Yours Truly

The debut record that debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart.

Yours Truly is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Ariana Grande. It was released on September 3, 2013, by Republic Records. The album's songs were recorded over nearly a two-year period, with Harmony Samuels, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Patrick "J. Que" Smith and Grande's Victorious co-star Leon Thomas III, as well as others, handling the album's music production. Featured collaborators include Big Sean, Mika, Mac Miller, and The Wanted's Nathan Sykes. Yours Truly draws stylistic influences off the music of Grande's artistic inspirations, including singers Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, Amy Winehouse, and Christina Aguilera. Musically, the album is a pop and R&B record, while incorporating 1990s hip hop, 1950s piano pop, and doo-wop music within its production. It was acclaimed by critics upon release, with praise for Grande's vocals. Yours Truly debuted atop the US Billboard 200 chart, with over 138,000 units sold in its first week. It made Grande the fifteenth female artist to ever debut at number-one in the United States. The album was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It also garnered top ten peaks in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Quick Facts

Artist: Ariana Grande
Released: 30 August 2013
Recorded: August 2011 – June 2013
Genre: Pop; R&B
Length: 46:23
Label: Republic

Lore & Background

Work on Yours Truly began in August 2010 while Grande was in the process of filming Victorious and formally began to work on it with a record label after she was signed to Republic Records on August 10, 2011. By September 10 of that year, Grande already had 20 songs prepared and was going through the process of narrowing it down to 13. On December 12, 2011, Grande released "Put Your Hearts Up" as the intended first single for the album. Upon release, the song had sold 120,000 download units. In an interview in June 2012, Grande described everything on Yours Truly as being "[19]50s, [19]60s doo-wop-inspired", and revealed that two new singles were going to be released before the album—one of which was called "Do You Love Me?" featuring Sky Blu. In 2013, Grande met up with her label and expressed dissatisfaction with the direction the album was taking. In several interviews during that year, she admitted to having completely disliked "Put Your Hearts Up", and not having an interest in pursuing music of that genre. She expressed a desire to make the type of music she grew up listening to, which was "urban pop, [19]90s music". Yours Truly is inspired by a variety of different artists, ranging from Amy Winehouse and Christina Aguilera to Mariah Carey and Whitney Houston. Grande said the album's first half is a "throwback" to the R&B music of the 1990s, and the second half is "something that is very unique and very special that I've sort of written" which is completely original.

Reader's Guide

The album was preceded by the release of the lead single, "The Way", on March 26, 2013. It became a top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at number nine. The second single, "Baby I", was released on July 22, 2013, and peaked at number 21 on the Hot 100. The third and final single, "Right There", was released on August 6, 2013, and reached number 84 in the US. Yours Truly was further promoted with live renditions of the album's songs during the Listening Sessions tour in 2013. Grande performed "The Way" and "Baby I" at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards' Preshow on August 25, 2013. Five days later, Yours Truly was released in Great Britain, and on September 3 in the United States. Grande performed "The Way" with Mac Miller on the Today along with "Tattooed Heart" on the day of the album's US release; she also performed the latter at the 2013 Style Awards on September 4, 2013. Grande also made several other appearances throughout the week appearing on Live! with Kelly and Michael, Today and Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, where she performed an acoustic version of "The Way". Grande embarked on her first solo concert tour titled the Listening Sessions in support of Yours Truly. Pre-sale tickets went on sale on July 18, 2013, while regular tickets went on sale on July 19. Pre-sale tickets had to be taken down early, as they were selling at such a fast rate that the tour was almost sold before regular tickets were available. Grande also was the opening act for the last three US dates of Justin Bieber's Believe Tour, which took place in Jacksonville, Tampa, and Atlanta on August 7, August 8, and August 10, in support of the album.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
1	Honeymoon Avenue	Khristopher Riddick-Tynes, Leon Thomas III, Antonio Dixon, Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds, Thomas Lee Brown, Travis Sayles, Victoria McCants, Roahn Hylton, Dennis "Aganee" Jenkins, Maurice Wade	5:39
2	Baby I	Edmonds, Dixon, Patrick "J.Que" Smith	3:17
3	Right There (featuring Big Sean)	Harmony Samuels, Helen "Carmen Reece" Culver, J. "Lonny" Bereal, James "J-Doe" Smith, Al Sherrod Lambert, Ariana Grande, Sean Anderson p, k, a Big Sean, Jeff Lorber	4:07
4	Tattooed Heart	Riddick-Tynes, Thomas, Dixon, Edmonds, Squire, Grande, Sean Foreman	3:14
5	Lovin' It	Riddick-Tynes, Thomas, Rickey Offord, Edmonds, Dixon, Mark Morales, Kirk S. Robinson, Nathaniel V Robinson, Mark Rooney	3:00
6	Piano	H. Samuels, Jahmaal Noel Fyffe, Parker Ighile, Anisa Moghaddam, Moses Ayo Samuels, Olaniyi Michael Akinkunmi, Grande	3:54
7	Daydreamin'	Squire, Brown, McCants	3:31
8	The Way (featuring Mac Miller)	H. Samuels, Amber Streeter, Lambert, Jordin Sparks, Malcolm McCormick, Brenda Russell	3:47
9	You'll Never Know	Riddick-Tynes, Thomas, Edmonds, Dixon	3:34
10	Almost Is Never Enough (with Nathan Sykes)	H. Samuels, Culver, Lambert, M. Samuels, Akinkunmi, Grande	5:27
11	Popular Song (Mika featuring Ariana Grande)	Mika, Priscilla Renea, Mathieu Jomphe, Stephen Schwartz	3:20
12	Better Left Unsaid	H. Samuels, Courtney Harrell, Lambert, M. Samuels, Akinkunmi, Grande	3:32
Total length			46:23