''Not That Kind'' is the debut studio album by American singer
Anastacia
Anastacia Lyn Newkirk ( ; born September 17, 1968) is an American singer-songwriter. Her first two studio albums, '' Not That Kind'' (2000) and '' Freak of Nature'' (2001), achieved chart success with the singles " I'm Outta Love", " Not That Ki ...
. It was released on June 16, 2000, by
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
and
Daylight Records. The album features production by
Sam Watters,
Louis Biancaniello,
Ric Wake
Ric Wake is an Anglo-American record producer who has won two Grammy Awards. During his tenure as staff producer with Sony Music Entertainment, he has worked with vocalists such as Celine Dion, Whitney Houston, Lucero, CoCo Lee, Taylor D ...
,
Evan Rogers, Carl Sturken,
Rickey Minor, and The Shadowmen.
Bolstered by the global success of lead single "
I'm Outta Love", the album reached the top two and top five of the majority of the countries in Europe and Oceania, including Australia, Germany and the UK (all number two), also topping the charts in New Zealand and Norway. Anastacia embarked on a promotional album tour that visited multiple countries, while three more singles were being released: title track "
Not That Kind", "
Cowboys & Kisses" and "
Made for Lovin' You". The album eventually sold over five million copies worldwide.
Background
In 1998, Anastacia was unemployed after being fired from a
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
beauty salon for "being too loud."
Disappointed after years of bad luck in the music industry,
she was considering switching to a career in
child psychology
Developmental psychology is the scientific study of how and why humans grow, change, and adapt across the course of their lives. Originally concerned with infants and children, the field has expanded to include adolescence, adult development, ...
,
when Lisa Braude, who later became her manager, encouraged her to join the
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
talent show ''
The Cut'' (1998), hosted by rapper
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes.
Anastacia made her way to be one of the ten finalists, performing her own composition entitled "
Not That Kind". While the season was won by male-female rap duo Silk-E, Anastacia attracted the interest of record labels after appearing on the shows, having impressed singers
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...
and
Michael Jackson
Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Michael Jackson, one of the most culturally significan ...
as well as the show's judges
David Foster
David Walter Foster (born November 1, 1949) is a Canadian record producer, composer, arranger, and musician. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. His career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s befor ...
and
Faith Evans
Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 in pursuit of a recording career. Evans initially performed as ...
. In March 1999, she signed a contract with
Daylight Records, a custom label of
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...
's
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the American division of Japanese conglomerate Sony
is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), cong ...
and began work on her debut album.
[ ]
Promotion
"
I'm Outta Love" was released as the album's lead single on February 29, 2000.
It received acclaim from music critics, many of whom praised its production and Anastacia's vocal performance. A commercial success, it became the biggest-selling song of 2000 in both Australia and New Zealand and reached the top ten on most charts in appeared on.
In the United States, the song peaked at number 92 on the US
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and spent three weeks on the chart only, though it fared better on ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
''s
component charts, reaching number two on the
Hot Dance Club Play
The Dance Club Songs (also known as National Disco Action, Hot Dance/Disco Club Play, and Hot Dance Club Play) was a chart published weekly between 1976 and 2020 by ''Billboard'' magazine. It used club disc jockeys set lists to determine the mos ...
chart.
The song's music video, directed by
Nigel Dick
Nigel Dick (born 21 March 1953) is an English music video director and filmmaker. Originally from Catterick, North Yorkshire, he is based in Los Angeles, California.
He has directed music videos for artists such as Britney Spears, Toto, Ba ...
, was filmed on location at the
Park Plaza Hotel in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.
Title track "Not That Kind," originally performed by Anastacia on the
MTV
MTV (an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on ...
talent show ''
The Cut'' in 1998, was released as the album's second single on October 2, 2000. The song received positive reviews from critics, with many praising its
1980s
File:1980s replacement montage02.PNG, 335px, From left, clockwise: The first Space Shuttle, ''Space Shuttle Columbia, Columbia'', lifts off in 1981; US president Ronald Reagan and Soviet Union, Soviet General Secretary of the Communist Party of ...
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
elements.
It became a top hit in Italy, Scotland, and Spain and reached the top 20 on several further charts but failed to chart in the US.
In France, the "Not That Kind" was awarded a silver certification in 2003. Directed by
Marc Webb
Marc Preston Webb (born August 31, 1974) is an American filmmaker and music video director. He made his feature film directorial debut in 2009 with the romantic comedy '' (500) Days of Summer.'' He then directed ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' (2012 ...
, the music video for "Not That Kind" was shot in
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
and opens with Anastacia singing the song in a club.
The
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, ...
-flavoured
soft rock
Soft rock (also known as light rock or mellow rock) is a form of rock music that originated in the late 1960s in the United States and the United Kingdom which smoothed over the edges of singer-songwriter and pop rock, relying on simple, mel ...
tune "
Cowboys & Kisses" was issued as the album third single on January 22, 2001. It earned a mixed reception from music critics,
and became a moderate commercial success, peaking at number 17 on the
Scottish Singles Chart
The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...
, while also reaching the top thirty in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom as well as the top forty in Italy and Switzerland. Anastacia reteamed with Nigel Dick for the music video for "Cowboys & Kisses" which was filmed at the
Camarillo Airport in January 2001 and depicts her as a
cowgirl
A cowboy is an animal herder who tends cattle on ranches in North America, traditionally on horseback, and often performs a multitude of other ranch-related tasks. The historic American cowboy of the late 19th century arose from the ''vaquero'' ...
.
"
Made for Lovin' You" was released as the album's fourth and final single on June 25, 2001. The uptempo track received positive reviews,
and reached number five on the
Dutch Top 40 Tipparade. It also peaked at number 27 on both the
Scottish Singles Chart
The Scottish Albums Chart is a chart compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC) which is based on how physical and digital sales towards the UK Albums Chart fare in Scotland. The official singles chart for Scotland, the Scottish Singles Chart, ...
and the
UK Singles Chart. The music video for "Made for Lovin' You" consists of several live performances, particularly a montage with scenes from her appearance at the
Rock am Ring
The (German language, German for "Rock at the Ring") and ("Rock in the Park") festivals are two simultaneous rock music festivals held annually in Germany. While ''Rock am Ring'' takes place at the Nürburgring race track, ''Rock im Park'' tak ...
music festival in Germany in 2001.
Critical reception
Tricia Boey from
MTV Asia
MTV was a pan-Asian music pay television channel that was launched on 5 May 1995 as a standalone pay television service. The channel was owned by Paramount Networks EMEAA.
History Pre-launch
The first incarnation of MTV Asia was launched on ...
praised Anastacia for her voice which she described as "a
blue-eyed-soul version of
Tina Turner
Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939 – May 24, 2023) was a singer, songwriter, actress, and author. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", her vocal prowess, raspy voice, and electrifyin ...
or
Chaka Khan
Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan ( ), is an American singer. Known as the " Queen of Funk", her career has spanned more than five decades beginning in the early 1970s as the lead vocalist of ...
" but felt the material on ''Not That Kind'' was "unworthy of it". She called it a "collection of songs that relies on tried and tested
pop
Pop or POP may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Pop music, a musical genre
Artists
* POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade
* Pop! (British group), a UK pop group
* Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band
Album ...
tactics. But hey, this kind of material is fashionable these days and so this disc may very likely go on to sell billions of records. Too bad they couldn't have matched that stunning voice to more interesting material."
Similarly, Russell Baillie from ''
The New Zealand Herald
''The New Zealand Herald'' is a daily newspaper published in Auckland, New Zealand, owned by New Zealand Media and Entertainment, and considered a newspaper of record for New Zealand.
It has the largest newspaper circulation in New Zealand, ...
'' wrote: "While her accompanying multi-producer debut is quite a showcase for the white New Yorker's
..black,
soul
The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...
-scorch of a voice, it's not anything special in the song department. It doesn't lack for variety, though, managing almost-earthy retro soul-
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...
, a big
rock
Rock most often refers to:
* Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids
* Rock music, a genre of popular music
Rock or Rocks may also refer to:
Places United Kingdom
* Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...
ballad, too much overblown diva stuff and points in between. No doubt it will prove quite the career-starter, but musically it shows that maybe
Mariah divided by
Macy doesn't necessarily go."
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 William Ruhlmann rated the album four out of five stars. He noted that "Macy Gray demonstrated that a broad audience may respond to an older style if the singer herself is distinguished enough. Anastacia doesn't have the kind of unique timbre that Gray does – in fact, the minute she opens her mouth she starts reminding you of other singers, especially
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...
– but she is clearly a big talent, and that should count for something."
Chris Lorraine, writing for ''
Blender
A blender (sometimes called a mixer (from Latin ''mixus, the PPP of miscere eng. to Mix)'' or liquidiser in British English) is a kitchen and laboratory appliance used to mix, crush, purée or emulsify food and other substances. A stationary ...
'', found that "Anastacia's understated vocals give even the clichés of "Black Roses" some plain-spoken credibility. Her throaty voice evokes the anonymous
disco
Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...
-inflected divas of the late '70s, particularly on the
Chic
Chic (; ), meaning "stylish" or "smart", is an element of fashion. It was originally a French word.
Etymology
'' Chic'' is a French word, established in English since at least the 1870s. Early references in English dictionaries classified ...
-ish "I'm Outta Love." But if Anastacia's
alto
The musical term alto, meaning "high" in Italian (Latin: '' altus''), historically refers to the contrapuntal part higher than the tenor and its associated vocal range. In four-part voice leading alto is the second-highest part, sung in ch ...
should prove too conventional for megastardom, her debut suggests there are many more
syllable
A syllable is a basic unit of organization within a sequence of speech sounds, such as within a word, typically defined by linguists as a ''nucleus'' (most often a vowel) with optional sounds before or after that nucleus (''margins'', which are ...
s yet to be sung.
Track listing
Notes
* signifies an additional producer
* signifies a remixer
Sample credits
* "Don'tcha Wanna" contains portions of "
I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)
"I Believe (When I Fall in Love It Will Be Forever)" is a Soul music, soul song co-written and performed by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder and Yvonne Wright, for Wonder's fifteenth studio album, ''Talking Book'' (1972).
E'voke versio ...
" by
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...
.
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
See also
*
List of number-one albums from the 2000s (New Zealand)
References
{{Authority control
2000 debut albums
Albums produced by Louis Biancaniello
Albums produced by Ric Wake
Albums produced by Sam Watters
Anastacia albums
Daylight Records albums
Epic Records albums