Yes! (Jason Mraz album)

Yes!
Studio album by Jason Mraz
Released July 11, 2014
Recorded 20132014
Genre Pop rock
Length 51:35
Label Atlantic
Jason Mraz chronology

Love Is a Four Letter Word
(2012)
Yes!
(2014)
Singles from Yes!
  1. "Love Someone"
    Released: May 19, 2014

Yes! is the fifth studio album by singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. The album was released on July 11, 2014, Atlantic Records.[1] The album's lead single "Love Someone" was released on May 19, 2014.[2]

The album is a collaboration between Jason Mraz and the members of indie-rock-folk band Raining Jane: Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter and Mona Tavakoli, with whom Mraz has been working since 2007,[3] and who are his backing band on the record,[4][5] as well as co-writers of majority of the songs.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source Rating
Metacritic 62/100[6]
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [7]
Billboard 82/100[8]
The Boston Globe 70/100[5][6]
Los Angeles Times [9]
Rolling Stone [10]
Slant Magazine [11]

Yes! was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 62, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 6 reviews.[6]

Matt Fruchtman of Slant Magazine gave the album two out of five stars, saying "his wide-lens worldview leaves Yes! feeling like the musical equivalent of a G-rated sitcom."[11] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "The exclamation point that punctuates its title suggests Jason Mraz may be a little enthusiastic on Yes! but that's a feint, hiding how this 2014 record is the next logical step on the singer/songwriter's road of seduction. Gone is the celebrated wordplay, a self-conscious maturation that was perhaps inevitable, but also absent are the smooth soul flourishes of 2012's Love Is a Four Letter Word."[7]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 102,000 copies in the United States.[12]

In Canada, the album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart with 12,000 copies, falling behind Rise Against's The Black Market.[13]

Track listing

No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "Rise"  Jason Mraz, Chaska Potter, Mona Tavakoli, Becky Gebhardt, Mai Bloomfield, Chris Keup, Stewart Myers
1:29
2. "Love Someone"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield, Keup, Myers
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
  • Chris Keup[a]
  • Stewart Myers[a]
4:16
3. "Hello, You Beautiful Thing"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:34
4. "Long Drive"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:50
5. "Everywhere"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:24
6. "Best Friend"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:19
7. "Quiet"  Mraz, Daniel Omelio, Ammar Malik
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
  • Keup
  • Myers
4:18
8. "Out of My Hands"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:26
9. "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"  Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian PerrenMraz 2:58
10. "3 Things"  Mraz, Michael Natter, Nancy Natter, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
2:54
11. "You Can Rely on Me"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield, Keup, Myers, M. Natter, N. Natter
  • Mraz
  • Keup
  • Myers
3:43
12. "Back to the Earth"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:46
13. "A World with You"  Mraz, Myers, Keup
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
4:39
14. "Shine"  Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
6:04
Notes

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[14]

Raining Jane
  • Mai Bloomfield – cello, glockenspiel, hi-string guitar, marimba, papoose, vocals
  • Becky Gebhardt – bass, upright bass, sitar
  • Chaska Potter – electric guitar, mandolin, ukulele, vocals
  • Mona Tavakoli – drums, percussion, vocals
Additional musicians
  • Mike Mogis – banjo, dobro, e-bow, electric guitar, mellotron, pedal steel, synthesizer bass
  • Andy Powers – banjo, dobro, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, pedal steel
  • Ben Brodin – drums, percussion, piano, organ
  • Chris Joyner – drones, organ, piano, tanpura
  • Nate Walcott – organ, piano, Wurlitzer
  • Brian Jones – drums
  • John O'Reilly – drums
  • Stewart Myers – bass
  • Maryann Galewood – handclapping
  • Amber Elliot – handclapping
  • Ms. Tina – handclapping
  • Colin Killalea – inspiration [sic], vocal arrangement
  • Regan Sprenkle – vocal arrangement

Technical personnel
  • Mike Mogis – engineering, mixing, production
  • Chris Keup – engineering, production, additional production
  • Stewart Myers – engineering, production, additional production
  • Justin Hergett – engineering, mixing assistant
  • David Kalish – engineering
  • Ben Brodin – assistant engineering
  • Tony Maserati – mixing
  • James Krausse – mixing assistant
  • Chris Gehringer – mastering
Additional personnel
  • Tony Corey – production management
  • Jeff Nicholas – creative direction
  • Sam Riback – A&R
  • Douglas Gledhill – design
  • Ryan McCann – design
  • Patrick Morales – design
  • Jen Rosenstein – band photo

Charts

Chart (2014) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 17
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[16] 49
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[17] 22
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[18] 2
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)[19] 14
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[20] 1
French Albums (SNEP)[21] 36
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[22] 18
Irish Albums (IRMA)[23] 58
Italian Albums (FIMI)[24] 54
New Zealand Albums (Recorded Music NZ)[25] 25
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[26] 24
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[27] 14
UK Albums (OCC)[28] 18
US Billboard 200[29] 2

Release history

Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom[30] July 11, 2014 CD, digital download Atlantic Records
United States[31] July 15, 2014

References

  1. "Jason Mraz's 'Yes!' Album: Hear First Single 'Love Someone'". Billboard. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  2. "Love Someone: Jason Mraz: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  3. "About the band". rainingjane.com. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  4. Reuter, Annie (May 19, 2014). "Interview: Jason Mraz Details His First Acoustic Album, 'YES!'". Radio.com. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Johnston, Maura (July 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz, 'YES!'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Reviews for Yes! by Jason Mraz". Metacritic. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  7. 7.0 7.1 Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Yes! - Jason Mraz". AllMusic. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  8. Benjamin, Jeff (July 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz's 'YES!': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard.
  9. Wood, Mikael (July 18, 2014). "Pursued by youngsters, Jason Mraz is mellower than ever on 'Yes!'". Los Angeles Times.
  10. Dolan, Jon (August 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz's New Album: Yes!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  11. 11.0 11.1 Fruchtman, Matt. "Jason Mraz: Yes!". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  12. "'Weird Al' Yankovic Gets First No. 1 Album On Billboard 200 with 'Mandatory Fun'". Billboard. July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  13. Alan Cross. "A Journal of Musical ThingsWeekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 23 July 2014". A Journal of Musical Things. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  14. "Yes! - Jason Mraz | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  15. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Australiancharts.com. Hung Medien.
  16. "Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in Dutch). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien.
  17. "Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in French). Ultratop.be. Hung Medien.
  18. "Jason Mraz Album & Song Chart History" Billboard Canadian Albums Chart for Jason Mraz. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  19. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Danishcharts.com. Hung Medien.
  20. "Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in Dutch). Dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien.
  21. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Lescharts.com. Hung Medien.
  22. "Top 40 album-, DVD- és válogatáslemez-lista – 2014. 36. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. LightMedia.
  23. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 29, 2014". Chart-Track. IRMA.
  24. "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 29 (dal 14-07-2014 al 20-07-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  25. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Charts.org.nz. Hung Medien.
  26. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien.
  27. "Jason Mraz – Yes!". Spanishcharts.com. Hung Medien.
  28. "Jason Mraz | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart
  29. "Jason Mraz Album & Song Chart History" Billboard 200 for Jason Mraz. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  30. "iTunes - Music - Yes! by Jason Mraz". Itunes.apple.com. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
  31. "iTunes - Music - YES! by Jason Mraz". iTunes. June 23, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2014.