Shades of Yellow (Nicholas Stewart album)

## Shades of Yellow

Album cover for Shades of Yellow which shows a yellow shaded collage of picture from Nicholas Stewart (2010)

## Singles

### Single #4

Tell Me The Truth

***Shades of Yellow*** is the sixth studio album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart. It was released on July 5, 2010, by Sunrise Records. From the title, shades of yellow refers to happiness, and optimism, of enlightenment and creativity, sunshine and spring, Stewart decided to make his craft to lean more towards classic rock rather than being either a pop rock album, or just a straightforward pop album, different from his previous record *In Colors*.

The album spawned four singles throughout 2010-2011: "I Found You", "The Start of Something Grand", "Make A Stand", and "Tell Me The Truth". The three of them were top ten hits. The album debuted at at #1 on the Billboard 200 and spent four nonconsecutive weeks atop. As of December 2026, *Shades of Yellow* is certified 4x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and has sold 8 million copies worldwide. *Shades of Yellow* was mostly received by positive reviews but was also criticized for sounding too generic. The album was nominated for three awards on the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards and won Best Rock Album. Stewart decided to not embark a tour for associating his album *Shades of Yellow* to focus more on his personal life, especially after getting married and giving birth to children.

## Background and Production

In mid 2009, Stewart began working for his sixth studio album *Shades of Yellow,* a record which he called very different from the past works he have done. He shared: "This is the time of my life where I am happier than ever so I decided to share what I'm feeling on the next record". The title refers to the euphoric feeling he's been experiencing the recent year, getting inspired to write a lot of songs about happiness and found love. The album incorporates various rock styles, including metal and bluegrass.

Recording session started in May 2009 and ended in February 2010. Stewart collaborated with Jude Garfield and Ryan Martin for the third time as his bandmates on recording sessions and shows.

## Release and promotion

Stewart had limited promotion during the album's rollout to focus more on his personal life. Throughout 2010-2011, "I Found You", "The Start of Something Grand", "Make A Stand", and "Tell Me The Truth" were released as singles. The singles reached #12, #2, #3, and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100, respectively.

## Critical reception

*Shades of Yellow* received mostly positive reviews by critics. Paul Gambaccini of *Rolling Stone* gave the album a positive review on its release in 2010. He wrote: "The beautiful thing about it is that although it is a unified set of songs, it is not a rock opera, a concept album, or anything pretending to be much more than a set of good tunes that just happen to fit together." In conclusion, he wrote: "*Shades of Yellow* won't cure your hangover or revalue the dollar, but it will give you many good times. With their second consecutive job well done, Nicholas Stewart is on a winning streak." Robert Christgau, however, took the view that "with its barstool-macho equation of gunslinger and guitarschlonger, its on-the-road misogyny, its playing-card metaphors, and its paucity of decent songs, this soundtrack to an imaginary Sam Peckinpah movie is "concept" at its most mindless."

## Commercial performance

*Shades of Yellow* received moderate success. In the US, it debuted at #1, selling 617,000 copies on its first week and went on to spend four weeks atop and ten weeks on the top ten. Despite not matching the commercial success of his previous albums, it spent over 200 weeks in the chart, spending most of its run on the bottom 100. As of December 2026, it is certified 4x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling over 4 million units in the country.

The album also reached #1 outside US, except Oceania. In Canada, it debuted at #1 and is certified 2x Platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for selling over 200,000 units in the country. In United Kingdom, it also debuted at #1 and spent a single week on that position and is certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for selling over 300,000 units. In Europe, it spent five weeks atop and is certified Platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for selling over 1 million copies in the region.

## Accolades

On the 53rd Annual Grammy Awards, *Shades of Yellow* was nominated for Best Engineered Album, Best Rock Album, and Album of the Year.

## Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by Nicholas Stewart.

***Shades of Yellow*** - Standard edition

***Shades of Yellow*** - International edition

 15
 16

## 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 *Shades of Yellow***

### Year-end charts

**Year-end chart positions for *Shades of Yellow***