Champagne Problems (album)

Champagne Problems is the eighth studio album by Romanian singer Inna. It was released in two parts, Champagne Problems #DQH1 and Champagne Problems #DQH2, that were made available for digital download and streaming through Global Records on 7 January and 11 March 2022, respectively. Recording sessions took place in late 2021 for both releases and was completed in 16 days in a mansion Inna resided in with several Romanian songwriters and producers; such as Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan, David Ciente, Alexandru Cotoi, Minelli, Moa Pettersson Hammar and Gustav Nyström. The first release has been described as a primarily dance-pop record that encompasses Latin pop and reggaeton influences.

Inna vlogged the progress of Champagne Problems through her YouTube channel. The daily episodic videos were part of the second season of her Dance Queen's House series. Commercially, #DQH1 peaked at numbers 72 and 81 on the UK Album Downloads Chart and Germany Album Download Chart, respectively. In celebration of reaching seven million subscribers on her YouTube account, Inna performed songs from both parts of Champagne Problems in March 2022.

Background and creation
On 27 November 2020, Inna released her seventh studio album Heartbreaker. Sessions for the album took place over a three-week period at a rented Bucharest mansion, where Inna resided in with Romanian songwriters and producers Sebastian Barac, Marcel Botezan, David Ciente, Alexandru Cotoi and Minelli. She documented the progress of the album with daily vlogs on her YouTube channel—which constituted the first season of her series Dance Queen's House. The second season provided viewers with the progress of Champagne Problems. The recording sessions began in late 2021 and lasted 16 days to complete. Ciente was replaced in favor of songwriters Moa Pettersson Hammar and Gustav Nyström, who were present on the selected dates.

The vlogs ran from 6 to 21 December 2021. By the third episode, Inna had recorded 20 songs in consideration for Champagne Problems. One of those songs, "De dragul tău", a promotional single released by Inna earlier in 2021, was revealed to have been recorded during the sessions for Champagne Problems in the fourth episode of the series. The final episode released on 21 December 2021, provided viewers a link to pre-order the album. The episode revealed the street date of 7 January 2022 for the first part of Champagne Problems, dubbed #DQH1, for digital download and streaming through Global Records. The label handled the release for the second part, Chamapgne Problems #DQH2, released on 11 March 2022.

Composition and reception
#DQH1 is a dance pop album with reggaeton and Latin pop influences, according to Matjaž Ambrožič of 24UR. Contrary to works done by Inna, the recording is performed entirely in English. Ambrožič praised #DQH1 as being "solid" and a "pleasing rhythmic pump" and enjoyed the melodies on the album as well as Inna's vocal delivery. Adevărul Maria-Alexandru Mortu categorized the opener "Always on My Mind" as a dance song, praising the "catchy" refrain and "honest" lyrics, while Jon Caramanica of The New York Times found the title track as being "immaculate club-pop: ecstatic, bubbly, heartless". Musically, "Champagne Problems" is meant to resemble the spicy taste and is the result of a challenge presented to Inna and her team during the second season of Dance Queen's House.

Commercially, #DQH1 debuted and peaked at number 72 on the UK Album Downloads Chart published by The Official Charts Company (OCC) for the week ending 20 January 2022. It also reached number 81 on GfK Entertainment's Album Download Chart on 17 January 2022.

Track listing
All lyrics written by Elena Alexandra Apostoleanu with additional help from Jordan Shaw, Minelli, Moa Pettersson Hammar, and Gustav Nyström on select tracks.

Credits adapted from Tidal.