In Colors (Nicky's Version)

Official cover for In Colors (Nicky's Version)

### Genre

Alternative rock, pop rock, pop punk, emo pop, baroque pop, synth-pop, electropop

## Singles

### Single #2

You're Friendzoned, Oh No (feat. Hayley Williams) (From The Vault)

***In Colors (Nicky's Version)*** is the fifth re-recorded album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart, released on November 21, 2022, through Sunset Records. It is a re-recording of Stewart's sixth studio album, *In Colors* (2007), and the fifth of eight re-recorded albums Stewart plans to release, following the dispute regarding ownership of the masters to his first eight studio albums. The album consists of ten additional "from the Vault" songs not included on the 2007 album and also the four original songs from *The Sweet and Colorful Collection.* Aside from recreating the instrumentation of the 2007 recording, there are also a few re-arrangements for most of the tracks and a few instrumental tracks were added that were supposedly included on the final cut but ended up just on the demos. All of the songs were written solely by Stewart.

*In Colors (Nicky's Version)* was preceded by two singles, "Euphoria (Nicky's Version)" and and "You're Friendzoned, Oh No (feat. Hayley Williams) (From The Vault)", The album received widespread acclaim, with its crisper production, renewed arrangements, and on-point aesthetics and was a major improvement compared to its original release in 2007. The album debuted at #1 on all countries, also debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

## Background and Production

Hayley WilliamsStewart released his fifth album In Colors and received mostly positive reviews from critics. It was distributed by American record label Sunrise Records. It spent 5 nonconsecutive weeks atop the US *Billboard* 200 chart and 35 weeks inside the top ten*. In Colors* generally received positive reviews but divided critics on its genre-spanning sound: praise directed at Stewart's versatility, and criticism targeted the inconsistency. It is Stewart's first album to be nominated and win Best Pop Vocal Album at the Grammy Awards and has also been nominated for Album of the Year. As of December 2026, *In Colors* is certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA) for selling over 10 million units. Despite the decline of sales in United States, *In Colors* experienced massive success outside the country.

In 2016, having recorded eight studio albums under Sunrise Records, Stewart's contract with the label expired. He signed a new contract with rival record label Sunset Records. In 2017, Sunrise Records was acquired by Stewart's former friend and business partner Zark Mockingbird and his company The Blackstone Group Inc. As part of the acquisition, ownership of the masters to Stewart's first eight studio albums, including *Sweet Dreams*, transferred to Mockingbird. The master is the first recording of an audio recording, from which copies are made for sales and distribution; the owner of the master, therefore, owns all copies, such as digital versions for download or on streaming platforms, or physical versions available on CDs and vinyl records. In August 2017, Stewart denounced the purchase, and announced his intention to re-record his first eight studio albums so as to own their masters. Stewart stated on his Tumblr blog that Sunrise Records promised him as early as 1997 that he could buy the masters of his catalog with a condition, if only his next albums would sell a lot more and earn more money for the label to pay for the business contract, but they still didn't allow him to. In November 2017, Mockingbird sold Stewart's masters, videos and artworks, to The Blackstone Group Inc. for a reported $1.3 billion. Stewart began re-recording his back catalog in December 2017.

> *"Seven billion people living around the world. most of people don't know you exist. Of those people who knows you exist, there are people who barely know you, people who barely like you, people who really wanted to be around you, and people who truly know you. I tagged them as different colors. Until this day, this applies. 2007 was rough, 2022 is too. Some of us may feel like an outsider always, even every day and we try to adapt."*
>
>

— Stewart looking back on *In Colors* and introducing its re-recording.

During the conception of the re-recorded album, Stewart continued with his tour bandmates Jude Garfield and Ryan Martin on the recording. A few re-arrangements were done with tracks such as "Alphabet Aerobics But I Changed The Lyrics", "Moving Mountains", and "Tongue Twisters". The album also features an extended version of "23 Street", with additional verses. Stewart collaborated with Hayley Williams for the vault track "You're Friendzoned, Oh No (From The Vault)".

## Release and promotion

*Nicky Stew (Nicky's Version)*, the fourth of his eight re-recorded albums, was released on July 4, 2022. It achieved critical and commercial success, and debuted at number one on the *Billboard* 200 chart and became one of the few re-recording albums to top the chart. Exactly two months after its release, on September 4, 2022, Stewart changed his profile picture on all of his social media pictures to a multi-grid rainbow and caught the attention of the internet. Hours later, Stewart changed his profile picture into what would be the cover for his new re-recording *In Colors (Nicky's Version)*, which he announced the same day. On October 3, 2022, the lead single of the album, "Euphoria (Nicky's Version)" was released. It peaked at #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. The first vault track of the album "You're Friendzones, Oh No (feat. Hayley Williams (From The Vault)" was released on October 31, 2022 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100.

During the day of the release of *In Colors (Nicky's Version),* the standard physical copies were made available for pre-order on Stewart's website. CDs with collectible posters are available for pre-order exclusively at Target.

## Critical reception

*In Colors (Nicky's Version)* was met with widespread acclaim from music critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 87 based on 30 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". *The Daily Telegraph*'s Neil McCormick wrote Stewart added more 'colors' on the record with its new vault tracks.

## Commercial performance

*In Colors (Nicky's Version)* experienced massive success worldwide, debuting at #1 on all countries. It opened atop the Billboard 200, selling 521,000 album equivalent units, including 348,000 pure album sales and 173,000 units from streaming, garnering 260M on-demand streams. It marked Stewart's eighteenth number one album in the US. As of 2028, the album was certified platinum by RIAA.

## Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by Nicholas Stewart.

## Personnel

### Musicians

* Nicholas Stewart - lead vocals; lead guitar; backing vocals percussion ; brushes ; guitar; programming; keyboard arrangements ; drums; acoustic guitar; piano; production coordinator; additional engineering; mastering; mixing
* Jude Garfield – drums
* Ryan Martin – bass guitar ; backing vocals

### Design

* Alli – art direction
* Ro-Starr – art direction, logos/design
* Christine Alicino – front cover photo
* Kate Garner – photography

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

**Peak chart positions for *In Colors (Nicky's Version)***

### Year-end charts

**Year-end chart positions for *In Colors (Nicky's Version)***

## Certifications and sales

 United Kingdom (BPI)
 United States (RIAA)
 Europe (IFPI)
 Worldwide