| Battle Studies | ||||
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| Studio album by John Mayer | ||||
| Released | November 17, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | February–August 2009 Battle Studies (Calabasas, California) Capitol Studios (Hollywood, California) The Village (West Los Angeles, California) |
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| Genre | Rock, pop, blues-rock | |||
| Length | 46:36 | |||
| Label | Columbia | |||
| Producer | John Mayer, Steve Jordan | |||
| John Mayer chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Battle Studies | ||||
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Battle Studies is the fourth studio album by American rock musician John Mayer, released November 17, 2009 on Columbia Records in the United States. Production for the album took place during February to August 2009 at Battle Studies recording studio in Calabasas, California, Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California, and The Village in West Los Angeles, California, and was handled by Mayer and Steve Jordan.
The album debuted at number one on the US Billboard 200 chart, selling 286,000 copies in its first week. It achieved successful sales in several other countries and produced two singles that attained chart success. Upon its release, Battle Studies received positive reviews from most music critics. The album has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and has sold 880,000 copies in the United States.
Contents |
During a live performance in June 2009 Mayer said, "The album is called Battle Studies and that's because it incorporates a lot of the lessons, a lot of the observations, and a little bit of advice. Like a handbook, like a heartbreak handbook." On October 1, 2009, Mayer posted via twitter: "Track listing on Battle Studies is complete! Very interesting order... 11 songs. 45 minutes. Hit 'em hard and get out."[2]
The album was leaked just hours before Mayer was scheduled to perform an official "radio leak" on 103.7 Sophie in San Diego.[3] However, Mayer gave his listeners permission to download the leak, as long as they "registered" their copies by ordering the album.[4]
Mayer's 2010 Battle Studies World Tour began on February 4, 2010 in Sunrise, Florida at the Bank Atlantic Center and ended on October 1, 2010 in Manila, Philippines, at SM Mall of Asia.
According to Mayer's official Twitter profile, "Who Says" was the first single from the album and [5] was released for preview on September 25, 2009 at www.johnmayer.com. The official release for the single was on October 13, 2009.
The second single was "Heartbreak Warfare", which was previewed on October 19, 2009. The first ever augmented reality video accompanied the second single, which was released on Mayer's website.
The third single was "Half of My Heart", which was released for radio airplay on June 1, 2010.
The fourth single was "Perfectly Lonely", which was released on November 13, 2010.
The album debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart and sold 286,000 copies in its first week.[6] In its second week, it sold an additional 93,000 copies and fell to number 13 on the Billboard chart.[7]As of April 2010[update], the album has sold 880,000 copies in the United States.[8] On July 29, 2010, Battle Studies was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, for shipments of one million copies in the US.[9]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [10] |
| Entertainment Weekly | (B-)[11] |
| The Guardian | [12] |
| Los Angeles Times | [13] |
| Mojo | [14] |
| The New York Times | (mixed)[15] |
| PopMatters | (6/10)[16] |
| Rolling Stone | [17] |
| Slant Magazine | [18] |
| Sputnikmusic | [19] |
Battle Studies received generally positive reviews from music critics.[20] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 64, based on 17 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[20] Billboard magazine called Battle Studies "the best and most adventurous of his four studio albums".[21] Despite stating that "Mayer dips too heavily toward the texture", Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album 3½ out of 5 stars and commended Mayer for his musicianship.[10] The Boston Globe's Sarah Rodman wrote favorably of Mayer's intimate expression on the album and wrote that he "continues to strip away the twinkly radio lacquer of his earlier work without sacrificing his pop sensibilities".[22] Jackie Hayden of Hot Press gave Battle Studies a rating of 3.5/5 and called it a "classy pop opus for grown-ups".[23] Los Angeles Times writer Randy Lewis gave it 2½ out of 4 stars and praised its production and Mayer's melodies.[13] However, Lewis viewed its lyrical content as subpar to its music and wrote that "For the most part, he expresses himself more eloquently through his guitar than his lyrics".[13] The Independent writer Andy Gill gave Battle Studies 3 out of 5 stars and found its lyrical detail "ultimately tiresome".[24]
Sputnikmusic critic Alex Silveri viewed Mayer's songwriting depth as flawed and called the album "about as scholastically violent as a bunny in a pile of hay".[19] However, Silveri commended Mayer for his "knack for dealing with universal themes in thoroughly down to earth ways, and without the layering of pop cheese that so many of his contemporaries indulge in".[19] Despite writing favorably of the album's craftsmanship, Rolling Stone's Jody Rosen gave it 3 out of 5 stars and perceived the subject matter's seriousness as a weakness.[17] Entertainment Weekly critic Leah Greenblatt gave Battle Studies a B- rating and shared a similar sentiment, writing "Mostly, he noodles amiably toward Studies' conclusion, apparently content to stay within the confines of the Dave Matthews/Jason Mraz (and yes, John Mayer) sensitive-dude rock template. In this Battle, it seems, one side never really stood a chance".[11] The New York Post's Dan Aquilante called it a "gritless record that’s too smooth for its own good" and gave it 2½ stars.[25] USA Today's Edna Gundersen gave the album 2½ out of 4 stars and wrote "While his guitar chops are impeccable on this well-crafted blues-pop album, the gravity and cautious noodling cry out for some input from that other Mayer: his cunning, irreverent public persona".[26]
Both Slant Magazine's Jonathan Keefe and The Washington Post's Allison Stewart gave the album negative reviews and panned Mayer's stylistic choice for Battle Studies.[18][27] Chicago Sun-Times critic Jim DeRogatis gave the album ½ out of 4 stars, stating "Laden with laughable romantic-schlock lyrics and trite, sappy melodies, these songs aim for the pathos of classic Carpenters but come closer to maudlin Barry Manilow".[28] Tom Hughes of The Guardian gave it 2 out of 5 stars and wrote "Mayer's talents are obvious, but there's so much more cheese than charm here that he would seem like a hard sell outside the Billboard heartland".[12] The Village Voice columnist Zach Baron stated that it "somehow avoids including any of the myriad things that actually make John Mayer interesting".[29] Jon Caramanica of The New York Times wrote that "the album highlights the extremely blatant chasm between John Mayer the musician and John Mayer the public character, a divide Mr. Mayer said he was eager to maintain".[15]
All songs written by John Mayer, except where noted.
Battle Studies (CD/DVD Expanded Edition) Battle Studies Expanded Edition adds video of John's recent VH1 Storytellers broadcast plus two intimate acoustic performances from his personal travels to Japan in May 2010. DVD tracklisting - Approximate run time 50 minutes: VH1 Storytellers Disc: 2 DVD
A Trip to Japan Alone
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| Chart (2009) | Providers | Peak position |
Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Billboard 200 | Billboard | 1 | Platinum[9] | 1,060,000[30] |
| Australian Albums Chart | ARIA | 3 | Platinum[31] | 70,000+ |
| Canadian Albums Chart | Nielsen SoundScan | 4 | Platinum[32] | 80,000+ |
| Danish Albums Chart | IFPI Danmark & ACNielsen AIM A/S | 7 | ||
| German Albums Chart[33] | IFPI | 39 | ||
| Irish Albums Chart | IRMA | 48 | ||
| Swedish Albums Chart | Sverigetopplistan | 5 | ||
| UK Albums Chart | The Official Charts Company | 35 | ||
| New Zealand Albums Chart | RIANZ | 11 | Gold | 7,500 |
| Netherlands Top 100 Albums Chart | GfK Mega Charts | 1 | Gold | 25,000 |
| Chart (2010) | Position |
|---|---|
| US Billboard 200 | 19[34] |
| Preceded by The Circle by Bon Jovi |
U.S. Billboard 200 number-one album December 5, 2009 |
Succeeded by I Dreamed a Dream by Susan Boyle |
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