Yes! (Jason Mraz album)

Yes!
Studio album by Jason Mraz
Released July 11, 2014
Recorded 2013–2014
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.