Reality Show (album)

Reality Show is the third studio album by American R&B singer Jazmine Sullivan. It was released by RCA Records on January 13, 2015 in the United States. Sullivan recorded the album, her first in five years, during a hiatus from the music industry, writing and working with producers such as Anthony Bell, Salaam Remi, and Key Wane.[1] Reality Show received widespread acclaim from critics and sold 30,000 copies in its first week.

Reality Show
Studio album by
Jazmine Sullivan
ReleasedJanuary 13, 2015 (2015-01-13)
Genre
Length44:13
LabelRCA
Producer
Jazmine Sullivan chronology
Love Me Back
(2010)		 Reality Show
(2015)		 Heaux Tales
(2021)
Singles from Reality Show
  1. "Dumb"
    Released: May 13, 2014
  2. "Forever Don't Last"
    Released: September 16, 2014
  3. "Let It Burn"
    Released: March 17, 2015

Background

In January 2011, after having released her second album Love Me Back (2010), Sullivan announced via Twitter that she was indefinitely leaving the music industry saying, "I promised myself when it wasn't fun anymore I wouldn't do it. And, here I am. I'm not saying I won't ever sing again in my life because I don't believe that. But in this moment… right now… [I] got some things to figure out".[2] In 2014, she announced her new album, Reality Show. In a 2014 interview with Billboard, Sullivan described her return as inevitable saying she "...can't escape [her] calling."[3]

Release and reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
AnyDecentMusic?7.9/10[4]
Metacritic85/100[5]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[6]
Complex[7]
Exclaim!8/10[8]
HipHopDX4.0/5[9]
Now4/5[10]
Pitchfork8.1/10[11]
Slant Magazine[12]
Spin8/10[13]
Vice (Expert Witness)A−[14]

Reality Show was released by RCA Records on January 13, 2015.[15] In its first week, it debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200 and sold 30,000 copies in the United States.[16]

Reality Show received widespread acclaim from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, it received an average score of 85, based on 9 reviews.[5] In The New York Times, Jon Pareles said the record shrewdly mixes older elements of soul music with modern drum programming, while the themes of romantic dysfunction intensify and inspire Sullivan's singing. "Playing a woman too often scorned", Pareles wrote, "she comes out victoriously soulful."[17] AllMusic's Andy Kellman felt she sings more confidently than before and concluded in his review, "Just as potent and lasting as Fearless and Love Me Back, Reality Show completes one of the most impressive first-three-album runs."[6] Ryan B. Patrick of Exclaim! stated that Sullivan's return was a welcome one, as she delivers "an R&B album that feels like how R&B used to sound circa late 1990s/early 2000 while still coming off as forward-looking".[8] Pitchfork critic David Drake hailed Sullivan's voice as the best in contemporary R&B and said "her songs work so well because they allow the listener to experience them at face value or more holistically, shifting perspectives as rapidly as in life itself.".[11]

Accolades

Reality Show was ranked number 44 on Pitchfork's list of 2015's best albums,[18] while Rap-Up named it the year's tenth best record.[19] It was also nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, while the song "Let It Burn" received nominations in the categories of Best R&B Song and Best Traditional R&B Performance.[20]

Publication Accolade Year Rank
Pitchfork The 50 Best Albums of 2015 2015
44[21]
Rap-Up The 10 Best Albums of 2015 2015
10[22]
Rated R&B The 50 Best R&B Albums of The Decade 2019
36[23]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Dumb" (featuring Meek Mill)
3:31
2."Mascara"
  • Sullivan
  • Weir II
Key Wane4:13
3."Brand New"
3:27
4."Silver Lining"
  • Sullivan
  • Weir II
Key Wane3:17
5."#HoodLove"
Chuck Harmony3:45
6."Let It Burn"
Key Wane3:43
7."Veins"
  • Sullivan
  • Weir II
Key Wane3:50
8."Forever Don't Last"
  • Sullivan
  • Birdsong
  • Harmon
Harmony3:39
9."Stupid Girl"
  • Sullivan
  • Matt Wong
  • Joe "JoeLogic" Gallagher
  • Dan "Dilemma" Thomas
  • JoeLogic
  • Dilemma
  • Wong
2:54
10."Stanley"
Da Internz4:29
11."Masterpiece (Mona Lisa)"
  • Sullivan
  • Anthony Bell
4:05
iTunes bonus track[24][25]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
12."If You Dare"
  • Sullivan
  • Wong
  • Gallagher
  • Thomas
  • JoeLogic
  • Dilemma
  • Wong
3:22

Sample credits:

“Let It Burn” samples “Ready or Not” by After 7.

Personnel

Credits are adapted from AllMusic.[6]

  • Anthony Bell – instrumentation, musician, producer, programming
  • Tyler Bellinger – choir, chorus
  • Amber Bullock – vocals (background)
  • Maddox Chimm – assistant
  • Da Internz – producer
  • Kevin "KD" Davis – mixing
  • Dilemma – producer
  • Gleyder "Gee" Disla – engineer
  • DJ Dahi – keyboards, producer, programming
  • Peter Edge – producer
  • Twanetta M. Ferebee-Brown – choir, chorus
  • Benjamin Freedlander – keyboards, producer
  • Joe Gallagher – engineer, vocal engineer
  • Erwin Gorostiza – creative director
  • Jeff Halsey – assistant
  • Kevin Hanson – guitar
  • Stacey Harcum – choir, chorus
  • Chuck Harmony – producer
  • Michelle Holme – art direction, design
  • Jaycen Joshua – mixing
  • Trevor Jerideau – A&R, producer
  • JoeLogic – producer
  • Mike "Guru" Johnson – production coordination
  • Ryan Kaul – assistant
  • Dave Kutch – mastering
  • Erik Madrid – mixing
  • Shane McCauley – photography
  • Meek Mill – featured artist
  • Sophia Nicole Stephens – choir, chorus
  • Gary Noble – mixing
  • Tyron Perrin – vocals (background)
  • Karl Peterson – engineer
  • Kevin Randolph – keyboards
  • Salaam Remi – A&R, arranger, drums, keyboards, producer
  • Nicole Renee – choir, chorus
  • Tony Russell – bass,
  • Richard "Tubbs" Smith – keyboards
  • Christopher Stevens – trumpet
  • Jazmine Sullivan – executive producer, primary artist, producer, vocals (background)
  • Pamela Sullivan – vocals (background)
  • Laurin Talese – choir, chorus
  • Dan Thomas – drum programming
  • Vincent Vu – assistant
  • Key Wane – arranger, bass, drums, keyboards, producer
  • Matt Wong – bass, keyboards, strings
  • Kenta Yonesaka – engineer

Charts

References
  1. "Jazmine Sullivan Readies 'Reality Show' for January". Rap-Up.com. 15 December 2014. Retrieved 15 December 2014.
  2. Cline, Georgette (3 January 2011). "Jazmine Sullivan Announces Departure From Music Career".
  3. "Billboard/ Jazmine Sullivan Is 'Completely Finished' With 'Reality Show' Album; Talks 3-Year Hiatus: Exclusive". Billboard.com. 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-05-30.
  4. "Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 8, 2019.
  5. "Reviews for Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan". Metacritic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  6. Kellman, Andy. "Reality Show – Jazmine Sullivan". AllMusic. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  7. Arceneaux, Michael (January 17, 2015). "Jazmine Sullivan's Album "Reality Show" Is Better Than Anything on VH1". Complex. Retrieved January 17, 2015.
  8. Patrick, Ryan B. (January 9, 2015). "Jazmine Sullivan: Reality Show". Exclaim!. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  9. Garrett, Ural (January 28, 2015). "Jazmine Sullivan – Reality Show". HipHopDX. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  10. Ritchie, Kevin (January 28, 2015). "Jazmine Sullivan". Now. Toronto. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  11. Drake, David (January 30, 2015). "Jazmine Sullivan: Reality Show". Pitchfork. Retrieved January 30, 2015.
  12. Chan, Andrew (December 30, 2014). "Jazmine Sullivan: Reality Show". Slant Magazine. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  13. Soto, Alfred (January 13, 2015). "Review: Jazmine Sullivan's 'Reality Show' Is So Much Deeper Than Its Title Suggests". Spin. New York. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  14. Christgau, Robert (January 1, 2016). "Ladies First: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Vice. Retrieved January 2, 2016.
  15. "Jazmine Sullivan Eyes January Release for "Reality Show"". WWKX-FM. 2014. Archived from the original on January 22, 2015. Retrieved January 22, 2015.
  16. http://www.hiphopdx.com/index/news/id.32210/title.hip-hop-album-sales-nicki-minaj-j-cole-rae-sremmurd
  17. Pareles, Jon (2015). "A Propulsive Leap Forward and a Nod to Late Blooms". The New York Times (January 11). p. AR20. Retrieved January 13, 2015.
  18. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  19. "Rap-Up's 10 Best Albums of 2015". Rap-Up. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  20. "Grammy Nominations 2016: See the Full List of Nominees". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. December 7, 2015. Retrieved December 7, 2015.
  21. "The 50 Best Albums of 2015". Pitchfork. December 16, 2015. Retrieved December 16, 2015.
  22. "Rap-Up's 10 Best Albums of 2015". Rap-Up. 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-12-23.
  23. "The 50 Best R&B Albums of The Decade (2010s)". Rated R&B. December 30, 2019.
  24. "Reality Show by Jazmine Sullivan". iTunes. Apple.com. 2015-01-13.
  25. Vineshv. "Jazmine Sullivan Releases Her New Album "Reality Show"". The Source. Retrieved 2015-01-13.
  26. "Jazmine Sullivan Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  27. "Jazmine Sullivan Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved December 6, 2015.
  28. "R&B/Hip-Hop Albums: Best of 2015". Billboard. Retrieved January 31, 2020.
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