Miles (Nicky's Version)

Official cover for Miles (Nicky's Version)

***Miles (Nicky's Version)*** is the first re-recorded album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart, released on May 3, 2021, through Sunset Records. It is a re-recording of Stewart's second studio album, *Miles* (1998), and the first 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 twelve additional "from the Vault" songs not included on *Miles*. Recreating the instrumentation of the 1998 recording, the album was produced alone by Stewart. All of the songs were also written solely by Stewart.

*Miles (Nicky's Version)* was preceded by two singles, Every Morning (Nicky's Version) and Runaway (From The Vault), The album received critical acclaim, with emphasis on its nostalgic sentiment, Stewart's matured vocals, and crisper production. The album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 and became one of the few re-recordings to top the chart. It also reached number one on all European countries and Asia.

## Background and Production

> *"Everybody knows you, millions of people, but I had to still adapt. I am 6 thousand miles away from my childhood home. The only way to cope about it is to write about it."*

— Stewart reflecting on *Miles* in 2021
Stewart released his second studio album, *Miles*, in 1998 to critical and commercial success. It was distributed by American record label Sunrise Records. It spent 9 weeks atop the US *Billboard* 200 chart and became the best-selling album of 1999, and became the second best-selling album of all-time, selling over 67 million copies. It spawned four top-10 hits on the *Billboard* Hot 100, including the crossover single "Every Morning", which spent six weeks atop the chart and catapulted Stewart to mainstream prominence. The most awarded rock album in history, *Miles* won eight Grammy Awards at the 52nd ceremony, including Album of the Year, the first of Stewart's six wins in that category. The album was certified 43x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and is credited for paving Stewart's way to becoming one of the biggest acts of his generation. It became the best-selling album in Europe as well, selling over 11 million copies.

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 *Miles*, 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.

Stewart told *People* that he did not significantly alter the lyrical content, vocal melodies and instrumental arrangements of the 1998 recording. However, the sonic textures were changed in the re-recording. He added that he studied *Miles* thoroughly to replicate the rock inflections of his early vocals. Stewart recruited members of his older touring band, who played the instruments on the 1998 recording, to do the same for *Miles (Nicky's Version).* In a 2020 interview from *Rolling Stone*, Stewart stated the importance of re-recording his first eight albums: "That's worth 22 years and I didn't work hard, invested my life on it, or created it just to leave it there forever. It's like every album I put has a sentimental value on me."

## Artwork

Just like album cover of the original 1998 release, Stewart is seen sitting while looking at the camera at his left side view. Instead of the apartment setting, he was sitting somewhere on the side of the street.

## Release and Promotion

On March 4, 2021, Stewart announced *Miles (Nicky's Version)* and "Every Morning (Nicky's Version)"*.* *Miles (Nicky's Version)* consists all of the tracks from the original album and twelve new bonus tracks "from the vault" that did not make the 1998 album. The album was one of the most anticipated releases of 2021. A week after, the first vault song Runaway (From The Vault) was released. Both of the songs peaked inside the top five, with the 2021 re-recorded version of "Every Morning" topping the chart. On April 30, 2021, Stewart posted a crossword puzzle on his social media accounts that contained any clues for the titles of the vault songs.

*Miles (Nicky's Version)* was released on May 3, 2021. 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. Stewart appeared on *Tonight With Jimmy Fallon* on May 2, 2021 to promote the album.

## Critical Reception

*Miles (Nicky's Version)* was met with acclaim from music critics, most of whom found the album's diaristic lyrics highly efficient to-date. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 89 based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The album received critical acclaim, with emphasis on its nostalgic sentiment, Stewart's matured vocals, crisper production, and his stronger American accent.

## Commercial performance

Except Oceania countries and Canada, *Miles (Nicky's Version)* debuted at #1 on the charts. It debuted atop the *Billboard* 200, with 503,000 album-equivalent units moved in its first week, of which 349,000 were pure copies and 154,000 units from streaming; it marked Stewart's thirteenth number one album in the US. As of 2028, the album was certified double platinum by RIAA.

## Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by Nicholas Stewart.

## Personnel

### Musicians

* Nicholas Stewart - lead vocals (all tracks); backing vocals (tracks 1,3-6,10,14-15,17,19-27); percussion (tracks 1, 4–5, 11-13); brushes (track 3,23); guitar (3–4, 7, 11,16-27); programming (all tracks); keyboard arrangements (tracks 4, 7, 11, 15,18,20,25,27); drums (tracks 11, 13,18,26); acoustic guitar (track 14), piano (track 15)
* Luna Hargreaves – drums (tracks 3–5, 7–10, 12)
* Andy Chavez – bass guitar (1-13) ; backing vocals (tracks 2, 4–6, 9–10, 13,16,18)
* Michael Keith – drums (tracks 1–2, 6, 13)
* Jude Garfield – drums (16-17,19-25,27)
* Ryan Martin – bass guitar (16-27); backing vocals (tracks 16-27)

### Technical

* Nicholas Stewart - engineering, mastering, mixing (all tracks)

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

**Peak chart positions for *Miles (Nicky's Version)***

### Year-end charts

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

 Canada Top Albums
 European Top 100 Albums
 New Zealand (RMNZ)
 UK Albums (OCC)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)
 Chart (2022)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

## Certifications and sales

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