Strictly Physical (album)

Strictly Physical is the second studio album by all-female German pop trio Monrose. It was released by Starwatch Music in association with Cheyenne Records and Warner Music on 21 September 2007 in German-speaking Europe and on 8 October 2007 in parts of Eastern Europe. Released only nine months after its best-selling predecessor Temptation (2006), the album took Monrose's work further into dance and electro music, featuring main production by Danish producers Remee, Thomas Troelsen, and Peter Biker, as well as British composers from production collectives Jiant, and Snowflakers.

Strictly Physical
Studio album by Monrose
Released	21 September 2007
Recorded	2007
Genre	Pop dance-pop R&B
Length	47:24
Label	Starwatch Cheyenne Warner
Producer	Peter Biker Jiant Pete "Boxsta" Martin Remee Snowflakers Thomas Troelsen
Monrose chronology
Temptation (2006) Strictly Physical (2007) I Am (2008)
Singles from Strictly Physical
"Hot Summer" Released: 29 June 2007 "Strictly Physical" Released: 14 September 2007 "What You Don't Know" Released: 7 December 2007

Upon its release, Strictly Physical debuted at number two on the German Albums Chart and reached the top ten in both Austria and Switzerland. It was eventually certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) and International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) in Germany and Austriam, respectively. Named after its second single which was released a week prior to the album, Strictly Physical spawned three singles, also including the band's second non-consecutive number-one hit "Hot Summer" and the Billy Mann-penned top ten ballad "What You Don't Know."

Background

In fall 2006, Senna Guemmour, Bahar Kizil, and Mandy Capristo won the fifth installment of German reality talent show Popstars and formed the trio Monrose.[1] Their debut single "Shame" was an instant number-one success throughout German-speaking Europe, as the fastest selling CD single of 2006 and the biggest-downloaded song since the introduction of the legal digital download charts in Germany in 2004.[2] The band's debut album, Temptation debuted on top of the Austrian, German and Swiss albums charts and was certified platinum by the IFPI for more than 200,000 copies sold within its first two weeks of release.[3] It eventually sold more than 600,000 copies domestically.[4]

In early 2007, the trio qualified for the German national pre-selection of the Eurovision Song Contest 2007, organized and broadcast by the ARD, with their second single "Even Heaven Cries".[5] Although they were considered early favourites by the media,[5] the band eventually finished second.[6] Following this, the band announced their Venus Temptation Tour with twenty dates, beginning at the Hanover Capitol on 29 April 2007. Sponsored by Global Gillette, the concert tour was accompanied by intense media coverage since it failed to produce any sold-out show, and thus four concerts had to be cancelled due to low ticket sales.[7][8]

Reception

Critical response

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
BamS	[9]
CDStarts	[10]
Energy Zürich	[11]
laut.de	[12]
LetMeEntertainYou	[13]
M&C	(acceptable)[14]
Tiscali	[15]

Strictly Physical received a generally mixed reception from music critics. Musikwoche felt the album distinguished from its previous release by its growth and major production on international standards.[16] The magazine ranked "Hot Summer", "Strictly Physical" and "What You Don't Know" among the best tracks on the album.[16] Julian Stetter from Laut.de called the album a "more mature and individual" but generally "well-snitched" output in comparison with the band's debut album.[17] He praised the song for its experimental production towards electro and contemporary R&B music.[17]

Commercial performance

While the album failed to reprise the huge success of Temptation, missing a number-one peak anywhere, it became another success for the band: It debuted at number 2 on the German Media Control albums chart and reached the top 10 in Austria and Switzerland, shipping more than 90.000 copies in its first week of release.[18] As of January 2008, Strictly Physical has been certified gold by both the Austrian and the German branch of the IFPI for more than 50,000 and 100,000 sold copies respectively.[19][20]

The album spawned three singles, however, a fourth was scrapped in favour of production of a new album. The lead single "Hot Summer" became the band's second number-one hit in Austria, Germany and Switzerland and one of the biggest-selling songs of the year on German online music stores,[21] also obtaining success in Scandinavia, Eastern Europe and the Benelux states.[22] Its follow-up single "Strictly Physical" became Monrose's first top 10 entry on the Polish Top 50 since their debut release "Shame" (2006), while the ballad "What You Don't Know" became their fifth consecutive top 10 single in Germany, although it failed to reach the top 20 in Switzerland.

Track listing

Strictly Physical – Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Dangerous"	Remee Thomas Troelsen	Remee Troelsen	3:18
2.	"Hot Summer" (Radio Edit)	Remee Troelsen	Remee Troelsen	3:30
3.	"Strictly Physical" (Radio Edit)	Tim Hawes Pete Kirtley Andrew Murray Christian Ballard Obi Mhondera	Jiant Snowflake	3:40
4.	"Rebound"	Pete "Boxta" Martin Tina Harris Stephen Lee	Jiant Martin	3:39
5.	"What You Don't Know"	Anders Wollbeck Mattias Lindblom Billy Mann	Jiant Snowflake	3:45
6.	"Leading Me on"	Robin Jenssen Nermin Harambasic Anne Judith Wik Ronny Svendsen Pelle Lidell Hallgeir Rustan	Jiant Snowflake	4:00
7.	"Golden"	Kyösti Salokorpi Grant Black	Remee Troelsen	3:06
8.	"Sooner or Later"	Remee Troelsen	Remee Troelsen	2:45
9.	"Just like That"	Remee Peter Biker Tim Kellett Robin Taylor-Firth	Remee Biker	4:19
10.	"Yesterday's Gone"	Hawes Kirtley Murray Ballard	Jiant Snowflake	3:26
11.	"Burning"	Remee Troelsen	Remee Troelsen	4:06
12.	"Monrose Theme"	Remee Troelsen Senna Guemmour Bahar Kizil Mandy Capristo	Remee Troelsen	3:46
13.	"Everybody Makes Mistakes"	Deborah French Murray Ballard Black	Jiant Snowflake	3:55
Total length:				47:24

Special Edition / Musicload bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"Say Yes"	Jenssen Harambasic Wik Svendsen Rustan	Remee	3:53

International bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"Shame"	Hawes Kirtley Ballard Murray	Jiant Snowflake	3:29
15.	"Even Heaven Cries" (Single Version 2007)	Robbie Nevil Philip Denker Lauren Evans Jonas Jeberg Jens Lumholt	Thorsten Brötzmann	3:00

'Sample credits

• "Just like That" contains a sample of "You're Not Alone" (1996) as performed by Olive.

Credits and personnel

Instruments Christian Ballard - drums, percussion Tim Hawes - guitar Pete Kirtley - bass Andrew Murray - keyboards Thomas Troelsen - keyboards Deborah Ffrench - Backing Vocals

Production Producers: Peter Biker, Jiant, Pete "Boxsta" Martin, Remee, Snowflakes, Thomas Troelsen Vocal assistance: Christian Ballard, Andrew Murray, Remee Engineers: Andrew Lunch, Claus Üblacker, Hanif Wiliams Programming: Thomas Troelsen Mixing: Andreas Hviid, Jiant, Peter Mark, Mad Nilsson, Snowflakes

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2007) Peak position Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[23] 7 European Albums (Billboard)[24] 11 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[25] 2 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[26] 6

Monthly charts Chart (2007) Peak position Polish Albums (ZPAV)[27] 55

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)[28]	Gold	10,000^*
Germany (BVMI)[29]	Gold	100,000^^
^* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

List of release dates, showing country, formats and label

Region	Date	Label
Austria	21 September 2007	Starwatch, Warner
Germany
Switzerland
Poland	8 October 2007

Cover versions

Spanish singer Soraya Arnelas covered the song "Rebound" on her 4th album Sin Miedo. Korean boyband Super Junior covered "Just Like That" for their third studio album Sorry, Sorry.

References

1. ots (2006-11-17). "Von sechs Finalistinnen kommen drei in die neue POPSTARS-Band Monrose". ProSieben. Presseportal.de. Retrieved 2010-11-27.
2. "Monrose mit Verkaufsrekord". Media Control. Archived from the original on 2008-06-21. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
3. "Monrose". Etain Me. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
4. "Singen und tanzen". N-TV.de. Archived from the original on 2008-05-29. Retrieved 2007-06-15.
5. "Grand Prix Vorentscheid 2007". LetMeEntertainYou. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
6. Kramer, Folker. "Sieg für die Manufactum-Generation". Spiegel. Retrieved 2007-05-27.
7. Pohl, Nicole. "Schon wieder alles aus?". Bild-Zeitung. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
8. Kuschel, Sven. "Von Popstars zu Flopstars". Bild-Zeitung. Retrieved 2008-03-28.
9. BamS review
10. CDStarts review
11. Energy Zürich review Archived 2007-10-23 at the Wayback Machine
12. laut.de review
13. LetMeEntertainYou review
14. M&C review Archived October 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
15. Tiscali review
16. "Musikwoche-Kritik". Musikwoche (in German). Mediabiz.de. Retrieved 2013-08-15.
17. "Review of Strictly Physical". laut.de. Retrieved 2007-08-23.
18. "Latest Remee News". Remee.net. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
19. "Austrian album certifications – Monrose – Strictly Physical" (in German). IFPI Austria.
20. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Monrose; 'Strictly Physical')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
21. "37 Prozent mehr legale Musikdownloads". Media Control. Archived from the original on 2008-04-23. Retrieved 2007-10-08.
22. "Charty History of Strictly Physical". Swisscharts (in German). Retrieved 2007-10-03.
23. "Austriancharts.at – Monrose – Strictly Physical" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
24. "Hits of the World". Billboard. Vol. 119 no. 41. 13 October 2007. p. 85. ISSN 0006-2510. Retrieved 24 April 2020 – via Google Books.
25. "Offiziellecharts.de – Monrose – Strictly Physical" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 24 April 2020.
26. "Swisscharts.com – Monrose – Strictly Physical". Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 April 2017.
27. "Top 100 – Zestawienie za Październik 2007" [Top 100 – Statement for October 2007] (in Polish). ZPAV. Archived from the original on 1 December 2007.
28. "Austrian album certifications – Monrose – Strictly Physical" (in German). IFPI Austria. 19 December 2007. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
29. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Monrose; 'Strictly Physical')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 10 April 2017.

External links

• Strictly Physical (album) at MusicBrainz