''Take Me Higher'' is the twenty-first studio album by American singer

Diana Ross Diana Ross (born Diane Ernestine Earle Ross March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Known as the "Queen of Motown Records", she was the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown#Major divisions, Motown's most suc ...

, released on September 5, 1995, by

Motown Records Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau ...

. Ross' first regular studio release in four years, following ''

The Force Behind the Power ''The Force Behind the Power'' is the nineteenth studio album by American singer Diana Ross, released on September 10, 1991, by Motown Records. The album reached No. 11 on the UK Albums chart and became the biggest selling studio album of her ...

'' (1991) and the holiday album '' A Very Special Season'' (1994), the album features work from urban producers such

Narada Michael Walden Narada Michael Walden ( ; Michael Walden; born April 23, 1952) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. He acquired the nickname Narada from Sri Chinmoy. He began his career as a drummer, working primarily in the jazz ...

, Mike Mani, Louis Biancaniello, Jon-John and the Babyface protégés, The Boom Brothers. The album peaked at number 10 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

and entered the top forty in Austria and Scotland as well as on the US

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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

. ''Take Me Higher'' yielded several singles, including the UK hits " Take Me Higher", "Gone" and Ross' dance cover of

Gloria Gaynor Gloria Fowles (born September 7, 1943), known professionally as Gloria Gaynor, is an American singer, best known for the disco era hits "I Will Survive" (1978), "I Have a Right, Let Me Know (I Have a Right)" (1979), "I Am What I Am (Broadway mus ...

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 ...

anthem "

I Will Survive "I Will Survive" is a song recorded by American singer Gloria Gaynor, released in October 1978 by Polydor Records as the second single from her sixth album, ''Love Tracks (Gloria Gaynor album), Love Tracks'' (1978). It was written by Freddie Pe ...

" (1978). Photographer Ruven Afanador shot the album cover and the fashion forward video shoot which Ross used for promotional purposes. He also shot the video compilation for the single, "Don't Stop".

Critical reception

In a retrospective review for

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 wrote that "combining the work of four separate producers who mostly tried to fit Ross into contemporary dance trends, the album did feature a club hit in the title song, while the ballad "Gone" made the Top 40 in the UK. But Ross herself seemed to have spent more time posing for the many fashion shots in the booklet than singing the pedestrian songs." ''

Vibe Vibe, alternatively '' vibes,'' is short for ''vibration''. A "vibe" is an emotional reaction to the aura or energy felt to belong to a person, place or thing. Vibe may also refer to: People * DJ Vibe (born 1968), Portuguese DJ * Lasse Vibe (b ...

'' critic Elysa Gardner found that ''Take Me Higher'' was "mired in excess. There are too many collaborators, too much synthetic production and heavy-handed sentiment ..the only palpable vision is a firm eye on the middle of the road."

Chart performance

In the United Kingdom, ''Take Me Higher'' debuted and peaked at number 10 on the

, becoming Ross' first top ten studio album since ''

'' (1976). Elsewhere, it entered the top forty in Austria and Scotland, reaching number 40 and number 37, respectively. In the United States, ''Take Me Higher'' underperformed, peaking at 114 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and number 38 on the US 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 Luminate. The chart debuted as Hot R&B LPs in the issue dated January 30, ...

, while selling a little over 100,000 copies.

Singles

Title track and lead single " Take Me Higher" became a hit on the dance charts, reaching number four on the UK Dance Singles, while topping the US

Dance Club Songs 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 ...

. Follow-up "Gone" became Ross' 54th top 40 entry in the UK, while "If You're Not Gonna Love Me Right" reached number 67 on the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

. "Voice of the Heart" peaked at number 28 on the US

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 ...

. "

," Ross' cover of the

song, reached number 14 in the UK Singles Chart. Her version got an extra boost from being played at a key scene in

Frank Oz Frank Richard Oznowicz (born May 25, 1944), known professionally as Frank Oz, is an American puppeteer, filmmaker and actor. He is best known for his involvement with Jim Henson and George Lucas through ''The Muppets'', ''Sesame Street'', and '' ...

's American comedy film, '' In & Out'' (1997). Ross also performed it during a "Take Me Higher" megamix at her acclaimed

Super Bowl XXX Super Bowl XXX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Dallas Cowboys and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Pittsburgh Steelers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion fo ...

Half-Time show as she was whisked away in a helicopter.

Track listing

Notes * signifies an associate producer * signifies an co-producer

Charts

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Motown albums Diana Ross albums Albums produced by Narada Michael Walden Hip-hop soul albums