Down to Earth (Jem album)

Down to Earth is the second studio album by Welsh musician Jem, the follow-up to Finally Woken. The first single, "It's Amazing", was featured on the soundtrack to the Sex and the City movie. The album spawned four singles.

The press release states that Jem co-wrote the album with a variety of people including Jeff Bass, Lester Mendez and Greg Kurstin and sings in Japanese on the track, "Aciiid!". The album also includes a collaboration with South African singer-songwriter and poet-activist Vusi Mahlasela on the track "You Will Make It" which was dedicated to the memory of D12 member Proof. Although the collaboration never happened, Jem wanted to work with Eminem for the song, saying "The track is about losing someone and I wrote it the day after his friend Proof was murdered. I was in Detroit with Eminem's friends, who I happened to be recording with, when it happened".

Critical reception
Down to Earth was met with "mixed or average" reviews from critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted average rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, this release received an average score of 54 based on 7 reviews.

In a review for AllMusic, critic reviewer Andrew Leahey wrote: "Down to Earth's title depicts Jem as a grounded musician, but its wide-ranging sound suggests something different, as the singer has yet to find a style that fully suits her capabilities."

Personnel

 * Hiroko Aoyagi – vocals
 * Jeff Atmajian – piano, string arrangements, piano arrangement
 * Jeff Bass – bass, guitar, keyboards, producer, drum programming, tracked by
 * Kevin Beber – drum programming
 * Brian Berryman – engineer, fader engineer
 * Mick Bolger – trombone, trumpet, euphonium, mellophonium, E flat cornet
 * Mike Bradford – producer, string arrangements, instrumentation
 * Del Casher – sounds
 * Bryan Cook – engineer
 * Nick Cuchinella – trombone
 * Nabil Elderkin – photography
 * Johnny Evans – saxophone
 * Serban Ghenea – mixing
 * Jem Griffiths – vocals, producer, vocal engineer, poetry reading
 * Justin Griffiths – acoustic guitar
 * John Hanes – mixing
 * Mark Aaron James – design
 * Ted Jensen – mastering
 * Shinobu Lee – vocals
 * David Levita – acoustic guitar, guitar
 * Lester Mendez – piano, producer, string arrangements, brass arrangement, instrumentation
 * Monica Mendez – sound design
 * Milan, Derrick & The Krew – chorus
 * Eddie Miller – vocal engineer
 * Rafael Padilla – percussion
 * Phillip Ramos – studio assistant
 * Tim Roberts – mixing assistant
 * Ken Robinson – trumpet
 * Sonus – strings
 * Welsh Choir of Southern California – chorus
 * Joe Wohlmuth – engineer