This Is Me (Kierra Sheard album)
| This Is Me | ||||
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| Studio album by Kierra "Kiki" Sheard | ||||
| Released | June 6, 2006 | |||
| Recorded | 2006 | |||
| Genre | Urban Contemporary Gospel, R&B | |||
| Length | 44:17 | |||
| Label | EMI Gospel | |||
| Producer | Fred Jerkins III, Warryn Campbell, J. Moss (PAJAM), Tommy Sims, PJ Morton, Antonio Neal etc. | |||
| Kierra "Kiki" Sheard chronology | ||||
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| Alternative Covers | ||||
The online special edition album cover
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The retail special edition album cover
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Japanese Edition
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This Is Me is the second studio album from American contemporary Gospel singer Kierra "Kiki" Sheard. It was released June 27, 2006 by EMI Gospel. A special edition of This Is Me was simultaneously released with six bonus tracks as well as an exclusive photo booklet.
Upon announcing the (then) future release, Sheard made the following statement:
I called the album This Is Me because its more of the music me and my friends listen to, says Kiki. I grew up in the church, hearing and singing traditional Gospel, which I still love and will always be a big part of who I am. But when the Clark Sisters, then later, artists like Kirk Franklin, and Mary Mary stepped out and put the Gospel message to a contemporary sound, a lot of people, particularly the young, realized this was music they could relate to, and when they were then willing to give it a listen, the message started getting through as well.
This Is Me was met with mixed reaction from Sheard's core gospel fanbase. Where traditional gospel enthusiasts had a few tracks of that style to appease them on Kiki's debut project, her second album adopted an even more slick, contemporary sound. The only place the more trademark traditional "churchy" vocals appear are in the vamp of "No, Never". Nonetheless, scores of younger fans have been introduced to both traditional and contemporary gospel influences through Kiki Sheard's work. The artist herself stated that her goal with this album was to take the gospel message to a younger generation through songs that have a "beat they can associate with."
Upon its release This Is Me debuted at #1 on the Billboard Gospel charts. Other chart peak positions include #3 on the Billboard Top Christian charts.
The album was nominated for a Grammy for Best Contemporary R&B Gospel album in December 2006.
This Is Me (Japanese Edition) (Toshiba-EMI, released June 6, 2006)
This Japanese Edition of This Is Me bears several notable differences to the US version. First, the Japanese version was released several weeks earlier than the US version with markedly different artwork than the domestic version. Though with a radically different track listing, it contains nearly all of songs on the US Special Edition except for "Change", "Always By My Side", "Here I Am", and the live session version of "This Is Me". The Japanese Edition does however include "Get Yours", a song similar in feel to Kierra's first big hit "You Don't Know". The track listing is as follows:
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