Hopeless Romantic (Michelle Branch album)

Hopeless Romantic
Studio album by Michelle Branch
Released	April 7, 2017 (2017-04-07)
Recorded	2015–2016
Length	52:21
Label	Verve
Producer	Patrick Carney Gus Seyffert[1]
Michelle Branch chronology
Everything Comes and Goes (2010)Everything Comes and Goes2010 Hopeless Romantic (2017)
Singles from Hopeless Romantic
"Hopeless Romantic" Released: February 3, 2017[2]

Hopeless Romantic is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Michelle Branch, released on April 7, 2017, through Verve Records.^[3] Co-written and co-produced by Patrick Carney, whom Branch is dating, the album is Branch's first release with Verve after leaving her previous label, Reprise Records, and having the original album material scrapped.^[4] Hopeless Romantic is also Branch's first full-length album to be released since Hotel Paper (2003), and first overall release since the Everything Comes and Goes EP in 2010.

The eponymous lead single from the album premiered on Billboard from her Vevo account on February 2, 2017,^[5] and was released digitally on February 3, 2017.^[2]

Background

In early 2001, Michelle Branch signed with Maverick Records under Warner Bros. Records and released her second studio album, The Spirit Room, in August of that year.^[6] The album produced three commercially successful singles: "Everywhere", "All You Wanted", and "Goodbye to You", and has been certified double-platinum by the RIAA, selling more than 2.5 million copies.^[7][8] In 2002, Branch collaborated with Santana and recorded ″The Game of Love″, which went on to become an international success, earning both Santana and Branch a Grammy Award. In 2003, Branch released ″Are You Happy Now?″ as the lead single from her second major-label studio album, Hotel Paper. Hotel Paper was released in summer 2003 and has been certified Platinum by the RIAA.^[9]

In 2004, Branch married her bass player Teddy Landau and formed a country duo with Jessica Harp known as The Wreckers.^[10] In February 2008, it was announced that The Wreckers duo had split for Branch and Harp to focus on their respective careers.^[11] Prior to this, in October 2007 she announced that Branch was working on a new solo album titled Everything Comes and Goes that was slated for a June 2008 release, but due to personal and professional struggles the album was unreleased and scrapped.^[12]

Branch released an EP titled Everything Comes and Goes in June 2010. In 2011, Branch attempted a return to music with a pop rock album West Coast Time, which also went unreleased due to restructuring within her record labels Reprise Records and Warner Bros. Records.^[13] In June 2011, she released ″Loud Music″^[14] as the lead and only single from the then upcoming release of The Loud Music Hits EP, which was released that August through Reprise Records.^[15] With the stressful situations of having her albums being unreleased, contentions and dire situations with her record label, wasting three years of her life writing new material for her former country duo, and motherhood, Branch was on the verge of officially discharging from her music career.^[16] In February 2015, Branch filed for divorce from Teddy Landau after eleven years of marriage, Branch has requested a joint custody of their daughter, Owen Isabelle.^[17] In June of that year, Branch announced via social media app Instagram that she has signed a recording contract with Verve Records.^[18] Branch began dating Patrick Carney from the band The Black Keys in 2015 and co-wrote the album that would become Hopeless Romantic with him.^[19]

Composition and development

According to Entertainment Weekly, Branch's current sound for the album is "laid-back rock & roll."; of her new-found sound, Branch said, "Patrick was like, 'This is your record, it has to sound like you,'" "It was the first time that someone pushed me to figure it all out on my own."^[20] The album is expected to be very personal and feature some songs about the breakup with her ex-husband Teddy Landau and about her new relationship with Patrick Carney.^[19]

Promotion

To promote Hopeless Romantic, Branch performed at New York City's Bowery Electric, performing songs from the new album as well as her past hit "Are You Happy Now?". The album's lead single, "Hopeless Romantic", was released digitally on February 3, 2017.^[2] "Best You Ever" was released as the first promotional single from the album on March 3, 2017.^[21] "Fault Line" was released as the second promotional single from the album on March 31, 2017.^[22]

Promotional appearances in the media to support the album included a performance of "Best You Ever" on Good Morning America^[23] and Late Night with Seth Meyers on April 6, 2017.^[24]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[25]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[26]
Consequence of Sound	B[1]
Contactmusic.com	[27]
Entertainment Weekly	B[28]
Mojo	[29]
Paste	7.2/10[30]
Uncut	[31]

Hopeless Romantic received mostly positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 72 out of 100, which indicates "generally favorable reviews" based on 7 reviews.^[25]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic rated the album four out of five stars, calls it "a new beginning on several different fronts", and writes, "it comes on so smoothly, it's easy to overlook how the songs quickly sink into the subconscious."^[26] Writing for Paste and rating the album 7.2 out of 10, Max Freedman states that on Hopeless Romantic, Branch "tells her story with enough variance to stay engaging."^[30] Entertainment Weekly's Madison Vain rated the album a "B", commenting, "Hopeless Romantic charts new ground, going beyond the simple math of adding the blues-rock percussionist and anthemic pop-rocker together."^[28]

Accolades

Track listing

Writing credits adapted from BMI.^[34]

Personnel

Credits adapted from AllMusic.^[37]

Charts

Release history

References