''The Project'' is the third studio album and major label debut by Canadian
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
artist
Lindsay Ell. It was released by
Stoney Creek Records on August 11, 2017.
''The Project'' was the number-one selling country album the week of its release. The album was released in physical format in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2018.
Singles
"
Waiting on You", the album's lead single, was released on March 24, 2017 as part of Ell's EP, ''
Worth the Wait''. The song was released to American country radio on May 29, 2017.
The second single, "
Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a State (polity), state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definiti ...
", was released to American country radio on December 11, 2017.
Promotional singles
"Champagne" was released as the album's first promotional single on July 21, 2017. "Good" was released as the second promotional single on July 28, 2017.
Production
Before recording the album, Ell was worried about what sort of music she wanted to make and brought her concerns to producer Bush. Upon being asked what her favourite album was, she replied with ''
Continuum'' by
John Mayer
John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...
. Bush then tasked her with recording the entire album by herself in under three weeks so that she could determine what sounds and production elements she liked, resulting in
The Continuum Project which was released separately in 2018.
Critical reception
Matt Bjorke of ''Roughstock'' wrote that
Kristian Bush's production "allowed Lindsay to shine in a way that accentuates every nuanced talent she has as a singer, songwriter and guitarist," and called ''The Project'' "a beautiful collection worthy of revisiting time and time again." Cillea Houghton of ''Sounds Like Nashville'' praised Ell's artistry, writing that "what makes ''The Project'' so compelling is not just the songs themselves, but the fact that they are so unique from one another but still work cohesively."
Commercial performance
''The Project'' debuted at number 40 on the
''Billboard'' 200 chart dated September 2, 2017. On the Top Album Sales component chart, the album debuted at number seven. It also debuted at number four on the
Top Country Albums
Top Country Albums is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. The 50-position chart lists the most popular country music albums in the country, calculated weekly by Broadcast Data Systems based on physical sales ...
chart, and at number one on the Country Album Sales component chart.
The album sold 10,000 copies and 1,000
album-equivalent unit
The album-equivalent unit, or album equivalent, often shortened to just unit, is a sales metric in the music industry that defines the number of streaming media, songs streamed and music download, songs downloaded equal to one Record sales, tradi ...
s in its first week.
As of September 2017, the album has sold 14,600 copies in the US.
Track listing
Charts
Release history
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Project, The
2017 debut albums
Lindsay Ell albums
BBR Music Group albums