Shatter Me

Shatter Me is the second studio album by Lindsey Stirling. It is Stirling's first album to include collaborations with other vocalists, featuring Lzzy Hale and Dia Frampton, and Stirling has said its musical style is more progressive than her first album. The album was released on April 29, 2014 in the United States and on May 2 in Germany.
==Track listing==
(All the tracks appear on iTunes in the US version).
#Beyond the Veil (Lindsey Stirling & SILAS) - 4:14
#Mirror Haus (Stirling & SILAS) - 3:55
#V-Pop (Stirling & Marko G) - 3:45
#Shatter Me (Stirling, SILAS, Dia Frampton) - 4:40
#Heist (Stirling & Kill Paris) - 3:26
#Roundtable Rival (Stirling, Sterling Fox, Scott Gold) - 3:23
#Night Vision (Stirling & Robert DeLong) - 3:40
#Take Flight (Stirling & SILAS) - 4:24
#Ascendance (Stirling & Marko G) - 4:26
#We Are Giants (Stirling, SILAS, Frampton) 3:43
#Swag (Stirling & SILAS) - 3:10
#Master of Tides (Stirling & SILAS) - 4:21
===Target Exclusive Edition Bonus Tracks===
#Eclipse (Stirling, Sam Hollander, Steve Shebby, Reuben Keeny, Raffi) 3:15
#Sun Skip (Stirling & DeLong) - 3:46
#Take Flight (Orchestral Version) - 4:24
==Album Background==
On September 29, 2013, Stirling posted on her official website that after her 2012–13 worldwide tour she had returned to the United States to make her new studio album.
In December, she announced the upcoming 2014 tour where she "would play some new songs and will have a brand new show to share".
Although the second studio album was announced in late 2013, it wasn't until March 2014 that Stirling started posting information on her new material. 
On March 12, 2014, Stirling posted a video on YouTube in which she appeared with friends and well-known YouTube stars such as Tyler Ward and Steve Kardynal.
She announced in the video the title of the album and that it would be released around May 2014. On the same day, she started an account on PledgeMusic, an online Direct-to-Fan music platform, allowing anyone to pre-order the album alongside other exclusive items, such as behind-the-scenes videos, photos and pictures.
On March 23, 2014, Stirling announced that the album would be released on April 29th. The following day, the album pre-sale started on the iTunes Store and the first single of the album, "Beyond the Veil", was released.
The official video for the single was released a day later where it accumulated half a million views on YouTube on its first day.
On March 26, 2014, Stirling appeared on March 26, 2014 at the Berlin Apple Store for a 30-minute interview and later performed "Crystallize" live. A day later, the pre-order of the album started on the German Amazon and iTunes stores.
In April, iTunes released two free podcasts called "Lindsey Stirling: Meet the Musician" where Stirling talked about the creation of her newest album.
On April 7, Stirling's first single video appeared on an mtvU votation to see, along with four other YouTube videos, which one would be aired.
Stirling finished winning the votation. Three days later, she announced an event on April 29 to perform and sign Shatter Me CDs at Barnes & Noble in Los Angeles, California.
In April, Stirling was interviewed by Rock Era Magazine in order to promote her new album. On April 16, 2014, she posted the behind-the-scenes video for the album's second single, "Shatter Me."
Almost a week later, on April 22, 2014, she performed her single "Beyond the Veil" live at the Universal Studios Hollywood.
The second single, "Shatter Me", was released on iTunes on April 21, and two days later the official music video was released on YouTube, featuring the singer Lzzy Hale.[27] On its first day on YouTube the video was viewed 1.3 million times.
In April, Stirling was interviewed by Access Hollywood where she talked about fashion, her new album and fame.
On April 23, 2014, she organized an album release party for her fans.
On May 13, 2014, Stirling started the world Tour for promoting her album "Shatter Me". Dates had been announced since December 18, 2013 and included 46 dates in North America and twenty-seven in Europe.
She revealed she would be accompanied by Jason Gaviati (Keyboards) and Drew Steen (percussion) who had been part of her first world tour. Anže Škrube, Stirling's Dance Showdown partner, was chosen by her to choreograph her tour.
Two new dancers were chosen to be part of her new world tour: Stephen Jones and Peter Styles.
On November 28 of 2014, a special edition of the album was released by the name of "Shatter Me: The Complete Experience", it included 13 songs, one of them was an acoustic version of the title song, and a full-color 48-page magazine with exclusive interviews and photos, plus word magnets.
After the release of the special edition album, "Shatter Me" returned to the Billboard 200 at #175, with sales of 5,500 copies. 
In February 2015, Stirling visited Japan and on the same month the album was released on the country.
==Composition==
According to Allvoices (who took part in a call with Stirling) she said that "Shatter Me" is more progressive than her debut album. 
The cover of the album features Stirling as a ballerina inside the glass globe of a music box. 
The title track for the album is the story of the ballerina on the cover who longs for someone to shatter the glass and set her free, only to discover that she is the only one who can break the glass. 
Stirling said that the album follows a theme of breaking free and that it is based on her own experiences.
In an interview with Rock Era Magazine, Stirling stated that she was excited to release the music video for "Shatter Me" because "it epitomizes this concept and shows how difficult it is to break out of old habits and have the courage to step out of our comfort zones into the light."
On the behind-the-scenes video of "Beyond the Veil", Stirling says at the beginning that "Beyond the Veil" was the first song that she wrote for the album and so it is fitting that to her "Beyond the Veil" represents a kind of self-discovery.
According to an article on Blabbermouth.net the duet Lindsey Stirling and Lzzy Hale made for the title track of the second album was a complete change. 
Regarding how her collaboration with Lzzy came about, Stirling said that "this song is very, very—obviously—different for a Lindsey Stirling track, because I've never written lyrics before; I've never gotten to blatantly say what I feel."
In an interview on May 27, 2014 with azcentral, Stirling said: "I have 100 percent creative control. If anyone ever tells me, "We don't like that song," it's kind of like, "Well, I like it. Too bad. I'm sorry." Album artwork? I get to make the decisions on everything." Regarding the goals of the album she said "I feel like I honestly wrote the album I wanted to write, which is really cool."
On an interview on September 30, 2014, Stirling revealed on an interview why she didn't use such a harsh theme on her debut album: "I never wrote about it on my first album because it was too soon, and too close and I wasn’t ready to share it yet. I had just overcome an eating disorder and it was one of the hardest things I had ever done and one of the most soul-searching times. That’s kind of what the album is about, finding out who I was and getting through depression and the eating disorder."
==Chart Performance==
Upon its release in the United States, "Shatter Me" debuted at #2 on the Billboard 200[6] with first-week sales of 56,000 copies, becoming the best sales week of Stirling's career.
The album also peaked at #1 on the Dance/Electronic Albums, Top Classical Albums, and Independent Albums charts. 
It also stayed at peak position on the Dance/Electronic Albums chart for 19 non-consecutive weeks, a great improvement over Stirling's debut album that stayed only a week at the peak position. 
"Shatter Me" joined ten other albums that have logged over fifteen weeks on top, tied at fifth place. 
As of August 2016, the album has sold 337,000 copies in the United States.
It also had a big impact on the Canadian charts, where it debuted at number five, selling 3,431 copies, an improvement on her first studio album which charted at number 146. 
Stirling's album also appeared for the first time of her career on the UK Albums Chart, charting at #75. Throughout the remaining European countries, it reached the top 15.
"Shatter Me" entered in the Mexican Album Charts, making it her first time for her album to appear in Mexico's charts.
==Critical Reception==
Allmusic gave "Shatter Me" three stars out of five where reviewer James Christopher Monger wrote that the album is "essentially a showcase for Stirling's instrumental prowess" and that she "delivers the heat with all of the fire, fury, and mad, pixie-ish sweetness."
Kara Kulpa of New Noise Magazine wrote: "Overall, Shatter Me is a highly enjoyable album. Credit must be given to Stirling for not only forging her own path in the music industry, but also for trying to invent something new, edgy, and memorable. While Stirling will no doubt continue to experiment with her sound, she shouldn’t be afraid to take more chances both as a composer and as a lyricist. Her ability to integrate various genres of music, combined with her dazzling ability to resurrect performance art, truly makes Lindsey Stirling a force to be reckoned with."
==Navigation==
Category:Lindsey Stirling albums
Category:Dubstep
Category:Classical Crossover
Category:Classical
Category:Electro House
Category:Trance
Category:Hip Hop
Category:2010s albums