Awake (Josh Groban album)
| Awake | ||||
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| Studio album by Josh Groban | ||||
| Released | November 7, 2006 | |||
| Genre | Operatic pop, Classical, Classical crossover, Pop rock | |||
| Label |
Reprise 143 |
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| Producer | David Foster | |||
| Josh Groban chronology | ||||
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| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |
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Awake is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Josh Groban. Announced on September 13, 2006, it is his third studio album, and a follow-up to his multi-platinum album Closer. Awake was released on November 7, 2006.
The album was certified 2x platinum in the US by the RIAA on January 31, 2008, and has sold 2.3 million albums as of October 2015. It is the third top selling classical album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
The album's first single is "You Are Loved (Don't Give Up)". The album features producers Imogen Heap, Marius De Vries, Guy Sigsworth, Eric Mouquet, Glen Ballard, and David Foster (who also worked on previous Groban works). As with all Josh Groban albums, songs on Awake are performed in English, Italian and Spanish. The album offered a more modern vibe to his voice by using more instruments aside from the occasional classic piano accompaniment in his previous albums. The album also featured Groban's head voice technique as evident in most of the tracks in the album.
Awake additionally features tracks that credit Groban's recent movements in South Africa. "Lullaby" and "Weeping" (album tracks 11 and 12) are sung by him in conjunction with the renowned South African musical group Ladysmith Black Mambazo, with further contributions from Vusi Mahlasela and Dave Matthews. "Weeping", a pop song originally composed in South Africa, is thematically oriented with the country's history of Apartheid. "Lullaby" is a track included in the album as a supplement to "Weeping", considered one of the album's major highlights. "Lullaby" is meant to flow gaplessly into "Weeping", but the rest of the album uses gaps. The song "Now or Never" was produced and co-written with English singer/songwriter Imogen Heap.
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