Radio Music Society
Radio Music Society is the fourth studio album by Esperanza Spalding, which was released through the record label Heads Up International on March 20, 2012. The album earned Spalding Grammy Awards for Best Jazz Vocal Album and Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s) for the track, "City of Roses". Reception. Critical reception. "Radio Music Society" was well received by music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". John Bungey of "The Times  noted the album's journey through soul, gospel, balladry and big-band swing", and complimented Spalding's "light, airy voice". He wrote in conclusion: "For those who have hitherto found her considerable abilities easier to admire than enjoy, this is the most convincing display yet". A review in the monthly "Kulturspiegel" extra of the German "Spiegel" magazine noted that the poppy arrangements of the songs might help the album to become successful beyond the jazz genre. Jeff Artist of "Okayplayer" wrote "With her new companion LP, Radio Music Society, the young virtuoso branches out sonically, injecting her jazz roots with  some modern soul and pop juice, maybe even inspiring the Bieber faithful to check in on what all the fuss is about... At just 11 tracks, this record flexes serious range, but what’s even more impressive is that it rarely sounds overextended". Commercial performance. In the United States, "Radio Music Society" became Spalding's first Top 10 album. It debuted at number 10 on the "Billboard" 200 chart and number one on the Top Jazz Albums chart with first week sales of 25,000 copies. The album has sold 135,000 copies in the US as of January 2016. Radio Music