Contrast (Conor Maynard album)

Contrast is the debut studio album by English pop singer Conor Maynard. It was released on 30 July 2012 in the United Kingdom through Parlophone and across Europe between August and October. Contrast mainly includes production from The Invisible Men, who produced seven of the fourteen songs available on the album, along with production from Pharrell Williams, Stargate, Benny Blanco, Midi Mafia, Crada, Lucas Secon, Quiz & Larossi, and Eagle Eye, among others, and features guest appearances from American recording artists Ne-Yo and Pharrell Williams, as well as British record artist Rita Ora.

Contrast
Studio album by
Conor Maynard
Released30 July 2012
Recorded2011–2012
StudioEaling Music Studio[1]
West London, England
Genre
Length41:25
LabelParlophone
Producer
Conor Maynard chronology
Contrast
(2012)		 Covers
(2016)
Singles from Contrast
  1. "Can't Say No"
    Released: 2 March 2012
  2. "Vegas Girl"
    Released: 22 July 2012
  3. "Turn Around"
    Released: 11 October 2012
  4. "Animal"
    Released: 20 January 2013

Contrast was recorded between 2011 and 2012 and its album's music consists of pop and R&B. The album's lead single "Can't Say No" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 2. The second single "Vegas Girl" was released the same day as Contrast, entering at number 4. Another two singles were released after the album release. The album peaked at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, and charted in Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Italy and United States.

Background

On 20 May 2006, Maynard signed up to online video-sharing website YouTube and uploaded his very first video of him singing "Breathe" by fellow British musician Lee Carr.[7] Throughout 2009–present, Maynard uploaded cover versions of songs with rapper and close friend, Anthony "Anth" Melo who resides in Virginia. Together they have covered a variety of songs, including: Chris Brown ("Crawl"), Taio Cruz ("Dynamite"), Rihanna ("Only Girl (In the World)"). Maynard was brought to label attention when American singer/songwriter Ne-Yo watched a cover version of his track "Beautiful Monster" – who contacted the musician soon afterwards, and Ne-Yo became Maynard's mentor.[8]

In November 2011, Maynard received a nomination for MTV's Brand New for 2012 award, competing alongside Delilah, Michael Kiwanuka, Lana Del Rey and Lianne La Havas.[9] It was announced on 31 January 2012 that Maynard had been crowned winner of the award, having received approximately 48% of the public vote.[10]

Maynard had signed to Parlophone in 2010.[11] He released the music video for his debut single "Can't Say No" on 1 March 2012,[12] which by September 2012 had already surpassed fourteen million views. The single was met with positive reviews, with Lewis Corner (of Digital Spy) describing it as "playful, fun and immediately leaves you wanting another go",[13] whilst others compared Maynard to Canadian singer Justin Bieber; both vocally and career-wise. However Conor disputes this claim, saying "I'm not like Justin Bieber", and although insisting his music has a more mature R&B flavour to it than Bieber's,[14] acknowledged that they both gained popularity from being young and from being found through YouTube.[15]

Singles

"Can't Say No" was released on 2 March 2012 as the first single from the album. It was produced by The Invisible Men and The Arcade, and written by The Invisible Men, Sophie Stern, Jon Mills, Joe Dyer, Kurtis McKenzie and Maynard. "Vegas Girl" was released on 20 July 2012 as the second single from the album. "Turn Around" was confirmed as the third single to be released from the album. The music video premiered on September 10, 2012 and was released on 8 October 2012.[16]

"Animal" was confirmed to be the fourth single from the album. The music video was released on 10 December 2012 and was released to radio on 21 January 2013. The song was released as a remix with UK rapper Wiley.

Critical reception
Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic67/100[17]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[5]
BBC Music(Positive)[2]
Digital Spy[18]
Drowned in Sound7/10[6]
The Guardian[19]
The Independent[20]
London Evening Standard(Positive)[4]
NME7/10[21]
Rolling Stone[3]
The Scotsman(Positive)[22]

Contrast received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 67 based on 11 reviews.[17] Lewis Corner of Digital Spy criticized Maynard's lyrics for being "mismatch with his boy-next-door persona", ultimately stating the songs feel "like a by-product of his mentors rather than an expression of his teenage self." Corner also commented that the album's sound is more like Justin Timberlake as opposed to Justin Bieber, a common comparison for Maynard, specifically referring to the tracks "Can't Say No" and "Animal".[18]

The Guardian, however, noted that the "British Justin Bieber" label fits Maynard as the album "follows the Bieber template of fitting a breathy teenage voice to cleancut urban pop."[19] Nick Levine of BBC Music felt the album has "class" and complimented it for being a "credible collection of electronic RnB tracks." Levine also states Justin Timberlake's influence on Maynard, specifically referring to the song "Glass Girl" as being an "attempt to rewrite JT's Cry Me a River for the dubstep generation."[2]

Track listing
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Animal"
3:16
2."Turn Around" (featuring Ne-Yo)
3:52
3."Vegas Girl"
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Scott Thomas
  • Peter Ighile
  • Kyle Abrahams
  • Dion Wardle
  • The Invisible Men
  • Parker & James
2:49
4."Can't Say No"
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Stern
  • McKenzie
  • Dyer
  • Mills
The Invisible Men3:14
5."Lift Off" (featuring Pharrell Williams)
Pharrell Williams2:59
6."Mary Go Round"
  • The Invisible Men
  • DetoNate
3:09
7."Take Off"
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Stern
  • McKenzie
  • Dyer
  • Mills
  • The Invisible Men
  • The Arcade
3:36
8."Better than You" (featuring Rita Ora)
3:13
9."Another One"
  • Maynard
  • Lucas Secon
  • Daniel Craddock
  • Quiz & Larossi
  • Josef Larossi
  • Andreas Romdhane
3:12
10."Pictures"
4:09
11."Glass Girl"
  • Maynard
  • Williams
Pharrell Williams4:31
12."Just in Case"
Eagle Eye3:17
Total length:41:25
Japanese bonus tracks[23]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Headphones" (featuring Anth)
  • Maynard
  • Abrahams
  • Astasio
  • Shave
  • Nilsson
  • Rami Afuni
  • Anthony Melo
  • The Invisible Men
  • Rami Afuni
3:19
14."Drowning"
  • Christian Kalla
  • Christopher Jackson
Crada3:18
iTunes bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Headphones" (featuring Anth)
  • The Invisible Men
  • Afuni
3:19
14."Drowning"
  • Christian Kalla
  • Jackson
Crada3:18
15."Can't Say No" (Music video)  3:14
16."Vegas Girl" (Music video)  3:39
17."Conorcles: The Journey So Far" (Video)  7:23
Target bonus tracks[24]
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
13."Headphones" (featuring Anth)
  • Maynard
  • Abrahams
  • Astasio
  • Shave
  • Nilsson
  • Afuni
  • Anthony Melo
3:19
14."Drowning"
  • Christian Kalla
  • Jackson
Crada3:18
15."Vegas Girl" (Wideboys Remix)
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Scott Thomas
  • Peter Ighile
  • Abrahams
  • Dion Wardle
  • The Invisible Men
  • Parker & James
  • Wideboys (add.)
3:54
16."Turn Around" (featuring Ne-Yo) (Dave Audé Mix)
4:05
17."Can't Say No" (Lazy J Radio Edit)
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Stern
  • McKenzie
  • Dyer
  • Mills
  • The Invisible Men
  • Lazy J (add.)
2:59
18."Animal" (Wideboys Remix)
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Stern
  • McKenzie
  • Dyer
  • Mills
  • The Invisible Men
  • The Arcade
  • Wideboys (add.)
3:48
19."Animal" (featuring Wiley)
  • Maynard
  • The Invisible Men
  • Stern
  • McKenzie
  • Dyer
  • Mills
  • The Invisible Men
  • The Arcade
3:25

Charts
Chart (2012–13) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[25] 48
Austrian Albums Chart[26] 72
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[27] 34
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[28] 176
Danish Albums Chart[29] 37
Dutch Albums Chart[30] 73
German Albums Chart[31] 69
Irish Albums Chart[32] 10
Italian Albums Chart[33] 15
Japanese Albums Chart[34] 130
New Zealand Albums Chart[35] 27
Scottish Albums Chart[36] 3
Swiss Albums Chart[37] 40
UK Albums Chart[38] 1
US Billboard 200[39] 34

Release history
Country Release date Format Label
Germany[40] July 27, 2012 CD, Digital download EMI
Poland[41] July 30, 2012
United Kingdom[42][43] Parlophone
Philippines[44] August 3, 2012 PolyEast (EMI)
Italy[45] September 18, 2012 Capitol
Australia[46] September 21, 2012 EMI
Brazil[47] October 10, 2012
Japan[48] October 24, 2012 EMI/SoundTown
United States[49] January 8, 2013 Capitol

References
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  3. "Conor Maynard - Contrast (Capitol Records): Review". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2013-01-28.
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  15. "Conor Maynard, "I'm not like Justin Bieber"". Digital Spy. 2012-03-12.
  16. Conor Maynard, Ne-Yo unveil 'Turn Around' music video - Music News - Digital Spy
  17. Contrast by Conor Maynard, retrieved 2018-11-23
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