MTV Unplugged (Katy Perry album)
| MTV Unplugged | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| EP and Live album by Katy Perry | ||||
| Released | November 13, 2009 | |||
| Recorded | July 22, 2009 | |||
| Venue | NEP Midtown Studios in New York City, New York | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
29:36 (EP) 45:00 (DVD) |
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| Label | Capitol | |||
| Katy Perry chronology | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   |
| Blogcritics | Positive |
| Idolator | Mixed |
| Entertainment Weekly | D |
| The Washington Post | Positive |
MTV Unplugged (listed on iTunes as MTV Unplugged: Katy Perry) is an extended play (EP) and live album by American singer Katy Perry, released in the United States on November 13, 2009 by Capitol Records. After airing more than 100 MTV Unplugged specials, MTV wanted to bring back the series, in order to expose them to a younger generation. The channel recruited various mainstream and popular artists to perform as part of the series, including Perry, who particularly expressed interest in the idea as it would allow her to showcase herself as an artist and share the stories behind her songs.
The extended play includes rearranged versions of five songs extracted from Perry's album One of the Boys (2008), a previously unreleased original song and a cover version of a song by Fountains of Wayne. Alongside the audio disc, the album includes a DVD with the video recording of her performance and an exclusive interview. Upon its release, MTV Unplugged received mixed reviews from critics, who questioned the idea of giving Perry's songs an acoustic treatment, while some deemed Perry a hard-working artist. On the US Billboard 200, the set debuted at number 168, while on the French and Swiss album charts, it reached numbers 192 and 82.
After airing more than 100 specials, in May 2009, MTV announced the relaunch of its MTV Unplugged TV series, which would feature mainstream and popular artists in an acoustic setting. Amy Doyle, the executive vice president of music and talent for MTV, stated: "Unplugged has always been a fan and artist favorite and one of the more iconic MTV performance series ever. By bringing the series to MTV.com, we're able to deliver it to a new generation of music fans and offer a greater level of access to their favorite musicians through performances, interviews and artist-chosen playlists - and it's all viewable on demand." The relaunch would also include airing "full-song and special clips from performances" on various MTV sister channels. Perry, appeared on the program during that summer.
Perry thought that it would be a great opportunity to showcase herself as an artist, as well as expressing the true meaning of her songs. She stated: "I really wanted to do MTV Unplugged, obviously, because it has such a great history of showing off really who the person is ... You get to hear the real story of the songs, which is important to me". The audience for the program was selected on a contest where fans over the age of 18 could send photos and explain why they were fans of Perry. The episode featuring Perry was recorded on July 22, 2009. For the recording, Perry was dressed in a pale pink chiffon evening gown, with flowers in her hair. She further said: "Some people have an idea who I am, a little piece of the cake, but I get to show off really more. I have a larger-than-life personality and my clothes reflect that. For MTV Unplugged, I wanted to be a mixture of Stevie Nicks and a fairy!".
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