''Afterglow'' is the fifth studio album by Canadian singer-songwriter

Sarah McLachlan Sarah Ann McLachlan (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. As of 2015, she had sold over 40 million albums worldwide. McLachlan's best-selling album to date is ''Surfacing (album), Surfacing'' (1997), for which she won two G ...

. Released on 4 November 2003, on

Nettwerk Nettwerk Music Group is an independent record label founded in 1984. The Vancouver-based company was created by principals Terry McBride and Mark Jowett as a record label to distribute recordings by the band Moev, but the label expanded in Ca ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

and 4 November 2003, on

Arista Records Arista Records ( ) is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of the Japanese conglomerate Sony. The label was previously a division of Bertelsmann Music G ...

in the

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, it was her first album of new material in six years, and since the success of '' Surfacing'' and the

Lilith Fair Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride (CEO), Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during ...

festival. Longtime collaborator

Pierre Marchand Pierre Marchand (born 1958) is a Canadian songwriter, musician and record producer. Marchand is known for his ongoing collaboration with Sarah McLachlan, having produced all of her albums since '' Solace'' in 1991. He also co-wrote several of M ...

produced the album. McLachlan wrote eight of the 10 songs herself and co-wrote the other two with Marchand. The song "Answer" was featured in the 2007 movie '' The Brave One''. It has also been used in television commercials for the

ASPCA The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) is a non-profit organization dedicated to preventing animal cruelty. Based in New York City since its inception in 1866, the organization's mission is "to provide effective mea ...

, with McLachlan appearing in person.

Critical reception

''Afterglow'' was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an

average In colloquial, ordinary language, an average is a single number or value that best represents a set of data. The type of average taken as most typically representative of a list of numbers is the arithmetic mean the sum of the numbers divided by ...

score of 55 based on 11 reviews.

Commercial performance and award nominations

''Afterglow'' was released on 4 November 2003, and was a success in North America, reaching number two on the ''Billboard'' 200, topping the

Canadian Albums Chart The ''Billboard'' Canadian Albums is the official record chart A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given ...

and selling 361,000 copies in its first week of release.Caulfield, Keith
"Drake Debuts At No. 1 on Billboard 200"

billboard.com ''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 ...

. 23 June 2010. It reached #33 in the UK (McLachlan's biggest success there thus far) and the top 50 in Australia in 2004. The first single, "Fallen", reached the top ten on the Adult Top 40 ''Billboard'' charts and a remix reached top ten in the United States

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

charts. A second single, "Stupid" was released in March 2004. McLachlan was nominated in five

Juno Award The Juno Awards (stylized as JUNOS), or simply known as the Junos, are awards presented by Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences to recognize outstanding achievements in Canada's mu ...

categories in Canada, including Album of the Year and Pop Album of the Year for ''Afterglow'', and Songwriter of the Year for the songs on the album. The awards were announced on 4 April 2004. The album was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Pop Vocal Album field in 2005. ''Afterglow'' has sold over 2.3 million copies in the US (as of November 2004) and went two times platinum. Worldwide, the album has sold more than four million copies (as of October 2006).

Track listing

Personnel

* Sarah McLachlan – vocals, electric guitar, piano,

Rhodes piano The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, th ...

, keyboards * Sean Ashby – guitar * Michel Pepin – guitar *Pete Caigan –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

* Michael Chaves – guitar *

Jim Creeggan James Raymond Creeggan (born February 12, 1970) is the bassist for Canadian alternative rock band Barenaked Ladies. Early life Creeggan was born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. His mother taught piano lessons to neighbourhood chi ...

– acoustic bass *Yanick Daunais – engineering * Bill Dillon – guitar,

guitorgan Guitar Organ or GuitOrgan is a type of electric guitar with electronic organ components added, developed by Jennings Musical Industry (Dartford, Kent, UK) as Vox ''Guitar Organ'' at latest in 1965. Similar instrument, ''GuitOrgan'' was develop ...

church organ Carol Williams performing at the West_Point_Cadet_Chapel.html" ;"title="United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel">United States Military Academy West Point Cadet Chapel. In music, the organ is a keyboard instrument of one or mo ...

* Yves Desrosiers – guitar *Kharen Hill – photography *Brian Hogue – engineering *

Ethan Johns Ethan Thomas Robert Johns (born 1969 in Merton, London) is an English record producer, engineer, mixer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. Johns has worked with artists including Robert Vincent, Ryan Adams, Kings of Leon, Paul McCartney, ...

– guitar *

Jorane Jorane Pelletier (born October 12, 1975), known professionally as Jorane, is a French-Canadian singer/cellist, who performs pop and alternative music style on the cello. She has released eight full-length studio albums to date. Career Jorane w ...

– cello, background vocals, vocal treatments * Mark Jowett – guitar * David Kershaw – Hammond organ *

Daryl Johnson Daryl E. Johnson (August 11, 1946 – November 25, 2023) was an American professional football defensive back who played in the American Football League (AFL), the National Football League (NFL), and the World Football League (WFL). He was a m ...

– bass guitar *

Tony Levin Anthony Frederick Levin (born June 6, 1946) is an American musician and composer specializing in electric bass guitars, Chapman Stick and upright bass. He also sings and plays synthesizer. Levin is best known for his work with King Crimson (19 ...

– bass guitar *Roman Klun – engineering *

Bob Ludwig Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...

– mastering *

– guitar, bass guitar, piano, keyboards, synthesizer bass,

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

, engineering, mixing *

Jerry Marotta Jerome David Marotta (born February 6, 1956) is an American drummer who resides in Woodstock, New York. He is the younger brother of Rick Marotta; Rick is also a drummer and composer. Career Marotta was a member of the bands Arthur, Hurley & ...

– percussion *John Oliviera – engineering * Chis Potter – engineering, mixing *

Ashwin Sood Ashwin Sood (born 25 September 1967) is an English–born Canadian musician and drummer. He is best known for his musical association with his ex-wife Sarah McLachlan. Sood was born in the United Kingdom to Indian immigrant parents, and grew up ...

– drums, percussion, loops, keyboard bass *

Linda Strawberry Linda Strawberry is an American artist, director, production designer, editor and musician, best known for her work on tours and music videos, as well as her creative collaborations with Billy Corgan. Career Initially working under her birth nam ...

– engineering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications and sales

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Afterglow (Sarah Mclachlan Album) 2003 albums Sarah McLachlan albums Nettwerk Records albums Arista Records albums Albums produced by Pierre Marchand Juno Award for Pop Album of the Year albums