The Sea is the fifth studio album by English recording artist Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known professionally as Melanie C. Made under her independent record label Red Girl Records, the album marks the first release by Melanie C in 4 years, since the reunion with the Spice Girls and giving birth to her first child.
Preceding the album's release in September, lead single "Rock Me" was released for digital download worldwide on June 24, 2011. The single serves as the official song of the popular German channel ZDF's coverage of the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup. The music video for second single, "Think About It", premiered on July 15, 2011 on MelanieC.net at 11:00 am. UK time and was simutaneously sent to radio stations all over the UK. The album cover, depicting Melanie standing in the sea, was released same day.
Recording and Production :
The album was recorded in London. Melanie talked about her inspirations and goals for this record:
"I'm very excited about the record because, it's quite diverse in styles. I've worked with lots of new writers, people I haven't worked with before. There's still very much a pop element, and I've got some lovely ballads, some rock inspired tracks, some more dancey stuff, some acoustic stuff, and production wise there are some very atmospheric moments. So I really think it's going to be a diverse and stronger album. When I started working with this album, I really didn't know what I wanted to achieve, so I wanted to be ambitious and experiment, work with new people, and try on different styles of music. And through doing that I really discovered the way I wanted to express myself and the sound I wanted to create. All that has made it become quite diverse, and it's funny because I suppose my first studio album Northern Star is probably the most similar to this record in that it does have loads of different styles although it is fundamentally a pop record."
Artwork :
Regarding the concept of The Sea, Melanie said in a video interview on YouTube that, the album very much mixes different genres of music into one pop album, therefore naming it The Sea, which consists of many species under the water surface.
Composition :
Melanie stated that she worked with a lot of new writers for this album, where she tended to work with the same writers for her previous records, notably Adam Argyle, whom still has co-written some material for this record. The album has accoustic material, aswell as some rock-driven songs and upbeat dance records.
Source : Wikipedia.org
