Homemade Experiments

## Singles

1. "Something Kinda Ooooh"
May 1, 2019
2. "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)"
July 22, 2019
3. "Make Me Feel"
February 12, 2020
4. "Negotiate With Love"
May 15, 2020

***Homemade Experiments*** is the fifth studio album by American singer Natasha Lewis. It was released on July 19, 2019, by Def Jam Recordings. Lewis and Brian Higgins handled its production with a variety of collaborators including Kevin Parker, Emile Haynie, Mark Ronson and Josh Homme. Musically, Homemade Experiments features 2000s pop, soft rock and dance-pop genres, which emphasize the singer's vocal abilities and focus on real instruments like guitars.

The release and promotion of the album marked a softening of Lewis' sexy image, who took on a more stripped-down, retro look in most music videos and live performances. The singer's experience working on the Continuum/Interrupted album influenced Homemade Experiments' creative process. To promote the album, four singles were released: "Something Kinda Ooooh", "I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)", "Make Me Feel", and "Negotiate With Love". "Something Kinda Ooooh" was released as the album's lead single on April 26, 2019, and reached number one in the UK, while "Make Me Feel" reached number six in the United States.

Homemade Experiments received generally positive reviews from critics and became Lewis' sixth consecutive album to reach number one in the United States. It also topped the charts in the UK, Canada, Argentina, as well as reaching the top ten in over 25 countries. It earned certifications in some of them. Homemade Experiments was nominated for Album of the Year at the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards.

## Background and development

Lewis' sixth studio album *Super Bitch Vol. 2* was released in August 2016 to positive reviews. It debuted atop the *Billboard* 200 chart and had sold 2.5 million copies as of July 2017. Lewis confessed to Billboard that she had been feeling tired of the sound she was making with her last two albums, missing a more organic direction, working with real instruments, and with a less club-ready approach. This feeling made Lewis cancel her 2016 world tour, in support of the Super Bitch project, and made her label think of an image change for her. Along with a more subdued appearance in the media, Lewis emphasized her vocal prowess. She released a greatest hits album called The Iconic Collection in November 2018 to a great reception from fans and critics. The album's lead single "Anywhere" was a mix of the electronic sound she was making with more acoustic sounds and was a smash hit in the most important charts around the globe.

Lewis also started starring in *The Dreamscape*, a new HBO sci-fi tv series, winning a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series. At the awards ceremony, the singer confirmed she would be releasing her seventh studio album the following year, in 2019, and was working on the logistics and aspects including the look she would portray for the record. She was started her first Las Vegas Residency, called Natasha Lewis: Iconic, to be one of the most successful Vegas-runs ever for the 2 years it lasted, winning many prizes and being acclaimed by critics.

## Writing and recording

According to Lewis, she wanted fans to remember the direction she took with Continuum/Interrupted disc one. Lewis and Higgins served as *Homemade Experiments'* executive producers. The two had already collaborated on the track "Sexy", from her second studio album Extreme Behavior, back in 2009. They reunited in late 2018 when Lewis presented the song "Biology" to Higgins at her home studio in London. The duo continued working in her home studio for the following 8 months. They invited several people to collaborate with them on production and writing sessions, all that at Lewis' personal studio.

Recording continued until the album's final mastering session. Lewis was deeply involved with the technicalities of the music being recorded. "She loves just participating in every part of the production, from writing to giving an opinion on the minimal details of mastering", Higgins said, adding that they began with the music and then proceeded with the songs. He later said that the music recorded with Lewis for this album was "some of my favorite music I've really ever worked on. It's fresh and fun". Higgins also hinted at the involvement of Kevin Parker, frontman for the Australian psychedelic rock band Tame Impala, which BBC Music later confirmed to be true.

Higgins crafted the album's organic sound by recruiting musicians suggested by Lewis, such as Mark Ronson. He credited himself with "bringing the album into the modern era". In the meantime, Lewis was promoting her first greatest hits collection with several performances, whilst starting her Vegas residency, filming music videos and finishing the tv series filming.

## Title and packaging

Lewis named the album because of its creative process - being all recorded at her home studio, collaborating with different people, and aiming for a more organic sound, experimenting a lot. Lewis said in an interview for New Music Express that recording this album was the closest she ever felt to her music in her entire career. She stated it felt like having a baby, 'cause it was conceived at her own home, under her watch the entire time.

Along with revealing the album's title, Lewis also unveiled the cover artwork. It consists of an image of the singer's right profile, with her in black and white, wearing black, with no jewelry, and soft makeup, while holding the vinyl version of the album, which is in color red. The disc was the first copy of the album ever generated and is kept by Lewis at her home.

## Promotion

Lewis made her comeback for this era at the 2019 Billboard Music Awards, opening the ceremony with a performance of "Something Kinda Ooooh". Her entrance is now one of her most iconic ever, with Lewis sticking to a giant vinyl. The performance was praised by critics, who said it was the example of "future-retro".

### **Singles**

"Something Kinda Ooooh" was released as the album's lead single on April 26, 2019. It received a positive response from music critics, who said it was a welcome throwback kind of track. Commercially it had a number 3 peak in the United States, and number one in the UK.

"I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)" was released as the album's second single on July 22, 2019. It debuted at number 19 in the US and number 2 in the UK, peaking at number 12 at the former. Its best market ended up being Australia, where the song stayed at number one for 2 weeks.

"Make Me Feel" was released as the album's third single on February 12, 2020. It peaked at number six in the US and number 4 in the UK, becoming one of the most successful singles of this era around the globe, only behind "Something Kinda Ooooh".

"Negotiate With Love" was released as the album's fourth and final single on May 15, 2020. It peaked at number 36 in the US, becoming one of Lewis' worst chart performances in the country for her recent releases. In the UK it peaked at number 14, being the only single from this era not to reach the top 10 there.

## Review scores

### Rolling Stone

★★★½☆

Homemade Experiments was met with generally favorable reviews from critics noted at review aggregator Metacritic. This release received a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 27 reviews. AnyDecentMusic? summed up the critical consensus as 7.1 out of 10 and Album of the Year rated it 74 out of 100. British music journalist Neil McCormick gave the album a four-out-of-five-star rating in his review published in *The Daily Telegraph* and complimented the old-fashioned songs on the album. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave it a three-and-a-half-out-of-five rating. In a positive review he wrote that unlike Lewis' previous endeavors where she appeared as a "sexy act", *Homemade Experiments* was more "stripped down" and is a "record made by an artist trying to be more connected with her music instead of her image ... Lewis' feet remain firmly planted in dance-pop even when she brings in a number of different collaborators". The same rating was given by *Rolling Stone*'s Rob Sheffield, who described the release as an "old-school Nineties dance pop plus soft rock album, heavy on the acoustic guitar". He complimented the understated production by Higgins and the other producers.

Mikael Wood of the *Los Angeles Times* felt that most songs on the album "lacked stronger subjects" and were "mere typical love songs" on Lewis' part. Rich Juzwiak, who reviewed *Homemade Experiments* for *Spin*, did not find the musical evolution that Lewis presented on the album really authentic, but more as a singer trying to impersonate a style she doesn't know how to. Rating the album two-out-of-four stars, journalist Greg Kot wrote in the *Chicago Tribune* that "[Lewis] sounds like she's just trying too hard" with *Homemade Experiments*. Jon Caramanica of *The New York Times* noted the album's elemental sound did not come as a surprise and felt that it was not really original, with Lewis just trying to replicate what she did better with Continuum/Interrupted.

## Commercial performance

In the United States, *Homemade Experiments* debuted at number one on the *Billboard* 200, moving 271,000 album-equivalent units of which 235,000 were pure sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan. It became Lewis' sixth studio album to top the chart following *Extreme Behavior (2009), Sex. Love. Control. Vanity. (2010), Continuum/Interrupted (2014), Super Bitch (2015), and Super Bitch Vol. 2 (2016)*. It was 2019's second-highest debut for an album by a woman in the US. The album's sales dropped by 70% to 81,000 units in the second week, with it falling to number five on the *Billboard* 200. It has sold 849,000 units as of February 2020 in the United States and was certified Platinum in February 2020 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over a million equivalent units in the country.

*Homemade Experiments* debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart with 22,500 album-equivalent units, behind Ed Sheeran's No.6 Collaborations Project. According to the Canadian SoundScan, the album had the third-highest on-demand streams in the country. On August 14, 2019, the album was certified Gold by Music Canada for shipments of 40,000 copies in the country. In the United Kingdom, *Homemade Experiments* debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, with first-week sales of 46,694 copies. The following week it dropped to number 9, with sales of 14,602 units. As of May 2020, the album has sold 303,315 copies in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI).

*Homemade Experiments* debuted at number two on both the Australian and New Zealand album charts. The Australian Recording Industry Association reported that *Homemade Experiments* was Lewis' second consecutive studio album to debut at number two on the chart following Super Bitch Vol. 2. In Japan, *Homemade Experiments* debuted at number 10 on the Oricon Albums Chart with first week sales of 7,556 copies. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), *Homemade Experiments* was the 15th best-selling album of 2019, selling almost two million copies that year.