New Life (Monica album)

Monica released her sixth studio album, Still Standing, in 2010. Chronicled by her BET reality series of the same name which was aired between October 2009 and January 2010, the album marked her third album on J Records following the renewal of her contract in October 2007. Released to critical and commercial success, it debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 184,000 in its first week, and reached the top of the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. The same year, Still Standing was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 copies in the United States and has sold 474,000 copies to date. Her biggest commercial success, the album was viewed as a humble comeback from Monica. Together, she and Polow worked on what was expected to be the bulk of the album as she envisioned creating the "meat" of the album's center with him. As with previous albums, the singer reteamed with frequent contributors such as Bryan-Michael Cox, Missy Elliott, Jazmine Sullivan, and Cainon Lamb but also worked with a group of several new musicians, songwriters, and producers. Most of the album's songs were recorded at the Audio Vision Studios and Circle House Recordings in Miami, Florida. Monica recorded "Cry" at the Chalice Recording Studios in Hollywood, and "Without You" at the No Excuses Studios in Santa Monica, California. Originally scheduled for a November 2011 release, final recording sessions for New Life with producer Hit-Boy took place in October. On November 2, 2011, Monica took to Twitter to announce that the album would be postponed and that she along with the label was planning to restructure "the entire plan for the album". Within the next months, she resumed recording for the album and booked additional studio sessions with Rico Love and co-producers Earl & E, Mr. Morris, and Pierre Medor to retool New Life. ==Music and lyrics==

A R&B album, New Life features upbeat pop songs, and, particularly in Elliott's songs, heavy soul influences that fit with the quiet storm radio format. Music journalist Tuyet Nguyen from The A.V. Club noted that the album is distinct from the electronic dance music–dominated leanings that many R&B singers adopted during the late 2000s to early 2010s, and characterized it as "a backwards-looking effort detached from contemporary trends", whose "lack of autotuned verses and dubstep bass drops are a welcome move away from gimmicky contemporary production." Slant Magazines Jonathan Keefe found that New Life reflected Monica's intention "to develop a husky, robust lower register that makes her voice even more distinctive." Music journalist Ernest Hardy stated that Monica's "vocal power and masterful control of her instrument make her a singer's singer" in the wake of her idol and mentor Whitney Houston. According to AllMusic's Matt Collar, the singer "recalls both her '90s heyday and the burnished, swaggering approach of such icons as Mary J. Blige and Toni Braxton." He felt that this was especially evident on such tracks as "Daddy's Good Girl", "Anything (To Find You)" and the ballad "Until It's Gone". ==Songs==

"It All Belongs to Me" is a mid-tempo R&B ballad that features singer Brandy and ends in a melismatic form. Lyrically, the song is a female empowerment anthem in which both singers claim their belongings as they leave their abusive boyfriends behind. The chorus has pop cultural references to MacBook and Facebook. "Daddy's Good Girl", is a musical pledge of devotion, in which Monica calls for love's assurance, singing "As long as I know you got that love for me, I'll be g.o.o.d." It has a reggae-inspired arrangement. it features an understated synthpop instrumental, that fades into the background during the verses before rising into a layered affair for the chorus. "Without You" is a ballad and musical dedication to Monica's husband, NBA basketball player Shannon Brown. Lyrically, the song explores the breakdown of an old relationship. ==Titling and artwork==

, inspired the album's title. "We all as humans sometimes are fearful of what’s ahead. So New Life is just saying embrace the new things that can come into your atmosphere. It can be great for you. So as I embrace new love, new music, new people, new things. It's just been an amazing experience. So I named it New Life just as a representation of that." She also stated that her separation from rapper Rodney "Rocko" Hill, her marriage to professional basketball player Shannon Brown in November 2010, and their subsequent relocation from Atlanta to Arizona contributed to that idea. As with Still Standing, the singer decided on the album's official title still during the pre-production process. Revealed via Twitter, Monica wrote on her account on December 16, 2010: "Have a great day twit-fam. Don't be afraid of new things, new people, new opportunities, or new love. It just may give you a New Life." The album's official cover (standard version) was revealed on Amazon on November 3, 2011. A simple head-shot, the album cover was photographed by Taiwan-born photographer Yu Tsai on August 17, 2011. ==Singles==

New Life was promoted by four singles. "Anything (To Find You)", a collaboration with rapper Rick Ross, was the first single to be released from the album on August 2, 2011, surrounding the controversy over the removal of Lil' Kim's vocals, who had appeared on the song original version along with Ross. The track peaked at number twenty-five on the US Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart but was eventually not included on the track listing of the album's standard version. "Until It's Gone" was released for digital download on September 27, 2011, as the album's second single. The song impacted urban mainstream and adult contemporary radio on October 3 and 4, 2011, respectively, and peaked at number twenty-two on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop Songs chart. Monica reunited with director Diane Martel for the music video. The video premiered Monica's Vevo on October 24, 2011, to coincide with Monica's thirty-first birthday. "It All Belongs to Me", the album's third offering and official leading single, a duet with fellow recording artist Brandy conceived after New Lifes delay and subsequent rework, was released digitally on February 14, 2012. It reached number 23 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The accompanying music video was directed by Robinson and premiered on VH1 on March 5, 2012. The album's final single, "Without You", impacted the US urban AC radio on May 8, 2012. ==Critical response==

New Life received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 58, based on seven reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews." Adam Markovitz of Entertainment Weekly criticized its "cheesy choruses and outdated tun," and called the album "a thoroughly last-millennium set of self-help ballads about starting over ('Take a Chance') and finding strength in tears ('Cry'), set to the kind of cheesy slow-jam beats that were hot back during Monica's previous life as a '90s teen phenom." Los Angeles Times writer Ernest Hardy criticized the songwriting and called the album "a slickly produced collection of largely generic, meandering songs about self-affirmation in the wake of heartache and romantic disillusionment." Tuyet Nguyen of The A.V. Club commented that it "engages [Monica's] vocal strengths without ever really challenging them" and stated: "New Life isn't about broadening horizons so much as it is about realizing a comfortable niche." Although he found it "beautifully sung and slickly produced," Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe also called the album "numbingly predictable" and commented that Monica "deserves better material than the generic songs she works with here." Ben Cardew of NME noted "limpness" in its songs and wrote that "there are far too many limp ballads to excite." Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe found the album "scattered and uneven", and accused Monica's collaborators of disserving her, writing that New Life "squanders Monica's on-point vocal turns on some cliché-addled songs and embarrassingly cheap-sounding production." However, AllMusic editor Matt Collar found Monica's voice to be "in top form" and complimented her "saucy, spirited, and soulful vibe," writing that it "makes New Life such a refreshing and focused female soul album." Allison Stewart from The Washington Post called the album an "offering that's heavy on hard-luck ballads and light on snappy, elbow-throwing joints," while TheWrap critic Chris Willman found that "Monica's producers and writers seem to be saving their best game for some other prematurely aged R&B princess. Everything old in New Life just sounds old again." ==Commercial performance==

New Life debuted and peaked at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 69,000 copies. In total, it has spent 10 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200. On the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, it debuted at number two, spending 28 consecutive weeks on the chart. This marked Monica's fifth top-ten album on the Billboard 200 and sixth on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. In its fourth week, the album sold a total of 116,400 copies. By September 2015, the album had sold 196,000 copies in the United States. In South Korea, New Life peaked at number 70 on the South Korean Albums chart, ==Track listing==

• Rico Love • Earl Hood • Eric Goudy II }} • Love • Earl & E }} • Love • Goudy II • Hood • Danny Morris }} • Love • Earl & E • Mr. Morris }} • Love • Goudy II • Hood • Pierre Medor }} • Love • Earl & E • Medor }} • Lamb • Randolph }} • Love • Hood • Goudy II • Olubowale Akintimehin }} • Love • Earl & E }} • Jamal Jones • Mansur Zafr • India Boodram • Jazmyn Michel • Kesia Hollins }} • Polow da Don • Zafr }} • Melissa Elliott • Lamb • Jazmine Sullivan • Randolph • Thomas Bell • Linda Epstein • Scott Sterling • Lawrence Parker }} • Missy Elliott • Lamb }} • Jermaine Dupri • Bryan-Michael Cox • Crystal Johnson }} • Dupri • Cox }} • Salaam Remi • Sullivan }} • Lamb • Randolph • Gordon • Brown }} }} • Lamb • Ray Ray }} • Lamb • Brown • Osbourne }} • Tiwa Savage • Warren "Oak" Felder • Andrew "Pop" Wansel • Randy Edelman }} • Elliott • Lamb • Sullivan • William Roberts II • Christopher Wallace • Sean Combs • Nashiem Sa-Allah Myrick • Herbert Magidson • Allie Wrubel • Nickolas Ashford • Valerie Simpson }} • Elliott • Lamb }} }} • Love • Earl & E }} }} Notes • signifies a co-producer Sample credits • "Until It's Gone" contains a sample from "I Don't Want to Lose You" written by Thomas Bell and Linda Epstein, as performed by The Spinners; and "9mm Goes Bang" written by Scott Sterling and Lawrence Parker, as performed by Boogie Down Productions. • "Cry" contains a sample from "Igloo Love" written and performed by Salaam Remi. • "Catch Me" contains a sample from "Isn't It a Shame" as performed by Labelle, written by Randy Edelman. • "Anything (To Find You)" contains a portion of the composition "Who Shot Ya?", written by Christopher Wallace, Sean Combs, Nashiem Sa-Allah Myrick, Herbert Magidson and Allie Wrubel; contains a portion of the composition "You're All I Need to Get By", written by Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson; contains a sample from "I'm Afraid the Masquerade Is Over", as performed by David Porter. ==Personnel==

Managerial • Melinda Dancil – album producer • Peter Edge – album producer • Trevor Jerideau – album producer • Monica – album producer, executive producer • Monica – album producer, executive producer • Polow da Don – executive producer Performance credits • Rico Love – background vocals (tracks 2–4, 6) • Monica – lead vocals (All tracks), background vocals (tracks 1, 5, 7–9, 11–12) • Brandy Norwood – lead vocals (track 2) • Jazmine Sullivan – background vocals (track 10) • Wale – lead vocals (track 6) Visuals and imagery • Derek Blanks – photography • Anita Marisa Boriboon – art direction, design • Sheika Daily – make-up • Melinda Dancil – styling • Jocelyn Goldstein – styling • Erwin Gorostiza – creative director • Mylah Morales – make-up • Cesar Ramirez – hair • Ursula Stephens – hair • Yu Tsai – photography ==Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Release history==