Super Bitch

### Producer

Polow da Don ‧ Rick Nowels ‧ Danja ‧ Timbaland ‧ Jim Beanz ‧ The Dream ‧ Tricky Stewart

## Singles

1. "Blindfold Me"
August 23, 2015
2. "Lemonade"
October 26, 2015
3. "Do It Well"
January 4, 2016
4. "Dancing In The Dark"
January 4, 2016
5. "Sax"
April 17, 2016

***Super Bitch*** is the fifth studio album by American singer Natasha Lewis. It was released on December 4, 2015, by Def Jam Recordings. As executive producer, Natasha enlisted previous collaborators Polow da Don, Timbaland, The Dream, and Tricky Stweart to work alongside new collaborators such as Rick Nowels and Jim Beanz. *Super Bitch* is mainly a pop, hip hop and R&B album that incorporates elements of EDM in its production, similar to the sound of her previous album Extreme Behavior (2009).

The album was released to positive reviews from music critics and numerous publications included it on their lists of the best albums of 2015. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 2017 ceremony. It debuted at number one on the US *Billboard* 200 with first-week sales of 687,000 copies, becoming Natasha's highest first week sales. The album also became the singer's third, fourth, and fifth consecutive number one album in the United Kingdom, Norway, and Switzerland, respectively. As of December 2017, *Super Bitch* has sold over four million copies worldwide.

The album produced five singles including the international hits "Lemonade" and "Sax". The former peaked at number one on the UK Singles Chart and the US *Billboard* Hot 100. Prior to its release, Lewis promoted the album with a concert special titled *All Night with Natasha Lewis* aired on NBC.

## **Background and development**

In May 2014, Lewis released her fourth album, *Continuum/Interrupted*, which portrayed more mature and innovative sound. After the Off the Map World Tour in support of *Continuum/Interrupted* finalized, Lewis announced she would very soon, because she was too excited and couldn't take a break. She explained, "Well, I was gone for 3 years and after being back for such a positive reaction, I can only be excited to release new material".

While in the US, Lewis met with Timbaland and Danja to start the sessions for the new album. When asked by *The Hollywood Reporter* about the direction of the record, Lewis responded it kind of a throwback, adding "For the last two albums I've gone dark pop, slut pop, fierce pop, electropop... So I think I should go back to the Extreme Behavior days and work on something more urban and hip hop". Additionally, Natasha scheduled meet-and-greets with The Dream and Tricky Stewart in an effort to help evolve her sound. The singer also held a writing session with James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem. Murphy stated, "I think she wants to show to her fans that nothing has changed, she's still a bad bitch. After being in the monastery for song long and coming back with such a mature album, she was afraid people would think she had changed".

In an interview to MTV News, Lewis commented, "I've really been able to leave the pop sound behind in most tracks and go into the urban side. I've been wanting to do this for so long, but I was always told 'You should go into EDM, it's in a really good spot now. Oh you should try some dark european sound' And stuff like that". In August 2015, Natasha was finishing the album and her manager, Berenice Lamonica, told her about Dreamer, a new artist in the industry. She became interested in his work and asked him to collaborate. He then accepted and was added to one of the songs, that ended up being the albums lead single.

## **Release**

In November 2015, Berenice spoke to *Billboard* and said that *Super Bitch* was being promoted in a worldwide level, exhausting areas such as print and electronic media, television, radio and video to raise awareness of the album's release. On December 4, the album release day, Natasha held and TV special on NBC called All Night where she performed eight songs from the new album as well as four past hits. The special was a huge success, drawing massive attention from the general public as the show was praised by the critics.

## **Singles**

"Blindfold Me" was serviced to mainstream radio stations and digital stores and streaming services on August 23, 2013 as the album's lead single, two days after being leaked by Buzz. It received positive commentary from music critics, who commended its "hot" and "frenetic" beat, while some were ambivalent towards its clichéd lyrics. Commercially, it was a success, peaking at number two on the *Billboard* Hot 100. The song was also performed on the Video Music Awards 2015, what boosted the song sales on iTunes.

"Lemonade" was released as the album's second single on October 26, 2015. It received generally favorable reviews from critics, who praised it for being "fresh" and "fun". The music video for the song attracted negative press, controversy and accusations of cultural appropriation, what made the song stop growing on the radio. "Lemonade" has peaked at number 1 on the *Billboard* Hot 100 and has charted well worldwide, reaching the top 10 in the single charts of Canada and Germany and the Top 5 in Italy.

"Dancing In The Dark" was released as the second single from the album exclusively in Europe, while "Do it Well" was released around the globe."Dancing In The Dark" received mixed reviews from the music critics, who noticed it was too similar to Natasha's earlier works; with some commended her willingness to take risks, others were polarized about the production. It performed fine, reaching the top 20 in France, Germany, Italy and UK. "Do It Well" received positive reviews from the critics, praising it's "slick production". Commercially, it did well overal, peaking at number 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 and reaching the top 10 in Australia.

"Sax" was released on April 17, 2016, as the album's fourth and final single. It had previously caught fans and critics attention when the album was released. After the performance on the NBC special, fans noted that it worked very well live and wanted it to be the third single. The song topped the *Billboard* Hot 100 chart on May 17, 2016, becoming Lewis' 5th number one single in the United States. It won the Grammy for Best Pop Solo Performance in the 2017 ceremony.

## Review scores

### The Times

★★★★☆

*Super Bitch* received very positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 based on 34 reviews. Several British publications that reviewed the album a few days before its official release, responded positively to the album as well as Lewis's vocals. *The Times*' Will Hodgkinson commented that the album's songs "arrive in huge gusts of rhythm, with Lewis' voice rippling over clattery beats". Nick Levine of the *NME* deemed the album a "strong and surprisingly confident urban album."

In a mixed review, Jon Pareles of *The New York Times* found the album "all over the top and ungenuine", and said that it was neither "ingratiating or seductive". Richard Cromelin of the *Los Angeles Times* observed that Natasha "heads into a new, more challenging terrain", but "some of the experiments don't click". Although he found the album "solid", Mike Joseph of PopMatters said that "it could be four songs shorter, but production sounds good". Brian Hiatt of *Rolling Stone* averred that "while the mostly up-tempo disc never lacks for energy, some of the more pop-oriented tracks feel harmonically and melodically undercooked, with hooks that don't live up to 'The Best' or her other pop hits".