The Declaration

The Declaration
Studio album by Ashanti
Released	June 3, 2008
Genre	Hip hop hip hop soul R&B soul
Length	49:33 (U.S. standard) 52:58 (non-U.S.)
Label	The Inc., Universal Motown
Producer	Ashanti, L. T. Hutton, Jermaine Dupri, Darkchild, Akon, Babyface, Channel 7, Keith Ross, Stengaard, Mario Winans, Chad Beatz (Tastemaker Music), Neff-U
Ashanti chronology
Collectables by Ashanti (2005) The Declaration (2008) The Vault (2009)
Singles from The Declaration
"Hey Baby (After the Club)" Released: October, 17. 2007 "The Way That I Love You" Released: February 26, 2008 "Body on Me" Released: June, 10. 2008. "Good Good" Released: July 16, 2008

The Declaration is the fourth studio album by American R&B/pop singer Ashanti.^[1] It was released on June 3, 2008.^[2]

The album includes the single "The Way That I Love You". Ashanti said during her June 2 appearance on the television program 106 & Park that she recorded fifty-two tracks for the album, of which fifteen—including the bonus tracks "Why" and "Hey Baby (After the Club)"—were used. This is her last album to be released on Irv Gotti's label The Inc. Records.

Singles

• "The Way That I Love You" was referred to as the real "first single" in press material and media reports.^[3][4][5][6] It was released in February 2008 to Urban radio. It was released to digital retailers in March 2008 and to Rhythmic radio in April 2008. It reached number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and number thirty-seven on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Ashanti's first song to reach the top forty since "Only U" in 2004.
• "Good Good" was released to urban radio stations on July 16, 2008.^[7] The song contains elements of Elton John's 1974 single "Bennie and the Jets", and has the same melody arrangement as Michael Jackson's "The Girl Is Mine".

Other Songs

• In mid-2007, MTV News reported that the first single from The Declaration was "Switch",^[8] which was produced by Shy Carter and released digitally in the United States on July 24, 2007. It was later reported that "Switch" will not be included on the album's track listing, and that the first single would be "Hey Baby (After the Club)".
• "Hey Baby (After the Club)"^[9] was released to radio and digital outlets on October 16, 2007. The music video premiered in September 2007. The song, which does not appear on the U.S. editions of the album, peaked at number eighty-seven on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.
• "Body On Me" was recorded not only for Ashanti's The Declaration, but also for Nelly's fifth studio album Brass Knuckles. The track is produced by Akon and Giorgio Tuinfort. It went to number one on Billboard's Hot Videoclip Tracks chart in its first week, becoming the first number one single from Nelly's album.

Other information

Ashanti performed the song, "Shine", at the 2008 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade as well as on FOX News in December. "Shine" was also played near the end in one of the televised previews for Will Smith's December 2008 movie, Seven Pounds.

The back insert for the physical CD release of the album has the runtimes misprinted, with some times being up to almost a minute under or over the song's actual run time.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	(52/100)[10]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[11]
The Boston Globe	(unfavorable)[12]
Daily News (New York)	[13]
Entertainment Weekly	C+[14]
Newsday	B[15]
Rolling Stone	[16]
Slant Magazine	[17]
This Is Music	[18]
Toronto Star	[19]
USA Today	[20]
Vibe	[10][21]

"The Declaration" received "generally mixed reviews" from critics, as Metacritic gave it a 52 out of 100 based on 11 critics.^[10] Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music UK was impressed saying that the album may be " The best album of Ashanti's career," but that it may also be her most "overlooked."^[22] Shanel Odum of Vibe gave a mixed review to the album saying that "More than half of the album is lukewarm," but also said: (The Title Track) is the album's "Diamond in the rough."^[21] Christian Hoard also had a mixed review to the album stating: "This season, while R&B fans spin albums by Mariah, Usher and Janet, Ashanti needs more pizazz to compete."^[16]

Track listing

#	Title	Songwriter(s)	Producer(s)	Featured guest(s)	Length
1	"Intro"	S. Aurelius	Channel 7		1:05
2	"The Way That I Love You"	Ashanti Douglas	L.T. Hutton, A. Douglas		4:27
3	"You're Gonna Miss"	Ashanti Douglas	L.T. Hutton, A. Douglas		3:14
4	"So Over You"	Ashanti Douglas, R. Jerkins	Darkchild		4:00
5	"Struggle"	Ashanti Douglas, L.T. Hutton	L.T. Hutton		4:35
6	"Girlfriend"	Ashanti Douglas, L.T. Hutton	L.T. Hutton		3:30
7	"Things You Make Me Do"	Ashanti Douglas, R. Thicke, S. Aurelius, C. Burnette, Keith Ross	Channel 7, Chad Beatz, Keith Ross	Robin Thicke	4:28
8	"In These Streets"	Ashanti Douglas, T Feemster	Ron "Neff-U" Feemster		4:24
9	"Good Good"	J. Dupri, M. Seal, Ashanti Douglas, Cornell Haynes	Jermaine Dupri, Manuel Seal		3:37
10	"Body on Me"	Ashanti Douglas, C. Haynes, A. Thiam	Aliaune "Akon" Thiam	Nelly & Akon	3:20
11	"Mother"	Ashanti Douglas, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds	Babyface		5:10
12	"Shine"	Diane Warren, Ashanti Douglas	Peter Stengaard		3:40
13	"The Declaration"	Ashanti Douglas, S. Aurelius, Yinon Yahel	Channel 7, Yinon Yahel		3:55
*	"Hey Baby (After the Club)" (Bonus track)	Ashanti Douglas, Mario Winans	Mario Winans, Channel 7	Mario Winans	3:33
*	"Why" (U.S. iTunes bonus track)	Ashanti Douglas, Cashman Ogaus, Jim Beanz			4:32

Credits

Ed Richardson – A&R Manager Universal-Motown

Chart performance

The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, selling 86,000 copies its first week. ^[23] As of February, 2014 the album has sold 297,000 copies in U.S.^[24]

Chart	Providers	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200[25]	Billboard	6
U.S. Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[25]		2

Release history

Region	Date
United States[26]	June 3, 2008
United Kingdom[27]	June 9, 2008
Brazil[28]	July 18, 2008

References

1. "Ashanti's Incredible Year". Black Entertainment Television. 2006-12-11. Retrieved 2006-12-28.
2. Ashanti and Nelly Get New Release Dates. Accessed January 28, 2008.
3. "America Loves 'The Way That I Love You,' Brand-New ASHANTI Smash". Business Wire. March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
4. Rodriguez, Jayson (February 21, 2008). "Ashanti Snaps In TV-Inspired 'The Way That I Love You' Video". MTV News (MTV Networks). Retrieved 2008-06-07.
5. Quarles, Alicia (June 5, 2008). "After a 4-year absence, Ashanti makes a comeback". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2008-06-09. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
6. Jackson, Charreah. "Ashanti: A New Attitude". Essence.com. Essence Communications Inc. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
7. R&R :: Going For Adds :: Urban
8. Shaheem Reid; Bridget Bland (July 2, 2007). "Ashanti, Nelly Get Their Beyonce-And-Jay-Z On For New Single 'Switch'". MTV News (MTV Networks). Retrieved 2008-06-07.
9. "Ashanti "Hey Baby (After The Club)" : premier single issu de "The Declaration"". Musique Radio (in French). December 6, 2007. Retrieved 2008-06-07.
10. http://www.metacritic.com/music/the-declaration/ashanti/critic-reviews
11. Allmusic review
12. The Boston Globe review
13. Daily News (New York) review
14. Entertainment Weekly review
15. Newsday review Archived June 5, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
16. Rolling Stone review at the Wayback Machine (archived May 30, 2008)
17. Slant Magazine review
18. This Is Music review at the Wayback Machine (archived January 15, 2009)
19. Toronto Star review at the Wayback Machine (archived June 7, 2011)
20. USA Today review
21. Vibe review at the Wayback Machine (archived June 8, 2008)
22. http://web.archive.org/web/20080628131007/http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/080623/33/21z8u.html
23. http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1045117/disturbed-scores-third-straight-no-1-album
24. http://www.hitsdailydouble.com/sales/sales_ur.cgi
25. "Artist Chart History - Ashanti Artist Biography Discography Artist Chart History - Albums". Billboard. Nielsen Business Media. Retrieved 2009-06-01.
26. The Declaration: Ashanti
27. The Declaration: Ashanti
28. Saraiva.com.br - Detalhe do Produto