Wallflower is the twelfth studio album by Canadian singer Diana Krall, released on February 3, 2015, by Verve Records.[1] The album was produced by David Foster.[2] The album's supporting tour, Wallflower World Tour, began in Boston on February 25, 2015.
Recording
The album consists of cover songs of various pop and rock songs, the only previously unreleased track being "If I Take You Home Tonight" by Paul McCartney. He wrote the song for his album Kisses on the Bottom, in which he collaborated with Krall. Although the song did not make the cut for that album, Krall asked McCartney if she could record the song, and he gave his consent.[3]
Wallflower received mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 58, based on 10 reviews.[4]
Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph stated, "It is a lovely Valentine record, if you favour melancholic songs about missed chances. The set feels overfamiliar, though, drawing heavily on classic Seventies ballads by the Carpenters, Eagles, Elton John and 10CC. A moodily evocative reading of a gorgeous new Paul McCartney song, "I'll Take You Home Tonight", suggests this album might have been more interesting if Krall had dared to take the middle-of-the-road less travelled".[7]
Jim Farber of the New York Daily News wrote, "Wallflower breaks another pattern for Krall. It eschews her frequent focus on American standards. But the sexiness and spring she brought to the best of those covers rarely comes into play here".[1]
Commercial performance
Wallflower debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart, selling 13,000 copies in its first week.[15] By January 2016, the album had sold 66,000 copies in Canada.[16]
In the United States, it entered the Billboard 200 at number 10 with first-week sales of 44,000 copies, becoming Krall's sixth top-10 album on the chart.[17] The album debuted at number 19 on the UK Albums Chart with 3,511 copies sold in its first week.[18]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
^"Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 06.Týden 2015 on the field besides the words "CZ – ALBUMS – TOP 100" to retrieve the correct chart. Retrieved February 12, 2015.