| Playing with Fire | |
|---|---|
| Studio album by Kevin Federline | |
| Released | October 31, 2006 |
| Recorded | 2005-2006 |
| Genre | Gangsta Rap |
| Length | 49:36 |
| Label | Federation Records |
| Producer | Disco D, Notes, J. R. Rotem |
Playing with Fire is the debut and only studio album from American personality and rapper Kevin Federline, released on October 31, 2006, in North America, and on November 6, 2006, in the UK. The lyrics were all co-written by Federline.
Federline's album debuted in the Billboard 200 at number 151, with first-week sales reported at about 6,500. According to SoundScan numbers, Playing with Fire was the 16th highest debut out of 19 albums released that week that made the Billboard 200.[1] In its second week, it dropped out of the chart, selling a mere 1,500 copies.[2] The review-tallying website Metacritic.com summarized the reviews they cited as possessing "extreme dislike or disgust"; as of January 2011 it remains the lowest-rated album in their database.[3] According to Ask Billboard, Playing with Fire had sold 16,000 copies as of January 22, 2007.[4]
Contents |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [5] |
| Entertainment Weekly | F[6] |
| Rolling Stone | [7] |
| Slant Magazine | [8] |
| Now Magazine | [9] |
| Vibe | [10] |
| Billboard.com | [11] |
Before the album's release, Federline's closing performance of "Lose Control" with an introduction by then-wife Britney Spears was the highlight of the 2006 Teen Choice Awards. The audience gave the performance a standing ovation before and during the ending credits.
Playing with Fire was universally panned by critics. Between Metacritic's founding in 1999 and the album's release, no album had scored below 20, partially because many critics have a minimum 1 of 5 score, which is translated to 20 out of 100 in the website. "Playing with Fire" scored 15, receiving an F from Entertainment Weekly, which translated into a 0/100. "Playing with Fire" is ranked number one on Metacritic's 100 worst-reviewed albums.[12]
One notable exception to the almost universal derision was Ron Harris of the Associated Press, who enthused: “All jokes aside about his climb to fame, Kevin Federline’s album Playing With Fire (Federline Records) is a credible, entertaining debut. I kid you not.... The streets of Fresno County are no joke, and good for Fed-Rock if wants [sic] to boast about surviving that life.”[13]
Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Senior Editor of Allmusic (AMG) was less charitable: “Federline's debut album, Playing with Fire, is indeed bad, but it's bad in an uninteresting way; it's as dull and predictable as its title... he's not nearly as shocking as he'd like to believe or as amusing as his haters would hope: he just comes across as a big boob... It's also a bore because he's a boor, writing endlessly about the same three topics: his alleged superstardom, his hatred of the media, his love of parties and dope... it often sounds like he can't quite understand them."[14]
Said Preston Jones of Slant Magazine, "Federline can only rap about weed, his bank account, his wife, fighting anyone who looks at him sideways, and partying 'til three days from now —- roughly in that order... An oh-so-tiny sliver of myself kind of wanted Playing With Fire to be less aggressively shitty than it is, if only so the restless, rapacious media would ease off this tattered target of its ire—unfortunately, this disc is just as disposable and dumb as you'd expect."[15] Kevin O'Donnell of Rolling Stone called it "reprehensible" and a "tragicomedy";[16] while Chris Willman in Entertainment Weekly proclaimed that it was "a concept album about squandering Britney Spears' fortune."[17]
The "Playing with Fire" concert tour was also a commercial disaster. In New York City, Federline performed before an estimated audience of 300 out of a total seating capacity of 1,500 at Webster Hall, with only one-third of attendees remaining by the end of the concert. Although many of the tickets were given away for free, approximately three-quarters of the seats at his Chicago performance remained empty.[18] Four of the eight scheduled tour performances (Cleveland, Atlantic City, Anaheim, and San Diego) were ultimately cancelled.[19][20]
While performing in WWE, Federline used the song "America's Most Hated" as his entrance music. While feuding with John Cena, he said that his new album would surpass Cena's record sales.
On September 11, 2010, Matthew Wilkening of AOL Radio ranked Federline's cancelled song track, "PopoZão", at #84 on the list of the 100 Worst Songs Ever, stating, "Thankfully, we rejected this crap outright. OK, we broke a man's spirit, but the alternative was much worse."[21]
America's Most Hated
| Chart (2006) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| U.S. Billboard 200 | 151 |
| U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers | 2 |