''Unpredictable'' is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter and actor

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

. It was released on December 20, 2005, by

J Records J Records was an American record label owned and operated by Bertelsmann Music Group until it was transferred to Sony Music Entertainment when they acquired all of BMG's record labels in late 2008 at the end of their merger. It was distribut ...

. The album was supported by four singles: "

Extravaganza An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of Victorian burlesque, and pantomime, in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. The term is derived from th ...

" featuring

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

, the

title track A title track is a song that has the same name as the album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-t ...

featuring

Ludacris Christopher Brian Bridges (born September 11, 1977), known professionally as Ludacris (, spoken as "ludicrous" in American English), is an American rapper and songwriter. Born in Champaign, Illinois, Ludacris moved to Atlanta, Georgia, at age ...

, " DJ Play a Love Song" featuring

Twista Carl Terrell Mitchell (born November 27, 1973), better known by his stage name Twista (also known as Tung Twista), is an American rapper. He is best known for his Chopper (rap), chopper style of rapping and for once holding the title of fastest ...

, and "Can I Take U Home". Upon its release, ''Unpredictable'' received generally mixed reviews from music critics, who were ambivalent towards its lyrical content and production. The album debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 597,000 copies in its first week and has since peaked at number one on the chart. The album was certified

double platinum Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music Sound recording and reproduction, recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video ...

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).

Recording

Recording sessions took place from 2004 to 2005, with the Record production that was provided by

Timbaland Timothy Zachery Mosley (born March 10, 1972), known professionally as Timbaland, is an American record producer and rapper. Born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia, he is widely acclaimed for his distinctive production work and "stuttering" rhythm ...

Mike City Michael Flowers, known professionally as Mike City (born December 2, 1970), is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. He is best known for producing the singles " I Wish" for Carl Thomas, " Heard It All Before" for Sunshine Ande ...

Sean Garrett Garrett Robin Hamler (born March 30, 1979), known professionally as Sean Garrett, is an American record producer and songwriter. He is known his songwriting work on a series of commercially successful R&B and hip-hop songs, beginning with Ush ...

and

Jim Jonsin James Gregory Scheffer (born June 8, 1970), known professionally as Jim Jonsin, is an American record producer and songwriter from South Florida. He has produced for numerous musical artists, including Beyoncé, Kelly Rowland, Usher, Lil Wayn ...

, among others. The album serves as a follow-up to the release of '' Peep This'' (1994), making it his first studio release in eleven years.

Critical reception

''Unpredictable'' received polarized reviews from 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 critics, the album received an average score of 52, which indicates "mixed or average reviews", based on 16 reviews. *''E! Online'' – 7.5 out of 10 -"Whether he makes it all work via his musical skills or chameleonic acting ability, we don't know, but it does work." *''

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 ...

'' – 6 out of 10 – "When the album works, it's because of Foxx's easy charm and A-list confidence." *'' Paste''- 3 out of 10 – "It's better to be the imitation Ray Charles than the poor man's R. Kelly." *''Q'' magazine – 4 out of 10 – "The voice that set such a spark to West's Gold Digger should be capable of more than this exaggerated comedy sex routine." *Alex Petridis of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' was also not impressed with the album, saying: "''Unpredictable'' resembles another legendary thespian's venture into pop,

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1966 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

's 1968 opus '' The Transformed Man'', in that you start to wonder whether Foxx is actually serious or not."

Commercial performance

''Unpredictable'' debuted at number two on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart, selling 597,000 copies in its first week. The album debuted behind

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, actress, and entrepreneur. Often referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Qu ...

's The Breakthrough album. In its second week, the album climbed to number one on the chart, selling an additional 200,000 copies. Foxx became the fourth

Academy Award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winning actor with a number-one album on the US ''Billboard'' 200 chart. In its third week, the album remained at number one on the chart, selling 131,000 more copies. In its fourth week, the album remained at number one on the chart, selling 103,000 copies. On March 24, 2006, the album was certified

by the

(RIAA) for sales of over two million copies in the United States.

Track listing

Sample credits * "Three Letter Word" contains a sample from "Kari", written and performed by

Earl Klugh Earl Klugh ( ; born September 16, 1953) is an American acoustic guitarist and composer. He has won one Grammy Award and received 13 nominations. Biography At the age of six, Klugh commenced training on the piano until he switched to the guitar ...

. * "VIP" contains a sample from "Butterfly", written and performed by

Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

External links