour was Greyson Chance, who rose to fame when a video of him singing "Paparazzi" by Lady Gaga emerged on popular video sharing website YouTube. Chance performed several of his own original songs, as well as covers from famous artists.[12] The tour was financially successful. The second show on the tour, which took place in Minneapolis, sold about 54% of its tickets. The shows total gross revenue was $37,256.[13] The fourth show of the tour, which took place in Rosemont, Illinois, was much more successful, selling 90% of the available tickets. The total gross revenue for the show was $118,435.[13] The stop in Tampa, Florida was also successful; selling 959 out of the total 1,385 available, the stop grossed a total of $40,642.[14]

During the week before the EP's release, the music video for "Dancing Crazy" was available for free digital download on iTunes.[3] Aside from being performed while on tour, the song was also performed live on the March 9, 2011 episode of The Ellen DeGeneres Show.[15] The performance saw Cosgrove singing the song as several children danced around her. As Cosgrove started to sing the final chorus of the song, Greyson Chance, who had opened up for her on her Dancing Crazy Tour, came out onto the stage to sing with her.[16][17] On March 15, 2011, the day of the EP's release, Cosgrove performed at the Hard Rock Cafe in Hollywood, California.[18] The first 500 customers to purchase the EP from FYE or the performance at the Hard Rock Cafe received a free wristband, which grants them access to an album signing held by Cosgrove.[19]

Along with the numerous live performances, Nickelodeon also aired a television special, titled Dancing Crazy With Miranda Cosgrove, which aired on Saturday, March 19, 2011.[20] The special showed footage of Cosgrove recording the song, as well as its music video. It also gave fans of Cosgrove a behind-the-scenes look at her tour. Also included in the special was Cosgrove interacting with several of her fans.[21][22][23]

On April 5, 2011, Cosgrove tweeted that she would be going on tour again in the summer. Even though Cosgrove associated her Sparks Fly album with the first part of the tour, High Maintenance, her new EP was associated with the second part of the tour. Greyson Chance opened up for her on the North American part of the tour

Cosgrove only performed three out of the five songs on the EP, which were "Kiss You Up", "High Maintenance" and "Dancing Crazy", while "Face of Love" and "Sayonara" were left out. Cosgrove also performed songs from her debut album Sparks Fly, The tour was renamed from Dancing Crazy Winter Tour to Dancing Crazy Summer Tour on April 5, 2011.

The tour resumed on July 15, 2011. However, on August 11, 2011, Cosgrove's tour bus was involved in a traffic collision on Interstate 70 in Vandalia, Illinois. Five passengers were injured including Cosgrove, who sustained a broken ankle.[24] Initial reports confirmed that the tour would be postponed while Cosgrove recovered. A week later, Cosgrove released a statement stating that the tour was canceled by the doctor's orders. Cosgrove admitted that she would resume touring by the following year.[25]

The tracks of High Maintenance were released in the Japanese edition of Cosgrove's debut album Sparks Fly.[26] Also, this version includes the artwork produced for the EP.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic[6]
Boston Herald[27]	(Positive)
Entertainment Weekly[28]	(B+)
USA Today[29]
The Washington Post[30]	(Mixed)

Upon its release, High Maintenance was met with mixed to positive reviews. James Christopher Monger of Allmusic wrote that the extended play (EP) had a more adult pop sound, and gave the album a rating of two and a half stars out of five.[6] Lauren Carter of The Boston Herald compared the EP to the likes of Avril Lavigne and Kesha and commented "High Maintenance is mostly high-octane fun, Cosgrove's all-grown-up soundtrack to letting loose and testing the rules without breaking them."[27] Mikael Wood of Entertainment Weekly said that Cosgrove's return to music is stronger than before.[28] Allison Stewart of The Washington Post gave a mixed view of the EP, stating, "Cosgrove's new EP, High Maintenance will sound familiar to anyone who heard her modestly received, similar-sounding 2010 full-length debut, Sparks Fly or any other teen pop disc released in the last five years."[30] However, the editors for USA Today gave the EP a negative review, noting, "She has been singing since the start of Nickelodeon's iCarly, but Cosgrove's new electro-inspired EP is the first release to distinguish the 17-year-old from the show's lead character. But the break's not too sharp."[29]

The EP debuted at number 34 on the Billboard 200 chart in the US.[31]