Wildflower (Lauren Alaina album)

Wildflower
Studio album by Lauren Alaina
Released October 11, 2011
Recorded 2011
Genre Country
Length 44:33
Label Mercury Nashville
Interscope, 19
Producer Byron Gallimore[1]
Singles from Wildflower
  1. "Like My Mother Does"
    Released: May 25, 2011
  2. "Georgia Peaches"
    Released: October 24, 2011
  3. "Eighteen Inches"
    Released: July 16, 2012

Wildflower is the debut studio album by season ten American Idol runner-up Lauren Alaina. The album was released by Mercury Nashville. on October 11, 2011 in the United States.[2][3] The album's first single, "Like My Mother Does", reached the Top 40 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.[4] Wildflower debuted at number five on the US Billboard 200 chart, making Alaina the youngest female artist to debut that high since LeAnn Rimes' debut album, Blue, fifteen years prior.[5]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic (72/100)[6]
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic [7]
The New York Times Positive[8]
Entertainment Weekly B[9]
Country Weekly [10]

Wildflower received positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 72, based on 4 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews".[6] Allmusic writer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the album 3 stars out of 5 and wrote: "Byron Gallimore, who previously produced Sugarland and Faith Hill, gives Wildflower an appealing gloss that helps disguise the ordinariness of the material along with any of Alaina's shortcomings, and that slickness serves Wildflower well, making it a much more enjoyable piece of product than McCreery's Clear as Day".[7] The New York Times gave a very positive review to the album and said: "It works, not only because Ms. Alaina has a big voice, but also because she doesn't portray herself as an aw-shucks beginner. She's skipped that step, and rightly so".[8] Melissa Maerz of Entertainment Weekly was also positive on the album and gave it a "B" and said: "On Wildflower, she captures the restless spirit of small-town girls who get grounded for French-kissing the boy next door".[9] Country Weekly gave the album 3 and half stars out of 5 and noted: "Despite the album's title, she plays it safe rather than wild".[10]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Georgia Peaches"  Blair Daly, Mallary Hope, Rachel Proctor 3:07
2. "Growing Her Wings"  Nicolle Galyon, Nicole Witt 3:01
3. "Tupelo"  Hillary Lindsey, Steve McEwan, Gordie Sampson 3:39
4. "The Middle"  Zac Maloy, Proctor, David Hodges 3:56
5. "Like My Mother Does"  Nathan Chapman, Liz Rose, Nikki Williams 4:07
6. "She's a Wildflower"  Lindsey, McEwan, Sampson 3:38
7. "I'm Not One of Them"  Tony Martin, Tom Shapiro, Sarah Johns 3:18
8. "The Locket"  Hope 5:10
9. "Eighteen Inches"  Ashley Gorley, Kelley Lovelace, Carrie Underwood 3:44
10. "One of Those Boys"  Marla Cannon, Benjamin Caver, Anthony Smith 2:42
11. "Funny Thing About Love"  Lauren Alaina, Brett James, Luke Laird 3:57
12. "Dirt Road Prayer"  April Cushman, Galyon 4:14

Chart performance

The album debuted at No. 5 on the Billboard 200 with 69,000 copies sold.[11] It has sold 303,000 copies in the United States as of January 2013.[12]

Album

Chart (2011) Peak
position
Canadian Albums Chart[13] 22
US Billboard 200 5
US Billboard Top Country Albums 2

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions
US Country
[14]		 US Country Airplay
[15]		 US
[16]		 CAN
[17]
2011 "Like My Mother Does" 36 — 20 50
"Georgia Peaches" 28 — — —
2012 "Eighteen Inches" 37 34 — —
"—" denotes releases that did not chart

References

  1. ↑ Shelburne, Craig (September 8, 2011). "New Album Preview: Miranda Lambert, Lady Antebellum and More". Country Music Television. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  2. ↑ Dukes, Billy (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina ‘Wildflower’ Track Listing Revealed". Taste of Country. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  3. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina reveals 'Wildflower' tracklisting". USA Today. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  4. ↑ Stromblad, Cory (September 15, 2011). "Lauren Alaina Reveals 'Wildflower' Track Listing". The Boot. Retrieved September 21, 2011.
  5. ↑ http://www.laurenalainaofficial.com/news/default.aspx?nid=36948
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Critic Reviews for Wildflower at Metacritic". Metacritic.com. 2011-10-29.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Wildflower review". Allmusic. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Scotty McCreery, Lauren Alaina, Claudia Quintet - New Albums - NYTimes.com". The New York Times. Retrieved October 10, 2011.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 Maerz, Melissa. "Wildflower review - Lauren Alaina Review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved October 13, 2011.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 "Wildflower by Lauren Alaina - Country Weekly". Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  11. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (2011-10-19). "Lauren Alaina's 69,000 sales mean a top-five debut". Idol Chatter. USA Today. Retrieved October 19, 2011.
  12. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (2013-01-07). "Phillip Philips' album sales rise". Idol Chatter (USA Today). Retrieved January 9, 2013.
  13. ↑ "Canadian Albums: Week of October 29, 2011". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
  14. ↑ "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Country Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  15. ↑ "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Country Airplay". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved November 8, 2012.
  16. ↑ "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.
  17. ↑ "Lauren Alaina Album & Song Chart History – Canadian Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 11, 2012.