Unbreakable

### Producer

Shellback ‧ Mattman & Robin ‧ Nathan Chapman ‧ Tedder ‧ Zancanella ‧ Banx & Ranx ‧ Dan Book ‧ Steve Mac ‧ Carl Falk ‧Raymond ‧ Rastogi ‧ Robson

## Alternative Cover

***Unbreakable*** is the sixth studio album by American artist Richie McCartney. It was released on December 1, 2016, by Capitol Records. This is considered McCartney's most eclectic record to date, being filled with pop, synthpop, groove, country, rock and other genres. The album debuted atop of the US Billboard 200, selling about 370,000 copies in its first week.

The album had a very expansive promotion, with McCartney attending to festivals such as Jingle Ball, Triple Ho Show, B96 Jingle Bash and MetroRadio Christmas Live. Besides the festivals, McCartney also made an Album Release Party on iHeartRadio, appeared on Carpool Karaoke and many other TV shows.

McCartney had three big hits with *Unbreakable*, and also went on tour to support it, with the Unbreakable Tour, which had 95% of attendance around the world. One of the biggest moments from this era was McCartney's performance at the Halftime Superbowl LI.

## **Background and musical style**

McCartney started recording *Unbreakable* in November 2015. The album was produced by Shellback, Mattman & Robin, Nathan Chapman, Tedder, Zancanella, Banx & Ranx, Dan Book, Steve Mac, Carl Falk, Raymond, Rastogi, and Robson. With so many genres and influences, McCartney wanted the album to be more clean and fresh than his previous works.

In August 2016, at the MTV Video Music Awards red carpet, McCartney confirmed the release of a new album and said: "I'm working day and night for it to be my best album. I'm in the studio for about 12 hours a day and everything is insane in my life right now. I'm looking for new influences to level up pop music." In September his manager, Dean Miller, told Billboard: "Richie's been working on this project for almost two years and it's sounding really beautiful for the last few months. We're working with producers like Shellback, Burns, Mischke, [Ryan] Tedder and many others. This album is different from everything he's done before. It sounds like Undertow 2.0, but better!"

On September 15, McCartney registered two new songs on ASCAP. Those were called "Wide Awake", which made the final cut for the album, and "Underground". Producer Shellback told a little about how was it to work on McCartney's new album: "I made a song called 'Kiss Me', that is different from everything Richie's done before. When the track was finished his team was very happy with it and suggested it was his comeback single. But there are many good songs right now, so they're working hard to choose the right single". This quote was enough to make fans believe the comeback was close to happening.

In a promotional interview, McCartney emphasized the artistic development and variety on this album. "I'm working for about a year on this record so I wanted to take risks. I'm on the mainstream scene for so long that making the same old pop won't please me anymore. I think 'Undertow' was a water divisor on my career and my new album is following the same path. I'm playing and testing many sounds, it will be different", he stated.

## **Release and promotion**

The first concert from this era happened on Apple Music Festival, where McCartney performed the song "Heart Skips a Beat", which made the cut for *Unbreakable* later. On October 14, "Did You Miss Me?" was released on Kiis FM as the lead single from the album. "It's sexy, fun and it flirts with groove and funk. It sounds a little 90s and it's kinda bold. It's like something George Michael could've done many years ago. It's about an unresolved love story, with Richie singing kinda emotional about all the mistakes around this relationship", said Ryan Seacrest after the world premiere.

"Did You Miss Me?" was heavily promoted on radio stations like Z100, Star 94.1, BBC Radio 1 and TV shows like The Late Late Show with James Corden, The Jonathan Ross Show, Saturday Night Live, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Lorraine. McCartney was also on many magazines covers including Billboard, Flaunt, Vanity Fair, Fabulous and performed on Europe Music Awards, American Music Awards and the Grammy.

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On the week of the album's release, McCartney premiered a commercial with ice cream brand Haagen Dazs, promoting the track "L.O.V.E".After *Unbreakable* was released, McCartney released "Free Fall" as soundtrack to Fifth Shades Darker and "Heavy", a duet with Krista, for the TV series 13 Reasons Why. Both songs were added to the digital versions of the album later, boosting its performance even more.

McCartney also had the opportunity of being the performer on the Halftime Superbowl LI. He performance "Trash", "Out In Space", "Diablo", "Happy Little Pill", "Kids Again", "Teacher", "In The Club", "Private", "Video Games", "Dirty Pop" and "Pop Messiah". The show was featured guest performances from Brian Felton, Lara Liwford and rockstar Slash. The outcome from the Superbowl was so good that "Private" remained on number 1 on the US iTunes for almost one week, and his previous album sales were also boosted. After that, McCartney went on tour to support the album.

## **Singles**

"Did You Miss Me?" was released as the lead single from the album on October 14, 2016. The song was a major success, hitting the top 3 in almost every chart it appeared due to its heavy promotion. It peaked at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and went number one on the UK Singles Chart. On the former, it stayed in the top 10 for almost 11 weeks.

"Private" was released as the second single from the album on January 20, 2017. It was the biggest success from the album, especially after it was performed at the Superbowl. It peaked at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, Canada, Australia and the UK.

"Depper" was released as the third and final single from the album around the world, except for Europe, on March 8, 2017. It features Krista and was a moderate hit, peaking at number 12 in the Billboard Hot 100 due to the lack of promotion.

"Wike Awake" was the third and final single on Europe. It was released on March 8, 2017, and achieved good success in most charts, peaking within the top in the UK, Germany, Italy and France.

## Review scores

### Rolling Stone

3/5

*Unbreakable* received positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received a score of 75, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Ann Powers of *Los Angeles Times* called it "a masterful rapprochement with the mainstream, full of cheerfully ear-snagging tunes, inventive production, and exhilarating vocals". Kerri Mason of *Billboard* praised the album for " show[ing] a lighter-hearted, but more vocally mature McCartney than his last outing" and McCartney for "becoming a masterful interpreter too. Jon Dolan of *Blender* gave praise to McCartney for "making nice with the pop machine and taking back the mall while keeping his integrity and personality intact," while J. Freedom du Lac of *The Washington Post* called it "one of those rare pop albums that should resonate with the mainstream while also generating critical heat."

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic recognized that he "sounds impassioned and invested in these numbers, selling every one of the skyscraper hooks, but better still he sounds relatable, pulling listeners into a song instead of keeping them at a distance," observing that "while it's not perfect, largely due to those dreary Tedder tunes, much of *Unbreakable* does justice to McCartney's considerable skills." Elle J Small of *BBC Music* declared that the album "won't disappoint hardcore fans but is unlikely to garner new listeners," a sentiment echoed by *Vibe*'s Claire Lobenfeld, who wrote that it "will be a hit with McCartney die-hards, but is unlikely to influence any Top 40 outsiders." Evan Sawdey of *PopMatters* noticed that "though *Unbreakable* is not a classic pop album by any means, it’s most assuredly a fun one—flaws and all. It might be a bit quirky at times, but therein lies the charm: no one could’ve filled up such a deliberately commercial album with so much personality aside from Richie McCartney, and for that, we should all be a bit thankful.