User:IHelpWhenICan/Sandbox/Archive/WelcomeDollhouse

Welcome to the Dollhouse is the second and final studio album by American R&B/pop group Danity Kane. It was released in 2008 (see 2008 in music) under Bad Boy/Atlantic in the United States (March 18, 2008) and in the United Kingdom (April 21, 2008), released solely under Atlantic in Canada (March 25, 2008) and Germany (May 9, 2008) , and released under Atco in France (May 5, 2008).

The group recorded their portion of the album in under five weeks alongside Day26 and Donnie Klang, their label mates at the time. Part of the album was recorded in New York City, New York while the rest was recorded in Miami, Florida. Additional recording sessions for featured artists took place in Atlanta, Georgia (Rick Ross) and in New Jersey (Missy Elliott). Most of this process was documented on the MTV reality series Making the Band 4.

Welcome to the Dollhouse was released after it's single "Damaged"

Production
For this album, all of the girls had written and/or produced some kind of song, that they thought was suitable for their second effort. As mentioned in interviews, Danity Kane has stated that they came up with the name of the album when they all had brought in their own material into the studio to see which tracks would make the cut. They also expressed, that it felt as if they were in a music box, hence getting the name, Welcome to the Dollhouse. Each of the girls, also, were given chances to write, co-write, and co-produce a handful of the tracks that are on the record. Producers at Bad Boy and Atlantic Records wanted the group's second album to have a more of a "ballad effect" to it, sending the examples of songs to be influenced by , such as Rihanna's "Question Existing", but said they did not feel the song and its sound, did not agree with the rest of the album, saying it didn't fit them in the fifth episode of Making the Band 4.

In February 2008, Bad Boy and Atlantic Records released a "sampler" which contained snippets of both Danity Kane's and Day26's upcoming albums. It featured an intro from CEO of Bad Boy, Sean Combs and also an outro to the single "Damaged".

The girls released the product on March 18, 2008, which they consider their "baby" as they have written, co-written, and/or co-produced six songs on the album in total.

Chart performance
Welcome to the Dollhouse debuted on top of the U.S. Billboard 200, with first week sales of 236,000 copies making it the band's second consecutive number-one album. Danity Kane is the first female group in Billboard history to have both their debut and sophomore albums enter the main charts at number-one. Less than a month after its release, "Welcome to the Dollhouse" was certified Gold by the RIAA as of April 22, 2008. In September 28, 2008, the album had sold over 546,790 copies in the U.S.. Billboard's weekly release of its popular Top 200 Albums, known as the Billboard 200, saw the album's biggest gain in sales for the magazine of October 11, 2008. Welcome to the Dollhouse landed at number 75 on the year end Billboard 200.

"Damaged"
The album's first single, "Damaged", was chosen through an online fan poll. In January 2008, Danity Kane had posted a bulletin on their respective MySpace page expressing that they were giving their fans the chance to choose their newest single. Fans were given two choices, "Damaged" and "Pretty Boy". Of the two choices, "Damaged" dominated the poll by a vast majority, and thus, became the first single from Welcome to the Dollhouse. The single "Damaged" debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart at number 64, and in its second week it shot up to number 27. It is Danity Kane's most successful single to date with about 2,000,000 digital download sales, according to Nielsen Soundscan.

"Bad Girl"
Erik White directed and Gil Duldulao choreographed the music video for "Bad Girl". The video featured cameos from Missy Elliott, Qwanell Mosley from their then fellow Bad Boy Records band Day26, and Talan Torriero of the MTV show Laguna Beach. The concept of the video is a graphic novel and stays true to the line in the song "When the red light comes on, I transform" as each member transforms into an alter ego of theirs after a flash of red light. This is their last single as a group, peaking at 85 on the Billboard Pop 100.

Reception
Welcome to the Dollhouse generated positive, mixed, and negative reviews from music critics. Hillary Brown of Artistdirect gave a mixed review,yet she called the album a "smooth-geared, modern machine, thoroughly designed to poke you in your pop senses."


 * Danity Kane exist in a strange netherworld of pop culture, where you either know everything about the prefabricated girl group or you know nothing about them. Despite debuting at the top of the Billboard charts with their eponymous 2006 debut, on its way to eventual platinum sales, the group didn't seem to make any impact outside of MTV, the place where their construction was meticulously, endlessly documented on the third season of Making the Band. Not all made-for-TV bands are doomed to be forever defined as television bands, but Danity Kane are the kind of stiff, faceless girl group whose personality can only be discerned by a venue other than the music. Which of course is why they fall through the cracks: fans of the show find it all fascinating but those who don't watch find the music white noise for malls, designed for teens who dream of the day they can sneak into clubs. The popularity of Making the Band 3 pushed Danity Kane into the Top Ten, and the very existence of a Making the Band 5 featuring DK and subsequent MTB winners Day 26 and Donnie J, all making albums at the same time and jockeying for success, could help push the group's second album, Welcome to the Dollhouse, into the charts, with its release scheduled for March 2008 as the new season unfolds...but that would be a pretty tall order, as Welcome to the Dollhouse is a paler, plainer recycling of their debut. All five of the DK girls are blandly, conventionally pretty in their voices (not to mention their looks), and no amount of melisma can lend them personality. They were picked for the group because they're pliable, and they thoroughly disappear into these overly constructed productions, dense on rhythms but bereft of hooks, either in the instrumentals or vocals. With so few exceptions that they play like accidents -- "2 of You" has slinky rhythms that make up for the nonsensical "you've got me having breakfast in the afternoon" refrain; "Lights Out" has an appealing dose of Minneapolis funk in its keyboard, as does "Key to My Heart," which shimmers slyly, almost cloyingly -- there is no lightness to this record, and everything feels grimly labored. Maybe hearing the end results would be interesting if you've witnessed the labors on Making the Band, but anybody else will wonder why it takes so much work to sound so bland...and why we are bothering thinking about them anyway.

http://www.allmusic.com/album/welcome-to-the-dollhouse-r1334191/review

by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

The opening sound on Danity Kane's second album is that of a music box being wound up before their creator Sean Combs introduces them by name. Considering that the girl group was put together on a reality show (Making the Band), evoking mechanization seems appropriate, and the album that follows is a smooth-geared, modern machine, thoroughly designed to poke you in your pop senses. The girls don't differentiate themselves much from each other vocally, and the repetition of "erotic" themes in songs made for taking one's clothes off ("Strip Tease," "Ecstasy," "Lights Out") suggests that they're nothing more than Pussycat Dolls-Redux, but that assumption would be unfair. The lead single, as voted by visitors to their website, is "Damaged," a number that belies its tale of vulnerability with an aggressive beat driven by a kick drum and a pack of low synths that play nicely with the girls' chorus of R&B Barbies. "2 of You" may have a strange premise ("You’re so hot, there must be two of you"), but its kicky beat courtesy of Bryan-Michael Cox, who shaped Mariah Carey’s "Shake It Off," overcomes the weird lyrics. When the pace lets up, as on the ballad "Poetry," which is also the longest track here, Danity Kane has to rely more on canned emotion, attempting to articulate feelings with a heavy-melismaed brush, and the record flags, but as long as the beats-per-minute stay high, the energy does too. Guest turns by Missy Elliott and Rick Ross add some variety, but Aundrea, Aubrey, Dawn, Shannon, and Wanita have no help on many of the songs nor do they need it.

http://www.artistdirect.com/nad/store/artist/album/0,,4566957,00.html

—"Hillary Brown" 04.03.08

Track listing
Notes:
 * * Co-producer.
 * ** Produced and arranged by.
 * A Background vocals by Mary Brown.
 * B Vocals produced and arranged by Mary Brown.
 * C Vocals produced by Mary Brown. Addition vocal production by Harve Pierre.
 * D Addition vocal production by Adonis and Voyce Alexander.
 * E Vocal production by Tiff Star and Jim Beanz.
 * F Vocal production by Harve Pierre and Shannon Lawrence.

Personnel
According to the album's booklet and the BMI Repertoire.

Main
In order of first appearance in credits:
 * Sean Combs – executive producer
 * Harve Pierre – co-executive producer
 * Conrad Dimanche - associate executive producer, A&R
 * Shannon Lawrence - A&R
 * Daniel Mitchell - A&R coordinator
 * Hughes Felizor - A&R coordinator
 * Gwendolyn Niles - A&R administration
 * Sharon Tucker - A&R administration
 * Francesca Spero - Bad Boy Films/Making the Band 4 executive
 * Eric Wong - marketing
 * Kamala Salmon - marketing
 * Mark Obriski - art direction and design
 * Rod Gold - art manager
 * Carolyn Tracey - packaging production
 * Rodger Erickson - photographer
 * Marni Senofonte - styling
 * Julius Erving - management
 * Kenneth Meiselas - legal representation
 * Ed Shapiro - legal representation
 * Brian Gardner - mastered by

Writers
In order of first appearance in credits:
 * Antwan Thompson - writer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse")
 * Harve Pierre - writer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse")
 * Sean Combs - writer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse", "Damaged", "Lights Out", "Poetry", "Is Anybody Listening")
 * Mary Brown - writer ("Bad Girl", "Ecstasy")
 * James Washington - writer ("Bad Girl", "Strip Tease")
 * Devin Parker - writer ("Bad Girl")
 * Nathanial Hill - writer ("Bad Girl", "Pretty Boy", "Strip Tease")
 * Missy Elliot - writer ("Bad Girl")
 * Jonathan Yip - writer ("Damaged")
 * Jeremy Reeves - writer ("Damaged")
 * Micayle McKinney - writer ("Damaged")
 * Ray Romulos - writer ("Damaged")
 * Shannon Lawrence - writer ("Damaged")
 * Rose Marie Tan - writer ("Damaged")
 * James Smith - writer ("Damaged")
 * Justin Walker - writer ("Damaged")
 * Mario Winans - writer ("Damaged", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Lights Out", "Picture This (Interlude)", "Poetry", "Is Anybody Listening")
 * Balewa Muhammad - writer ("Pretty Boy", "Sucka For Love")
 * Candace Nelson - writer ("Pretty Boy", "Sucka For Love")
 * Ezekiel Lewis - writer ("Pretty Boy", "Sucka For Love")
 * P. "J. Que" Smith - writer ("Pretty Boy", "Sucka For Love")
 * Wanita Woodgett - writer ("Strip Tease", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Picture This (Interlude)", "Flashback Interlude", "Ain't Going")
 * Dawn Richard - writer ("Strip Tease", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Lights Out", "Flashback Interlude", "Ain't Going")
 * Aundrea Fimbres - writer ("Strip Tease", "Secret Place (Interlude)")
 * Shannon Bex - writer ("Strip Tease", "Secret Place (Interlude)")
 * Aubrey O'Day - writer ("Strip Tease", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Picture This (Interlude)")
 * Bryan-Michael Cox - writer ("Sucka For Love", "2 of You")
 * Kendrick A.J. Dean - writer ("Sucka For Love", "2 of You")
 * Andrew Harr - writer ("Ecstasy")
 * Jermaine Jackson - writer ("Ecstasy")
 * William Roberts - writer ("Ecstasy")
 * Darnley Scantlebury - writer ("2 of You")
 * State of Emergency - writer ("2 of You")
 * Adonis Shropshire - writer ("2 of You")
 * Aian David Clarke - writer ("2 of You")
 * Wynter Gordon - writer ("2 of You")
 * Neil Betz - writer ("Lights Out")
 * Craig Betz - writer ("Lights Out")
 * James Hoe - writer ("Poetry")
 * Tiff Star - writer ("Poetry")
 * Shanell Woodgette - writer ("Key to My Heart")
 * Reggie Perry - writer ("Key to My Heart")
 * Romeo IX - writer ("Flashback Interlude")
 * Niara Scarlet - writer ("Is Anybody Listening")
 * Fridolin Nordsoe - writer ("Is Anybody Listening")
 * Lyanna Dean - writer ("Ain't Going")
 * Bernard Malik - writer ("Ain't Going")
 * Anesha Birchett - writer ("Make Me Sick")
 * Antea Joy Birchett - writer ("Make Me Sick")
 * Chris Grayson - writer ("Make Me Sick")
 * Kateeb Muhammad - writer ("Make Me Sick")

Producers

 * Akeem Lee - producer ("Lights Out")
 * Antwan Thompson - producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse")
 * Bernard Malik Doss - producer ("Ain't Going")
 * Bryan-Michael Cox - producer ("Sucka For Love", "2 of You")
 * Danja - producer ("Bad Girl", "Pretty Boy", "Strip Tease")
 * Flex & Hated - producer ("Lights Out")
 * Fridolin - producer ("Is Anybody Listening")
 * Harve Pierre - producer ("Welcome to the Dollhouse")
 * Mario Winans - producer ("Damaged", "Secret Place (Interlude)", "Lights Out", "Picture This (Interlude)", "Poetry", "Is Anybody Listening")
 * Rockwilder - producer ("Make Me Sick")
 * Romeo IX - producer ("Flashback Interlude")
 * Scyience - producer ("Key to My Heart")
 * Sean Combs - producer ("Damaged", "Lights Out", "Is Anybody Listening")
 * Stereotypes - producer ("Damaged")
 * The Clutch - producer ("Sucka For Love")
 * The Runners - producer ("Ecstasy")
 * Wyldcard - producer ("Sucka For Love", "2 of You")

Engineers

 * Victor Abijaudi - engineer
 * Steve Dickey - engineer
 * Paul J. Falcone - engineer
 * Andy Geel - engineer
 * Koil - engineer
 * Bernard Malik - engineer
 * Matthew Testa - engineer
 * Sam Thomas - engineer
 * Jeff Villanueva - engineer
 * Kevin Wilson - engineer

Mixing

 * Marcella Araica - mixing engineer
 * Giz - mixing engineer
 * Ken Lewis - mixing engineer
 * Bernard Malik - mixing engineer
 * Fabian Marasciullo - mixing engineer
 * Matthew Testa - mixing engineer
 * Sam Thomas - mixing engineer

Vocal production

 * Adonis - vocal producer
 * Voyce Alexander - vocal producer
 * Jim Beanz - vocal producer
 * Mary Brown - vocal producer
 * Shannon Lawrence - vocal producer
 * Harve Pierre - vocal producer
 * Tiff Starr - vocal producer

Additional

 * Mary Brown - background vocals ("Bad Girl")
 * Bryan-Michael Cox - arranger, bass, drums, keyboards, programming, strings ("Sucka For Love", "2 of You"*)
 * Steve Dickey - mixing assistant
 * Daniel Mitchell - assistant engineer
 * Donnie Scantz - bass, drum programming, keyboards ("2 of You")
 * Jahi Sundance - bass, drum programming, keyboards ("2 of You")
 * Mario Winans - arranger ("Secret Place", "Picture This", "Is Anybody Listening")
 * Wyldcard - keyboard, strings ("Sucka for Love"**, "2 of You")

Recording and mixing locations

 * Circle House Recording Studios (Miami, Flordia)
 * Daddy's House Recording Studios (New York City, New York)
 * Goldmind Studios (New Jersey)
 * Redcarpet Recording Studio (New York City, New York)
 * Zac's Recording (Atlanta, Georgia)

Notes:
 * * Bryan-Michael Cox was not an arranger of "2 of You". He is also not credited for any additional drum or strings on that song.
 * ** Wyldcard is not credited for the keyboard in "Sucka for Love".