''So Damn Happy'' is the thirty-fifth studio album by American singer Aretha Franklin. Her first studio album in five years, it included the

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-winning track "Wonderful", the single co-written and produced by

Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence Val Anthony Ronald Lawrence (born November 14, 1965), known professionally as Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence, is an American record producer. Early life Lawrence was born on the island of Dominica. In 1970, his family immigrated to the United States, ...

, his very first project with the Queen of Soul was a grand slam. The album peaked at number 33 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and 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 Nielsen SoundScan. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated ...

chart, while reaching the top thirty of the

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. Shortly after its release, Franklin left Arista after a stay of 23 years. She later announced plans to start her own

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-based record label, Aretha Records.

Background

In 1998, Franklin released her thirty-fourth studio album '' A Rose Is Still a Rose''. A breakaway from the

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul, R&B, quie ...

sound of her previous releases, it saw her collaborating with many famed hip hop producers and

rappers Rapping (also rhyming, spitting, emceeing or MCing) is a musical form of vocal delivery that incorporates "rhyme, rhythmic speech, and street vernacular". It is performed or chanted, usually over a backing beat or musical accompaniment. The ...

such as

Lauryn Hill Lauryn Noelle Hill (born May 26, 1975) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, and record producer. She is often regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, as well as being one of the most influential musicians of her generation. ...

Sean "Puffy" Combs Sean Combs (born Sean John Combs; November 4, 1969), also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Puffy, or Diddy, is an American rapper, actor, record producer, and record executive. Born in New York City, he worked as a talent direct ...

, and

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

, and took her work further into the hip hop and modern-day R&B genre. The album went gold in the US and was praised by most critics, who called it a return to form for Franklin.Christgau, Robert (1998)
Robert Christgau: CG: Aretha Franklin
Robert Christgau. ''

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''. Retrieved April 8, 2011. Following the departure of Arista Records head and longtime collaborator Clive Davis in 2000, L.A. Reid became instrumental in compiling Franklin's next project with the label. He chose songs to honor Franklin's roots, making no attempt to realize a pop record, instead aiming for a more personal, soulful vibe that would sound like "the old days." Franklin wrote and produced three songs on ''So Damn Happy'', accompanied herself on the piano and was more generally hands-on than she had been on her other recent albums, which she cited as "the missing element." Elaborating on the overall sound of the album, she added: "Some of it is hip-hop, some of it is traditional, and it just works."

Critical reception

''So Damn Happy'' received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics.

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

editor Jon Bush called the album "a refreshing (though admittedly sterilized) update of her '70s records ..composed of earthy, acoustic-driven soul, similar to contemporary records by

India.Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Awards ...

or Jill Scott." He felt that "the songs on ''So Damn Happy'' are all the proof her fans need to understand that her talent remains undiminished nearly 50 years after her debut as a secular act." ''

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'' magazine noted that Franklin "may be worshiped for her oldies, but the Queen of Soul’s new material also deserves respect." The magazine found that the "entire album, refreshingly free of any guest rappers or trendy production, has a warm, classic R&B feel. Even Franklin’s two jazz-kissed collaborations with hip-hop soul diva Mary J. Blige sound as if they could have been recorded in the '70s." In his review for

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, Jack Smith wrote that "Aretha's voice is a beautiful instrument that she never stops strengthening and developing and in ''So Damn Happy'' her legion of fans have a slick and superior album of depth, vision and soul that's truly one to savour." '' Billboard'' found that "Franklin revisits the contemporary production well that she drew from for" previous album '' A Rose Is Still a Rose'', noting that "unlike that album – which had its stellar moments – ''Happy'' is a more consistent package ..striking a believable balance between new-school vibe and down-home soul." ''

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'' journalist Barry Walters compared the album unfavorably to ''A Rose Is Still a Rose'' and wrote that "The queen of soul is still the Queen. But that doesn’t mean the material on Aretha Franklin’s latest album is deserving of her crown." He found that the songs came up "short in the melody, hook and rhythm departments," providing "adult-contemporary slickness that sometimes makes the sixty-one-year-old legend’s voice seem shrill."

Chart performance

In the United States, ''So Damn Happy'' debuted and peaked at number 33 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and number 11 on the US

, with first week sales of 28,000 copies. Franklin scored her best career sales frame in the album's third week on the charts, when it shifted 27,000 copies in the week ending October 5, 2003, though this mark was later surpassed by her 2014 album '' Aretha Franklin Sings the Great Diva Classics''. As of 2012, ''So Damn Happy'' sold 304,000 copies in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Elsewhere, the album failed to chart on most music markets, though it reached number 28 on the

, ranking among her highest-charting albums there.

Track listing

Samples *"Holdin On'" contains excerpts from "The Sponge," written by

Earl Klugh Earl Klugh ( ; born September 16, 1953) is an American acoustic guitarist and composer. He has won one Grammy award and thirteen nominations. Klugh was awarded the “1977” Best Recording Award For Performance and Sound” for his album “Fin ...

Personnel

*Adi Yeshaya – strings, arranger, conductor, horn, keyboards, horn arrangements *Alexander Vselensky –

violin The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...

*Alfred Brown –

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

*Allen Sides –

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the limit ...

, mixing *Andy Stein – violin *Anthony Kadleck – trumpet *Anthony Posk – violin * Aretha Franklin –

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or withou ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

, producer, engineer, mixing *B.J. – handclapping *Barbara Wesotski – A&R *Barry Eastmond – arranger, keyboards, producer, engineer *Belinda Whitney – violin *Birch Johnson –

trombone The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

*Bobby Ross Avila –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

, keyboards *Brenda Corbett – backing vocals * Burt Bacharach –

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

, producer, string arrangements *Byung Kook Kwak – violin *Carl Robinson – engineer, assistant *Cenovia Cummins – violin *Charles "Prince Cha... – mixing *Cindy Mizelle – backing vocals *Dan Oniszczak – assistant engineer *Darryl Houston – organ *David Chase – digital editing *

David Foster David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian musician, composer, arranger, record producer and music executive who chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His music career spans mor ...

– synthesizer strings *Delant "Butta" Murphy – handclapping *EMI Ferguson – digital editing *Eugene J. Moye –

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...

*George Flynn – trombone *Gerald Tarack – violin *Gloria Agostini – harp *Gordon Chambers – backing vocals, producer, vocal arrangement *

Greg Phillinganes Gregory Arthur Phillinganes (born May 12, 1956) is an American keyboardist, singer-songwriter, and musical director based in Los Angeles, California. A prolific session musician, Phillinganes has contributed the role of keyboards to numerous alb ...

– digital editing *Israel Chorberg – violin *Iz –

drum programming Programming is a form of music production and performance using electronic devices and computer software, such as sequencers and workstations or hardware synthesizers, sampler and sequencers, to generate sounds of musical instruments. These ...

*James "Big Jim" Wright – keyboards, producer *Jean-Marie Horvat – mixing *Jeff Burns – assistant *Jesse Levy – cello, orchestra contractor *Jimmy Jam – producer *JoAnn Tominaga – production coordination *Joe-Mama Nitzberg –

creative director A creative director (or creative supervisor) is a person who makes high-level creative decisions and, with those decisions, oversees the creation of creative assets such as advertisements, products, events, or logos. Creative director positions ar ...

*Joey Arbagey – A&R *Joyce Hammann – violin *Karen Karlsrud – violin *Keith O'Quinn – trombone *Keith Slattery – assistant *Kenneth Burward-Hoy – viola *Kenya Lucas – handclapping *

Kermit Moore Kermit Moore (March 11, 1929 – November 11, 2013) was an American conductor, cellist, and composer. Early life and education Of African American heritage, Moore was born in Akron, Ohio. While still in high school, Moore studied at the Cl ...

– cello *Kwaku Alston –

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employe ...

*L.A. Reid – executive producer *Leo Grinhauz – cello *

Lew Soloff Lewis Michael Soloff (February 20, 1944–March 8, 2015) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and actor. Biography From his birth place of New York City, United States, he studied trumpet at the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard Sc ...

– trumpet *Louis Alfred III – engineer *Margeret Th. Hjalte... – viola *

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

– backing vocals, vocal arrangement, melodie, handclapping *Michael Baker – strings, horn *Michael Hart Thompson – guitar *Michael J. Powell – engineer, mixing *Mildred Scott – backing vocals *Myiia "Sunny" Davis – backing vocals *Nate Neblett – drums * Neil Stubenhaus –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

*Norman West – synthesizer, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, producer, engineer, mixing *Olivia Koppell – violin, viola *Pablo Arraya – assistant * Paulinho Da Costa –

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Ex ...

*Perry Hughes – guitar *Ralphe Armstrong – bass guitar *

Randy Brecker Randal Edward Brecker (born November 27, 1945) is an American trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer. His versatility has made him a popular studio musician who has recorded with acts in jazz, rock, and R&B. Early life Brecker was born on No ...

– trumpet *Regine Lambert – handclapping *Regis Iandiorio – violin *Richard Thomas Jenn... – art direction,

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...

*Rick Williams – guitar *Ricky Lawson – drums *Rob Shrock – synthesizer arrangements *Robert Chausow – violin *Roger Wendt –

French horn The French horn (since the 1930s known simply as the horn in professional music circles) is a brass instrument made of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. The double horn in F/B (technically a variety of German horn) is the horn most ...

– keyboards, multi instruments, producer, engineer, drum programming *Rowie Nomeri – engineer * Sandra Dance – backing vocals *Sara Divine – backing vocals *Sharon Moe – French horn *Sheila Reinhold – violin *Shelly Ponder – backing vocals *Steve Pageot – engineer *Susan Heerema – violin *Terry Lewis – producer *Tom Coyne – mastering *Tom Sweeney – assistant * Tommy Morgan – harmonica, soloist *Tommy Wilber – assistant *Troy Taylor – bass guitar, drums, keyboards, programming, backing vocals, multi instruments, producer, vocal editing *Vernon D. Fails – Fender Rhodes *William Bush – arranger, keyboards, drum programming *Winterton Garvey – violin

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2003 albums Aretha Franklin albums Arista Records albums Albums produced by Troy Taylor (record producer)