Heartbreak on a Full Moon is an R&B and hip hop album that also borrows from genres such as alternative R&B, trap, pop and dancehall. Its lyrics are thought to have been inspired by Brown's breakup with Karrueche Tran. The album received polarizing reviews from music critics, that praised Brown's performances, but expressed divided opinions relating to the album's unorthodox length.[3]
Heartbreak on a Full Moon is credited with pioneering lengthier albums in the music streaming era, paving the way for urban artists, such as Drake, Kanye West and SZA, to make albums with over 20 songs.[5]
Background and recording
The album was inspired by the singer's breakup with actress Karrueche Tran in March 2015, after he had a daughter, Royalty, with another woman. Brown had dedicated his seventh studio album Royalty to his daughter, and decided that the next album would be about his breakup with Tran.[6]
Brown started recording tracks for Heartbreak on a Full Moon a few weeks before the release of Royalty in late 2015. He continued working on the album during 2016 and 2017 in between the European leg of the One Hell of a Nite Tour and The Party Tour. Brown also built a home recording studio to record songs for the album.[7][8][9] The recording sessions mostly took place in Los Angeles and New York City. One track, "Bite My Tongue", was left over from the sessions for Royalty.
Brown (left) and mixing engineer Patrizio Pigliapoco (right) in June 2016 working on the album
During the album's creation, Brown believed he had made too many songs to fit on a single album, so he decided to make a 40-track album.[2] He said in a 2017 interview with Nessa, that with Heartbreak on a Full Moon’s unorthodox length he wanted to "outdo expectations" and "push the boundaries on artistry".[10]RCA Records initially did not want to release an album of such length, thinking this would damage its commercial performance, but the singer ended up convincing them otherwise.[2] Brown involved over 50 producers, including A1, Amadeus, Prince Chrishan, Scott Storch, D.A. Got That Dope, Hitmaka and OG Parker, in the recording sessions.[11] Recording eventually ended in August 2017, with "Rock Your Body" being the last track completed.[2]
He explained the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for Complex, saying, "I thought Heartbreak on a Full Moon was a depiction of what my soul wanted to say. It's funny because we're doing a double album. I've done so many records, but all of the records, to me, are personal favorites and I feel like it gets what I want to say across."[12]
Speaking of Heartbreak on a Full Moon’s content, Brown said it's “about everything that I went through. Whether it be certain substance songs that I feel lack in our genre of music (...) I wanted to do songs with substance, R&B, Hip Hop. And you get every facet of who I am at this age. (...) With this album I wanted to capture all basis of who my audience liked. What songs they could actually identify with”.[13][14][15]
A sample of "This Ain't", where the singer expresses his desire to have a love relationship with a woman, but realizes their relationship consists of sex without love involvement.
Heartbreak on a Full Moon is an R&B album,[16] that also contains songs that borrow from genres such as hip hop, alternative R&B, trap, pop and dancehall.[17][18][19][20] Brown's performances on the album often switch from his R&B singing to his rapping.[19]
The songwriting of the album was noted for being "sentimental", "sultry", "personal" and "explicit",[16] showing every emotional aspect of what's been on the singer's mind after a heavy-hearted breakup.[19] Its themes include regret, love turning into hate, internal conflict and the impossibility of getting over someone, while depicting the singer's try to escape his sorrows through a reckless and promiscuous lifestyle, then realizing how that behaviour can't numb the pain of his heartbreak. According to Andy Kellman of AllMusic, the character portrayed by Brown on Heartbreak on a Full Moon "often mood swings from playboy-hedonistic to sweet-romantic to scorned-acidic to sorrowful-heartbroken".[20] Analyzing its lyrical content Prezzy of The Boombox said that "throughout the first disc the singer tries to exorcise the demons of love lost, while on the second one he mostly pours out the torments of his heartbreak".[16]Renowned for Sound stated that "The first disc is a hedonistic mix of moody and lascivious", while the second half of the album has a "somber feel", with the "break-up tracks" showing the singer's "emotional side".[21]Vulture's writer Craig Jenkins found the sexual content of various songs of the first half of Heartbreak on a Full Moon to be "loaded with raunchy invitations for sex" and filled with "X-rated" subjects like "sex in hallways, drunken hookups, and girls who mix cocaine and painkillers.[19] Jenkins wrote that the "breakup tracks' intensity" is elevated by "shattered, jilted reflection and profound yearning" transmitted through Brown's "pleading tenor voice".[19]
Songs
Heartbreak on a Full Moon starts with "Lost & Found", a song where the singer depicts the situation of a hurtful breakup in the making, being sung in perspective to the girl he's dealing with.[19] The song's production features slow chords of bass and guitar mixed with sporadic percussions. The crooner's vocals on the track showcase a melancholic intonation in the first verse, becoming more demanding and aggressive during the second verse, ending with an auto-tuned third verse where Brown raps.[17] According to HotNewHipHop, on the opening track “he waxes poetic about a femme fatal addicted to the high life [...] utilizing a lower register on the chorus”.[17] Throughout the album the lyrics depict the pain of the singer reflected on his thoughts and feelings, and how he tries to escape it with parties, sex and drugs.[19] The title track features Brown “lamenting his broken heart” over a “boom bap beat”.[17] On the hip hop-influenced songs "Everybody Knows" and "Hurt the Same", the singer “[mixes] venom with vulnerability”, accusing the woman he loved of being insensitive and ungrateful, making straightforward references to his relationship with Tran.[17] Brown “front-faces vulnerability” on the “regretful” songs "Enemy", "Tough Love" and "Even", apologizing to his ex-girlfriend for hurting her, sadly reminiscing the best moments passed together.[17] "Privacy", "To My Bed", "Covered In You", "Tell Me What to Do" and "Rock Your Body" feature sexual content, with the singer approaching women in sultry ways.[20]
"This Ain't" was described as a "quasi-ballad" showcasing the singer's “sensitive side”, with lyrics about Brown realizing that a woman treats their "lovin'" relationship as just physical.[17] "Sip", "Hope You Do", and "Pills & Automobiles" feature lyrics about having sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs.[19][22] On "Paradise", he pines for his ex-girlfriend, admitting he treated her wrong.[17] The last track of the album, "Yellow Tape", sees Brown lamenting about the strictures of fame.[20]
Artwork
The cover art for the album was announced on October 5, 2017.[23] It consists of a pink full moon in a starry night sky, with a graphic of a bleeding human heart on top of it.[23][24][25][26]
Ebbiana of The Source praised the cover for being "very creative".[27]Capital Xtra's Gayle Blewnsky said that the cover is "cartoon-esque".[28]ABC News's Randy Holmes commended its drawing style, saying that the "anatomically-correct heart looks as though it was just ripped out of someone's chest".[29]
Release and promotion
On January 10, 2016, Brown previewed 9 unreleased songs during a live on Periscope, and the song "Grass Ain't Greener" on Instagram.[30][31][32][33] From January through March 2016, he released videos on his Instagram profile previewing the unreleased songs "Lost and Found"[34] "Sip", "Notice" and "Dead Wrong".[35][36][37] In late February and March he performed some of the previewed songs live during his club performances in Barcelona and Madrid.[38] On April 27 through Twitter, he announced the European leg of his One Hell of a Nite Tour, the documentary Welcome to My Life, his collaborative mixtape with his OHB group, Before the Trap: Nights in Tarzana, and the release of a new single on May 5, the day of Brown's 27th birthday.[39][40][41] On May 3 he revealed that the single would be the already previewed "Grass Ain't Greener", announcing his eighth solo album Heartbreak on a Full Moon.[42][43]
Brown also released extra tracks on SoundCloud during this time. On July 7, 2016, he released two tracks, "My Friend" and "A Lot of Love", in the wake of the then-recent shooting in Dallas.[44][45] On August 31, 2016, less than 24 hours after being released from jail on charges of suspected assault with a deadly weapon, Brown released "What Would You Do?".[46]
From November 2016 through January 2017, he continued to preview unreleased material from the album sessions.[47] Finally, on December 16, 2016, he released the second official single from the album, "Party", which features guest vocals from Usher and Gucci Mane. In February he announced that "Privacy" would be the next single,[48] which was released on March 24, 2017.[49] Later in April he previewed the songs "Flex On You" and "I Love Her", playing them in some club appearances.[50]
The initial track listing of Heartbreak on a Full Moon was announced by Brown on his Instagram account on May 2, 2017, saying that it would be a double-disc album of 40 tracks, and that it would be released in June 2017.[51] On May 11, he released an additional SoundCloud track with rapper Nas called "Die Young".[52]
In the first days of June 2017, 46 unreleased songs by Chris Brown were leaked. The material consisted of discarded songs from his then-recent past works, few demos recorded by him for other artists, and some tracks recorded during the sessions for Heartbreak on a Full Moon, most of them were unfinished versions.[53][54] On June 7, 2017, during the red carpet interviews at the premiere of his own documentary, Welcome To My Life, Brown announced that the album's release date was postponed to mid-summer. That same month he continued previewing unreleased songs from the album sessions.[55]
In July 2017, he announced the pending release of upcoming singles from his album.[56] Later on August 4, 2017, he released the album's fourth single "Pills & Automobiles", which features guest vocals from Yo Gotti, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Kodak Black.[57] On August 14, 2017, he announced the release of the fifth official single, "Questions", and on August 16, he revealed the album's release date of October 31, 2017.[58] In the run up to the album's release, on October 5, 2017, Brown unveiled the official artwork on his Instagram profile, sharing a video with a visual of a blood-dripping human heart set against a pink full moon, with a snippet of the song "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" in the background.[23]
On October 13, 2017, Brown released the promotional single "High End", that features guest vocals from Future and Young Thug, and announced the final tracklist of the album.[59][60] On October 19, the singer released three songs from the album, "Confidence", "Tempo" and "Only 4 Me", as an anticipation for the close release.[61] On October 25, Brown organized with Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles of the album.[62] The following day, he released three more songs to anticipate the album, "Everybody Knows", "Hope You Do" and "Pull Up". A couple days before Heartbreak on a Full Moon’s release, Brown partnered with Spotify's Rap Caviar for a segment where he painted the album cover, mostly from dancing around the canvas.[63]
Heartbreak on a Full Moon was released digitally on October 31, 2017, and onto CD three days later by RCA Records.[17] On December 13, 2017, he released a 12-track deluxe edition called Cuffing Season – 12 Days of Christmas, containing songs left off the original album.[64][65]
The Boombox wrote positively of the album, defining it "an ambitious effort that finds the crooner conveying feelings of heartache and betrayal", with “Chris Brown [proving] himself to be an indefatigable vessel for artistry, making Heartbreak on a Full Moon a statement project that will go down among the most ambitious albums of its time”.[16]Qatar Tribune wrote that “Brown is man of many vibes, and though elements of his personality and style are more pronounced on one track versus another, it all sounds like him. And in the case of 'Heartbreak on a Full Moon', perhaps Brown's greatest feat is that he makes it all come together, and sound pretty good”.[69]The Jamaica Star said that “Chris Brown sure has some nerve, releasing a 45-song album when audience attention spans are notoriously short”, commending the album's musicality: “with Heartbreak on a Full Moon, Brown performs like a one-man streaming service, and he's got hits on every channel”.[70]Vibe listed it among the all-time "12 best hip-hop and R&B multi-disc albums".[71] Cultural critic and media personality Joe Budden defined Heartbreak on a Full Moon as the singer's best album.[72]
HotNewHipHop called the album "a unquestionable testament to the singer's dedication to his craft, a positive translation of his self-professed obsessive behavior".[17] Craig Jenkins of Vulture argued that "There’s actually a decent album hidden in Chris Brown’s bewildering Heartbreak on a Full Moon", and wrote that "the album's first disc mixes peppy, dirty sex jams with moody revenge anthems that engage some of Brown's most grating tendencies as a performer, while the second reckons more humbly with depression."[19] In a mixed review, HipHopDX writer Scott Glaysher stated: "There is no denying the technical flawlessness of his voice, but even those perfect pipes can't save the lifelessly formulaic songwriting."[68]AllMusic editor Andy Kellman said that "the stand-outs are enough to make for a 45-minute listen that surpasses his previous album, and clearing out the tracks on which Brown's tenor slips from pleading to whining makes it easier to reach them with convenience." Kellman rounded the review off stating that the album was "artistically conservative", and that "there's depth, though it does require sifting."[20]Renowned for Sound said: “At 2 hours 40 minutes, Chris Brown’s attempt at grandiosity winds up a bloated, mixed bag”.[73]
Commercial performance
Brown performing in a Las Vegas nightclub in July 2017
Despite being counted for only three days of digital and streaming sales, because of its release in the middle of the chart's tracking week, Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, becoming Brown's ninth consecutive top 10 album on the chart, after selling 25,000 copies and earning 68,000 album-equivalent units within three days.[74] In its second chart week, the album remained at number three on Billboard 200, with 20,000 copies and earning 73,000 album-equivalent units.[75] The album was Brown's seventh solo album to debut at number one on the BillboardTop R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart.[76] On November 8, 2017, Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States. Brown became the first R&B male artist that went gold in a week since Usher's Confessions in 2004.[4]Heartbreak on a Full Moon was the thirty-sixth best-selling album of the year according to Hits, moved a total of 608,000 album-equivalent units by the end of 2017, including 80,000 pure album sales, 643,000 song sales, 695 million streams.[77] In the next year, the album was the forty-fourth best-selling album of the year, moved a total of 618,000 album-equivalent units by the end of 2018, including 25,000 pure album sales, 240,000 song sales, 768 million streams.[78]Heartbreak on a Full Moon became Chris Brown's Second longest-running album on the Billboard 200, spending over 90 weeks on the chart.[79] On August 23, 2019, the album was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over a two million units in the United States.[80]
In Australia, it entered the ARIA Albums Chart at number five, becoming his first top ten in the nation since X in 2014.[81]
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, Brown's sixth non-consecutive top 10 album on the chart. The album was eventually certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of over 60,000 copies in the UK.[82]
In New Zealand, the album debuted at number three on the RMNZ Albums Chart, giving Brown his seventh top ten album on the chart.[83]
Until June 2018, the album has accumulated over 3 billion streams worldwide.[84]
Track listing
Production credits were adapted from RCA's official website.[11]
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