Live It Up
Studio album by
Lee DeWyze
ReleasedNovember 16, 2010 (2010-11-16)
RecordedJune–October 2010
Genre
Label
Producer
Lee DeWyze chronology
Slumberland
(2010)		 Live It Up
(2010)		 Frames
(2013)
Singles from Live It Up
  1. "Sweet Serendipity"
    Released: October 13, 2010
  2. "Beautiful Like You"
    Released: March 15, 2011

Live It Up is the major-label debut studio album, and third overall, by American Idol season nine winner, Lee DeWyze. The album was released on November 16, 2010, in the United States by RCA Records.

Recording

After winning the ninth season of American Idol on May 27, 2010, DeWyze signed a recording contract with 19 Entertainment and RCA Records. He started recording soon after and continued during the American Idols LIVE! Tour and completed in early October 2010. He worked with Toby Gad, John Shanks, Espionage, and other producers. DeWyze co-wrote ten of the eleven songs on Live It Up. He explained about the album and work:

"To see my name listed in the credits on each song was really important to me because I’m a songwriter. I also loved working with such talented writers. They all brought so much to the table and really helped me flesh out my sound. I grew up listening to Simon & Garfunkel, The Mamas & the Papas, Cat Stevens, and Kris Kristofferson. I love hard-edged vocals over pretty melodies — that’s what I’m about.″[1]

Singles

The first single, "Sweet Serendipity," premiered on On Air with Ryan Seacrest on October 13, 2010.[2] The song went for adds on hot adult contemporary radio stations on October 25, 2010[3] and became available for download at digital music vendors on October 26, 2010.[4] DeWyze performed "Beautiful Like You", the second single from the album, on the American Idol Season 10 Top 12 Results show on March 17, 2011.[5]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[6]
New York Times[7]
Entertainment WeeklyC[8]
Chicago Tribune[9]
IGN[10]
The Dallas Morning NewsC−[11]
US MagazinePoor[12]
JS OnlineMixed[13]

Upon its release, Live It Up received generally mixed reviews from most music critics.[14] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 45, based on 4 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews".[14]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic gave the album a mixed review saying, "DeWyze can wrangle a pleasant melody, particularly when he’s favoring sunswept SoCal folk-pop, but he can’t resist sabotaging his slight charms with a studied hamminess, adopting a gravelly growl whenever he wants to appear soulful and leaning so hard in his phrasing that he stumbles instead of shuffles."[6]

Commercial performance

Live It Up sold 39,000 copies in its first week, debuting at number nineteen on the Billboard 200.[15] The album spent 10 consecutive weeks on the Billboard 200[16] and, after an eight-week absence, returned to the chart at number 96 following DeWyze's performance on the American Idol Season 10 Top 12 Results show. As of August 12, 2013, the album has sold 153,000 copies in the United States.[17] DeWyze's album is also the second album of an American Idol winner (after Kris Allen's self-titled debut, which premiered and peaked at number eleven) to not debut in the top ten of the Billboard 200.

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Live It Up"
Gad3:16
2."Sweet Serendipity"
  • DeWyze
  • David Glass
  • Jordan Lawhead
Glass3:19
3."It's Gotta Be Love"
Espionage3:36
4."Dear Isabelle"
  • DeWyze
  • Gad
  • Robbins
Gad2:48
5."Beautiful Like You"
Chris DeStefano4:53
6."Stay Here"
  • DeWyze
  • Lind
  • Bjørklund
  • Kelly
Espionage3:42
7."Me and My Jealousy"
Shanks3:34
8."Brooklyn Bridge"
  • DeWyze
  • Gad
  • Robbins
Gad3:45
9."Weightless"
  • DeWyze
  • Shanks
  • Maloy
Shanks3:10
10."Earth Stood Still"
  • DeWyze
  • Gad
  • Robbins
Gad3:18
11."A Song About Love"
Hodges2:56
12."Say It All Over Again" (Bonus track, iTunes album pre-order only)
 4:03
13."Only Dreaming" (Bonus track, American Idol Store Deluxe Version)
  • DeWyze
  • Hodges
  • DeStefano
 3:21

Personnel

Adapted from AllMusic.[18]

Vocals

  • Chris DeStefano – background vocals
  • Lee DeWyze – background vocals, lead vocals
  • David Glass – background vocals

Musicians

  • Kenny Aronoff – drums
  • busbee – bass
  • David Glass – drums, Fender Rhodes, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards, percussion, piano, synthesizer
  • David Hodges – guitar, percussion, piano
  • Charlie Judge – keyboards, synthesizer
  • Shawn Pelton – drums
  • John Shanks – bass, guitar, keyboards

Production

  • Jeff Aldrich – A&R
  • Amund Bjørklund – engineer
  • Dan Chase – programming
  • Chris DeStefano – engineer, instrumentation, producer, programming
  • Lars Fox – Pro Tools
  • Toby Gad – instrumentation, mixing, producer, programming, vocal engineer
  • Chris Garcia – vocal producer
  • Serban Ghenea – mixing
  • David Glass – producer
  • David Hodges – engineer, producer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Espen Lind – engineer
  • Manny Marroquin – mixing
  • Francis Murray – mastering
  • Ross Petersen – engineer
  • Iain Pirie – A&R
  • Christian Plata – assistant
  • Tim Roberts – assistant, mixing assistant
  • Jeff Rothschild – engineer, mixing, programming
  • John Shanks – producer
  • Shari Sutcliffe – project coordinator

Imagery

  • Dee Anderson – stylist
  • Erwin Gorostiza – creative director
  • Jilan O'Neil – groomer
  • Christina Rodriguez – art direction
  • Jiro Schneider – photography

Charts

Chart positions

Chart Peak
position
US Billboard 200[16] 19

Sales

Country Sales
United States[19]
(171,000)		 149,000

References

  1. ↑ "Lee Getting Ready To 'Live It Up'". Lee DeWyze Official website. October 7, 2010.
  2. ↑ Newman, Melinda (October 13, 2010). "'American Idol' Lee DeWyze's first single, 'Sweet Serendipity'". Hitfix. Retrieved October 13, 2010.
  3. ↑ "AC Available for Airplay". FMQB. Archived from the original on October 21, 2010. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
  4. ↑ Torres, Jeanette (October 14, 2010). "Lee DeWyze Debuts Unexpected First Single". ABC News Radio. Retrieved October 16, 2010.
  5. ↑ Parker, Lyndsey (March 15, 2011). "Exclusive: Lee DeWyze's Next Single Will Be "Beautiful Like You"". Yahoo Music Reality Rocks.
  6. 1 2 Live It Up at AllMusic
  7. ↑ Pareles, Jon (November 15, 2010). "Rihanna's 'Loud' and Lee DeWyze's 'Live It Up'". The New York Times.
  8. ↑ Slezak, Michael (November 10, 2010). "Music Review: Live It Up". Entertainment Weekly.
  9. ↑ Kot, Greg (November 12, 2010). "Album review: Lee DeWyze, 'Live it Up'". Chicago Tribune.
  10. ↑ Grischow, Chad (November 9, 2010). "Lee DeWyze: Live It Up Review. How does the latest American Idol winner fare in his debut?". IGN. Archived from the original on November 19, 2010. Retrieved November 17, 2010.
  11. ↑ Tarradell, Mario (November 15, 2010). "CD review: Nelly brings back the beats on '5.0'". Dallas Morning News.
  12. ↑ Drew, Ian (November 8, 2010). "Review - Lee DeWyze, Live It Up". US Magazine.
  13. ↑ "CD Reviews: Norah Jones, Ne-Yo, Nelly, Kid Rock, Lee DeWyze, Keith Urban, Tonye Dabipi". JS Online (Milwaukee Journal Sentinel). November 16, 2010.
  14. 1 2 Live it Up Reviews, Ratings, Credits, and More at Metacritic, Metacritic, retrieved 2010-10-18
  15. ↑ Mansfield, Brian (November 24, 2010). "Four 'Idol' albums make the top 200 in a wild chart week". USA Today.
  16. 1 2 "Live It Up - Lee DeWyze Chart History". Billboard.
  17. ↑ Lipshutz, Jason (August 12, 2013). "Lee DeWyze's 'Frames': Exclusive Album Premiere". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved August 16, 2013.
  18. ↑ "Live It up - Lee DeWyze | Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic.
  19. ↑ "'American Idol' Finalists: From Sanjaya to Taylor Hicks, Where Are They Now?". The Daily Beast. 2012-05-21. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
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