Seal 6: Commitment

Seal 6: Commitment
Studio album by Seal
Released 17 September 2010
Recorded 2009–2010
Genre Soul, R&B
Length 44:37
Label Reprise, 143
Producer David Foster, Jochem van der Saag, Ric Salmon (exec.)
Seal chronology
Soul
(2008)		 Seal 6: Commitment
(2010)		 Soul 2
(2011)
Singles from Seal 6: Commitment
  1. "Secret"
    Released: 12 September 2010
  2. "Weight of My Mistakes"
    Released: 21 November 2010

Seal 6: Commitment is the seventh studio album by British singer Seal. It was released worldwide on 20 September 2010 with the exception of the United States where it was released on 28 September 2010.[1] The album is produced by David Foster, who also produced Seal's previous sixth studio album Soul. It debuted at number eleven on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Seal's highest charting album on the chart since Seal IV in 2003. As of January 2012, the album had sold 52,932 copies in the United Kingdom.[2] The album has produced two singles, "Secret" and "Weight of My Mistakes".

Background

Speaking to Angus Batey of the News of the World, Seal explained, "The brief I gave everyone working on the album was 'fearless pursuit'. I wanted us to throw ourselves into ideas that we'd always had, but never managed to achieve before. That's given the album incredible energy."[3]

In an interview with Reuters Seal attributed the title of the album to his wife Heidi Klum, saying, "I think that commitment is the recurring theme that kept popping up. Certainly the last seven years of my life since I met my wife (Heidi Klum) have been extremely committed. But not just in our personal life. My work has a level of commitment to it. The team around me consists of people who are committed."[4] According to Seal the recurring themes on the album range from "relationships to searching to sacrifice to digging in the dirt." He said, "I had to do that on one or two songs. In order to write things that are going to resonate with people, you are going to have to dig in certain places."[4]

Angus Batey of The Guardian stated in his interview with Seal that:

Commitment is as much about looking back to who he was as celebrating the contentment he feels today. Seal came to the sessions with 41 songs at least partly written – unprecedented for an artist who would struggle to come up with a dozen strong ideas every three or four years. "What's changed is me," he says. "Trevor and David were dealing with two different people."

Seal is still driven by his perfectionist muse, but family life has meant rethinking his priorities. Rather than booking a studio, he rented a house in the town of Montecito, with the plan being to live there while recording. But the pursuit of art had to take second place to his responsibilities as husband and father.

"It was just an hour away from Los Angeles," he says of the house-turned-studio, "so I did come home, to be with my family. [Music] is something that you love doing, but second to the thing that you really love, which is your wife and kids. I mean, it's only music – it's not that important."[5]

Reception

Commercial reception

On 26 September 2010, Seal 6: Commitment debuted at number 11 on the official UK Albums Chart, outpeaking previous studio album Soul and his Hits album. It became Seal's fifth top 20 album in his homeland.[6][7]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Billboard(positive)[9]
The Guardian[10]
USA Today[11]

Dave Simpson of The Guardian gave Seal 6: Commitment a mixed review, rating the album two stars, expressing:

At times, the only edge comes from the 47-year-old singer's voice, now raspier than ever. However, hairs are invited to stand up on necks during Silence, which begins as the sort of exquisitely assembled song about loneliness that David McAlmont, say, would kill for, before somehow turning into a scarf-waving anthem. The other standout is Weight of My Mistakes, which mixes contemplative lyrics with an upbeat tune so catchy it requires surgical removal. However, elsewhere, there's too much polished, overwrought, formulaic slop, with You Get Me's line about a "beautiful song you've heard a million times" containing more than a hint of irony.[10]

Singles

"Secret" is the album's first single. It was released in the UK on 12 September 2010, where it reached number 82. The second single from the album is "Weight of My Mistakes", which has been remixed by Brio Taliaferro for the single release. The music video for the song was directed by Nabil.[12] The radio mix of "Weight of My Mistakes" is due for release 21 November 2010.[13]

Track listing

All tracks produced by David Foster; co-production by Jochem van der Saag.

No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "If I'm Any Closer"  Seal, Gus Isidore 3:29
2. "Weight of My Mistakes"  Seal, Isidore, Marcus Brown, Mark Summerlin, Michael Thompson 4:20
3. "Silence"  Seal, Isidore 4:11
4. "Best of Me"  Seal, Isidore 4:23
5. "All for Love"  Seal 4:03
6. "I Know What You Did"  Seal, David Foster, Summerlin 3:37
7. "The Way I Lie"  Seal, Peter-John Vettese, Isidore, Brown 4:34
8. "Secret"  Seal 3:21
9. "You Get Me"  Teitur Lassen, Pam Sheyne 4:27
10. "Letting Go"  Seal, Isidore, Summerlin 3:58
11. "Big Time"  Seal, Isidore 4:04

Deluxe Edition

Personnel

Charts and certifications

Charts

Chart (2010) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[16] 47
Austrian Albums Chart[17] 48
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[18] 25
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[19] 5
Canadian Albums Chart[20] 24
Czech Albums Chart[21] 5
Dutch Albums Chart[22] 19
European Top 100 Albums[23] 12
Finnish Albums Chart[24] 27
French Albums Chart[25] 5
German Albums Chart[26] 46
Greek Albums Chart[27] 49
Hungarian Albums Chart[28] 12
Portuguese Albums Chart[29] 15
Spanish Albums Chart[30] 17
Swedish Albums Chart[31] 31
Swiss Albums Chart[32] 8
UK Albums Chart[33] 11
US Billboard 200[20] 31

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
France (SNEP)[34] Platinum 100,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[35] Silver 60,000^

*sales figures based on certification alone
xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region Release date Format Label
Germany[36] 17 September 2010 CD, digital download Reprise Records, Warner Bros. Records
United Kingdom[37] 20 September 2010
United States[38] 28 September 2010

References

  1. ↑ Seal – Secret
  2. ↑ Jones, Alan (30 January 2012). "Official Chart Analysis: Sales slow, but Sheeran and Cover Drive reign". Music Week. Retrieved 2 February 2012.
  3. ↑ "Seal: I'm still Crazy for home". News of the World. 19 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  4. 1 2 Kit, Zorianna (28 September 2010). "Seal Sings About 'Commitment' On New Album". Billboard. Reuters. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  5. ↑ "Seal: The reluctant pop star, 'The Guardian', September 2010". TheGuardian.co.uk. 16 September 2010. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  6. ↑ The Official Charts.com – Top 40 Official UK Albums Archive – Week ending 2 October 2010
  7. ↑ The Official Charts.com – Seal – Top 75 Releases
  8. ↑ Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Seal 6: Commitment – Seal". AllMusic. Retrieved on 2010-15-10.
  9. ↑ Mitchel, Gail (1 October 2010). "Seal, "Commitment" | Billboard.com". Billboard. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  10. 1 2 Simpson, Dave (16 September 2010). "Seal: 6: Commitment | CD review | Music | The Guardian". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  11. ↑ Gardner, Elysa (28 September 2010). "Seal, Seal 6: Commitment: Seal With a Kiss". USA Today. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
  12. ↑ Seal Channels Inner Rocker in 'Weight of My Mistakes' – Video Premiere
  13. ↑ Weight Of My Mistakes: Seal: Amazon.co.uk: MP3 Downloads
  14. ↑ "6: Commitment (Deluxe Version) by Seal – Download 6: Commitment (Deluxe Version) on iTunes". iTunes Store. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  15. ↑ "Amazon.com: 6: Commitment (Amazon MP3 Exclusive Version): Seal: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  16. ↑ "australian-charts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". ARIA Charts. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  17. ↑ "Seal – 6 – Commitment – austriancharts.at". Ö3 Austria Top 40 (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  18. ↑ "ultratop.be – Seal – 6 – Commitment". Ultratop (in Dutch). ULTRATOP & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  19. ↑ "ultratop.be – Seal – 6 – Commitment". Ultratop (in French). ULTRATOP & Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  20. 1 2 "Seal 6: Commitment – Seal". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 10 October 2010.
  21. ↑ "ČNS IFPI". Hitparáda – TOP50 Prodejní (in Czech). IFPI Czech Republic. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  22. ↑ "dutchcharts.nl – Seal – 6 – Commitment". MegaCharts (in Dutch). Hung Medien / hitparade.ch. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  23. ↑ "European Albums". European Top 100 Albums. Billboard. 9 October 2010. Retrieved 15 October 2010.
  24. ↑ "finnishcharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". Finland's Official List. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  25. ↑ "lescharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". SNEP (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  26. ↑ "Musicline.de – Chartverfolgung – Seal – Commitment". Media Control (in German). PhonoNet GmbH. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  27. ↑ "greekcharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". IFPI Greece. Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
  28. ↑ "MAHASZ – Magyar Hanglemezkiadók Szövetsége". mahasz.hu. Retrieved 7 October 2010.
  29. ↑ "portuguesecharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". AFP. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  30. ↑ "spanishcharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". PROMUSICAE. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  31. ↑ "swedishcharts.com – Seal – 6 – Commitment". Sverigetopplistan. Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  32. ↑ "Seal – 6 – Commitment – hitparade.ch". Swiss Music Charts (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  33. ↑ "Archive Chart". UK Albums Chart. The Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
  34. ↑ "French album certifications – Seal – VI Commitment" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.
  35. ↑ "British album certifications – Seal – Seal 6 – Commitment". British Phonographic Industry. Enter Seal 6 – Commitment in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Silver in the field By Award. Click Search
  36. ↑ "Seal: Commitment: Seal: Amazon.de: Musik" (in German). Amazon.de. Retrieved 22 July 2011.
  37. ↑ "Seal: Commitment (2010): CD: hmv.com". hmv.com. Retrieved 27 September 2010.
  38. ↑ "Amazon.com: 6: Commitment: Seal: Music". Amazon.com. Retrieved 3 October 2010.
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