Teen Spirit (album)

Teen Spirit is the second studio album by the Swedish pop group A-Teens. It was released on 26 February 2001 by Stockholm Records. It was the group's first album of original material. The album was recorded in Sweden with new producers and hitmakers Grizzly and Tysper, among others. While musically it is generally perceived to be more American-driven than the Europop sound of their first album, it does include a varied mix of styles including soul and Latin music. Three singles were released from the album, "Upside Down", "Halfway Around the World" and "Sugar Rush". A new version of the album including bonus tracks was released on 21 January 2002 in Scandinavia, Germany and Mexico. While not repeating the same level of success as their first album, the album went on to sell over 1.5 million copies, despite receiving poor reviews from critics.

This article is about the album. For other uses, see Teen Spirit.
Teen Spirit
Studio album by
A-Teens
Released26 February 2001
RecordedAugust–December 2000[1]
GenrePop
Length43:29
LabelStockholm
Producer
  • Grizzly
  • Tysper
  • RedOne
  • J. Boogie
  • Flame
  • Fredrick Thomander
  • Anders Wikström
  • Tobias Lindell
  • Peter Björklund
  • Thomas & Hugo
  • Thomas Jansson
  • Jan Kask
  • Peter Manson
  • Sir Martin
  • Huma
  • D. Papalexis
  • Taysir
A-Teens chronology
The ABBA Generation Remix
(2001)		 Teen Spirit
(2001)		 Pop 'til You Drop!
(2002)
Teen Spirit (US edition)
Cover of the US edition.
Teen Spirit (Thailand edition)
Cover of the Thailand edition.
Singles from Teen Spirit
  1. "Upside Down"
    Released: 20 November 2000
  2. "Halfway Around the World"
    Released: 12 March 2001
  3. "Sugar Rush"
    Released: 18 June 2001

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[2]
Billboard(Mixed)[3]
Laut[4]
Robert Christgau[5]
Rolling Stone(Negative)[6]
Sonic.net[7]
Wall of Sound(40/100)[8]

In a mixed review of the album, Billboard said that the group "strive to establish themselves as a durable entity with a baker's dozen's worth of featherlight ditties that range in quality from guilty pleasures to already-dated clunkers". On a positive note, the review said that "Bouncing Off the Ceiling (Upside Down)" and "…To the Music" "have an undeniably sunny charm that will tickle the fancy of some preteens" and that "Halfway Around the World" "could actually draw the attention of grown-ups hungry for a sugary diversion", but overall the album "is a collection of more misses than hits".[3] Writing for AllMusic, Jon Azpiri gave the album one out of five stars, saying that "some people just don’t know when to quit" and that on this album "instead of blatantly ripping off ABBA, they choose to imitate the trademark sound of ubiquitous Swedish pop super-producer Max Martin".[2] Laut gave the album two out of five stars, criticizing the music’s similarities to recent hits by 'NSync, the Backstreet Boys and Britney Spears, but said, "At least the happy mood is still reminiscent of ABBA."[4] In a negative review, J.R. Griffin of Rolling Stone said that "without the nostalgic ABBA tunes on their side, the A-Teens have demoted themselves to the level of S Club 7, a younger Ace of Base and god-forbid, Aqua. This sappy stuff will only appeal to the youngest of kids known for cranking Radio Disney on a continual basis."[6] Writing for Sonic.net, Paul Gaita gave the album its highest rating, two and a half out of five stars, and said that if the group "intend to make good on the threat of their final track and come "Back for More," they'll need to work twice as hard to dispel both the ghosts of [ABBA] and this new straight-outta-IKEA personality as well."[7] Writing for Wall of Sound, Gary Graff also criticized the similarities between the album's production and recent Max Martin produced efforts and gave the album a score of 40 out of 100. He praised group members Amit and Dhani for taking a more prominent role this time out, saying that the group achieve a few ABBA-esque moments on the lush pop pieces "Sugar Rush" and "Back for More".[8]

Commercial performance

The album peaked at No. 2 in Sweden on the Sverigetopplistan Albums Top 60 chart, No. 18 in Austria on the Ö3 Austria Top 40 Top Albums chart, No. 33 in Finland on the Official Finnish Charts Top 50 Albums chart, No. 5 in Germany on the GfK Entertainment Top 100 Albums chart, No. 5 in the Netherlands on the Dutch Top 40, No. 37 in Norway on the VG-lista Top 40 Albums chart, No. 13 in Switzerland on the Swiss Hitparade Top 100 Albums chart, and No. 50 in the United States on the Billboard 200.

The album was certified Gold in Sweden, Chile and the United States.

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Upside Down"Gustav Jonsson, Markus Reza Sepehrmanesh, Tommy Tysper3:14
2."...To the Music"Flame, Rebecca Hortlund, J. Boogie, RedOne3:22
3."Halfway Around the World"Jonsson, Sepehrmanesh, Tysper3:41
4."Firefly"Fredrik Thomander, Anders Wikström3:07
5."Sugar Rush"Thomander, Wikström3:03
6."Rockin'"Sigurd Rosnes3:27
7."Around the Corner of Your Eye"Thomander, Wikström4:12
8."Slammin' Kinda Love"Jan Kask, Peter Mansson3:04
9."All My Love"Leif Sundin, Thomas Jansson3:17
10."For All That I Am"Andreas Claeson, John Hjalmarsson, Johan Folke Norberg3:19
11."That's What (It's All About)"Stefan Nee, Tysper3:17
12."Morning Light"E-Type, Kristian Lundin, Mud3:10
13."Back for More"Thomander, Wikström3:13
Europe and UK edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Mamma Mia"Benny Andersson, Björn Ulvaeus3:47
15."Super Trouper"Andersson, Ulvaeus, Stig Anderson3:52
Japan edition bonus track
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Can't Stop the Pop"Digiorgio3:00
North America Target and Walmart edition bonus track
No.TitleLength
14."Don't Even Know Your Name"3:46
Thailand edition bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Upside Down" (Grzzly/Tysper Radio Remix)Jonsson, Sepehrmanesh, Tysper 
15."Halfway Around the World" (M12 Massive Club Mix)Jonsson, Sepehrmanesh, Tysper 
16."Sugar Rush" (M12 Remix)Thomander, Wikström 
17."Give It Up"  
Teen Spirit - New Version bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
14."Heartbreak Lullaby" (Ray Hedges 7" Mix)Jan Kask, Peter Mansson, Cathy Dennis4:06
15."Don't Even Know Your Name" 3:46
16."Can't Stop the Pop"Digiorgio3:00
17."Give It Up" 3:42
  • The track "Upside Down" was renamed "Bouncing Off the Ceiling (Upside Down)" on North American pressings of the album.

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Chile[20] Gold 15,000[20]
Sweden (GLF)[21] Gold 40,000^
United States (RIAA)[22] Gold 500,000^

^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history
Date Region Format Label Ref.
21 February 2001 Japan CD Stockholm
26 February 2001 Sweden
27 February 2001 North America
29 October 2001 United Kingdom Stockholm

References
  1. "Post-Gazette.com". Nl.newsbank.com. 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2012-01-12.
  2. Teen Spirit at AllMusic
  3. "Billboard review". Archived from the original on 21 April 2001. Retrieved 2013-01-25.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  4. Zumindest die fröhliche Stimmung erinnert noch an ABBA, "Zumindest die fröhliche Stimmung erinnert noch an ABBA", Laut, (in German)
  5. Robert Christgau, A*Teens
  6. J.R. Griffin. "A*Teens - Teen Spirit". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on 30 June 2003. Retrieved 2013-01-25.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  7. Gaita, Paul (14 March 2001). "Teen Spirit, A*Teens: The Name Of The Game". Sonic.net. Archived from the original on 17 April 2001. Retrieved 26 June 2014.
  8. "A*Teens: Teen Spirit". Wall of Sound. Archived from the original on 29 May 2001. Retrieved 2013-01-25.CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. "Austriancharts.at – A*Teens – Teen Spirit" (in German). Hung Medien.
  10. "Danishcharts.dk – A*Teens – Teen Spirit". Hung Medien.
  11. "Dutchcharts.nl – A*Teens – Teen Spirit" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  12. "European Top 100 Albums" (PDF). Music & Media. 2001-03-17. p. 16. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  13. "A*Teens: Teen Spirit" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  14. "Offiziellecharts.de – A*Teens – Teen Spirit" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts.
  15. "Norwegiancharts.com – A*Teens – Teen Spirit". Hung Medien.
  16. "Swedishcharts.com – A*Teens – Teen Spirit". Hung Medien.
  17. "Swisscharts.com – A*Teens – Teen Spirit". Hung Medien.
  18. "A*Teens Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard.
  19. "Årslista Album – År 2001" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
  20. "Los Discos de Oro y Platino Ahora Pesan Menos". El Mercurio (in Spanish). 9 June 2001. Archived from the original on 24 July 2017. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  21. "Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2001" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden.
  22. "American album certifications – A*Teens – Teen Spirit". Recording Industry Association of America. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH. 
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.