Revival (album)

**Revival** - the debut album of the American artist Luca Guarneri released on January 4, 2016 by the record label Parlophone.

The album was supported by the single *Sexercize*.

The album was promoted on the European tour - Revival World Tour .

## Background

Originally, the first single released was *Where Have All The Good Men Gone* and then *Sexercize* by Sony Music Italy. The album was to be released on December 28, 2015. However, due to the conflict with the Luca label, some of the songs from the unreleased album were transferred to the new album titled Revival.

## Recording sessions

The record was made in studios in Italy and Spain. He invited a group of celebrity friends to cooperate with us. In preparation they helped, among others Jennifer Lopez, Gianluca Ginoble, Nicki Minaj and Edurne.

The song No *Way Luca* took from the singer Lady Gaga, as the song was one of the unreleased by the artist.

## Music and lyrical interpretation

The song *Not Over Me* is an English version of the song by Polish singer Doda - *Riotka*.

*Redemption Song* is a cover of Jamaican artist Bob Marley.

*Til It Happens To Yo*u is the most emotional song of all released songs to this day. In her, Luca faces the illness he underwent years ago. The song is very rare at concerts.

## Release and promotion

### **Singles**

The first single from the album was the song *Sexercize* written in a duet with Nicki Minaj. The song premiered on December 28, 2015. The video clip was banned in several Muslim countries.

The second single released less than two weeks (January 15, 2016) after the release of the album was the title *Revival*. The song as Luca claims is the best way to understand the meaning of the whole project. During the first tour it was performed very rarely and then in a shortened version. Only during the Perfect Tour a remix was presented, which appeared at the end of the concert.

The third single, *Todos Me Miran*, was released on February 6, 2016. It gained great popularity especially in Latin American countries and the clip very quickly exceeded 100 million views on YouTube. The only track so far written with the help of Jennifer Lopez.

The last single was *Same Old Love*, released after the break of June 29, 2016. As the first single, he landed on the first place in the Billboard Hot 100, conquering the charts all over Europe. Until today, the most often performed song with the largest TV promotion.

In February 2021 as a promotional single *Til It Happens To You* was released.

 "Revival"
 "Todos Me Miran"
 "Same Old Love"
 Til It Happens To You

### **Tours**

On December 31, 2015 in Udine, Italy, a mini tour promoting the first single Sexercize began. Luca gave about 10 concerts in several countries in Europe and the Middle East (one of the biggest concerts in his career, in Istanbul, Turkey).

The first concerts from the Revival tour took place from February 13 to February 20, 2016. The second round from June 30 to November 13, 2016. The concerts were held mainly in Europe.

## Commercial performance

*Revival* received positive reviews from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews by music critics, the album received an average score of 66, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Tim Sendra, writing for AllMusic, awarded the album 4 stars out of five. He commented that "Packed with hooky songs that fit his voice perfectly" Although he pointed "Revival" as the one "skippable moment", "*Revival* is a glittering, fun, and surprisingly powerful album." Sal Cinquemani from *Slant Magazine* awarded it four stars. He said that while the material didn't have enough commercial appeal".Writing for *NME*, Ben Cardew rated it 7 out of 10 points. *Spin* magazine editor Brittany Spanos noted the album's lacked "cohesion", but stated "Therein lies the strength of *Revival*: Guarneri's ability to turn any contrived situation into something positive, magical, and utterly his own."

## Critical reception

Musically, *Revival* is primarily a dance-pop and electropop album with R&B vibes, which has been also described as "a heady mix of electronic dance music pop". It has a "warm, tropical beach-pop sound", and as noted by AllMusic's Tim Sendra, "[it] veers away from the bubblegum nature of his early work or the genre-hopping aspects of other releases." As he continued, "the album sticks pretty close to a club bangers-and-ballads mix with a couple of R&B-inspired jams thrown in." Other critics also saw that the album has "midtempo pop", minimalist dance beats and smoldering R&B grooves. Steve Knopper of *Newsday* also highlighted that "the album is frequently dark and ominous, full of torch songs, with just enough stylish electronic dance music synths and upbeat melodies to enliven the mood." Mikael Wood of *Los Angeles Times* and Mike Wass of Idolator both compared it to the works of Janet Jackson, with Wood comparing to her 2015 record, *Unbreakable* in terms of sound, and Wass to her breakthrough album, *Control* (1986) in terms of its empowering themes.

## Track listing

1. Revival (4:07)
2. Sexercize (2:48)
3. Todos Me Miran (3:28)
4. No Way (3:43)
5. Same Old Love (3:49)
6. Forget Forever (4:12)
7. Rise (2:47)
8. Not Over You (3:05)
9. Un Año Sin Lluvia (3:31)
10. Redemption Song (2:50)
11. Til It Happens To You (4:18)

## Release history

 September 30, 2021
 April 25, 2022