Yes! (Jason Mraz album)

Yes! is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. The album was released on July 11, 2014, Atlantic Records.[1] The album's lead single "Love Someone" was released on May 19, 2014.[2]

Yes!
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 11, 2014
Recorded2013–2014
GenrePop, pop rock
Length51:35
LabelAtlantic
Jason Mraz chronology
Love Is a Four Letter Word
(2012)
Yes!
(2014)
Know.
(2018)
Singles from Yes!
  1. "Love Someone"
    Released: May 19, 2014

The album is a collaboration between Jason Mraz and the members of indie-rock-folk band Raining Jane: Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter and Mona Tavakoli, with whom Mraz has been working since 2007,[3] and who are his backing band on the record,[4][5] as well as co-writers of majority of the songs.

Critical reception

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Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic62/100[6]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic     [7]
Billboard82/100[8]
The Boston Globe70/100[5][6]
Los Angeles Times    [9]
Rolling Stone     [10]
Slant Magazine     [11]

Yes! was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 62, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 6 reviews.[6]

Matt Fruchtman of Slant Magazine gave the album two out of five stars, saying "his wide-lens worldview leaves Yes! feeling like the musical equivalent of a G-rated sitcom."[11] Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "The exclamation point that punctuates its title suggests Jason Mraz may be a little enthusiastic on Yes! but that's a feint, hiding how this 2014 record is the next logical step on the singer/songwriter's road of seduction. Gone is the celebrated wordplay, a self-conscious maturation that was perhaps inevitable, but also absent are the smooth soul flourishes of 2012's Love Is a Four Letter Word."[7]

Commercial performance

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The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 102,000 copies in the United States.[12]

In Canada, the album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart with 12,000 copies, falling behind Rise Against's The Black Market.[13]

Track listing

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No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Rise"Jason Mraz, Chaska Potter, Mona Tavakoli, Becky Gebhardt, Mai Bloomfield, Chris Keup, Stewart Myers
1:29
2."Love Someone"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield, Keup, Myers
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
  • Chris Keup[a]
  • Stewart Myers[a]
4:16
3."Hello, You Beautiful Thing"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:34
4."Long Drive"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:50
5."Everywhere"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:24
6."Best Friend"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:19
7."Quiet"Mraz, Daniel Omelio, Ammar Malik
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
  • Keup
  • Myers
4:18
8."Out of My Hands"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:26
9."It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday"Freddie Perren, Christine Yarian PerrenMraz2:58
10."3 Things"Mraz, Michael Natter, Nancy Natter, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
2:54
11."You Can Rely on Me"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield, Keup, Myers, M. Natter, N. Natter
  • Mraz
  • Keup
  • Myers
3:43
12."Back to the Earth"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
3:46
13."A World with You"Mraz, Myers, Keup
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
4:39
14."Shine"Mraz, Potter, Tavakoli, Gebhardt, Bloomfield
  • Mogis
  • Mraz
6:04
Notes
  • ^[a] signifies a co-producer

Personnel

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Credits adapted from AllMusic.[14]

  • Jason Mraz – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizer bass, engineering, mixing, production

Charts and certifications

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Release history

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Region Date Format Label
United Kingdom[33] July 11, 2014 CD, digital download Atlantic Records
United States[34] July 15, 2014

References

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  1. ^ "Jason Mraz's 'Yes!' Album: Hear First Single 'Love Someone'". Billboard. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  2. ^ "Love Someone: Jason Mraz: MP3 Downloads". Amazon. Retrieved June 26, 2014.
  3. ^ "About the band". rainingjane.com. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  4. ^ Reuter, Annie (May 19, 2014). "Interview: Jason Mraz Details His First Acoustic Album, 'YES!'". Radio.com. Archived from the original on July 4, 2015. Retrieved July 26, 2014.
  5. ^ a b Johnston, Maura (July 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz, 'YES!'". The Boston Globe. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  6. ^ a b c "Reviews for Yes! by Jason Mraz". Metacritic. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  7. ^ a b Erlewine, Stephen Thomas. "Yes! - Jason Mraz". AllMusic. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  8. ^ Benjamin, Jeff (July 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz's 'YES!': Track-By-Track Review". Billboard.
  9. ^ Wood, Mikael (July 18, 2014). "Pursued by youngsters, Jason Mraz is mellower than ever on 'Yes!'". Los Angeles Times.
  10. ^ Dolan, Jon (August 15, 2014). "Jason Mraz's New Album: Yes!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  11. ^ a b Fruchtman, Matt (10 July 2014). "Jason Mraz: Yes!". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 17, 2014.
  12. ^ "'Weird Al' Yankovic Gets First No. 1 Album On Billboard 200 with 'Mandatory Fun'". Billboard. July 23, 2014. Retrieved July 23, 2014.
  13. ^ Alan Cross (26 July 2014). "A Journal of Musical ThingsWeekly Music Sales Report and Analysis: 23 July 2014". A Journal of Musical Things. Retrieved 2014-07-28.
  14. ^ "Yes! - Jason Mraz | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved September 14, 2014.
  15. ^ "Australiancharts.com – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  16. ^ "Ultratop.be – Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  17. ^ "Ultratop.be – Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in French). Hung Medien.
  18. ^ "Jason Mraz Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  19. ^ "Danishcharts.dk – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  20. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Jason Mraz – Yes!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
  21. ^ "Lescharts.com – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  22. ^ "Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2014. 36. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ.
  23. ^ "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 29, 2014". Chart-Track. IRMA.
  24. ^ "Artisti - Classifica settimanale WK 29 (dal 14-07-2014 al 20-07-2014)" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Archived from the original on 8 October 2014. Retrieved 24 July 2014.
  25. ^ "Charts.nz – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  26. ^ "Norwegiancharts.com – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  27. ^ "Spanishcharts.com – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Hung Medien.
  28. ^ "Jason Mraz | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart.
  29. ^ "Jason Mraz Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved July 25, 2014.
  30. ^ "Jaaroverzichten – Album 2014". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  31. ^ "Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2014". Billboard. Retrieved May 30, 2020.
  32. ^ "Canadian album certifications – Jason Mraz – Yes!". Music Canada.
  33. ^ "iTunes - Music - Yes! by Jason Mraz". Itunes.apple.com. 2014-07-01. Retrieved 2014-07-27.
  34. ^ "iTunes - Music - YES! by Jason Mraz". iTunes. June 23, 2014. Retrieved June 26, 2014.