''Now or Never'' is the fourth studio album by American R&B singer-songwriter

Tank A tank is an armoured fighting vehicle intended as a primary offensive weapon in front-line ground combat. Tank designs are a balance of heavy firepower, strong armour, and battlefield mobility provided by tracks and a powerful engine; ...

. It was released on December 14, 2010 via

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

following his departure from longtime label

Blackground Records Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records, also known as Blackground Entertainment) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground ...

Background

The album was originally to be released in Fall 2009, but wasn't due to Tank leaving

in September 2009. Since late 2008, many songs have leaked that many believed were to be on the new album, but most, if not all, of the songs are unlikely to make the final track list. In June 2010, Tank signed a new deal with

and aggressively began to work on the album. June 29, 2010 saw the release of the album's first single, Sex Music. The original title for the album was ''Sex Love & Pain II: The All Night Experience'' ( which would be released six years later), then was changed to simply ''All Night'' before finally settling on ''Now or Never'' The original release date of the album was to be September 21, 2010, then was pushed to November 2, 2010 and now the final release date is December 14, 2010. The album is set to feature guest artists such as

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

Chris Brown Christopher Maurice Brown (born May 5, 1989) is an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and actor. A Pop music, pop and hip-hop-influenced contemporary R&B, R&B musician who works in a variety of genres, he has been called the "Honorific nic ...

. Production is to come from the likes of

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 ...

The Stereotypes The Stereotypes are an American music production team, formed in 2003 and composed of Jonathan Yip, Ray Romulus, Jeremy Reeves and Ray Charles McCullough II. In June 2010, they were listed among the "Top 10 Songwriters and Producers to Watch" i ...

, Brandon Alexander,

Rico Love Richard Preston Butler Jr. (born December 3, 1982), better known by his stage name Rico Love, is an American record producer, singer, songwriter, and rapper. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, but split his childhood between Milwaukee, Wisco ...

Harvey Mason, Jr. Harvey Jay Mason Jr. (born June 3, 1968) is an American record producer, songwriter and film producer who has been chief executive officer (CEO) of the Recording Academy and MusiCares since 2021. From both his solo work and as part of the produ ...

, plus

and his production team, Song Dynasty. "It's a happier album, I'm appreciating more, I'm celebrating more," he admits in an interview with TheBoomBox.com. "The sexual experiences on the album are deep but they're not dark. It's a great moment on the album where I think everyone can ride and have a smile on their face."

Singles

The album's first single, ''Sex Music'', was released on June 8, 2010. It debuted at number 74 on

Billboard's ''Billboard'' (stylized in lowercase since 2013) is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events and styles related to the ...

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart. The video for "Sex Music" premiered on Vibe.com on August 5, 2010. The second single, "Emergency", was released on October 5, 2010.

Critical reception

Andy Kellman of

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 ...

rated ''Now or Never'' two and a half out of five stars. He wrote that "for most of this disc's duration, Tank sticks to his solo-artist strength, providing a steady stream of low-key songs for the bedroom. Most of it simmers. The remainder boils. It’s not bound to make him much more popular, but those who dig beneath the surface of mainstream R&B will be rewarded."

Jon Caramanica Jon Caramanica (born 1975) is an American journalist and pop music critic who writes for ''The New York Times''. He is also known for writing about hip hop music. Biography Born in Brooklyn, New York, Caramanica received his bachelor's degree ...

, writing for ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'', commented that ''Now or Never'' “continues his unlikely streak of beautiful, largely throwback-minded albums that have made him something of a cult favorite among the R&B cognoscenti.”

Chart performance

The album debuted at number thirty five on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 44,000 copies. Since then, the album has sold a total of 215,000 copies in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.Since then, the album has sold a total of 215,000 copies in the

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Now Or Never (Tank Album) 2010 albums Tank (American singer) albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Jim Jonsin Albums produced by Rico Love