Beautiful (Jessica Mauboy album)
Beautiful is the third studio album by Australian recording artist Jessica Mauboy, released on 4 October 2013 by Sony Music Australia. The album was recorded at several recording studios in Hollywood, Los Angeles and Sydney. Mauboy worked on "Beautiful" with a variety of producers and songwriters, including DNA, The Fliptones, Brian Kennedy, Harvey Mason, Jr., Adam Reily and The Underdogs. She co-wrote ten of the thirteen songs on the album's standard edition. The album explored a mixture of dance-oriented tracks with R&B and pop. Upon its release, "Beautiful" received positive reviews from critics , who praised its catchy production and honest lyrics. The album debuted at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart and became Mauboy's highest-charting album. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of more than 70,000 copies. "Beautiful" earned Mauboy two nominations at the 2014 ARIA Music Awards for Album of the Year and Best Female Artist. Mauboy promoted the album with television performances and instore appearances. She also embarked on her second headlining concert tour, entitled the To the End of the Earth Tour. "Beautiful" produced five singles, including the top-ten hits  Pop a Bottle (Fill Me Up) and "Never Be the Same", which were both certified platinum for sales exceeding 70,000 copies. The album was re-released as a platinum edition on 21 November 2014 and features five additional songs, including the fifth single "Can I Get a Moment?", which became Mauboy's eighth top-ten hit. Background and development. In an interview with Spotlight Report, Mauboy admitted that after her work on the 2012 musical film "The Sapphires" and its soundtrack which features 1960s soul music, she struggled to find a direction for her third studio album. "This album was  definitely quite frustrating and hard to put together ... It was a hard process after coming off the back of doing "The Sapphires" and having that beautiful soul, motown classic music. It really kind of left me not knowing what I wanted to do next because that ["The Sapphires"] was so good." Mauboy further stated that not knowing which direction she wanted to go with helped. "I had all these stories and feelings. All I needed was to be in the studio and play a bit of piano and play some melodies to help me write." Mauboy told "The Northern Star  that Beautiful" is "very diverse ... I'm taking it back to my first album where I had a bit of dance and twist of R&B." Part of the album's musical direction was influenced by 1990s music, including dance artists such as Culture Beat and Corona. "I'm such a big '90s fan and grew up with the '90s, and I love how artists had such big vocals and yet such simple bedding on the tracks – and they use such little effects." Mauboy wrote half of "Beautiful" in Australia with DNA and Adam Reily, and also in Los Angeles. She  co-wrote ten of the thirteen songs on the album's standard edition. Harvey Mason, Jr. served as the creative director for "Beautiful" and co-wrote and produced a number of songs. Release and promotion. Mauboy's exclusive interview with Melissa Doyle in Darwin was broadcast on "Sunday Night" on 15 September 2013. On 26 September 2013, she co-hosted "The Footy Show" and performed a medley of "Inescapable", "To the End of the Earth" and "Saturday Night". On 29 September 2013, "Beautiful" became available to stream online via Songl.com before its official release. Mauboy performed "Pop a Bottle (Fill  Me Up)" during the fifth season of "The X Factor Australia" on 30 September 2013. The album was released both digitally and physically on 4 October 2013. The following day, Mauboy performed and signed copies of "Beautiful" at Tumbalong Park, Darling Harbour in Sydney. On 6 October 2013, she performed at the 2013 NRL Grand Final. Mauboy performed songs from "Beautiful" and signed copies of the album during instore appearances at Westfield Kotara on 7 October 2013 and Westfield Fountain Gate on 10 October 2013. She performed "Pop a Bottle (Fill Me Up)" at the 2013 ARIA Music Awards on  1 December 2013. The platinum edition of "Beautiful" was released on 21 November 2014 and features five bonus tracks, including the album's fifth single "Can I Get a Moment?". Mauboy performed the song during the grand final live decider show of the sixth season of "The X Factor Australia" (20 October 2014), on "Sunrise" (22 October 2014), and at the 2014 ARIA Music Awards (26 November 2014). She also performed and signed copies of the platinum edition during instore appearances at Westpoint Blacktown (23 November 2014), Castle Towers (30 November 2014), Watergardens Town Centre (7 December 2014) and Westfield  Parramatta (13 December 2014). Singles. "To the End of the Earth" was released as the lead single from "Beautiful" on 17 July 2013. It peaked at number 21 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association for sales exceeding 35,000 copies. The second single "Pop a Bottle (Fill Me Up)", released on 27 September 2013, debuted at number two and was certified platinum for selling over 70,000 copies. The album's title track "Beautiful" was released as the third single on 22 November 2013, and became Mauboy's lowest charting single at number  46. The fourth single "Never Be the Same", released on 7 March 2014, peaked at number six and was certified platinum. "Can I Get a Moment?" was released as the fifth single from "Beautiful" on 17 October 2014. It debuted at number five and was certified platinum. "The Day Before I Met You" was released as the sixth single on 13 February 2015, and debuted at number 41. To the End of the Earth Tour. In July 2013, Mauboy announced the To the End of the Earth Tour, a national tour presented by Nescafé to celebrate its global 75th anniversary . Tickets for the tour went on sale on 5 August. There were 27 shows in metropolitan and regional Australia that ran from November 2013 to January 2014. Reception. Tim Spencer of "Q News" viewed "Beautiful" as the type of album "you can easily wind down and dance to", and concluded that fans of Mauboy's previous efforts "will definitely be impressed with this record." Renowned for Sound's Jana Angeles praised the album's "perfect balance" of pop and R&B, and further added, "what makes "Beautiful" such an impressive album by Mauboy is the fact that some of the tracks  have honest lyrics and are clearly spoken from the heart." Suzie Keen of "In Daily" wrote the album is "a no-brainer for fans of pure pop" and found the tracks to be "irresistibly catchy." Entertainment Hive's Honey B called it "a stunningly honest CD with beautiful melodies." "Beautiful" was nominated for "World's Best Album" at the 2014 World Music Awards, and earned Mauboy two nominations at the 2014 ARIA Music Awards for Album of the Year and Best Female Artist. Commercial performance. "Beautiful" debuted at number three on the ARIA Albums Chart issue dated 13 October 2013 ; it became Mauboy's third top-ten album and the highest-charting album of her career. Due to the success of the album's fourth single "Never Be the Same", "Beautiful" jumped from number 42 to number 17 for the issue dated 21 April 2014. The following week, "Beautiful" moved up to number four, making it a fourth week within the top ten for the album. Following the release of the platinum edition in November 2014, "Beautiful" was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of 70,000 copies. Track listing. Notes Credits. Adapted from album liner. Beautiful