''Heartland'' is the eighth studio album by American rapper
Nelly
Cornell Iral Haynes Jr. (born November 2, 1974), better known by his stage name Nelly, is an American rapper, singer, and actor. He grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and embarked on his musical career in 1993 as a member of the Midwest hip hop g ...
and his first album in eight years. It was released on August 27, 2021, via
. It features guest appearances from
Florida Georgia Line
Florida Georgia Line was an American country music duo founded in 2010 by vocalists and songwriters Tyler Hubbard of Georgia and Brian Kelley of Florida. Their 2012 debut single " Cruise" broke two major sales records: it was downloaded over ...
,
Blanco Brown,
Breland, Chris Bandi,
City Spud,
Darius Rucker
Darius Carlos Rucker (born May 13, 1966) is an American singer, musician, and songwriter. He first gained fame as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, which he founded in 1986 at the University of South Carol ...
,
George Birge,
Jimmie Allen and
Kane Brown
Kane Allen Brown (born October 21, 1993) is an American country music singer and songwriter. First garnering a mass following on social media, he released his debut extended play (EP) ''Closer (Kane Brown EP), Closer'' in June 2015, and followe ...
. The album peaked at number 45 on the US
''Billboard'' 200 and at number 37 in
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 ...
.
Promotion
On August 24, 2021, Nelly performed "High Horse" with Breland and Blanco Brown on ''
Jimmy Kimmel Live!
''Jimmy Kimmel Live!'', sometimes shortened to ''JKL'', is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, and broadcast on ABC. The nightly hour-long show tapes and is based out of the Hollywood Masonic Temple in Hollywo ...
''. On September 1, he performed "Lil Bit" with Florida Georgia Line on ''
CMT Crossroads
''CMT Crossroads'' is an American television program broadcast on CMT that pairs country music artists with musicians from other music genres such as alternative rock, pop, R&B, Rock, soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, ...
''.
Critical reception
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 ...
's
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 ...
critiqued that Nelly's lone solo track "5 Drinks Ago" seems to underscore how he fades in the background of his own album, but concluded that: "Nevertheless, the mini-album does precisely what it intended to do: it's a chill time, perfect for pop, country, or hip-hop playlists or anything in between."
Louis Pavlakos of ''
Exclaim!
''Exclaim!'' is a Canadian music and entertainment publisher based in Toronto, which features coverage of new music across all genres with a special focus on Canadian and emerging artists. The monthly ''Exclaim!'' print magazine publishes seven ...
'' felt that the record works best when it delivers "radio-friendly bangers ("High Horse")" and is a mixed bag when utilizing modern country music conventions, criticizing "Someone Somewhere" and "Follow Me" for their lackluster "uplifting nature" but praised "5 Drinks Ago" for Nelly's vulnerability and being able to deliver the genre on his own. He concluded that: "''Heartland'' probably won't make a mark outside of major cities in the U.S., but it's still Nelly's best album in over a decade, mainly because it takes risks he hadn't taken since his ''
Country Grammar
''Country Grammar'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and singer Nelly. It was released on June 27, 2000, by Universal Records. The production on the album was handled by Jason "Jay E" Epperson, with additional production by C-Lov ...
'' era. It may be far from perfect, but a reinvigorated Nelly is a welcome addition to an already stacked year in hip hop."
Commercial performance
In the United States, ''Heartland'' debuted at number 45 on the
''Billboard'' 200 with 13,000
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.
It serves as Nelly's first album to debut in the top-ten of 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 ...
, reaching number seven on the chart.
Track listing
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
References
2021 albums
Nelly albums
Columbia Records albums
Country rap albums
Albums produced by Jordan Schmidt
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