Breakthrough (Colbie Caillat Album)
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''Breakthrough'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter
Colbie Caillat Colbie Marie Caillat ( ; born May 28, 1985) is an American singer-songwriter. She rose to fame on the social networking website Myspace in 2005. She signed with Universal Republic Records to release her debut studio album, '' Coco'' (2007), w ...
. The album was released on August 19, 2009 through
Universal Republic Records Republic Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). Based in New York City, it was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially a ...
. The follow-up to her successful debut album, ''
Coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...
'' (2007), ''Breakthrough'' was developed in late 2008 when Caillat returned to her home after two years on tour, with the singer setting up a "writing camp" with songwriters and producers in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and writing over 40 songs for the record. Inspired by the fact that she was trying to find herself again and breaking the creativity chains that surrounded her, ''Breakthrough'' deals with themes of growing up, experiencing life, love, making mistakes and learning from them, as well as heartbreak and why everlasting love seems elusive. To help develop her expected sound and lyrics, Caillat worked with previous collaborators, such as Mikal Blue, Ken Caillat and Jason Reeves, while working for the first time with Kara Dioguardi,
Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. (born March 16, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists,John Shanks John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American songwriter, record producer and guitarist. He has been a longtime session and touring member of the rock band Bon Jovi. Early life and education Shanks was born in New York City and m ...
,
Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...
and David Becker. ''Breakthrough'' received generally mixed to favorable reviews from contemporary music critics, with some praising its rich texture and for being a consistent album with catchy tracks, while others dismissing its title and finding issues with some of the song's lyrics. The album was nominated for
Best Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality vocal pop music albums. Awards in several ...
at the
52nd Grammy Awards The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards took place on January 31, 2010, at Staples Center in Los Angeles honoring the best in music for the recording year beginning October 1, 2008 through September 30, 2009. Neil Young was honored as the 2010 MusiCares P ...
. Commercially, it was successful in the United States, debuting at number one on the ''Billboard'' 200, selling 106,000 copies in its first week, becoming her first album to top the Billboard charts. Elsewhere, it reached the top-ten in four countries, while failing to replicate the success of her debut album in other territories. The album produced two singles. The first single, " Fallin' for You", was released on June 29, 2009 and was a success on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, reaching number twelve, while also finding success on the Adult radio. Elsewhere, it was a moderate hit. The second single, " I Never Told You", was released on February 16, 2010, and found similar success on the Adult charts, while being more moderate on the Billboard Hot 100. To promote the record, Caillat embarked on her Breakthrough World Tour (2009-2010).


Background and production

After the success of her debut album, ''
Coco Coco or variants may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Coco'' (2009 film), a French comedy film * ''Coco'' (2017 film), an American animated fantasy film * '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle'' (), a 2020 Japanese anime film ...
'' (2007), which sold over five million copies worldwide and spawned her biggest hit, " Bubbly", Caillat went on tour for two years to promote the record. At the end of the album's promotion and the tour, Caillat went home and realized she had to find herself again. According to herself, "It requires a lot of discipline to open yourself up to new influences and break the chains around you creatively. I must say this process has been the greatest learning experience for me. It's so great to be working and writing in new ways, with old friends and new." At first, she recorded a few tracks with her dad and producer Ken Caillat, however her label wasn't thrilled with the outcome and wanted new producers to rework the tracks. In November 2008, she went to the studio for the first time with songwriter and record producer
Rick Nowels Richard Wright Nowels Jr. (born March 16, 1954) is an American songwriter and record producer. He has co-written and co-produced over 90 hit singles with multiple artists, In early 2009, to achieve her desired sound, Caillat set up a "writing camp" in
Kauai Kauai (), anglicized as Kauai ( or ), is one of the main Hawaiian Islands. It has an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), making it the fourth-largest of the islands and the 21st-largest island in the United States. Kauai lies 73 m ...
's Hanalei Bay in
Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...
and invited such colleagues as Jason Reeves and Mikal Blue, who co-produced her first album, ''Coco'', as well as experimented working with new songwriters and producers such as Kara Dioguardi,
John Shanks John Matthew Shanks (born December 18, 1964) is an American songwriter, record producer and guitarist. He has been a longtime session and touring member of the rock band Bon Jovi. Early life and education Shanks was born in New York City and m ...
and
Greg Wells William Gregory Wells (born 1968) is a Canadian record producer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and mix engineer. He has worked with Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Quincy Jones, J*Davey, Burt Bacharach, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Missy Elliott, ...
. According to the singer, "We'd go out boogie-boarding and then come back and write songs. ..We just wanted to be inspired by everything." In total, Caillat worked with them in over 40 songs between 2008 and 2009.


Themes and inspiration

''Breakthrough'' was defined as an album about growing up, experiencing life, love, making mistakes and learning from them, with particular emphasis on love and making mistakes, with "most of the mistakes Caillat chronicles have to do with matters of the heart", as noted by Plugged In (publication)'s Adam R. Holz. Caillat stated that she "wanted to make music that people could listen to while driving on a long road trip, while dancing at a party with friends, while laying out at the beach or sitting at their desk at work. I wanted to give people songs that they could fall in love to, lay down & cry to, songs & stories that they can relate to so they feel like they aren't the only ones going through whatever it is they are going through in life. Music is for you to listen to & forget about your worries. These songs can mean whatever you want them to mean, they are now yours." She further elaborated over the album's themes and the inspiration behind it, explaining:
"I recently learned something about myself. For a lot of us, when life gets hard to deal with & keep up with, it becomes easier to give up on & let go of. I found myself doing that a lot & I was slowly falling apart. But...I woke up from it. I realized I wasn't happy settling for less or letting myself become someone I wasn't supposed to be due to laziness. I had to Breakthrough my fears, my insecurities & my self doubt. There are so many battles that we all have to go through in life that are for us to learn from, we grow stronger from them. I just learned this. I want to remind myself & everyone out there that we have to Breakthrough all the little things we tell ourselves we can't do because we are scared, & just step up & do them. This record is about becoming the person you want to be, having will power & letting nothing hold you back. So try not to let great things pass you by, start making things happen that you really want in life!."


Composition and lyrical content

Most songs present on ''Breakthrough'' "delves into the details of romance gone awry", featuring some songs about breaking up and why "lasting love seems so elusive". On the album's first song, "I Won't", which was considered "a crisp, breathy tune that emphasizes her nuanced style," Caillat refuses to take an ex's advice to forget him, singing: "I don't wanna pretend you're not my lover." The second track, "Begin Again", "pines for a second chance when Colbie realizes in retrospect how good a relationship actually was." The song's chorus introduces some vocal syncopation and vulnerability. "You Got Me" and " Fallin' for You" were considered "innocent love songs" that "capture the breathless first blush of infatuation", with the former featuring quirky organ rhythm and a "string-laden lush pop chorus that adds horns the second time around" and the latter has a midtempo gently rocking beat. "Rainbow" has "gospel tinges near the end" with some "understated backing vocals". "Droplets" and "Runnin' Around" finds Caillat getting
cold feet ''Cold Feet'' is a British comedy-drama television series produced by Granada Television for the ITV (TV network), ITV network. The series was created and principally written by Mike Bullen as a follow-up to his 1997 Comedy Premieres, Comedy ...
, with the former being a duet with Jason Reeves and the latter having an "airy ' Everybody Wants to Rule the World' vibe." In " I Never Told You", the lyrical content is about a woman's confession of how deeply she felt for a guy who left her—words she apparently never spoke, with the singer lamenting: "I never told you/What I should have said... Now I miss everything about you". "Fearless" has an electronic beat and finds the singer "clinging to her self-respect as a former overwalks away, while "It Stops Today" "focuses on intentionally facing our deepest hurts." The final track on the standard edition, "Breakin' at the Cracks" was considered "the most mournfully earnest song here, as herepeatedly pleads, 'I need you back'."


Promotion

To promote the album, Caillat performed on
The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien ''The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fifth installment of ''The Tonight Show'', hosted by Conan O'Brien. It aired from June 1, 2009, to January 22, 2010, succeeding ''The ...
and
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during the week of the album's release. Caillat performed the album's first single "Fallin' for You" in many television shows, as well as a set on '' CNN.com Live'' and
Walmart Soundcheck Walmart Soundcheck was a series of musical performances and interviews released exclusively by Walmart, starting in 2006. Each recording consisted of a four-to-six-song set performed live, plus an interview, and was released as a digital album as ...
. She also performed "I Never Told You", the album's second single, on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Several songs from the album were featured on many
TV series A television show, TV program (), or simply a TV show, is the general reference to any content produced for viewing on a television set that is broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, and cable, or distributed digitally on streaming platf ...
and
film soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured ...
s. "You Got Me" was featured on the films ''
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'' (2010) and '' Letters to Juliet'' (2010), and also on the TV series ''
Melrose Place ''Melrose Place'' is an American prime-time television soap opera that aired on Fox from July 8, 1992, to May 24, 1999, for seven seasons. The show follows the lives of a group of young adults living in an apartment complex in West Hollywood, ...
'', while "I Won't" was featured on the TV series '' One Tree Hill'' and ''
Pretty Little Liars ''Pretty Little Liars'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery teen drama television series created by I. Marlene King, which aired on Freeform (TV channel), Freeform from June 8, 2010 to June 27, 2017, based on the novel series Pretty Little L ...
''. "Don't Hold Me Down" was featured in the film ''
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'' (2010), while the instrumental of "Begin Again" was used on the TV series ''
Life Unexpected ''Life Unexpected'' is an American teen drama television series that aired for two seasons from January 18, 2010 to January 18, 2011. It was produced by Best Day Ever Productions and Mojo Films in association with CBS Productions and Warner Bro ...
''. Meanwhile, "Fallin' For You" was on the soundtrack of the film ''
The Back-Up Plan ''The Back-up Plan'' (previously known as ''Plan B'') is a 2010 American romantic comedy film directed by Alan Poul, starring Jennifer Lopez, Alex O'Loughlin, Eric Christian Olsen, Anthony Anderson and Linda Lavin.Siegel, Tatiana, and Michael ...
'' (2010) and of the Brazilian telenovela '' Viver a Vida'' and was also featured on the TV series ''
Ghost Whisperer ''Ghost Whisperer'' is an American supernatural television series, which ran on CBS from September 23, 2005, to May 21, 2010. The series follows the life of Melinda Gordon ( Jennifer Love Hewitt), who has the ability to see and communicate w ...
'', while "I Never Told You" was also featured on the series ''Pretty Little Liars''. To further promote the album, Caillat embarked on the Breakthrough World Tour starting September 17, 2009 and ending in 2010.


Singles

The album's lead-single " Fallin' for You" was released on June 29, 2009. The "lilting" mid-tempo ballad "features an instantly catchy chorus and toe tapping melody," as defined by Melinda Newman of
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. It achieved chart success in the United States, reaching number twelve on the
Billboard Hot 100 The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), ...
, her second highest charting single and her highest debut with 118,000 first-week downloads, spending fourteen weeks at number two on the
Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...
and topping 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 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
chart. Elsewhere, it reached the top-twenty in four other countries and top-forty in the remaining territories. Initially, "Begin Again" and "You Got Me" were under consideration to be the album's second single, however " I Never Told You" was released instead on February 16, 2010. It reached number forty-eight on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and was more successful on the Adult Pop Songs, where it peaked at number three, and on the Adult Contemporary, reaching number eleven. "Fearless" was Caillat's personal choice for the third single, however it was never released.


Critical reception

''Breakthrough'' received mixed to average reviews from contemporary music 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 normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album 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 57 based on eight reviews. In a positive review, Michael Lello of
PopMatters ''PopMatters'' is an international online magazine of cultural criticism that covers aspects of popular culture. ''PopMatters'' publishes reviews, interviews, and essays on cultural products and expressions in areas such as music, television, ...
noted that on the album Caillat "wisely builds upon her strengths— the aforementioned disciplined singing approach and girly topics— rather than enter drastic new territory." He praised the album's consistency and its producers, which according to him, "results in a richly textured album, not just a collection of radio-baiting singles, that retains the performer's personality." Monica Herrera wrote for ''
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'' that the album is "warm and inviting", however noted that it "never quite lives up to its title, but highlighted the song "Fearless" for diverging from the formula and offering "delightful relief" and "a taste of what could be if the singer were to dig deeper."
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
Stephen Thomas Erlewine Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
gave a favorable review for the album and a three-out-of-five-stars rating, noting that it "isn't meant to catapult Caillat into a mainstream that already knows her, but to consolidate her success," calling it "a creation that's slicker and sleeker than the debut, but fortunately, it's not quite at the expense of Caillat's simple charms." Bill Lamb, in his review for
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, was in agreement with Herrera and Erlewine, declaring that the title "may be a bit confusing to some listeners. It seems to carry the connotation of reaching in a new direction or depicting a new level of achievement for the artist. Instead ..th album seems primarily an effort to consolidate Colbie Caillat's existing fan base." Lamb however noted that the album is "a little slicker, a little more polished" than its predecessor and the "final result is remarkably slick, cohesive and similar sounding, but that isn't always a great thing." Jim Farber of ''
New York Daily News The ''Daily News'' is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, New Jersey. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson in New York City as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in Tabloid (newspaper format ...
'' noted that "Caillat's sweet old-fashioned melodies are no 'Breakthrough,' but second album still charms." '' Q'' magazine called it " rdly essential, but brimming with late summery charms," while Trey Spencer of Sputnikmusic was more positive, writing that "Colbie’s soothing vocals, the warm sound of the music, and the memorable choruses are all well worth listening to this for when the mood for something easy hits you." Spencer also praised the songs that "feel more developed than anything from her past." The album also received mixed reviews. While noting that Caillat has a fine voice and that she can write hooks, Jody Rosen of ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known fo ...
'' was critical of Caillat's "lovelorn" persona, opining that she "fails to convince as a romantic heroine." Though being critical with Caillat's songwriting skills, Sal Cinquemani of
Slant Magazine ''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...
considered the album "a marginal improvement over her debut, Coco. At the very least, there’s nothing as stomach-turning as ' Bubbly' here, so by that measure, the album lives up to its title." In contrast, ''Breakthrough'' was nominated for a
Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album The Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality vocal pop music albums. Awards in several ...
at the 52nd edition, becoming her first nomination in the category.


Commercial performance

''Breakthrough'' debuted at number-one on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, with first-week sales of 106,000 copies, becoming her first album to debut at the top and an improvement of the first week sales of her debut album ''Coco'' (2007), which started at number five with only 51,000 copies. It was also
Universal Music Group Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Netherlands, Dutch–United States, American multinational Music industry, music corporation under Law of the Netherlands, ...
's sixth consecutive number-one album to debut at the top. It was later certified gold by the
Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...
(RIAA). In Canada, the album debuted at number five, becoming her first album to debut at the top-ten and her highest also. It was also her first and only album so far to reach the top-ten in Austria, Germany and Switzerland.


Track listing


Charts


Weekly charts


Year-end charts


Sales and certifications


Release history


References

{{Authority control 2009 albums Colbie Caillat albums Albums produced by Greg Wells Albums produced by John Shanks Albums produced by Ken Caillat Albums produced by Rick Nowels Universal Republic Records albums