Exclusive (album)


Exclusive is the second studio album by American recording artist Chris Brown. It was released on November 6, 2007, by CBE, Jive Records. The record serves as Chris Brown's second studio release under his CBE record label, Jive. The record also serves as the follow-up from his multi-platinum selling debut album, Chris Brown. The album debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200, selling 295,000 copies in the first week. The album was supported by five singles, with three of the singles becoming top three hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and also charting highly on other charts worldwide. The album earned a triple platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America in the United States.
On June 3, 2008, Exclusive was re-released into a double-disc deluxe edition, which includes a counterparts from the DVD, featuring the behind-the-scenes footage and its music videos from his tour.

Singles

The album's lead single, "Wall to Wall" was released on May 29, 2007. The song was produced by Sean Garrett, written by Walter Scott. The single reached at number 79 on the US Billboard Hot 100, due to no digital release for this single.
"Kiss Kiss"; a collaboration with a fellow American recording artist T-Pain, was released as the album's second single on September 11, 2007. Following the non-success of his first single, this single became a big success in the United States. The song reached at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, and number 6 on the Canadian Hot 100, also reaching the top ten in Australia, Canada and New Zealand.
"With You" was released as the album's third single on December 4, 2007. The song was produced by the production team StarGate. The single became his second successful single in the most international music markets. It has since become one of the highest-charting singles of Brown's solo career, entering the foreign music markets, where his previous efforts have failed to these charts. It has reached the top ten; including in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, and United Kingdom.
The re-release of its first single from The Forever Edition, called "Forever". It was released on April 29, 2008. The song debuted at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100, due of its high digital sales. However, it dropped quickly due to the lack of sales during these following weeks. The song then re-entered the top ten again, after airplay increases and has peaked at number 2.

Critical reception

Exclusive received generally positive reviews from critics, scoring 69 out of 100 based on 11 reviews on Metacritic. Rob Sheffield from Rolling Stone said that “It's been a long stretch between Usher albums — long enough for Chris Brown to build a whole career, growing from a temporary substitute to an undeniably major pop star. He seals the deal with Exclusive, an all-grown-up album on a level with Justin Timberlake's Justified, Rihanna's Good Girl Gone Bad or even Bobby Brown's King of Stage, and gave the album three and a half out of five stars.
Neil Drumming from Entertainment Weekly rated the album as B- said that, "Like his onscreen character, Brown is most charming when he's playing up his youth: singing of MySpace romance, meeting his girl's 'pops,' and such". But he also said, "sadly, Brown's adolescent voice and playful scatting — while cute — are steamrolled by pushy collaborators, whether it's those Stargate guys falling back on that ol' guitar noodling, or T-Pain milking his vocoder. Ease back, people, and let the boy sing". However, Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine criticized the unoriginality of the album, writing, "...there's still nothing very 'exclusive' about Exclusive at all." Michael Arceneaux of PopMatters wrote, "Exclusive seems aimless, an album where Brown is doing what he’s told versus being the anchor of his own ship." The album ranked number 34 on Rolling Stones list of the Top 50 Albums of 2007.

Accolades

At the 2008 Grammy Awards, Exclusive was nominated for a Grammy Award in the category of "Best Rap/Sung Collaboration" for "Kiss Kiss", a collaboration with T-Pain. However, the award was given to the 2007 rival single, "Umbrella" by Rihanna featuring Jay-Z. The album also nominated for a NAACP Image Awards in a category for "Best Album", while Chris himself won for "Best Male Artist". At the 2008 BET Awards, Chris received 4 nominations in four categories, including "Best Male R&B Artist", "Best Collaboration" for "Kiss Kiss", and "Viewer’s Choice" for "Kiss Kiss" and "No Air", his duet with Jordin Sparks.
On June 22, 2008, Fearne & Reggie revealed on their UK's chart show BBC Radio 1, that all three tracks from the album Exclusive have appeared on the top forty. Two of which on the top ten, including "With You", "No Air" with Jordin Sparks, and "Forever".

Commercial performance

Exclusive debuted at number four on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 294,000 copies in the United States. As of March 2011, the album has sold 1,973,000 copies in the United States. On August 23, 2019, the album was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America for sales of over three million copies in the United States.
In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 31 on the UK Albums Chart and eventually peaked at number three on the chart. It spent a total of 52 weeks on the chart. On September 5, 2008, the album was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 300,000 copies in the UK.

Track listing

The Forever Edition includes a DVD with a documentary titled "Chris Brown on Tour", which is a montage of performances from his Up-Close & Personal tour and behind-the-scenes footage. It also features a cameo appearance from Keyshia Cole, who held her own sold-out Just like You tour.
Two versions of The Forever Edition were made available; the first included the DVD, and the second did not. Only the CD edition was made available in the United Kingdom, while most other countries had both editions available.
Notes
Samples credits
Confirmed by Wal-Mart.

Production

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums 7
Australian Urban Albums 1
New Zealand Albums 13
UK Albums 32
US Billboard 20013
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 6

Chart Position
Australian Urban Albums 25

Certifications