Helpless Romantic
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''Helpless Romantic'' is the sixth studio album by American
Jon B Jonathan David Buck (born November 11, 1974) is an American Contemporary R&B, R&B singer, songwriter and record producer. His debut album ''Bonafide (Jon B. album), Bonafide'' (1995) spawned the hit singles "Pretty Girl (Jon B. song), Pretty G ...
. It was released on October 28, 2008, through Arsenal Records, marking his second and final album for the
independent record label An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...
, following the
Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...
album '' Holiday Wishes: From Me to You'' in 2006. ''Helpless Romantic'' was a
concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...
that revolved around his recent marriage to his new wife. It was recorded at Vibezelect Studios in
Pasadena, California Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commerci ...
, Jon B.'s personal recording studio/record label.


Critical reception

''
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'' found that ''Helpless Romantic'' "proves that on B.'sstill most definitely got it. While not quite on the level of his breakthrough sophomore offering ('' Cool Relax'') or as upbeat and commercially flexible as his 2004's '' Stronger Everyday'', it's still light years ahead of most of the recent competition." He concluded: "It's hard not to love Jon B.'s ability to run with a mid-tempo record, but Helpless Romantic comes slightly undone due to its final eight songs being a little too slow. They're constructed very solidly, but there is such thing as too much of a good thing." In a negative review,
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
editor Thomas Inskeep wrote that ''Helpless Romantic'' "only testifies to the fact that he's run stone out of ideas, or anything else remotely interesting to say ..The production is utterly adult-R&B-cliched throughout (i.e. gently bumping grooves that go nowhere, so as to not offend) ..This is dull R&B, mediocre at best, and truly bad at worst – and the real worst is that it comes from an artist who should know better; did his tutelage at the feet of Babyface teach him nothing? Apparently not."


Chart performance

''Helpless Romantic'' debuted and peaked at number 109 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, while also reaching number 11 on the
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a music chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine that ranks R&B and hip-hop albums based on sales in the United States and is compiled by Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...
chart, becoming Jon B.'s highest-charting album since ''
Pleasures U Like ''Pleasures U Like'' is the third studio album by American singer Jon B. Released on March 20, 2001 in the United States, it marked his first album under Tracey Edmonds' label Edmonds Record Group which was formed after Jon's previous label home ...
'' (2001).


Track listing

Notes * signifies a co-producer


Personnel

Musicians *Jon B. – background vocals, drum programming, keyboards, live Drums *Kevin Buck –
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*Joaquin Bynum – background vocals, drum programming, keyboards *Cornet Tyrone Griffen –
trumpet The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz musical ensemble, ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest Register (music), register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitche ...
*D-Mak – bass *Insomniax – background vocals, drum programming, keyboards *Jonesii – background vocals *Tim Kobza – bass,
guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...
*Mr. Lee – drum programming, keyboards Technical *Airphilosophy.com – Art direction, design *Jon B. – executive producer, mixing *Jim Caruana – mixing *KD – mixing *Max Gousse – executive producer *
Jim Jonsin James Gregory Scheffer (born June 8, 1970), known professionally as Jim Jonsin, is an American record producer and songwriter from South Florida. He has produced for numerous musical artists, including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Usher, Lil Wayn ...
– mixing *Stephen Marsh –
mastering engineer Mastering is a form of audio post production which is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the Audio mixing (recorded music), final mix to a data storage device called a master recording, the source ...
*Kawai Matthews –
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*Dan Naim – mixing *Ozz Saturne – executive producer


Charts


Release history


References

2008 albums Jon B. albums {{2000s-R&B-album-stub