In The Club

## Alternative Cover

***In The Club*** is the debut studio album by American recording artist Richie McCartney, released on June 25, 2007, by Sub Pop Records. It was marked by polemics surrounding McCartney's vocal abilities because of his high use of playback, as well as his problematic relationships, use of drugs, and affairs.

Despite McCartney being in the eye of media during the album's promotion, its singles didn't reach spectacular numbers. *In The Club* sales were busted by the Good Life Tour with Stephen Marchell, which made McCartney receive lots of exposure.

During this era, McCartney appeared on 134 magazine covers around the world. In the United States alone, the singer appeared in six magazine covers in one week.

## **Background and recording**

The recording process for the album was simple, whit McCartney starting working on it in April 2006 and finishing one year later. He wanted to be a pop/dance singer so he looked for producers who did this type of music. The album is more electronic than pop, and McCartney used lots of voice effects in the songs, including pro tools and autotune.

## **Release**

The album promotion started on March 2007, with the release of "In The Club" to the radios. The single's first performance was on MTV. The music video for the lead single was released almost one month later. The album had little promo on TV, with the focus being in nightclubs and spaces for shows. McCartney's record label wasn't planning to launch him focusing on the international market. The plan was to make him a big name to the dance scene only.

However, after lots of polemics, friendships and even his relationship with Kate Logan, who was part of his record label, his name started appearing on the internet. With all that exposure, Sub Pop decided to invest more in promoting the album around the world.

## **Singles**

"In The Club" was released as the lead single from the album. It reached number 2 in the US Billboard Dance Club Songs chart. In the Hot 100 it reached number 41. The single didn't chart elsewhere because of the lack of investment from the label's part.

"Love Don't Let Me Go" was a moderate hit in the US, peaking at number 18 in the Billboard Hot 100. After the music video release, the single gained a boost around the world, appearing in the charts in countries like Canada, UK and Australia, peaking around the top 30.

"Best Friend" and "Lonely" were released as the third singles simultaneously, the former in the US and the latter around the world. "Best Friend" peaked at number 26 in the US and "Lonely" peaked in the top 20 in the UK, France, Italy and New Zealand.

"Too Much Of Heaven" was the biggest hit from the album, peaking at number 9 in the US Billboard Hot 100, and inside the top 5 in France, Italy, Canada, Australia and German. In the UK que single peaked at number 11, failing to reach the top 10.

#### **Promotional singles**

"The World Is Mine" was released to the clubs and lots of DJs created remixes after that. The song reached number 1 in the US clubs chart.

"Just Because Of You" was released as a single to promote the tour. It received a music video containing backstage footage. However, the song failed to chart.

## Review scores

### Rolling Stone

★★★½☆

*In The Club* received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 59, based on 17 reviews.