Heartbreak on a Full Moon


Heartbreak on a Full Moon is the eighth studio album by American singer Chris Brown. The album is a double-disc, consisting of 45 tracks, and was released digitally October 31, 2017, and onto CD three days later by RCA Records. Brown for the album worked with several producers, including Boi-1da, D. A. Doman, Scott Storch, A1, Polow da Don, Amadeus and many others. The album also features some guest appearances by urban artists, including R. Kelly, Usher, Gucci Mane and Future.
The album received positive reviews from music critics, that celebrated the record's lyrical and sounding concept, its length, and its introspective lyrical content, considering it as one of the most ambitious albums of its time. The album was considered a qualitative improvement from Brown's latest projects.
One week after its release Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States, and Brown became the first R&B male artist that went gold in a week since Usher's Confessions in 2004. The album has been certified Double Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America.
The album was anticipated by several snippets, that hyped the project's release since early 2016, by six official singles; including "Grass Ain't Greener", "Party", "Privacy", "Pills & Automobiles", "Questions", and "Tempo", and the promotional singles "High End" and "Hope You Do".

Background and recording

Brown started working on and recording tracks for the album a few weeks before the release of Royalty, his seventh studio album, in late 2015. He continued working on the album during 2016 and 2017, also during both tours, One Hell of a Nite Tour and The Party Tour. Brown also built a recording studio inside of his home to record several songs for the album. Brown said about the album that he wanted to outdo expectations, explaining the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for Complex. saying:
Brown explained during an interview for radio Hot 97 that the album is his most personal one, explaining as well his lyrical content, saying:

Artwork

The cover art for the album was announced on October 5, 2017. It consists of a pink moon with a graphic of an actual heart organ on top of it. The pink moon represents the themes of the album, which are predominantly dedicated to girls, in love, breakup and sex songs, also talking about police brutality and the dark side of fame, while the blood-dripping human heart, with the blood that dripping becomes ink, represents the heartbroken feelings of the singer, that are poured into the lyrics of the majority of the album.

The cover art for Heartbreak on a Full Moon is the first Brown's artwork where the singer does not appear directly.

Music and lyrics

Heartbreak on a Full Moon is an R&B album, with a sound that has been described as "nocturnal and passional", with songs like "Lost & Found", "This Ain't", "Nowhere" or "Paradise" representing it, and "horror-themed" in various songs such as "Pull Up", "Party", "Sensei" or "High End". The album also includes songs with different influences from genres such as hip-hop, dancehall, trap, soft rock, and pop. Brown performances on the album often switch from his R&B singing to one final rapped verse in several tracks.
The lyrical content of the album starts with the opening track "Lost & Found", branching out in a plot that poetically and explicitly tells the pain of the heartbreak caused by a woman dependent on the good life, being sung in perspective to the direct interested. Throughout the album the lyrics depict the pain of the singer reflected on his thoughts and feelings, and how he tries to escape it with parties, sex, drugs. On the songs "Everybody Knows" and "Hurt the Same", the singer angrily accuses the woman he loved for being insensitive and ungrateful, while he apologizes for his actions that hurt her on songs like "Enemy", "Tough Love" and "Even". On "This Ain't" the singer tries to have a love relationship with another woman, but realizes that their relationship is just sex with no love involvement. On tracks like "Sip", "Pull Up" and "Pills & Automobiles" he finds himself in parties full of sex and drugs. After all the details of what's been on his feelings and what he's done after his breakup, on the last track, "Yellow Tape", he reflects on how he can't handle no more the pain of his heartbreak, and how sex and drugs can't numb his pain, ending up killing himself.

Release and promotion

On January 10, 2016 Brown had previewed 11 unreleased songs on his Periscope and Instagram profiles, showing him dancing and lip-synching these songs. Later in January, February and March 2016, he released videos on his Instagram profile where he was lip-synching snippets from the unreleased songs "Sirens", "Lost and Found", and "Dead Wrong".
On April 27 through Twitter, he announced the release of a new single on May 5. On May 3 he revealed that the single would be "Grass Ain't Greener", showing its cover art and announcing it as the first single from Heartbreak on a Full Moon. The single was released on May 5, 2016, the day of Brown's 27th birthday, but it was originally not included on the album's previous track listing then was re-included on the official tracklist as the last track when the album was available for pre-order.
In November and December 2016, he released videos on his Instagram profile where he was lip-synching snippets from other unreleased songs: "For Me", "Post & Delete", and "Yellow Tape".
On December 16, 2016, he released the second official single from the album, "Party", that features guest vocals from American R&B singer Usher and rapper Gucci Mane. On January 4, 2017 Brown had previewed two snippets on his Instagram profile from the songs "Privacy" and "Tell Me Baby", then in February announced that "Privacy" would have been released as the next single from Heartbreak on a Full Moon. The single was released on March 24, 2017.
The initial track listing was announced by Brown on his Instagram account on May 2, 2017, saying that it would have been a double-disc album, and that it would have been released in June 2017. In the first days of June 2017 46 songs discarded from the album were leaked, most of them were unfinished versions while a few were demos.
In July 2017 he announced the pending release of upcoming singles from his album. Later on August 4, 2017, he released the album's fourth single "Pills & Automobiles", that features guest vocals from American trap artists Yo Gotti, A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie and Kodak Black. Then on August 14, 2017 he announced the release of the fifth official single from the album, "Questions", on August 16, announcing the album release date, saying that it would be released on October 31, 2017.
In the run up to the album's release, on October 5, 2017, Brown unveiled the official artwork on his Instagram profile, sharing a video with an animated cartoon-style visual of a blood-dripping human heart set against a pink full moon, with a snippet of the song "Heartbreak on a Full Moon" in the background.
On October 13, 2017 Brown released a promotional single "High End", that features guest vocals from American trap artists Future and Young Thug, announcing the final tracklist of the album. On October 25, 2017 Brown organized with Tidal a free pop-up concert in New York City to perform the singles on the album and promote it for his core fans.

Critical reception

editor Andy Kellman called Heartbreak on a Full Moon "artistically conservative", and praised the "mesmerizing horror-themed sound" of some of the album's songs, like "Pull Up" and "Sensei". Slant Magazines Zachary Hoskins found most of the songs to be forgettable retreads of Brown's past music, writing that the album "fails to offer anything new from Brown, or contemporary R&B in general: It's almost four dozen songs about fucking or breaking up, sometimes both in the same song." Craig Jenkins of Vulture.com said that the album is "one of the most ambitious albums of his era", saying that even if there is "60 minutes of forgettable tracks, but the rest is solid and way better than most of Chris Brown's past discography". The Register-Guards Melanie Sims praised the amplitude of genres on the album saying that "Brown's sound has always been the sum of varying genres, each one sending him to the top of one chart or another. That said, with Heartbreak on a Full Moon, Brown performs like a one-man streaming service, and he’s got hits on every channel", also praising the introspective and deep lyrics of songs like "Lost & Found" and "Yellow Tape" HipHopDX editor Scott Glaysher called the album "incredibly long", praising the productions on songs like "Lost & Found", "This Way" and "Frustrated", but calling "monotonous" the singles “Tempo” and “Questions”.
Ariell Reed from Driftwood wrote that the album "exceeds expectation", praising the lyrical production on songs like "Paradise", "Tough Love" and "Everybody Knows", saying that the best song on the album is the last one, "Yellow Tape", stating that the project "outdo expectations and push boundaries". The Boombox editor Prezzy complimented the sound of the album, defining it "nocturnal and passional", saying as well that Heartbreak on a Full Moon "will go down among the most ambitious albums of its time".

Commercial performance

After selling 25,000 copies and earning 68,000 album-equivalent units within three days, Heartbreak on a Full Moon debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, becoming Brown's ninth consecutive top 10 album on the chart. The album was Brown's seventh solo album to debut at number one on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. On November 8, 2017, Heartbreak on a Full Moon was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America for combined sales and album-equivalent units of over 500,000 units in the United States. Brown became the first R&B male artist that went gold in a week since Usher's Confessions in 2004. In its second chart week, the album remained at number three on Billboard 200, with 73,000 album-equivalent units. In Australia, it entered the ARIA Albums Chart at number five, becoming his first top ten in the nation since X in 2014. In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number 10 on the UK Albums Chart, Brown's sixth non-consecutive top 10 album on the chart. The album was eventually certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales of over 60,000 copies in the UK. In New Zealand, the album debuted at number three on the RMNZ Albums Chart, giving Brown his seventh top ten album on the chart. Until June 2018, the album has accumulated over 3 billion streams worldwide.
The good commercial performance of the album was based on streaming, as explained by Forbes
By the end of 2017, the album has sold over 608,000 album-equivalent units in the US, with over 80,000 being pure sales, it finished as the country's 36th-most overall consumed album of the year.
In 2018, Heartbreak on a Full Moon was ranked as the 28th most popular album of the year on the Billboard 200. With 25,000 copies sold and 618,000 album-equivalent units earned in the US throughout 2018, it finished as the country's 44th most overall consumed album of the year.

Tour

On March 27, 2018, Chris Brown announced an official headlining concert tour to further promote the album titled Heartbreak on a Full Moon Tour. The tour began on June 19 in Auburn, at White River Amphitheatre. He was supported by 6lack, H.E.R., Rich the Kid, and Jacquees.

Track listing

Production credits were adapted from RCA's official website.
Notes
Sample credits
Credits for Heartbreak on a Full Moon adapted from Allmusic.

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Chart Position
Australian Albums 82
Australian Urban Albums 27
New Zealand Albums 31
US Billboard 20028
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums 18
US Top R&B Albums 4

Chart Position
Australian Urban Albums 43
US Billboard 200175
US Top R&B Albums 17

Certifications