Anniemal is the debut album by Norwegian singer Annie. It was first released by 679 Recordings in September 2004. Annie began recording music in 1999 with her boyfriend, Tore Kroknes, who died in 2001. She returned to recording later that year, collaborating with Richard X, Röyksopp, and Timo Kaukolampi.
The album combines Annie's thin, airy vocals with heavily layered beats. It is heavily influenced by 1984 dance-pop. Upon release, the album was successful in Norway. Blogs leaked tracks from Anniemal before it was released internationally, and publications from other countries soon praised the album for its blissful but melancholic sound.
Before releasing the album internationally in 2005, Annie's record label 679 Recordings was not confident in the album's ability to achieve commercial success overseas, so it did not heavily promote Anniemal. The album eventually sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. It yielded four singles: "Chewing Gum", "Heartbeat", "Happy Without You", and "Always Too Late".
Half a year passed before Annie returned to music. She asked Timo Kaukolampi from Finnish electronic group to DJ in Bergen. Starting with a song titled "Kiss Me", he had Annie contribute vocals to some of his tracks. She asked Kaukolampi to work on the album, and he produced nine of its songs for her. She could not afford to rent a studio, so Annie recorded demos by asking to use local studios at night or borrowing one owned by her friend. In late 2003, Annie signed with 679 Recordings, and the advance enabled her to complete the record. Producer Richard X, impressed with "The Greatest Hit", asked her to record vocals for his debut album Richard X Presents His X-Factor Vol. 1. In exchange, he contributed "Chewing Gum" and "Me Plus One", both written with Hannah Robinson. Annie also worked with Röyksopp, who co-wrote and produced three songs on the album.
Rather than recording and selecting from a large number of songs, Annie stopped after around thirteen and compiled the track list. She selected the title Anniemal based on a suggestion by Kroknes. The two had planned on writing a song titled "Anniemal", so she chose it as the album's title because to her, "it just made sense. Anniemal is simple and easy and good."
The lyrics of Anniemal generally describe falling in or out of love. Annie's vocals are thin and breathy, working within a narrow vocal range. Reviewers noted a sense of melancholy in the vocals, suggesting that it could be attributed to the death of Kroknes. Annie acknowledged that none of the songs "are directly happy" and that some are "happy but still a bit melancholy." She stated that she thought bittersweet melodies "sound timeless…Very Scandinavian of me!" She insisted, however, that she tries to write songs that are cheerful:
"For me, it's really easy to write depressive songs and that's why I never do that. I try to do songs that are a bit happier and a bit more complicated. I think there are too many songwriters writing sad, depressive songs, and I find it really boring, listening to music where people are just complaining. People should stop whining! I find it much more challenging to make songs that are pop songs, to make happy songs, and that's why I like to do it. I really like to make quite hopeful, happy music with a little bit of melancholy in it, with a little spice of melancholy."
Anniemal focuses on heavily layered beats, with a strong 1980s influence. Annie was influenced by 1980s dance-pop, and on "No Easy Love", she includes a sample of Shakatak's 1982 song "Easier Said Than Done". Unlike many of her contemporaries, Annie avoids using an ironic or in her take on 1980s music. The songs' styles span genres including bubblegum pop, electro, disco, R&B, dance-pop, and rock music. Annie's DJing experiences taught her about sound and production and affected her music. She stated that she wanted to make a pop album that would not quickly become dated, "an album that you could listen to in five years and it wouldn't sound terrible." Annie considered excluding "Greatest Hit" from Anniemal to achieve this but ultimately included it because she felt it did not sound as if it were five years old.
Several reviewers drew parallels between mainstream pop acts and Annie. Entertainment Weeklys Raymond Fiore called the album an "addictive" debut where Annie "flaunts whispery Kylie Minogue cool and old-school-Madonna cheekiness", but added that "this sugar rush of an album proves…candy is best consumed in moderation." Hua Hsu of Blender magazine made a similar comparison, proclaiming Annie the "Kylie Minogue hipsters don't have to feel guilty about liking". Barry Walters of Rolling Stone touted how the album "comes packed with both instant surface fizz and quirky finesse that sustains repeated listenings", and ending his review, "Goodbye, Britney Spears. Hello, Annie."
Pitchfork listed Anniemal at number fifteen on its list of the top fifty albums of 2004, stating that its strength was how "its downtime feels so decidedly personal", and the album appeared at number 167 on Pitchforks list of the top 200 albums of the 2000s. The album was placed on Slant Magazines list of best albums of the 2000s at number twenty-three. Rolling Stone ranked Anniemal number thirty-nine on its "Top 50 Records of 2005" list, exclaiming, "Hail the Norse goddess."
Following the album's Norwegian release, the songs were leaked onto the Internet, and some appeared on year-end best-of lists in other countries. Annie stated that she had not expected North American publications to show interest in the album because she thought "the record sounds really European." The songs reached an international audience through online blogs, message boards, and file sharing networks before they had been released outside Scandinavia.
679 released the album in the rest of Europe during early 2005 but was unsure how to categorise and market Anniemal. It asked Annie about artists like Goldfrapp whose audiences 679 thought it should target. Uncertain that the album's Internet hype would significantly bolster the album's sales, the label did not heavily promote it. In support of the album, Annie opened for English alternative dance band Saint Etienne at several June 2005 gigs in the United Kingdom. Annie had never performed her songs live before the release of Anniemal, so replicating the sound of more electronic songs like "Chewing Gum" became a long process. By September of that year, the album had sold 20,000 copies.
For its 7 June 2005 American release, Anniemal was distributed by Big Beat Records. To promote the album, Annie performed a set of DJing gigs in the United States for the Anniemix Tour during late June and early July 2005. She and Kaukolampi spun vinyl, and Annie performed her songs during the tour. Before the tour began, Anniemal was selling over one thousand copies per week in the US, and it went on to sell a total of 22 thousand copies there. Although it did not chart on the US Billboard 200, Anniemal reached number thirteen on the Top Electronic Albums chart. When released in Australia the following year, the album failed to chart on the ARIA Charts but peaked at number twenty-five on the Dance Albums Chart. Anniemal sold a total of over 100,000 copies worldwide.
"Heartbeat" was the second single released from Anniemal. It narrates a night of going to clubs with friends, using a beat symbolizing a heartbeat, which doubles its tempo when Annie's persona catches the attention of her romantic interest on the dancefloor. Like "Chewing Gum", it received acclaim from music critics. It was one place behind "Chewing Gum" on the Pazz & Jop list, and Pitchfork named it the best single of 2004. However, it did not sell as well as "Chewing Gum", reaching number eighteen in Norway and fifty in the United Kingdom. "Happy Without You" and "Always Too Late" were released as the third and fourth singles in 2005, but neither charted.
7 March 2005 |
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