Letter to You

Recording and release

Springsteen called the E Street Band to his home studio for a recording session planned over five days in November 2019, but they wrapped up in just four. Ron Aniello co-produced the album with Springsteen. The project came after a stretch of writer’s block that broke in April 2019, when Springsteen wrote intensely for a week and a half, partly spurred by the death of his former bandmate George Theiss. The songs touch on regret, aging, and mortality.

The band cut the tracks live in the studio without making demos, adding only a few overdubs like guitar solos, handclaps, and backing vocals. Three of the songs—“If I Was the Priest,” “Janey Needs a Shooter,” and “Song for Orphans”—date back to before Springsteen’s 1973 debut, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. He rediscovered early recordings of these tunes with John Hammond while putting together a compilation. “If I Was the Priest” had never been released by Springsteen, though Allan Clarke covered it in the 1970s.

Warren Zevon adapted “Janey Needs a Shooter” for his 1980 album Bad Luck Streak in Dancing School. Danny Clinch shot the cover and liner note photos in late 2018, while Springsteen was in New York performing Springsteen on Broadway. The band initially planned a tour for early 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic scrapped those dates; by the time the album came out, Springsteen figured the earliest live shows could happen in 2022. Drummer Max Weinberg kept playing with his own group, Max Weinberg’s Jukebox, and used those gigs to promote the record.

Springsteen called the lack of a tour “very painful,” as he was eager to play the new songs live, but he did appear on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show to reach new listeners. The album was announced on September 10, with a music video for the title track released the same day. Streaming audio and a video for “Ghosts” followed on September 24. A making-of documentary directed by Thom Zimny debuted on Apple TV+ on October 23.

Critical reception

Critics gave Bruce Springsteen's 2020 album "Letter to You" a strong reception. Based on 35 reviews, Album of the Year calculated an average score of 82 out of 100, while AnyDecentMusic? compiled 27 critic ratings into an 8.0 out of 10. Alex McLevy of The A.V. Club awarded the album an A, describing it as a career highlight due to its songwriting's deep meditation on loss, and noted that almost any single track can represent the album's full scope.

Rolling Stone's Kory Grow gave it four out of five stars, praising Springsteen's emotional expression through lyrics that function as "self-therapy," and characterized the music as "the sound of Springsteen accepting that for himself." In Uncut, Richard Williams wrote a lengthy review positioning the album as a milestone that explores Springsteen's bond with the E Street Band and their connection to the audience, particularly their role in interpreting American culture, history, and politics; he rated it nine out of 10.

Mojo's Keith Cameron also gave it four out of five stars, comparing it to several earlier Springsteen albums and noting that the musicianship prevents the record from becoming overly sentimental. The Associated Press's David Bauder offered a mixed perspective, pointing out the irony that the writer of "Glory Days" now focuses so heavily on the past. Bauder stressed that Springsteen "is not, by any means, a nostalgia act," but argued that between this album and his Broadway show, his recent work "is less about pulling out of here to win than pulling back in to appreciate what he has." While praising certain songs, Bauder also observed that Springsteen sometimes falls into cliché.

Commercial performance

Bruce Springsteen's 2020 album, Letter to You, debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 with 96,000 units sold in its first week in the United States. This achievement made Springsteen the first artist to have new albums chart in the top five across six consecutive decades, and it marked his 21st album to reach that tier. The record also tied him with John Mayer for the most number-one spots on the Top Rock Albums chart, with five. In the United Kingdom, the Official Charts Company reported on October 26 that Letter to You held the number-one position on the midweek chart update, outselling the next four best-selling albums combined.

It was on track to become Springsteen's twelfth number-one album in the UK, which would make him the first solo artist to top the UK charts across five decades; it fell to fourth place the following week. Springsteen and Madonna are now tied for second place with 12 number-one albums each, behind Elvis Presley and Robbie Williams, who each have 13. In Australia, the ARIA charts listed Letter to You as Springsteen's fifth number-one album.

Although Letter to You was the best-selling album in the US during its debut week, it charted behind Luke Combs' re-release of What You See Is What You Get due to streaming and individual track sales. The album moved 96,000 equivalent album units, including 92,000 pure album sales, and by its second week, total sales surpassed 117,000. In the UK, first-week sales reached 51,800 units, with 95% coming from physical copies and downloads, narrowly trailing Lady Gaga's Chromatica, which had 53,000 sales in its debut week.

It was the fastest-selling album of 2020 at that point and boosted vinyl LP sales in the fourth quarter, with over 6,000 copies sold on vinyl. In the US, Letter to You sold 78,631 albums in its first week, including 18,000 on vinyl, making it the second best-selling vinyl album of the year behind Tame Impala's The Slow Rush. In Ireland, it was also the fastest-selling album of 2020, debuting at number one and tying Springsteen with Eminem for the most number-one albums by a solo artist, with nine.

The two singles released ahead of the album, "Letter to You" and "Ghosts," reached numbers two and five, respectively, on the Rock Digital Songs chart. Additionally, Springsteen climbed to the second spot on the Artist 100 chart in early November.

Bruce Springsteen's Letter to You

Thom Zimny, who has documented Bruce Springsteen’s live shows, album-making, and other projects for two decades, was asked by the musician to film the recording of this album. Springsteen gave Zimny no specific direction for the film’s narrative or scope, but early on they agreed on black-and-white footage to capture the feel of a “perfectly gray New Jersey day.” The winter photography by Danny Clinch and the film’s visual style serve as a metaphor for the album’s lyrical themes, which involve reflecting on the past and the spirituality found in the music. When the COVID-19 pandemic began during production, Springsteen and Zimny completed the film remotely.

Reviews were largely positive. IndieWire’s David Ehrlich called it a “rockin’ meditation on death” and “an upbeat portrait of someone who isn’t going anywhere, even when he leaves us,” giving it a B. Time’s Stephanie Zacharek praised it as “captivating” for its take on aging and Springsteen’s career retrospective. Consequence of Sound awarded an A−, with Tyler Clark noting the documentary explores not just the album but Springsteen’s entire creative process and philosophy, offering “a look inside the mind of a legend that’s valuable for anyone who also feels the pull of creativity.” The Morning Sun’s Al Alexander More also gave an A−, remarking that Springsteen provides a template and wisdom for other musicians.

Some critics were more measured. The Globe and Mail’s Brad Wheeler gave 2.5 out of four stars, finding it “strikingly earnest” and a glimpse into the band’s camaraderie, but argued it works only as a companion to the album, not as a standalone film. CNN’s Brian Lowry described the movie as a “Valentine” from Springsteen to his band and fans, with “warmth and nostalgia [that] forges a link between the past and the present.” NME’s Leonie Cooper called it a “grief-stricken contemplation on the fragility of life” with pristine musical performances. Newsday’s Robert Levin gave a perfect four out of four stars, calling it “joyful... magical and, yes... life affirming,” and added that the album itself is Springsteen’s best in years.