Lazarus (Travie McCoy album)
Encyclopedia
Lazarus is the debut album by Gym Class Heroes
lead singer Travie McCoy
, released on June 8, 2010. McCoy announced his plans to pursue a solo career in early 2010, although he insisted that Gym Class Heroes had not broken up. After creating demos of melancholy and low-tempo songs, McCoy decided to abandon his early material and start over, as he claimed the songs were "too personal". He began to write more uptempo "party anthems" with lyrical themes of overcoming grief. Musically, McCoy draws from various influences on the record, including hip-hop, reggae
, and rock
. The album contains collaborations from Bruno Mars
, Cee Lo Green, and T-Pain
, among others.
Upon its release, Lazarus debuted at number twenty-five on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart with sales of 15,000 copies. The lead single from the album was "Billionaire", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100
. The songs "Need You
" and "We'll Be Alright
" have also been released as singles. Critical response to the album has been mixed to positive, with most critics praising the album's upbeat songs yet criticizing the overabundance of featured collaborations. Gregory Heaney of Allmusic opined that "Even though every track on the album isn’t a keeper, it has some solid additions to any summer playlist and will definitely please fans of Gym Class Heroes."
vocalist Travie McCoy announced that he would be pursuing a solo career. He denied rumors that Gym Class Heroes had broken up, asserting that "Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member has had another musical outlet, if not three or four. This is just another one of those." McCoy began writing new material while Gym Class was on the road promoting The Quilt
(2008). He had originally prepared to record an introspective album of "sad and somber" acoustic songs reflective of his state of mind following his breakup with Katy Perry
and his addiction to painkillers. However, he decided to scrap his early material and start over, calling it "too personal" and saying "I didn't want that to be my first look as a solo artist," comparing the album to Kanye West
's 808s & Heartbreak
(2008). He relocated to Miami, Florida
, to record new material and recover from his addiction, which helped him to create a more upbeat album because he "want[ed] to do something positive." McCoy decided to officially call himself "Travie" on the album instead of Travis; he explained that he has been called Travie by friends and family for "as long as [he] can remember." He believes that the new name allows listeners to the become "that much closer" to him and to "feel much more comfortable with calling [him] Travie and being part of the family."
, T-Pain
, The Smeezingtons
, The Stereotypes
, Lucas Secon
, Oligee and Josh Abraham
; Mars, T-Pain and Cee Lo Green provide guest vocals. Lazarus is mainly influenced by hip-hop, although "at the same time, [his] love for live instrumentation is still reflected on the record." "Billionaire", the album's first single, was the first song McCoy began work on after abandoning the original material for the album. Working on more uptempo music helped put him in a "different headspace". He also credits his "really awesome friends" and collaborators on the album for helping him recover from his depressed state during the recording process. McCoy felt uncomfortable with his singing voice as he was more accustomed to rapping; however, T-Pain encouraged him to sing more on the album and overcome his insecurities.
McCoy "took a lot of time" with the track listing of the album to make sure the album was cohesive and felt like a "ride". He said of the album's writing process "With any project, I just go in and blindly start writing songs and then find out which way we want to go with it. This one took a bit longer to find the lane." Despite the album's long gestation period, McCoy was able to write some of the songs at a very rapid pace. The song "After Midnight" was written, recorded, and mixed in less than a half an hour. He began by recording himself humming the song's melody and creating a constant loop that repeated throughout the song, and then recorded his verses over the track. McCoy also selected the guest appearances for the album quickly after writing individual parts of songs, choosing artists he felt would work best with the musical style he had in mind. The hook of "Dr. Feel Good" was written by Bruno Mars, and upon hearing Mars sing it, McCoy decided that Cee Lo Green would be a good candidate to sing the hook, as McCoy had idolized Green since listening to him sing on OutKast
's debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
(1994).
and techno, which influenced Lazarus sound. McCoy stated "If you're looking for an introspective, in-depth look into my personal life or my deepest emotions, this is definitely not the record. It's just a record you can put on, turn up, roll the windows down, and drive around to." He plans to save more personal themes for Gym Class Heroes' next release, The Papercut Chronicles II.
The album's opening track, "Dr. Feel-Good", which features Cee Lo Green, has been referred to as a "top-down summer anthem" and features hip-hop beats and funk-inspired guitar riffs. "Superbad (11:34)" was inspired by an inside joke between McCoy and a friend which involved superstition that looking at a digital clock at 11:34 is bad luck, as it reads "hell" upside down. He added, "To me, it's really anthemic and it's a confidence booster as well. When you listen to this song, it gets you prepared to do anything." "Billionaire
", the album's lead single displays reggae
influences; Gregory Heaney of Allmusic compared the song to Sublime
.
On the song "Need You
", McCoy noted the contrast between the subject matter and the song's musical style, as the song touches upon failed relationships in an uptempo manner and "explodes" as it reaches the chorus. In the same vein of "Need You", McCoy described "Critical", featuring Tim William, as "really personal, introspective subject matter put into an upbeat pop song. It's kind of like a rock song, but at the same time, it has this really shimmery, cute vibe to it." "Akidagain" features a children's choir and samples Ahmad
's "Back in the Day
". "We'll Be Alright", which McCoy refers to as a "party anthem", samples "Alright" by Supergrass
. He described the album's closer "Don't Pretend" as "probably the most personal" song on the album; during recording of the song, he suffered from allergies
and had difficulty breathing, which "added to the emotional vibe of the song".
in which he was given £250 ($350) by his record label to spend for 11 days. He found the amount of money to be insufficient, and explained "We were like, 'Is this the biggest mistake we've ever made? We thought we were broke in California
; what are we going to do here?' So we've got no money, and I'm walking the streets and came up with, 'I wanna be a billionaire, so frickin' bad.'" With the song, McCoy intended to avoid "superficial" lyrics in the wake of an economic recession, and added "There’s something to sing about here; if I was in the position to have a ridiculous amount of money, would I be selfish or selfless?’ I just took that concept and ran with it." "Need You" describes a situation in which a person wants to start a new relationship, but they still "need time to heal and reassess what it takes to make a relationship work."
"Critical" is an apocalyptic
-themed song inspired by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina
. McCoy explained that the song discusses these subjects in "a tongue-in-cheek way. Basically, if the world was to end tonight, fuck it--lets have a beer and watch it all go down." "Akidagain" is reflective of McCoy's childhood and pop culture shifts that influenced his life, featuring three verses; in the first verse, he discusses his early childhood, the second verse is about his teenage years, and the final verse meditates on his life as an adult. He describes the song as a "dig in the vaults for all the nostalgic stuff and all the things I miss from being a kid." "We'll Be Alright" shares lyrical themes with Michael Jackson
's "Off the Wall
". McCoy says that the song is about "not caring about what people think and just ignoring your insecurities." McCoy was given the idea for "The Manual" after reading music blogs that were critical of his music. He explained "It's so easy to get online and lose all your inhibitions and complain and nag about what's wrong with music. But if you're going to do that, offer some way to change things. Or make music. A lot of the people aren't even artists. The title of 'The Manual' is asking if there is a manual out there on how to do things the right way, then please show it to me and I'll read it five times over." "After Midnight" was inspired by the movie Gremlins
, and the idea that "You're not supposed to see gremlins after midnight and I feel like that's what's happened with my friends. If you see them after midnight, it's trouble."
awareness in South Africa
, India
, and the Philippines
in the summer of 2009 that "really changed [his] outlook on life." Lazarus of Bethany
is the subject of a miracle in the New Testament
of the Bible
in which Jesus
restores him back to life after being dead for four days. McCoy said of the name "I never really thought about how synonymous it was with the biblical reference with the fact that my middle name is Lazarus. I feel like I’ve been dead and resurrected on many occasions. I went public with a lot of dark things that people usually keep in the closet like drug addiction and what not." The album was originally titled "The Lazarus Project", but the name had to be changed due to the 2008 drama film of the same name.
The album's artwork, designed by Brent Rollins and Alex R. Kirzhner, features a recurring theme of clouds and city skylines. Amber McDonald of The Daily Loaf felt that the artwork accurately portrayed the album's key themes: "This convincingly fun record is filled with lyrical introspection and, in spite of all its hip-hop, pop-hook, pay-it-forward-ness, there are gray clouds that work to keep the mood of the album realistic and relatable to the worlds of listeners. After all, the album cover art is of a gray backdrop with clouds, not sunshine and blue skies."
On April 28, 2010, McCoy embarked on the Too Fast For Love tour with Cobra Starship
and 3OH!3
, featuring a backup band that includes Gym Class Heroes drummer Matt McGinley
. He planned to tour extensively to promote the album in order to make the album "a household object—and hopefully not a coaster." Starting from October 18, 2010, McCoy set off on his first solo European headline tour along with Bruno Mars
who supported the tour throughout. The majority of dates took place at smaller venues throughout the United Kingdom
. On March 17, 2011, he began performing throughout the United States
and Canada
on the Sgt. Schlepper's Who Needs Hearts Club Band Tour featuring Black Cards
.
" featuring Bruno Mars
, which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
at ninety-two. The album, released a month later on June 8, 2010, debuted at number twenty-five on the U.S. Billboard 200
chart with sales of 15,000 copies. On June 26, 2010, the album reached the apex of its sales, peaking at number twenty-five on the Billboard 200 and number eleven on the Billboard Digital Albums charts. On August 21, 2010 Lazarus was released in Europe
and entered the UK Album Charts, peaking at number sixty-nine.
"Billionaire" continued to be successful, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was positioned at number six on the Billboard "Songs of Summer 2010" chart. The next single, Need You
, was released to mainstream radio
on September 14, 2010, and peaked at number thirty-six on the Billboard Pop Songs chart. "We'll Be Alright
" was also released as a single by Pete Wentz on May 17, 2010 on his blog. However, the single failed to make an impact on any of the Billboard charts.
s Mikael Wood gave the album 3½ out of 5 stars and commended its pop-oriented sound, stating "most of Lazarus is so bright you'll need (designer) shades". Gregory Heaney of Allmusic called "Akidagain" the "real highlight of the album" and stated that "Even though every track on the album isn’t a keeper, it has some solid additions to any summer playlist and will definitely please fans of Gym Class Heroes." Jerry Shriver of USA Today
praised the album's "all-night party gems" and referred to "The Manual" as the album's "true keeper" and praised the song's introspective lyrics. Melanie Bertoldi of Billboard agreed with Shriver about "The Manual", and praised the album's "relatable themes" further commenting that "The 10-track album's inclusion of reggae-influenced beats and dance jams may polarize listeners, but its snappy wordplay and deep introspection will appeal to a wide demographic of music lovers."
Nathan Slavik of DJBooth.com called the album a "smile-inducing, high quality hip-pop album from a distinctly creative and original voice", praising the album's uptempo yet dark songs. Entertainment Weekly
s Brad Wete gave the album a B+ and commended McCoy for keeping with Gym Class's hip-hop/rock style, calling the album "a summery set that serves as a nice break from Class." Drew Beringer of AbsolutePunk enjoyed the album's upbeat songs and noted a departure from McCoy's earlier work, commenting "Full of summer time jams, it's hard to imagine this is the same guy who rapped about desolate times and experiences in his band’s second album The Papercut Chronicles
(2005)...This is not a world-beater by any means, but it shows some growth in McCoy as an artist and lets him get out his ideas before recording and releasing the next Gym Class Heroes album."
However, not all reviews were positive. Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone
gave the album 2½ out of 5 stars, calling his crooning-style rapping "more unctuous than charming". Blare Magazine
criticized the over-abundance of guest appearances and likened the album to "a newborn child forced out of a hip-hop womb by 13 different fathers", while opining that McCoy still demonstrates musical potential. Mike Diver of the BBC
was highly critical of the disc, noting that "McCoy employs too many disparate styles...for Lazarus to hold any attention for more than a fleeting period." Although Diver praised Cee Lo Green's "spotlight-stealing" contribution to "Dr. Feel Good", he referred the Supergrass-influenced "We'll Be Alright" as "repulsive" and the reggae stylings of "Billionaire" as "horribly dated". Andy Gill of The Independent
felt that although the disc had songs with potential to be hits such as "Dr. Feelgood" and "We'll Be Alright", the album is "unlikely to make him a household name" and the remainder of the songs "expose McCoy's shortcomings".
Gym Class Heroes
Gym Class Heroes is an American hip hop rock band from Geneva, New York. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold." Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt.The group formed...
lead singer Travie McCoy
Travie McCoy
Travie Lazarus McCoy is an American singer and rapper. He is the lead vocalist of the alternative hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes. He released his debut solo album Lazarus on June 8, 2010....
, released on June 8, 2010. McCoy announced his plans to pursue a solo career in early 2010, although he insisted that Gym Class Heroes had not broken up. After creating demos of melancholy and low-tempo songs, McCoy decided to abandon his early material and start over, as he claimed the songs were "too personal". He began to write more uptempo "party anthems" with lyrical themes of overcoming grief. Musically, McCoy draws from various influences on the record, including hip-hop, reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, and rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
. The album contains collaborations from Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
, Cee Lo Green, and T-Pain
T-Pain
Faheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
, among others.
Upon its release, Lazarus debuted at number twenty-five on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart with sales of 15,000 copies. The lead single from the album was "Billionaire", which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
. The songs "Need You
Need You (song)
"Need You" is the second US single by Travie McCoy from his album Lazarus. The song was produced by Lucas Secon and written by Travie McCoy himself, Lucas Secon, Wayne Hector and Cartsen Mortensen...
" and "We'll Be Alright
We'll Be Alright
"We'll Be Alright" is the third single from Travie McCoy's first solo album Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons and Stereotypes and written by Travis McCoy, Bruno Mars, Phillip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves. The song samples the 1995 single, "Alright"...
" have also been released as singles. Critical response to the album has been mixed to positive, with most critics praising the album's upbeat songs yet criticizing the overabundance of featured collaborations. Gregory Heaney of Allmusic opined that "Even though every track on the album isn’t a keeper, it has some solid additions to any summer playlist and will definitely please fans of Gym Class Heroes."
Background
In early 2010, Gym Class HeroesGym Class Heroes
Gym Class Heroes is an American hip hop rock band from Geneva, New York. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold." Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt.The group formed...
vocalist Travie McCoy announced that he would be pursuing a solo career. He denied rumors that Gym Class Heroes had broken up, asserting that "Since the inception of Gym Class in 1997, every member has had another musical outlet, if not three or four. This is just another one of those." McCoy began writing new material while Gym Class was on the road promoting The Quilt
The Quilt
The Quilt is the fourth album by Gym Class Heroes released by Fueled By Ramen/Decaydance. The album was released on September 9, 2008.Half of the album's 14 tracks are produced by Patrick Stump; Cool & Dre, Tricky Stewart, and Allstar produced the other half. Featured artists on the record include...
(2008). He had originally prepared to record an introspective album of "sad and somber" acoustic songs reflective of his state of mind following his breakup with Katy Perry
Katy Perry
Katy Perry is an American singer, songwriter and actress. Born in Santa Barbara, California, and raised by Christian pastor parents, Perry grew up listening to only gospel music and sang in her local church as a child. After earning a GED during her first year of high school, she began to pursue a...
and his addiction to painkillers. However, he decided to scrap his early material and start over, calling it "too personal" and saying "I didn't want that to be my first look as a solo artist," comparing the album to Kanye West
Kanye West
Kanye Omari West is an American rapper, singer, and record producer. West first rose to fame as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records, where he eventually achieved recognition for his work on Jay-Z's album The Blueprint, as well as hit singles for musical artists including Alicia Keys, Ludacris, and...
's 808s & Heartbreak
808s & Heartbreak
808s & Heartbreak is the fourth studio album by American hip hop artist Kanye West, released November 24, 2008 on Roc-A-Fella Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Glenwood Studios in Burbank, California and Avex Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii during...
(2008). He relocated to Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
, to record new material and recover from his addiction, which helped him to create a more upbeat album because he "want[ed] to do something positive." McCoy decided to officially call himself "Travie" on the album instead of Travis; he explained that he has been called Travie by friends and family for "as long as [he] can remember." He believes that the new name allows listeners to the become "that much closer" to him and to "feel much more comfortable with calling [him] Travie and being part of the family."
Recording and production
Lazarus was released after being in the works for a year and a half. McCoy calls the album "The longest, I think, I've spent on a record in my whole career." He wished to keep the number of collaborations on the album "kinda tight," but he plans to work with other artists on remixes of the album. Producers on the album include Bruno MarsBruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
, T-Pain
T-Pain
Faheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
, The Smeezingtons
The Smeezingtons
The Smeezingtons is the name of a songwriting and production team consisting of Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine.They have produced and written songs for artists and groups such as the Sugababes, Travie McCoy, B.o.B, Brandy Norwood, K'naan, Lil Wayne, Flo Rida, Chad Hugo, Lil Eddie, Bad...
, The Stereotypes
Stereotypes (producers)
Stereotypes are a R&B/hip hop/dance production team created in 2003, composed of Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus and Jeremy Reeves. They were listed as Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch in the June 5, 2010 Billboard magazine. The first artists on their production company/label is Far*East...
, Lucas Secon
Lucas Secon
Lucas Secon, also known by the stage name Lucas, is a world-renowned Danish-American Grammy , MTV Award and Emmy Award-nominated record producer, songwriter,Golden Poets Award winner, DJ, rapper, singer and artist/conceptualist. He lives in London, United Kingdom.Secon has contributed to seven...
, Oligee and Josh Abraham
Josh Abraham
Josh Abraham is a Grammy-winning record producer and co-owner of Pulse Management and Check Your Pulse Publishing. He has produced songs and albums for many of the industry's most successful artists such as Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson and Courtney Love...
; Mars, T-Pain and Cee Lo Green provide guest vocals. Lazarus is mainly influenced by hip-hop, although "at the same time, [his] love for live instrumentation is still reflected on the record." "Billionaire", the album's first single, was the first song McCoy began work on after abandoning the original material for the album. Working on more uptempo music helped put him in a "different headspace". He also credits his "really awesome friends" and collaborators on the album for helping him recover from his depressed state during the recording process. McCoy felt uncomfortable with his singing voice as he was more accustomed to rapping; however, T-Pain encouraged him to sing more on the album and overcome his insecurities.
McCoy "took a lot of time" with the track listing of the album to make sure the album was cohesive and felt like a "ride". He said of the album's writing process "With any project, I just go in and blindly start writing songs and then find out which way we want to go with it. This one took a bit longer to find the lane." Despite the album's long gestation period, McCoy was able to write some of the songs at a very rapid pace. The song "After Midnight" was written, recorded, and mixed in less than a half an hour. He began by recording himself humming the song's melody and creating a constant loop that repeated throughout the song, and then recorded his verses over the track. McCoy also selected the guest appearances for the album quickly after writing individual parts of songs, choosing artists he felt would work best with the musical style he had in mind. The hook of "Dr. Feel Good" was written by Bruno Mars, and upon hearing Mars sing it, McCoy decided that Cee Lo Green would be a good candidate to sing the hook, as McCoy had idolized Green since listening to him sing on OutKast
OutKast
Outkast is an American hip hop duo based in East Point, Georgia, consisting of Atlanta native André "André 3000" Benjamin and Savannah, Georgia-born Antwan "Big Boi" Patton. They were originally known as Two Shades Deep but later changed the group's name to OutKast...
's debut album Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik
Southernplayalisticadillacmuzik is the debut album of hip-hop duo OutKast, released April 26, 1994 on LaFace Records. Recorded at D.A.R.P. Studios, Purple Dragon, Bosstown and Doppler Studios in Atlanta, Georgia throughout 1992 to 1994, the album featured production by the Atlanta-area production...
(1994).
Music
With Lazarus, McCoy intended to create an album of mostly uptempo, positive songs. During his time in Miami, he was exposed to new genres of music such as danceDance music
Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement...
and techno, which influenced Lazarus sound. McCoy stated "If you're looking for an introspective, in-depth look into my personal life or my deepest emotions, this is definitely not the record. It's just a record you can put on, turn up, roll the windows down, and drive around to." He plans to save more personal themes for Gym Class Heroes' next release, The Papercut Chronicles II.
The album's opening track, "Dr. Feel-Good", which features Cee Lo Green, has been referred to as a "top-down summer anthem" and features hip-hop beats and funk-inspired guitar riffs. "Superbad (11:34)" was inspired by an inside joke between McCoy and a friend which involved superstition that looking at a digital clock at 11:34 is bad luck, as it reads "hell" upside down. He added, "To me, it's really anthemic and it's a confidence booster as well. When you listen to this song, it gets you prepared to do anything." "Billionaire
Billionaire (song)
"Billionaire" is the debut single by American recording artist Travie McCoy, featuring guest vocals from Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from McCoy's debut studio album Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, which consists of Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine...
", the album's lead single displays reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
influences; Gregory Heaney of Allmusic compared the song to Sublime
Sublime (band)
Sublime was an American ska punk band from Long Beach, California, formed in 1988. The band's line-up, unchanged until their breakup, consisted of Bradley Nowell , Eric Wilson and Bud Gaugh . Michael "Miguel" Happoldt also contributed on a few Sublime songs, such as "New Thrash." Lou Dog, Nowell's...
.
On the song "Need You
Need You (song)
"Need You" is the second US single by Travie McCoy from his album Lazarus. The song was produced by Lucas Secon and written by Travie McCoy himself, Lucas Secon, Wayne Hector and Cartsen Mortensen...
", McCoy noted the contrast between the subject matter and the song's musical style, as the song touches upon failed relationships in an uptempo manner and "explodes" as it reaches the chorus. In the same vein of "Need You", McCoy described "Critical", featuring Tim William, as "really personal, introspective subject matter put into an upbeat pop song. It's kind of like a rock song, but at the same time, it has this really shimmery, cute vibe to it." "Akidagain" features a children's choir and samples Ahmad
Ahmad (rapper)
Ahmad Ali Lewis, who was born October 12, 1975 , in Los Angeles, California, is an American emcee. Credited simply as Ahmad, he is best known for the 1994 single "Back in the Day," a nostalgic song that became a signifier for nostalgia in hip-hop culture.Ahmad is also a member of the Christian hip...
's "Back in the Day
Back in the Day (Ahmad song)
"Back in the Day" is a 1994 West Coast hip hop single by Ahmad. Released when Ahmad was only 18, the song is a nostalgic remembrance of childhood and young teenage years, from a somewhat jaded adult perspective...
". "We'll Be Alright", which McCoy refers to as a "party anthem", samples "Alright" by Supergrass
Supergrass
Supergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
. He described the album's closer "Don't Pretend" as "probably the most personal" song on the album; during recording of the song, he suffered from allergies
Allergy
An Allergy is a hypersensitivity disorder of the immune system. Allergic reactions occur when a person's immune system reacts to normally harmless substances in the environment. A substance that causes a reaction is called an allergen. These reactions are acquired, predictable, and rapid...
and had difficulty breathing, which "added to the emotional vibe of the song".
Lyrics
McCoy drew from various lyrical inspirations on the album. The subject matter often deals with topics such as partying, personal insecurities, and overcoming grief. McCoy explained that the opening song "Dr. Feel Good" is about "escapism through music" and that it expresses how he felt about recovering from drug addiction and depression. "Superbad (11:34)" is about McCoy's experiences on the road, considering the song to be his "theme song". Bruno Mars came up with the lyrical concept for "Billionare" during a trip to LondonLondon
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
in which he was given £250 ($350) by his record label to spend for 11 days. He found the amount of money to be insufficient, and explained "We were like, 'Is this the biggest mistake we've ever made? We thought we were broke in California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
; what are we going to do here?' So we've got no money, and I'm walking the streets and came up with, 'I wanna be a billionaire, so frickin' bad.'" With the song, McCoy intended to avoid "superficial" lyrics in the wake of an economic recession, and added "There’s something to sing about here; if I was in the position to have a ridiculous amount of money, would I be selfish or selfless?’ I just took that concept and ran with it." "Need You" describes a situation in which a person wants to start a new relationship, but they still "need time to heal and reassess what it takes to make a relationship work."
"Critical" is an apocalyptic
Apocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
-themed song inspired by natural disasters such as Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. McCoy explained that the song discusses these subjects in "a tongue-in-cheek way. Basically, if the world was to end tonight, fuck it--lets have a beer and watch it all go down." "Akidagain" is reflective of McCoy's childhood and pop culture shifts that influenced his life, featuring three verses; in the first verse, he discusses his early childhood, the second verse is about his teenage years, and the final verse meditates on his life as an adult. He describes the song as a "dig in the vaults for all the nostalgic stuff and all the things I miss from being a kid." "We'll Be Alright" shares lyrical themes with Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson was an American recording artist, entertainer, and businessman. Referred to as the King of Pop, or by his initials MJ, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records...
's "Off the Wall
Off the Wall (song)
"Off the Wall" is the third single released from singer Michael Jackson's album Off the Wall.Released on February 2, 1980, the Rod Temperton-composed number became Jackson's third top 10 single from Off the Wall, which eventually spawned four top 10 singles; Jackson was the first person to...
". McCoy says that the song is about "not caring about what people think and just ignoring your insecurities." McCoy was given the idea for "The Manual" after reading music blogs that were critical of his music. He explained "It's so easy to get online and lose all your inhibitions and complain and nag about what's wrong with music. But if you're going to do that, offer some way to change things. Or make music. A lot of the people aren't even artists. The title of 'The Manual' is asking if there is a manual out there on how to do things the right way, then please show it to me and I'll read it five times over." "After Midnight" was inspired by the movie Gremlins
Gremlins
Gremlins is a 1984 American horror comedy film directed by Joe Dante, released by Warner Bros. The film is about a young man who receives a strange creature—called a Mogwai—as a pet, which then spawns other creatures who transform into small, destructive, evil monsters. It was followed by a sequel,...
, and the idea that "You're not supposed to see gremlins after midnight and I feel like that's what's happened with my friends. If you see them after midnight, it's trouble."
Packaging and title
McCoy chose the name for the album, which is also his middle name, after his experiences in charity work in HIVHIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...
awareness in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
, and the Philippines
Philippines
The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...
in the summer of 2009 that "really changed [his] outlook on life." Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany
Lazarus of Bethany, also known as Saint Lazarus or Lazarus of the Four Days, is the subject of a prominent miracle attributed to Jesus in the Gospel of John, in which Jesus restores him to life four days after his death...
is the subject of a miracle in the New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
in which Jesus
Jesus
Jesus of Nazareth , commonly referred to as Jesus Christ or simply as Jesus or Christ, is the central figure of Christianity...
restores him back to life after being dead for four days. McCoy said of the name "I never really thought about how synonymous it was with the biblical reference with the fact that my middle name is Lazarus. I feel like I’ve been dead and resurrected on many occasions. I went public with a lot of dark things that people usually keep in the closet like drug addiction and what not." The album was originally titled "The Lazarus Project", but the name had to be changed due to the 2008 drama film of the same name.
The album's artwork, designed by Brent Rollins and Alex R. Kirzhner, features a recurring theme of clouds and city skylines. Amber McDonald of The Daily Loaf felt that the artwork accurately portrayed the album's key themes: "This convincingly fun record is filled with lyrical introspection and, in spite of all its hip-hop, pop-hook, pay-it-forward-ness, there are gray clouds that work to keep the mood of the album realistic and relatable to the worlds of listeners. After all, the album cover art is of a gray backdrop with clouds, not sunshine and blue skies."
Release and promotion
The album was released on June 8, 2010. McCoy aimed for a June release because he believes that summer is "when most of the memorable music drops. You want music to have a good time to, music to connect to. You wanna play it at the party."On April 28, 2010, McCoy embarked on the Too Fast For Love tour with Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship
Cobra Starship is an American synthpop band created by former Midtown bassist and lead vocalist Gabe Saporta in 2003 in New York City, New York...
and 3OH!3
3OH!3
3OH!3 is an American electro hop duo from Boulder, Colorado, made up of Sean Foreman and Nathaniel Motte. They are best known for their single "Don't Trust Me" from their album Want, which reached number seven on the Billboard Hot 100...
, featuring a backup band that includes Gym Class Heroes drummer Matt McGinley
Matt McGinley
Matt McGinley is the co-founder and drummer of Gym Class Heroes.-Career:McGinley and Travis McCoy met in school in gym class and quickly became friends. The two decided to form a band, the now popular Gym Class Heroes...
. He planned to tour extensively to promote the album in order to make the album "a household object—and hopefully not a coaster." Starting from October 18, 2010, McCoy set off on his first solo European headline tour along with Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
who supported the tour throughout. The majority of dates took place at smaller venues throughout the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. On March 17, 2011, he began performing throughout the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
on the Sgt. Schlepper's Who Needs Hearts Club Band Tour featuring Black Cards
Black Cards
Black Cards is an American electropop band formed in July 2010 as Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz's new main project following the group's indefinite break. The band is composed of vocalist Bebe Rexha, bassist Pete Wentz, drummer Spencer Peterson and guitarist Nate Patterson...
.
Chart performance
In early May 2010, McCoy released the single "BillionaireBillionaire (song)
"Billionaire" is the debut single by American recording artist Travie McCoy, featuring guest vocals from Bruno Mars. It is the lead single from McCoy's debut studio album Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons, which consists of Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine...
" featuring Bruno Mars
Bruno Mars
Peter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
, which debuted on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
at ninety-two. The album, released a month later on June 8, 2010, debuted at number twenty-five on the U.S. Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
chart with sales of 15,000 copies. On June 26, 2010, the album reached the apex of its sales, peaking at number twenty-five on the Billboard 200 and number eleven on the Billboard Digital Albums charts. On August 21, 2010 Lazarus was released in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
and entered the UK Album Charts, peaking at number sixty-nine.
"Billionaire" continued to be successful, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song was positioned at number six on the Billboard "Songs of Summer 2010" chart. The next single, Need You
Need You (song)
"Need You" is the second US single by Travie McCoy from his album Lazarus. The song was produced by Lucas Secon and written by Travie McCoy himself, Lucas Secon, Wayne Hector and Cartsen Mortensen...
, was released to mainstream radio
Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs)
The Mainstream Top 40 is an airplay chart from Billboard magazine, and is also known as Pop Songs on billboard.com. It was often mistaken for and confused with the now discontinued Pop 100 Airplay chart...
on September 14, 2010, and peaked at number thirty-six on the Billboard Pop Songs chart. "We'll Be Alright
We'll Be Alright
"We'll Be Alright" is the third single from Travie McCoy's first solo album Lazarus. The song was produced by The Smeezingtons and Stereotypes and written by Travis McCoy, Bruno Mars, Phillip Lawrence, Ari Levine, Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves. The song samples the 1995 single, "Alright"...
" was also released as a single by Pete Wentz on May 17, 2010 on his blog. However, the single failed to make an impact on any of the Billboard charts.
Critical response
Reviews of the album were generally mixed to positive. SpinSpin (magazine)
Spin is a music magazine founded in 1985 by publisher Bob Guccione Jr.-History:In its early years, the magazine was noted for its broad music coverage with an emphasis on college-oriented rock music and on the ongoing emergence of hip-hop. The magazine was eclectic and bold, if sometimes haphazard...
s Mikael Wood gave the album 3½ out of 5 stars and commended its pop-oriented sound, stating "most of Lazarus is so bright you'll need (designer) shades". Gregory Heaney of Allmusic called "Akidagain" the "real highlight of the album" and stated that "Even though every track on the album isn’t a keeper, it has some solid additions to any summer playlist and will definitely please fans of Gym Class Heroes." Jerry Shriver of USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
praised the album's "all-night party gems" and referred to "The Manual" as the album's "true keeper" and praised the song's introspective lyrics. Melanie Bertoldi of Billboard agreed with Shriver about "The Manual", and praised the album's "relatable themes" further commenting that "The 10-track album's inclusion of reggae-influenced beats and dance jams may polarize listeners, but its snappy wordplay and deep introspection will appeal to a wide demographic of music lovers."
Nathan Slavik of DJBooth.com called the album a "smile-inducing, high quality hip-pop album from a distinctly creative and original voice", praising the album's uptempo yet dark songs. Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly
Entertainment Weekly is an American magazine, published by the Time division of Time Warner, that covers film, television, music, broadway theatre, books and popular culture...
s Brad Wete gave the album a B+ and commended McCoy for keeping with Gym Class's hip-hop/rock style, calling the album "a summery set that serves as a nice break from Class." Drew Beringer of AbsolutePunk enjoyed the album's upbeat songs and noted a departure from McCoy's earlier work, commenting "Full of summer time jams, it's hard to imagine this is the same guy who rapped about desolate times and experiences in his band’s second album The Papercut Chronicles
The Papercut Chronicles
The Papercut Chronicles is the second album by Gym Class Heroes released in 2005 by Fueled by Ramen/Decaydance. A sequel, The Papercut Chronicles II, was released in 2011.- Track listing :# "Za Intro" – 1:40# "Papercuts" – 3:26...
(2005)...This is not a world-beater by any means, but it shows some growth in McCoy as an artist and lets him get out his ideas before recording and releasing the next Gym Class Heroes album."
However, not all reviews were positive. Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
gave the album 2½ out of 5 stars, calling his crooning-style rapping "more unctuous than charming". Blare Magazine
BLARE Magazine
BLARE Magazine, usually known simply as BLARE, is a Toronto-based daily Internet publication devoted to artist interviews, music commentary and supporting unsigned/emerging musicians from Canada, the United States and other countries...
criticized the over-abundance of guest appearances and likened the album to "a newborn child forced out of a hip-hop womb by 13 different fathers", while opining that McCoy still demonstrates musical potential. Mike Diver of the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
was highly critical of the disc, noting that "McCoy employs too many disparate styles...for Lazarus to hold any attention for more than a fleeting period." Although Diver praised Cee Lo Green's "spotlight-stealing" contribution to "Dr. Feel Good", he referred the Supergrass-influenced "We'll Be Alright" as "repulsive" and the reggae stylings of "Billionaire" as "horribly dated". Andy Gill of The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
felt that although the disc had songs with potential to be hits such as "Dr. Feelgood" and "We'll Be Alright", the album is "unlikely to make him a household name" and the remainder of the songs "expose McCoy's shortcomings".
Track listing
Sample credits- "Akidagain" interpolates "Back in the DayBack in the Day (Ahmad song)"Back in the Day" is a 1994 West Coast hip hop single by Ahmad. Released when Ahmad was only 18, the song is a nostalgic remembrance of childhood and young teenage years, from a somewhat jaded adult perspective...
" by AhmadAhmad (rapper)Ahmad Ali Lewis, who was born October 12, 1975 , in Los Angeles, California, is an American emcee. Credited simply as Ahmad, he is best known for the 1994 single "Back in the Day," a nostalgic song that became a signifier for nostalgia in hip-hop culture.Ahmad is also a member of the Christian hip...
. - "We'll Be Alright" contains a sample of "Alright" by SupergrassSupergrassSupergrass was an English alternative rock band from Oxford. The band consisted of brothers Gaz and Rob Coombes , Mick Quinn and Danny Goffey ....
.
Personnel
Credits for Lazarus adapted from Allmusic.- Travie McCoyTravie McCoyTravie Lazarus McCoy is an American singer and rapper. He is the lead vocalist of the alternative hip-hop band Gym Class Heroes. He released his debut solo album Lazarus on June 8, 2010....
- Composer, vocals, producer - Bruno MarsBruno MarsPeter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
-Composer Producer - Javier Valverde - Engineer
- Pete Wentz - Executive Producer
- Ryan Williams - Engineer, Mixing
- Josh AbrahamJosh AbrahamJosh Abraham is a Grammy-winning record producer and co-owner of Pulse Management and Check Your Pulse Publishing. He has produced songs and albums for many of the industry's most successful artists such as Velvet Revolver, 30 Seconds to Mars, Linkin Park, Kelly Clarkson and Courtney Love...
- Guitar, Producer - Elvis Aponte - Engineer
- Dave Benck - Engineer
- E. Kidd Bogart - Composer
- Wes Borland - Guitar, Producer
- Brody Brown - Bass
- C. Burnette - Composer
- Cee Lo Green - Composer
- Chad Beatz - Producer
- Drew Correa - Producer
- Steve Fiction - Guitar
- Victor Flores - Mixing
- Frank E. - Producer
- J. Franks - Composer
- Elizabeth Gallardo - Assistant
- Chris Gehringer - Mastering
- Rob Gold - Art Manager, Producer
- O. Goldstein - Composer
- W. Hector - Composer
- Eric Hernandez - Drums
- Jaycen Joshua - Mixing
- Chad Jolley - Engineer, Vocal Engineer
- Brandon Jones - Assistant
- Alex Kirzhner - Design, Layout
- J. Klemmer - Composer
- Hannon Lane - Producer
- Philip LawrencePhilip LawrencePhilip Ambrose Lawrence QGM, was a London-based headmaster who was stabbed to death outside the gates of his school when he went to the aid of a pupil who was being attacked by a gang.-Biography:...
- Composer - Ari Levine - Engineer, Mixing, Vocal Engineer, Composer
- A. Lewis - Composer
- Giancarlo Lino - Assistant
- Fabian Marasciullo - Mixing
- Bruno MarsBruno MarsPeter Gene Hernandez , better known by his stage name Bruno Mars, is an Filipino-American singer-songwriter and record producer. Raised in Honolulu, Hawaii by a family of musicians, Mars began making music at a young age...
- Vocals, Vocals (Background) - Graham Marsh - Engineer
- George Mayers - Engineer
- Bob McLynn - Management
- Charles Monez - Bass
- Colin MunroeColin MunroeColin Munroe is a Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer originally from North Gower, Ontario, who now resides in Toronto.-Biography:...
- Vocals - Scott Nagelberg - Management
- Oligee - Keyboards, Producer
- Chris Phelps - Photography
- Michelle Piza - Package Manager
- J. Reeves - Composer
- Brent Rollins - Cover Design
- Lucas SeconLucas SeconLucas Secon, also known by the stage name Lucas, is a world-renowned Danish-American Grammy , MTV Award and Emmy Award-nominated record producer, songwriter,Golden Poets Award winner, DJ, rapper, singer and artist/conceptualist. He lives in London, United Kingdom.Secon has contributed to seven...
- Producer - The SmeezingtonsThe SmeezingtonsThe Smeezingtons is the name of a songwriting and production team consisting of Bruno Mars, Philip Lawrence and Ari Levine.They have produced and written songs for artists and groups such as the Sugababes, Travie McCoy, B.o.B, Brandy Norwood, K'naan, Lil Wayne, Flo Rida, Chad Hugo, Lil Eddie, Bad...
- Musician, Producer - The StereotypesStereotypes (producers)Stereotypes are a R&B/hip hop/dance production team created in 2003, composed of Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus and Jeremy Reeves. They were listed as Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch in the June 5, 2010 Billboard magazine. The first artists on their production company/label is Far*East...
- Drum Programming, Engineer, Producer - T-PainT-PainFaheem Rasheed Najm , better known by his stage name T-Pain, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, record producer, and actor, currently signed to Young Money Entertainment. His debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga, was released in 2005. In 2007, T-Pain released his second studio album Epiphany,...
- Composer - Betty WrightBetty WrightBessie Regina Norris, better known by her stage name, Betty Wright , is a Grammy winning Miami-based soul and R&B singer-songwriter, who won fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night"...
- Director - The Wrighteous - Vocals
- Young Cash - Composer
Chart performance
| Charts (2010) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| UK Album Chart | 69 |
| US Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
25 |