Schizophrenic (JC Chasez album)

Schizophrenic is the debut studio album by American recording artist JC Chasez. It was released on February 24, 2004, by Jive Records. The album spanned various musical genres, including New Wave, electronica, rock, disco, soul and reggae. Chasez served as a primary producer, co-writing fifteen of the album's tracks. Two singles were released from the album: "Some Girls (Dance with Women)" and "All Day Long I Dream About Sex".

Though the album had minimal promotion at its time of release and was not met with large commercial success, it has since been retroactively praised by critics for its musical breadth, vocals, production, and electropop sound.<ref name=":6" /><ref name=":4" />

Background

After his group NSYNC went on hiatus following the Celebrity Tour in 2002, Chasez teamed up with producer Dallas Austin to record the song "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" for the soundtrack to the film Drumline. Following the song's success as a single, Chasez began working on a record that he intended to be different from NSYNC's music.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Chasez had not intended on embarking on a solo career until Austin convinced him to make an album. Of Austin's encouragement, Chasez said, "He's like, 'You've got too much to say. You know, there's no reason why you shouldn't. You're writing songs anyway.’"<ref name=":5" />

Chasez said the album title is derived "from [its] different styles and attitudes that are on this album. It's gritty, it's noisy, and it is definitely not like anything I've done before."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Austin described the music he recorded with Chasez as a throwback "to George Michael and Prince and that '80s era, where even though you had up-tempos, they still had songs to them, they had a lot of attitude.'"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":5">Template:Cite web</ref> Aside from Chasez and Austin, the album features productions from Robb Boldt and Riprock 'n' Alex G, the latter having worked with Chasez on No Strings Attached and Celebrity. Basement Jaxx wrote and produced the song "Shake It" after Chasez lent his vocals to the duo's single "Plug It In."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Release and promotion

The release of Schizophrenic was delayed repeatedly, with a planned release date in the summer of 2003 bumped to that fall, and again bumped to January in the following year.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> When the album was released on February 24, 2004, promotion was further affected by the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime show controversy which had occurred earlier that month. Chasez was scheduled to perform "Some Girls (Dance with Women)" at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii a week after the Super Bowl, but due to the NFL's crackdown on what they perceived to be indecent content in the song, organizers demanded Chasez sing "Blowin' Me Up (With Her Love)" instead. Chasez was again asked to make changes to the song, particularly the line: "She was leaning on me/ Getting horny/ Maybe we'll get naughty". Ultimately, Chasez's Pro Bowl appearance was nixed.<ref name=":4">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> In addition, radio stations declined to play the single "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" for fear of FCC fines, preventing the song and music video from gaining exposure.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

To promote Schizophrenic, Chasez began a mini club tour in December 2003, earning positive reviews from The New York Times<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref> and San Francisco Chronicle.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Marketing for the album fared better in the United Kingdom,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> where Chasez was an opening act on several dates for Britney Spears' Onyx Hotel tour. Prior to and after his opening dates for Spears, Chasez toured venues in the U.S accompanied by a five-piece band. In a review of his show at New York's Roseland Ballroom, Chasez was described as "a fine singer who performed every song during the brief but explosive 75-minute set. Still, as good as his voice was (especially on the ballad 'Dear Goodbye'), his dancing stole the show."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Devon Powers of PopMatters noted that "Chasez's years of performing multiple nights to crowds ten times as large were put to good use. Complete with dancers, costume changes, lights, and props, Chasez crossed the line from sheer musician to pure entertainer...If the music business is a circus, Chasez set out to produce The Greatest Show on Earth."<ref name=":1">Template:Cite web</ref> Powers also praised his vocal talents: "His voice is, without question, a miracle: elastic and tough, it can move from curdling to coddling in an instant, pushing the limits of what one would think is humanely possible."<ref name=":1" />

Jon Pareles (The New York Times) commented "Mr. Chasez is most retro in his rock; like a promising apprentice, he directly mimicked Robert Plant and Prince (singing Prince's 'Let's Go Crazy'), and whipped up a fervor to rival early Sting in his Police imitation, 'Everything You Want.'"<ref name=":0" /> Patrick Berkery (The Philadelphia Inquirer) wrote, "Chasez was a bumping and grinding, locking and popping dancing machine as he sang carnally minded jams from his debut solo outing...in a voice that alternated between achy tenor and fluttery falsetto."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In addition to touring, Chasez appeared and performed on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, On Air with Ryan Seacrest, and The Ellen DeGeneres Show.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> He performed the ballad "Build My World" at the Miss Teen USA pageant.

The title and cover art for Schizophrenic attracted criticism from mental health groups for misappropriating schizophrenia, the brain disorder. Chasez issued an apology, clarifying that his album title and cover art was not in reference to the clinical definition of the term, but to the album's varied musical styles.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Critical reception

Template:Music ratings Upon release, Schizophrenic garnered mixed to positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 57 based on 16 reviews.<ref name="Metacritic">Schizophrenic (2004): Reviews</ref> Critics lauded the album for its adventurous range of musical styles.<ref name=":3">Template:Cite web</ref> James Hunter of Rolling Stone admired JC for going through different genres throughout the album, concluding with "No doubt about it, Schizophrenic is a lot. It's also cool."<ref name="RS"/> P.E. Nelson called the album "an immensely listenable collection of well-crafted pop tunes" that shows Chasez wears "his influences on his sleeve,"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and Aidin Vaziri of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote Schizophrenic "[proves] that dance music is fun and technological and dirty."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Peter Robinson of The Guardian wrote although the album wasn’t a commercial success, “Chasez has still come up trumps, creatively and artistically at least, with a dark and unusually adventurous collection of 1980s electro and Prince-type funk”.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In another positive review of the album, Joan Anderman of The Boston Globe likened the first single "Some Girls (Dance with Women)" to "a jungly clutch of rhythms iced with an itchy-sweet melody, part conga line, part pop tune. It's sexy and silly and funky in a George Michael sort of way."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Critic William Jefferson praised the "fast and furious wordplay" of "Some Girls" as well as its "tightly woven harmonies as alluring as silk and satin."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Doug Rule of Metro Weekly wrote, "Chasez exudes confidence in creating pop music -- and especially playful pop music of a hot-blooded, dance orientation," and said the single "All Day Long I Dream About Sex" has a "fascinating acoustic meets electronica sound and an extended instrumental bridge that glistens with updated '80s synth-pop."<ref name=":2">Template:Cite web</ref>

Critics also had praise for the album's ballads,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> particularly "Dear Goodbye and Build My World", Chasez's vocals, and the album's production.<ref name=":3" /> Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic praised the producers for taking risks with different genres, concluding "Chasez may not be able to eclipse Timberlake's star, but in his favor, he does have an album that on a strictly musical level tries harder and achieves more than Justified ".<ref name="AllMusic" /> Tom Moon of The Philadelphia Inquirer noted how Chasez "avoided the just-add-water hooks of teen pop in favor of more elaborate chord sequences and compositional schemes."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Other critics were divided about the album's refusal to stick to one uniform sound, as well as the album's length.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name=":2" /><ref name="AllMusic" /> Neil Drumming of Entertainment Weekly noticed the '80s influenced production by Riprock and Alex G. but found Chasez's attempt at a new sound to be "a tad misguided."<ref name="EW" /> Much attention was given to the album's more overtly sexual lyrics, which some critics saw as distracting and as an excessive attempt by Chasez to shed his boy band image.<ref name="AllMusic" /> Others saw these lyrics as tongue-in-cheek humor, noting how Chasez knowingly "[pokes] fun at himself in the comical 'One Night Stand.’"<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In more recent reviews, critics have noted that Schizophrenic was ahead of its time in its "dance-pop and electronic-driven style."<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> A lack of support from Jive Records,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> as well as bad timing, have been seen as factors in preventing Schizophrenic from gaining wider appreciation during its release.<ref name=":4" /> In a piece for Shondaland.com discussing Chasez's work on Schizophrenic, writer Britt Julious wrote:

"Schizophrenic" showed the sort of promise rarely seen from post-pop stardom musicians. From the smart wordplay of "Some Girls (Dance With Women)" to the progressive, percussion-heavy production of "Blowing Me Up (With Her Love)," "Schizophrenic" was an original album from an artist’s artist. Chasez’s appreciation for a variety of different genres of music was on full display in the album’s production. In the first three tracks alone, Chasez bounces between sensual R&B, comforting pop-rock, and progressive rock. It didn’t sound like any other pop released in its era.<ref name=":6">Template:Cite web</ref>

Commercial performance

Schizophrenic debuted at number 17 on the US Billboard 200 selling 52,000 copies in its first week.<ref name="Billboard 2004">Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref> In its second week the album dropped 65 positions to number 82 with sales of 15,000.<ref name="MTV News 2004">Template:Cite web</ref> As of 2013, the album has sold 121,000 copies in total.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Track listing

Notes:

• "One Night Stand" contains a sample of Donna Summer's 1977 hit "I Feel Love".
• "Come To Me" contains a sample of Corey Hart's 1983 hit "Sunglasses at Night".

Charts

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Chart (2004)	Peak position
Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>	59