Nicholas (Nicky's Version)

Official cover for Nicholas (Nicky's Version)

***Nicholas (Nicky's Version)*** is the seventh re-recorded album by American-Romanian singer-songwriter Nicholas Stewart, released on September 04, 2023, through Sunset Records. It is a re-recording of Stewart's eponymous debut album, *Nicholas* (1997), and the seventh 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 fourteen additional "from the Vault" songs not included on the 1997 album. Aside from recreating the instrumentation of the 1997 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.

*Nicholas (Nicky's Version)* was preceded by two singles, "Rescue Me (Nicky's Version)" and and "The Last Night I Saw You (From The Vault)", The album received widespread acclaim, with its crisper production, Stewart's matured vocals, and renewed arrangements. The album debuted at #1 on all countries except the United Kingdom and Canada, also debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the US.

## Background and Production

On February 3, 1997, Stewart released his eponymous debut album *Nicholas* enjoyed commercial success in the United States. Its release date was considered a late period release for new rising artists. Sunrise Records executive Jimbo Cary stated that it would be better to release post-January slump for bigger sales and nothing to worry about competition because grunge is on a rising popularity. Despite the popularity of his debut single, Stewart wasn't expecting his album to sell that much on its first week. The album debuted at #10, selling 140,000 copies first week and became one of the biggest debuts by a debut album. After two months of fluctuating inside the top 15, the album re-entered on the top ten and started increasing as time went by, peaking at #1 on its twenty-fifth week after Stewart's SNL performance. The album went to stay on the chart until mid 2000.

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.

> *"The one that started it all. Just a young lad sending demo tapes and hopes he could have a recording contract just to pay the rent? Nope. I've got like 50-90 songs on my notebook already, I remember, mostly romanian. I wrote on this notebook since I was 9. Most of the songs were written when I was 17. Songs mostly inspired by puppy love and rejections due to me being too "European" (excuse Me?) I remember high school prom and that was bad. But my debut album were also filled with songs about growing up and realizing that adulthood isn't just about finding love and dating someone (and get rejected, sadly). I was lucky I'm now engaged at 48."*
>
>

— Stewart looking back on *Nicholas* 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 for the recording of the vault tracks. Stewart also worked again with his old tour bandmates Luna Hargreaves, Andy Chavez, and Michael Keith for the re-recording of the original 18 tracks. A few re-arrangements were done on all of the tracks. Stewart also studied *Nicholas* thoroughly to replicate the grunge inflections of his early vocals.

## Artwork

The album cover was shot on Stewart's old family home before they moved out in 1999. He stated that he also wanted to feel the vintage and nostalgic feeling on the photo shoot. He cut his hair shorter before doing the shoot and the picture was applied with orange tint to match the color scheme of the original version.

## Release and promotion

*Venom (Nicky's Version)*, the sixth of his eight re-recorded albums, was released on April 10, 2023. It achieved widespread acclaim and massive commercial success, and debuted at number one on the *Billboard* 200 chart. On June 10, 2023, Stewart revealed that he's finally releasing the re-recording of his eponymous debut album *Nicholas* on September 4, 2023. Its lead single "Rescue Me (Nicky's Version) was released on July 17, 2023 and topped the Hot 100, surpassing the peak of its 1996 original version. The second single "The Last Night I Saw You (From The Vault)" was released on August 14, 2023 and peaked at #2 on the Hot 100.

During the day of the release of *Nicholas (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

**Review Scores**
 Exclaim.ca
 Sputnik Music
 The Quietus
 Mess+Noise
 Noisey
 NME
 Paste Magazine
 Rolling Stones
 Select

The record received critical acclaim from critics. On Metacritic, which assigns a normalized score out of 100 to ratings from publications, the album received a weighted mean score of 82 based on 28 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". While most of the critics praised the re-recording for Stewart's matured voice and improved pronunciation of words compared to the original version, some also praised the fresher production, the timelessness of the tracks, and the necessary addition of the vault tracks which gave more meaning to Stewart's debut album, completing the narrative of the record.

## Commercial performance

Except Canada and United Kingdom, *Nicholas (Nicky's Version)* debuted at #1 on all countries. It debuted atop the *Billboard* 200, with 303,000 album-equivalent units moved in its first week, of which 179,000 were pure copies and 124,000 units from streaming; it marked Stewart's twentieth 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
* Luna Hargreaves – drums
* Andy Chavez – bass guitar ; backing vocals (1-14)
* Michael Keith – drums (1-14)
* Jude Garfield – drums (15-28)
* Ryan Martin – bass guitar ; backing vocals (15-28)

### Design

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

## Charts

### Weekly Charts

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

### Year-end charts

**Year-end chart positions for *Nicholas (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 (2024)
 US Billboard 200
 US Top Rock Albums (Billboard)

## Certifications and sales

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