Vows (album)

Vows
Studio album by Kimbra
Released	29 August 2011
Recorded	2008–2011
Genre	Indie pop soul jazz art pop[1]
Length	50:09
Label	Warner Bros.
Kimbra chronology
Vows (2011) The Golden Echo (2014)
Singles from Vows
"Settle Down" Released: 10 June 2010 "Cameo Lover" Released: 29 March 2011 "Good Intent" Released: 15 August 2011 "Warrior" Released: 4 May 2012 "Two Way Street" Released: 17 May 2012[2] "Come into My Head" Released: 20 September 2012

Vows is the debut studio album by New Zealand recording artist Kimbra. The album was recorded between 2008 and 2011 and was released on 29 August 2011 in New Zealand, and on 2 September in Australia by Warner Bros. Records. Vows has spawned 3 charting singles, "Settle Down", "Cameo Lover" and "Good Intent".

Vows charted at #3 on the RIANZ Albums Chart in its first week after release, with "Settle Down" re-entering the singles chart at #37.^[3] In Australia, the album debuted at #5 on the ARIA Albums Chart, later peaking at #4. Vows has been certified Platinum in Australia for shipment of 70,000 units and Platinum in New Zealand for sales of 15,000 units.

On 4 May 2012, the album was re-released with six new songs, new mixing and was mastered by Colin Leonard in Atlanta, GA. It was released in Australia as Vows: Australian Tour Edition to coincide with her winter 2012 tour and included 6 previously unreleased songs.^[4] This edition of the album was released in New Zealand on 11 May 2012 as Vows: Deluxe Edition.^[5] On 22 May 2012 Vows was released to the North American market, debuting at #14 on the Billboard 200. The album artwork including body art and illustrations were created by Rhys Mitchell and Raphael Rizzo.^[6]

Reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	72/100[7]
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[8]
Entertainment Weekly	A[9]
Filter Magazine	(83%)[10]
Herald Sun	[11]
Paste Magazine	(7/10)[12]
PopMatters	(7/10)[13]
Rolling Stone	[14]
Slant Magazine	[15]
The AU	(8.5/10)[16]
The Guardian	[17]
The Music Network	(favourable)[18]
The New Zealand Herald	[19]

The album received generally favorable reviews, obtaining a normalised score of 72 out of 100 from Metacritic, based on reviews from 16 selected mainstream critics.^[7] Lydia Jenkin, of The New Zealand Herald's Time Out magazine, gave Vows 4/5 stars, praising Kimbra's "exciting vocal experiments on this colourful debut with impressive range".^[19] Jody Rosen of Rolling Stone gave a positive review of the album, comparing the material to those of Björk.^[14]

Singles

• "Settle Down" was released as the album's lead single on 10 June 2010 and was re-released on 1 November 2011. The song peaked at number 37 on the New Zealand Singles Chart.

• "Cameo Lover" was released as the album's second single on 29 March 2011.

• "Good Intent" was released as the album's third single on 15 August 2011. The song peaked at number 98 on the Australian Singles Chart.

• "Warrior" was released as the album's fourth single on 4 May 2012.^[20] The song appears on the Australian Tour Edition/New Zealand Deluxe Edition and the standard North American and European editions of Vows. The song peaked at number 22 on the New Zealand Singles Chart.

• "Two Way Street" was released as the album's fifth single on 17 May 2012.

• "Come into My Head" was released as the album's sixth and final single, with a music video released on 20 September 2012.^[21] This song was also featured in the ending credits of the 2013 movie The Heat starring Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Settle Down"	Kimbra Johnson, François Tétaz	François Tétaz, M-Phazes	4:17
2.	"Cameo Lover"	Johnson, D Nigro	Johnson, M-Phazes, Ryan Ritchie, Jimi Maroudas, Michael Tayler	4:02
3.	"Two Way Street"	Johnson, Tétaz	Tétaz	4:28
4.	"Old Flame"	Johnson, Tétaz	Johnson, Tétaz	4:27
5.	"Good Intent"	Johnson, Tétaz	Tétaz	3:32
6.	"Plain Gold Ring"	George Stone	Tétaz	4:02
7.	"Call Me"	Johnson, Mark Landon	M-Phazes, Johnson, Michael Tayler	4:34
8.	"Limbo"	Johnson	Johnson, Tayler	3:51
9.	"Wandering Limbs" (featuring Sam Lawrence)	Johnson	Johnson, Tayler	5:26
10.	"Withdraw"	Johnson	Johnson, Jimi Maroudas, Tayler	4:06
11.	"The Build Up"	Johnson, Tétaz	Tétaz	5:01
12.	"Somebody Please" (hidden track after 1:00 of silence)	Johnson		2:20
Total length:				50:09

iTunes deluxe version bonus tracks
No.	Title	Length
13.	"Settle Down" (M-Phazes Remix)	5:19
14.	"Cameo Lover" (Sam Sparro & Golden Touch Remix)	5:01
15.	"Settle Down" (video)	4:09
16.	"Cameo Lover" (video)	4:09

Special edition bonus DVD "Live at Sing Sing Studios"
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Good Intent"
2.	"Settle Down"
3.	"Two Way Street"
4.	"Plain Gold Ring"
5.	"Cameo Lover"

Australian Tour Edition/New Zealand Deluxe Edition bonus disc[22]
No.	Title	Length
1.	"Come into My Head"	4:39
2.	"Something In The Way You Are"	4:23
3.	"Sally I Can See You"	3:58
4.	"Posse"	5:07
5.	"Home"	3:04
6.	"Warrior" (featuring Mark Foster and A-Trak)	4:16
Total length:		25:27

North American and European edition[23][24]
No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1.	"Settle Down"	Kimbra Johnson, François Tétaz	4:02
2.	"Something In The Way You Are"	Johnson, Keith Ciancia, Mike Elizondo	4:23
3.	"Cameo Lover"	Johnson	4:03
4.	"Two Way Street"	Johnson, Tétaz	4:20
5.	"Old Flame"	Johnson, Tétaz	4:30
6.	"Good Intent"	Johnson, Tétaz	3:32
7.	"Plain Gold Ring (Live)"	George Stone	4:32
8.	"Come Into My Head"	Johnson, Ciancia, Sonny J. Mason	4:39
9.	"Sally I Can See You"	Johnson, Greg Kurstin	3:58
10.	"Posse"	Johnson, Kurstin	5:07
11.	"Home"	Johnson, Ciancia, Brian Jacobs, David Tobias	3:04
12.	"The Build Up"	Johnson, Alain Macklovitch, Isom Innis	5:06
13.	"Warrior" (Bonus Track)		4:16
14.	"Wandering Limbs" (Hidden track on CD after Warrior)	Johnson	5:26
Total length:			60:50

Notes

• Track listing and credits from album booklet.^[25]

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts Charts (2011–12) Peak position Australian Albums Chart[26] 4 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[27] 135 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[28] 186 Canadian Albums Chart[29] 24 Dutch Albums Chart[30] 95 New Zealand Albums Chart[31] 3 New Zealand NZ Artists Albums Chart[32] 1 Polish Albums Chart[33] 23 US Billboard 200[34] 14

Year-end charts Chart (2011) Position Australian Albums Chart[35] 39 Chart (2012) Position Australian Albums Chart[36] 50 Certifications Region Certification Sales/shipments Australia (ARIA)[37] Platinum 70,000 New Zealand (RMNZ)[38] Platinum 15,000 ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. "Somebody That You Used to Know: It’s Kimbra’s Time to Shine on ‘The Golden Echo’". Spin. Retrieved 18 January 2016.
2. "Amazon.com: Two Way Street: Kimbra: MP3 Downloads". Amazon.com. Retrieved 8 April 2014.
3. RIANZ CHART 1789 05 September 2011
4. "VOWS Australian Tour Edition". KimbraMusic.com. KimbraMusic.com. 30 April 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
5. "VOWS Deluxe Edition In New Zealand!". KimbraMusic.com. KimbraMusic.com. 3 May 2012. |first1= missing |last1= in Authors list (help)
6. "Kimbra - Vows (CD, Album) at Discogs". Discogs.com. Retrieved 2016-01-21.
7. "Vows Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More". Metacritic. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
8. "Vows - Kimbra : Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". All Music. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
9. "Kimbra Vows". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
10. "Vos Review - June 2012". Filter Magazine. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
11. Adams, Cameron (1 September 2011). "Album review: Vows by Kimbra". Herald Sun (Melbourne: Herald and Weekly Times/News Limited).
12. "Kimbra: Vows". PasteMagazine.com. 2012-05-23. Retrieved 2012-05-31.
13. Chiola, Enio (28 September 2011). "Kimbra: Vows". PopMatters.
14. Jody Rosen (22 May 2012). "Vows - Albums Reviews". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 25 May 2012.
15. "Slant review".
16. Fuamoli, Sosefina (24 August 2011). "Kimbra - Vows (2011 LP)". the AU review. Heath Media & the AU review.
17. Carnwath, Ally (22 July 2012). "Kimbra: Vows - reviews". London: The Guardian. Retrieved 2012-08-18.
18. Reid, Poppy (14 September 2011). "Album Review: Kimbra, Vows". The Music Network. Peer Group Media.
19. Jenkin, Lydia (8 September 2011). "Album Review: Kimbra, Vows". The New Zealand Herald: TimeOut (APN Holdings NZ). p. 18.
20. "iTunes - Music - Warrior - Single by Kimbra". iTunes. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
21. Kimbra - "Come Into My Head" [Official Music Video]. YouTube. 20 September 2012. Retrieved 23 March 2015.
22. "Vows (Australian Tour Edition) at Discogs". Discogs. Retrieved 9 July 2015.
23. "iTunes - Music - Vows by Kimbra". iTunes Store (United States). Retrieved 23 June 2015.
24. "iTunes - Music - Vows by Kimbra". iTunes Store (United Kingdom). Retrieved 23 June 2015.
25. Vows (Booklet). Kimbra. Warner Bros. Records Inc. (Cat no. 9362495476). 2011.
26. "Kimbra - Vows". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien.
27. "Kimbra - Vows" (in Dutch). Ultratop / Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
28. "Kimbra - Vows" (in French). Ultratop / Hung Medien. Retrieved 23 August 2012.
29. "Kimbra - Vows". billboard.com. Canoe.ca.
30. "Kimbra - Vows (album)". dutchchart.nl (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
31. "Kimbra - Vows". charts.org.nz/. Hung Medien.
32. "Top 20 New Zealand Albums Chart The Official New Zealand Music Chart". Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ)Incorporated.
33. "OLiS - Sales for the period 09.07.2012 - 15.07.2012". OLiS. Retrieved 21 July 2012.
34. "Kimbra - Vows". billboard.com. Prometheus Global Media.
35. "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2011". ARIA. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
36. "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2012". ARIA. Retrieved 15 January 2015.
37. "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 2012 Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
38. "New Zealand album certifications – Kimbra – Vows". Recorded Music NZ. Retrieved 13 September 2014.