The Beginning (The Black Eyed Peas album)

The Beginning
Studio album by The Black Eyed Peas
Released November 26, 2010 (2010-11-26)
Recorded 2010
Genre Pop[1]
Length 54:05
Label Interscope
Producer
The Black Eyed Peas chronology
The E.N.D
(2009)
The Beginning
(2010)
Deluxe edition
Singles from The Beginning
  1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)"
    Released: November 5, 2010
  2. "Just Can't Get Enough"
    Released: February 18, 2011
  3. "Don't Stop the Party"
    Released: June 24, 2011

The Beginning is the sixth studio album by American group The Black Eyed Peas. The album was released on November 26, 2010 by Interscope. It is a prequel to the group's previous album The E.N.D (2009). The lead single, "The Time (Dirty Bit)," was released on November 9, 2010. The second single was "Just Can't Get Enough" and it was released on February 18, 2011. The final single was "Don't Stop the Party" and was released on June 24, 2011. The album debuted at number six on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 119,000 copies.

Background

On June 6, 2010, the band confirmed that they were working on a new album in an interview for The Big Issue. The album was described as a sequel to The E.N.D. will.i.am announced that the new album, which "symbolizes growth, new beginnings, and starts a fresh new perspective," would be titled The Beginning and be released on November 30, 2010.[2] The album was officially announced in a press release on October 26, 2010.[3]

Some songs were made available as promotional singles for the album release. The first, "Do It Like This", was released on November 15, 2010,[4] and the second, "Light Up the Night", on November 22, 2010.[5] The Beginning was one of Oprah's Favorite Things for 2010, and members of Oprah's audience were given copies of the album 11 days before its official release.[6]

A tour called "The Beginning Massive Stadium Tour" began in June 2011 in France and ended in November 2011 with a total of 20 shows.[7]

Reception

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number six on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 119,000 copies in the United States.[8] It is their third album to chart inside the top ten, but their lowest charting album since Elephunk, which peaked at number 14 in 2003. As of October 2011, the album had sold over 800,000 copies in the United States.[9]

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 17 selling 34,006 copies. After a performance on The X Factor on December 5, 2010, the album rose eight places to number nine and subsequently spent three weeks in the top ten. In Canada, it debuted at number two selling 27,400 copies in its first week, being kept off the top spot by a margin of 200 copies behind Susan Boyle's The Gift.[10] The album debuted at number one in France, selling 35,653 copies in its first week.[11] It is The Black Eyed Peas' third consecutive number-one album in the country.

In Germany, the album debuted at number five and started to slowly fall down. In its third week, the album was at No. 9 but could jump to No. 7 the following week. Following the success of the single "The Time (Dirty Bit)", the album rose from No. 7 to No. 2 in its fifth week, the album's peak position.[12][13]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic47/100[14]
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[15]
The A.V. ClubF[16]
Consequence of Sound[17]
Entertainment WeeklyB+[1]
The Guardian[18]
Los Angeles Times[19]
musicOMH[20]
Rolling Stone[21]
Slant Magazine[22]
Spin(7/10)[23]

The Beginning received generally mixed to negative reviews from most music critics. The album was praised for its production, but it was heavily criticized by the lack of appearance of Fergie, will.i.am's vocals, use of Auto-Tune, and lyrics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 47, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews."[24]

Monica Herrera wrote for Billboard that "the music is expertly produced, but problems arise when Will.i.am claims the same of his wordplay. On the track "Don't Stop the Party," he chest-thumps, "Kill you with my lyricals/Call me verbal criminal." It's a silly boast for an artist who clearly focuses on beats over rhymes, and is probably better off for it."[25] Kevin O'Donnell of Spin described the album as "one of the year's wildest sonic stews" and concluded "Pop's reigning peddlers of dumb fun are actually starting to sound stylishly avant-garde on their sixth album." The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan gave the album 3 out of 5 stars calling it "upscale hip-pop" and said that "the Black Eyed Peas have created an album similar to 2009's enormously successful The END, but with more Auto-Tune and less input from the wonderful Fergie."[18] Rolling Stone reviewer Jon Dolan viewed that the album "largely picks up where The E.N.D. left off" and felt that "they give themselves over more fully than ever to the groove palette of club culture, stirring up electro funk, Euro-trance and classic disco."[21] John Bush of Allmusic gave the album 2 out of 5 stars, and noted that although David Guetta only appears on one track "his production job for 2009’s “I Gotta Feeling” casts a long shadow on this record of don't-stop-the-party jams and club-life tracks."[15]

The Black Eyed Peas performing "Don't Stop the Party" in Walmart Meeting, 2011

Entertainment Weekly writer Simon Vozick-Levinson gave the album a very positive review and stated "The Beginning wisely sticks with the heavier electronic beats they began importing from European clubs for The E.N.D. — a key ingredient that transformed the Black Eyed Peas from merely major stars to arguably the biggest chart act going [...] Every song is piled high with sticky pop melodies, slick hip-hop rhythms, bright synth parts, and vocals that have been diced and processed to high heaven, all furthering the goal of maximum catchiness."[1] Greg Kot of Chicago Tribune gave the album 1.5 out of 4 stars and called it "the quartet’s tamest, most hook-deprived album in the Fergie era" and stated "the music’s reliance on rhythmic and lyrical repetition (as opposed to progression and surprise) becomes wearying."[26] In his review for The Independent, Andy Gill gave it three out of five stars and wrote "It's a textbook blend of the over-familiar and the electronically treated, though their use of auto-tune and digital-stutter vocal effects is a touch more restrained than usual. From there on, the aspect never extends beyond the dancefloor, with martial synth-stomp riffs, spartan electro beats and loping bass grooves driving tracks."[27] Ben Ratliff of The New York Times gave the album a negative review and noted it similarities with its predecessor, The E.N.D. with few differences, "less of Fergie’s actressy, un-Autotuned belting (too bad about that), bolder two-step techno beats, more heavily draped synthesizer tones and a fascination with late ’70s and early ’80s pop radio." and found the lyrics "soggy" and "cynical."[28] musicOMH writer Luke Winkie stated that "will.i.am's productions sound like the bare minimum one could throw together and call a beat, usually encompassed by a simplified drum sequence and a buzzsaw synth turned up to the red and repeated long enough for DJs to make their paycheck" and wrote "the band has a knack of elongating their elementally good ideas into preposterously tiresome compositions."[20]

Singles

Promotional singles

Other notable songs

Track listings

No. TitleWriter(s)Producer(s) Length
1. "The Time (Dirty Bit)"   5:07
2. "Light Up the Night"  will.i.am 4:21
3. "Love You Long Time"  
will.i.am 3:45
4. "XOXOXO"  
will.i.am 3:45
5. "Someday"  
  • will.i.am
  • Free School[a]
4:33
6. "Whenever"  
  • Adams
  • Ferguson
will.i.am 3:16
7. "Fashion Beats"  
  • will.i.am
  • DJ Ammo
5:20
8. "Don't Stop the Party"  
  • Adams
  • Pineda
  • Gomez
  • Ferguson
  • Alvarez
  • LeRoy
  • DJ Ammo
  • will.i.am[a]
6:07
9. "Do It Like This"  
  • Adams
  • Pineda
  • Gomez
  • LeRoy
DJ Ammo 5:29
10. "The Best One Yet (The Boy)"  
  • Adams
  • Pineda
  • Gomez
  • David Guetta
  • Giorgio Tuinfort
  • Sylvia Gordon
  • Baptiste
  • will.i.am
  • Guetta
  • Tuinfort
4:25
11. "Just Can't Get Enough"  
  • will.i.am
  • Jerkins[a]
3:39
12. "Play It Loud"  
Free School 4:21
Notes

Personnel

Credits for The Beginning adapted from Allmusic.[36]

  • Stacy Ferguson – vocals, composer
  • William Adams – vocals, art direction, bass, composer, drum programming, engineer, executive producer, Fender Rhodes, logo design, Moog bass, producer, synthesizer
  • DJ Ammo – drum programming, Moog bass, producer, synthesizer
  • Michelle Bishop – violin
  • Davis Barnett – viola
  • Larry Gold – conductor, string arrangements
  • Jaime Gomez (Taboo)– vocals, composer
  • David Guetta – composer, drum programming, producer, synthesizer
  • Keith Harris – composer, Fender Rhodes, grand piano, piano, synthesizer
  • Alain Whyte – guitar
  • Josh Lopez – guitar
  • Caleb Speir – bass
  • Giorgio Tuinfort – composer, drum programming, producer, synthesizer
  • Ghislaine Fleischmann – violin
  • Ruth Frazier – viola
  • Olga Konopelsky – violin
  • Tom Kraines – cello
  • Emma Kummrow – violin
  • Tamae Lee – violin
  • Erica Miller – violin
  • Charles Parker – violin
  • Gregory Teperman – violin
  • Jennie Lorenzo – cello
  • Deborah Mannis - Gardner – sample clearance
  • Allan Pineda – vocals, composer
  • Joshua Alvarez – composer
  • Eddie Axley – logo design
  • Jean Baptiste – composer
  • Chris Bellman – mastering
  • Jennifer Bowling – marketing coordinator
  • John DeNicola – composer
  • Dennis Dennehy – publicity
  • William Derella – management
  • Dylan Dresdow – mixing
  • Bernard Edwards – composer
  • Julie Frost – composer
  • Free School – producer
  • Sylvia Gordon – composer
  • Julie Hovsepian – product manager

  • Tomoko Itoki – marketing
  • Neil Jacobson – A&R
  • Rodney Jerkins – composer
  • Thomas Brown – composer
  • Justin Franks (DJ Frank E) – producer
  • Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins – producer
  • Andy Kalyvas – mastering assistant
  • Damien Leroy – composer
  • Jonathan Levine – booking
  • Donald Markowitz – composer
  • Michael McHenry – composer
  • Polo Molina – management
  • Huan Nghiem – art direction
  • Padraic 'Padlock' Kerin – engineer, production coordination
  • Franke Previte – composer
  • Brenda Reynoso – publicity
  • Nile Rodgers – composer
  • Dante Santiago – A&R
  • Stephen Shadowen – composer
  • James Durkin – recording assistant
  • Pasha Shapiro – art direction
  • Hillary Siskind – publicity
  • David Sonenberg – management
  • Anthony Taglianetti – mixing assistant
  • Scott Thomas – booking
  • Andrew Van Meter – producer
  • Jorge Velasco – mixing assistant
  • Ricky Walters – composer
  • Ernst Weber – art direction
  • Ianthe Zevos – creation

Charts and certifications

Chart procession and succession

Preceded by
Lunatic by Booba
French Albums Chart number-one album
December 5, 2010 – December 12, 2010
Succeeded by
Bleu Noir by Mylène Farmer

Release history

List of release dates, showing country, record label, and edition
Region Date Label Edition
Australia[70][71] November 26, 2010 Universal Music
  • Standard
  • Deluxe
Germany[72]
Argentina[73] Deluxe
Poland[74]
  • Standard
  • Deluxe
United Kingdom[75] November 29, 2010 Polydor
  • Standard
  • Deluxe
  • Super Deluxe
France[76]
Hong Kong[77] Universal Music
Mexico[78] November 30, 2010 Interscope
Greece
United States
Italy
Japan[79] December 1, 2010 Universal Music
  • Deluxe
  • Super Deluxe (Limited)
Colombia[80]
Brazil[81][82] December 3, 2010

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