Piece by Piece (Kelly Clarkson album)

Sia (pictured) co-wrote both the first song and the last track recorded for Piece by Piece, the former being co-written with Greg Kurstin, while the latter being co-written with Jesse Shatkin.[2][3]

In 2013, Clarkson released her first Christmas album, Wrapped in Red, which to her represented a beginning for a second phase for her career.[4] In the midst of recording it, she also collaborated with recording artists Robbie Williams, Martina McBride and Trisha Yearwood in their respective albums Swings Both Ways (2013), Everlasting (2014) and PrizeFighter: Hit After Hit (2014).[5][6] In an interview with Billboard magazine, she announced intentions to release a set of pop and country records, as well as a potential Broadway album, as a follow-up to Wrapped in Red.[4] RCA Records chief executive Peter Edge also revealed in their 2014 mid-year assessment that they were in a process of finding new music and directions for some of their established acts – primarily with Clarkson.[7] Early stages of development for a follow-up studio album began as early as June 2012, with Clarkson commissioning Rodney Jerkins in recording a potential track.[8] She remarked: "We're already working. I'm constantly like that because you never know when you're going to find a song and so we're always working on the next thing."[8] The follow-up album would complete the terms of her recording contract with RCA Records and 19 Recordings, which was signed following her win on the first season of the television competition American Idol in 2002.[3]

Recording sessions for Piece by Piece began while Clarkson was in the midst of the 2013 Honda Civic Tour with Maroon 5 and continuing on while being pregnant with her first child.[9] During its production, Clarkson had amassed over twenty songs for her to record.[10] Some of the production team behind Wrapped in Red also returned on Piece by Piece. They were led by Greg Kurstin, whom Clarkson had first commissioned for Stronger.[11] Jesse Shatkin, who had first worked as an engineer under Kurstin on Clarkson's last two studio albums, revealed that he had produced a couple tracks on the record. He described the transition into a more creative role as "especially poignant".[12] Sia, who was also a frequent collaborator of Kurstin and Shatkin, announced intentions to submit recording material to Clarkson.[13] Joseph Trapanese, who conducted arrangements in Wrapped in Red, later confirmed that he had finished arranging and recording five of the album's songs with a full philharmonic orchestra.[14]

In January 2015 Clarkson shared excerpts of lyrics of nine songs from the album on her website.[34] From February 23, 2015 to February 27, 2015, RCA released "Invincible", "Piece by Piece", "Run Run Run", "Take You High", and "Someone" as promotional singles.[16] Clarkson commented on the campaign: "I can't remember who came up with it, but it's the most genius idea. The album as a whole, it's such a singles world, it's nice to have some way of building anticipation around the full album. It's just nice that they're getting to hear a little bit of the whole record, and then they can make an assessment of the album not based on just one single."[16] From February 26, 2015 to March 2, 2015, RCA, The Hershey Company, and Viacom Media Networks launched a campaign to premiere the tracks "Let Your Tears Fall", "Tightrope", "War Paint", "Dance with Me", and "Good Goes the Bye" on Viacom's music channels MTV, VH1, and CMT.[35]

On the eve of its street date, Piece by Piece was prefaced by an album release party at the iHeartRadio Theater in New York City, a part of which was also simulcasted live on all iHeartRadio adult contemporary and contemporary hit radio stations across the United States.[36] Clarkson also performed "Heartbeat Song" in live televised performances, debuting it on the television program The Graham Norton Show on February 20, 2015,[37] and continuing with the programs Loose Women, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on March 2, 2015,[38][39] and on Good Morning America on March 3, 2015.[40] During her appearance on Good Morning America, Clarkson announced the first thirty-eight tour dates of her Piece by Piece Tour to support the album, which would begin in Hershey, Pennsylvania on July 11, 2015.[41]

Clarkson performing on the Piece by Piece Tour in Austin, Texas in 2015.

Piece by Piece was first released in Europe and Oceania on February 27, 2015 by RCA Records through its parent company Sony Music Entertainment.[50] On March 3, 2015 it was released in the Americas by RCA and 19 Recordings.[1][51] That same day, a limited edition box set was released, containing a deluxe edition of the album and a 17-piece lyric card puzzle housed in a customized holographic foil stamped box to correspond to each track.[52] An exclusive pre-sale ticket code for a concert tour supporting the album was also hidden in each box set.[52] A double LP pressing of the record followed the CD release on March 24, 2015.[53] To coincide with the album's first anniversary of release, RCA digitally reissued the deluxe edition of Piece by Piece on March 4, 2016, now containing the "Idol version" of the title track.[54]

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	63/100[55]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[56]
Billboard	[57]
The Guardian	[58]
Idolator	[59]
New York Daily News	[60]
Newsday	B[61]
The Observer	[18]
PopMatters	[62]
Rolling Stone	[63]
Slant Magazine	[19]

Piece by Piece has received a fairly positive response from music critics, who lauded Clarkson's vocal performances, but were also overwhelmed by the album's production and excessive midtempo anthems. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 63, based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[55] AllMusic's senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine gave the record a three star rating, writing that "instead of consolidating the assured mature pop of Stronger, the album piles on EDM affectations and finds her singing cuts co-written by successful contemporary pop hit-makers as she enters the second phase of her career."[56] Despite praising her vocal performance as "[powerful] as ever", Erlewine lamented that the record's emphasis on sound (instead of song) tended to submerge Clarkson at times, also noting her receding songwriting presence on the album.[56] Nevertheless, he lauded the tracks "Let Your Tears Fall", "Good Goes the Bye", "Nostalgic", and the title track as giving a right balance of Clarkson's "indomitable character" and the album's fresh electronic beats.[56] Alexa Camp of Slant Magazine also gave it a similar rating, citing that "the welcomed imperfections apparent in Clarkson's voice on Wrapped in Red have sadly been spit-polished away in Piece by Piece."[19] She observed that the tight and shiny execution, as found in "Heartbeat Song", was the album's biggest flaw. In addition, noting its retro cover art and occasional nods to '80s power pop, Camp venerated the tracks "Invincible", saying that "if anyone could do justice to a Sia-penned power ballad, it's the American Idol champ", and "Take You High", which she described as "chopped up to an exhilarating, operatic effect".[19] The New York Post gave the record a two-and-a-half star rating, saying: "Trying to keep up with the kids has been the undoing of many 30-something pop stars, but on her seventh album, Clarkson maintains her dignity as she dips her toe into dance music."[20] Idolator's Jonathan Riggs gave it a three-and-a-half star review, stating that overall "Piece by Piece is good, of course – like a familiar suburban chain restaurant, a Clarkson album always delivers comfortably and consistently – but here the more basic cuts pale in comparison to several remarkable tracks that hopefully point to a deepening in her songcraft."[59]

Reviewing for Billboard, Jamieson Cox gave the album a three-and-a-half star review, writing that "Clarkson has largely abandoned the spiky pop rock in favor of fluffy midtempo arrangements and swollen ballads, resulting to some drab moments."[57] Cox added, however, that "when Clarkson forges a real emotional connection – like on the raw, personal title track— the album transcends the hammier, more hackneyed moments in between."[57] The Guardian's Caroline Sullivan gave Piece by Piece a three star rating, praising Clarkson's voice as a reminder that "her amiable, Texas-girl exterior encases one of pop's most forceful voices, despite her Mariah-like ability to deliver songs with maximum melismatic drama shows itself less often this time around."[58] While reviewing The Guardian's sister paper The Observer, features editor Michael Cragg gave the album a four star rating, describing it as "loaded with laser-guided, heartfelt pop music."[18] He also commended the record's "chinks of experimentation; the Phoenix-esque "Nostalgic", the pulsating urgency of "Dance with Me" [...] "Invincible", co-written by Sia, bolts Clarkson's pin-sharp vocal on to a billowing, chest-clenching backdrop, while the title track picks over broken relationships with typical candour."[18] Reviewing for PopMatters, Colin McGuire gave the album a seven out of ten grade, saying that "Piece by Piece showcases a brand new Clarkson all the while staying true to what makes her an artist that continually finds ways to churn out really good pop records."[62] Instilling to remember that Clarkson was now a mother and a wife, McGuire remarked that "she applies a more perspective on life and a knowledge in a way that makes her appear fresh again."[62]

Writing for Time, Katherine St. Asaph praised Clarkson's voice as having "some of the best pipes in pop", but lamented the album's gamut of midtempo arrangements. Praising the tracks "Take You High", "Bad Reputation", and "Run Run Run", she described that "at its best, Piece by Piece sounds like a victory lap from an artist who's earned about five; but at its worst, it evokes the umpteenth hour of an American Idol finale with no victory in sight."[64] Jon Pareles of The New York Times also gave a similar appraisal for Clarkson's voice, saying that "it can sail through just about any arrangement: rock, ballad, arena-country and, most often at the moment, anthems pumped with dance beats." He also observed the album's music as a "huge and glossy, technical tour de force", but woed that "every song aims for the monumental – a strategy that's competitive for radio play but wearying over the course of a whole album."[23] Sarah Rodman of The Boston Globe expressed her agreement with the same sentiment, saying that "the cumulative effect of all that bigness can be wearing by the album's end."[65] She further added that "the swelling strings, shimmering synths, and soaring vocals make almost all of the record's songs sound as if they are on a feverish quest for that grandiose final scene of a romantic drama to score before the credits start rolling."[65] Newsday's Glenn Gamboa gave Piece by Piece a "B" rating, remarking that "Clarkson's successful home life seems to have quenched much of the fire that fueled her previous successes, resulting [in] a much calmer, less excited Clarkson."[61] He also added that "if that's the new plateau she is reaching for, it will be well worth it," saying that "she often comes up a little short on Piece by Piece, offering good, but not great."[61]

Reviewing for Rolling Stone, Chuck Arnold gave Piece by Piece a three star rating, lauding Clarkson's homage to 80s pop music, saying that "when Clarkson hits that money note toward the end, big hair wins again".[63] Giving the album a "C", from The A.V. Club, Annie Zaleski wrote in her review that, for Clarkson, "the album's music doesn't play to her strengths,"[17] further adding that "the record could also stand to be a little less conventional, especially since Clarkson is the rare pop star who sounds most comfortable when she's not playing it safe."[17] Praising the songs "Nostalgic" and "Take You High", Zaleski wrote that "Piece By Piece sounds energized during these looser moments", saying "it's hard to shake the feeling the album would've been far better had it taken a few more risks".[17] Jim Farber of the New York Daily News gave the record a two star rating; despite praising Clarkson's voice, he expressed despondency that "the album doubles-down on Stronger's over-heated production," remarking that "Piece By Piece piles on the gloss and glop. It's a fat sounding recording that fights with, rather than enhances, Clarkson's to-the-rafters vocals."[60]

Prior to its release in the United States, music commercial analysts predicted that the album would likely sell at least 90,000 album equivalent units in its first week of release in the region.[66] Opening with 83,000 copies of traditional album sales, Piece by Piece debuted at the top of the Billboard 200 chart with 97,000 album-equivalent units, which included track equivalent albums and streaming equivalent albums.[67] It was her first Billboard 200 number one album in six years, since All I Ever Wanted (2009), and her third overall.[67] A year after its release, the album rocketed back into the Billboard 200's top 10, blasting from position No. 120 to No. 6 with 44,000 album-equivalent units. That marked the first time the album was in the albums chart's top 10 since its No. 1 debut on the ranking the week ending March 21, 2015. The resurgence resulted from the renewed streams and sales of the album's title track after Clarkson gave a well-received emotional performance of the song on the 15th season of American Idol. The 114-position leap on the Billboard 200 chart was the largest positional jump into the top 10 in five years.[68]

As of September 2017, the album has sold over 284,000 copies in the United States.[69]

Internationally, the album debuted on the top ten of both the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and the Irish IRMA Artist Albums Chart. The album also reached the top twenty of the Dutch Mega Album Top 100 chart as well as on the Official New Zealand Albums Chart.[70] In the United Kingdom, the album debuted on the Official UK Albums Chart at number six with over 14,000 units, making it Clarkson's fifth top ten album and her first there since Stronger (2011).[71][72]

Piece by Piece fulfilled the recording contract Clarkson had signed as part of winning American Idol's first season in 2002 with 19 Recordings and RCA Records, making her a free agent and the first American Idol contestant to successfully complete the feat.[73] In a report published by Billboard, it was stated that Clarkson was currently in early stages to directly sign a contract with RCA in contrast to her previous arrangement where 19 Recordings kept phonographic rights licensed to RCA.[73] Despite RCA's advantage, Billboard argued that the Big Machine Label Group could be a serious contender following Clarkson's history with Clive Davis, RCA's former chief executive and Sony's current chief creative officer.[73] Billboard also reported that Piece by Piece's debut at the top of the Billboard 200 earned Clarkson a leverage, with one prominent talent manager saying: "That's a good time to mention you're a free agent, when you have a No. 1 album."[73] Music industry analysts also divulged that compared to her previous contract with a US $500,000 (US $813,506 adjusted for inflation) advance per album, Clarkson could receive up to US$1–3 million advance per album in a new term.[73] However, Clarkson's manager, Narvel Blackstock, asserted that the probability of Clarkson re-signing with RCA was too soon to tell.[73] In an interview with Billboard, RCA executives Peter Edge and Tom Corson stated that Clarkson had entered negotiations for directly signing a multi-album record contract with RCA.[74] However, on June 24, 2016, Clarkson announced she had signed a long-term worldwide deal with Atlantic Records.

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a vocal producer
• ^{^[b]} signifies an additional producer

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.[33]

Vocals

• Kelly Clarkson – all vocals, lead vocals
• Sia Furler – backing vocals
• Nicole Hurst – backing vocals
• John Legend – lead vocals
• Fred Martin and The Levite Camp – backing vocals (7)
• Shane McAnally – additional backing vocals
• Maren Morris – additional backing vocals

Musicians

Production

Technical

Studios

• Los Angeles, California (EastWest Studios, Echo Studio, The Rib Cage)
• Nashville, Tennessee (The Attic, The Dressing Room, The Listening Station, Ocean Way Recording, Starstruck Studios, Sub-Level 03 Studios)
• New York City (Germano Studios)
• Mixed at MixStar Studios (Virginia Beach, Virginia).
• Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City, New York).

• Greg Kurstin production discography
• List of Billboard 200 number-one albums of 2015

• Murray, Nick (March 3, 2015). "Kelly Clarkson Talks 'Since U Been Gone,' Going Country and Upbeat New LP". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
• Wood, Michael (March 3, 2015). "Q&A: Kelly Clarkson offers up a 'Piece' of her mind". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on March 5, 2015. Retrieved March 5, 2015.
• McIntyre, Hugh (March 4, 2015). "Kelly Clarkson Is Back To Pop, And She's Doing It Her Way". Forbes. Archived from the original on March 6, 2015. Retrieved March 6, 2015.

• Official website