Me Against Myself

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Me Against Myself
Stargate
  • Paul Brown
  • Fitzgerald Scott
  • Peter Biker
  • Karsten "Delgado" Dahlgaard
    • Jay Sean chronology
    Me Against Myself
    (2004)     		My Own Way
    (2008)
    Singles from Me Against Myself
    1. "Dance with You"
      Released: 8 September 2003
    2. "Eyes on You"
      Released: 21 June 2004
    3. "Stolen"
      Released: 25 October 2004

    Me Against Myself is the debut studio album by Jay Sean, released 8 November 2004 in the United Kingdom, on 2Point9 Records, Relentless Records, and Virgin Records.[1]

    Reception

    Commercial performance

    The album includes three

    British hip hop and Indian music,[2] as well as its social commentary,[3][4] the album was universally acclaimed by critics[5] and sold more than two million copies worldwide, remaining Sean's most successful album to date.[6][7][8] Me Against Myself was influential in pioneering and popularizing Bhangra-R&B fusion music among the worldwide South Asian diaspora.[9]

    Despite initially failing to reach the top 20 on the

    Rishi Rich Project) had a television audience as large as 165 million viewers.[5] The album helped establish Sean as a major recognized artist across Asia and among the worldwide Desi
    diaspora.

    Critical response

    Professional ratings
    Review scores
    SourceRating
    Zambia Post
    		[18]

    Me Against Myself was universally acclaimed by critics across the world, particularly for its

    battle, for its honesty and self-awareness.[20]

    Tareck Ghoneim of

    Asian sensation" who is breaking barriers "making pop songs that include sounds from Sean’s cultural background and with potential mass appeal." He stated that the "album is progressive in that it shows a fusion of Asian sounds with r’n’b and pop music."[21] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian gave the album 3 out of 5 stars, praising "the Bollysoul arrangements that underscore his vocals", in reference to the fusion of Bollywood and soul music, especially in the song "Stolen".[16] The Liverpool Daily Post gave the album a score of 3 out of 4 stars.[17] Peter Culshaw of The Telegraph referred to the album as "highly accomplished R&B, with minor Indian musical elements", but considered the best tracks in the album to be the hip hop tracks "You Don't Know Me" and "Me Against Myself" for their social commentary which deal with Sean's inner conflicts and the difficulties in "trying to make it as an Asian in the hip-hop arena." Culshaw praised Sean's talent and stated that, "currently attracting the attention of demi-god producer Timbaland, it will be fascinating to see how Sean resolves his musical schizophrenia."[3]

    The album received similarly positive reviews in Asia, where its British-Asian fusion sounds were also seen as a novelty. In India, A. Vishnu of

    Zambia Post gave the album a rating of 8/10.[18]

    The creativity and experimentalism of his debut album Me Against Myself later became a point of criticism towards Sean's more mainstream follow-up albums, My Own Way (2008) and All or Nothing (2009), for lacking the experimental British-Asian fusion sounds (alongside Rishi Rich) and the social commentary that had characterized his debut album Me Against Myself, in favour of mainstream American-influenced R&B pop music in his later albums.[24][25] In his review of My Own Way, Angus Batey of The Guardian stated that Sean "has lost - not for ever, one hopes - the stuff that made him stand out" in Me Against Myself.[25] Sean later responded that the reason he gave up on the Indian-R&B fusion music that he helped popularize is because it had eventually become too common in Asian Underground and Indian pop music.[9]

    Track listing

    Me Against Myself track listing
    No.TitleProducer(s)Length
    1."Intro" (Balcony skit)Jay Sean,
    StarGate
    		3:11
    3."One Night"Rishi Rich4:08
    4."Don't Rush"Rishi Rich3:49
    5."On & On"Peter Biker, Karsten "Delgado" Dahlgaard3:39
    6."Stolen"StarGate, Rishi Rich4:04
    7."Come with Me"Paul Brown, Rishi Rich4:11
    8."Holding On"Rishi Rich4:37
    9."Interlude" (Irony skit)Jay Sean, Mentor1:01
    10."Dance with You" (featuring Rishi Rich and Juggy D)Iceman J, Rishi Rich2:56
    11."Man's World (Ramta Jogi)"Paul Brown, Rishi Rich, A. R. Rahman3:44
    12."I Believe in You"Fitzgerald Scott3:23
    13."One Minute"Jay Sean, Rishi Rich4:04
    14."Meri Jaan" (featuring Juggy D)Rishi Rich3:11
    15."Me Against Myself"Jay Sean, Mentor3:11
    16."You Don't Know Me" (hidden track)Jay Sean, Rishi Rich3:00
    17."Who Is Kamaljit" (hidden track)Jay Sean, Mentor3:44
    Total length:56:52

    Music videos

    Charts and certifications

    Chart performance and certifications for "Me Against Myself"
    Country Providers Peak
    position     		Certification Shipments/Sales
    United Kingdom
    The Official UK Charts Company
    		 29 Gold[26] 100,000[10]

    References

    1. ^ a b c "Brit sound, desi flavour". The Hindu. 23 February 2005. Archived from the original on 24 February 2005. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    2. ^ a b Nadeska Alexis (3 December 2009). "Jay Sean Says He's a 'More Serious' Beatboxer Than Justin Timberlake". The BoomBox. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
    3. ^ a b Peter Culshaw (15 November 2004). "Pop CDs of the week: Eminem, Destiny's Child, Jay Sean, Pavement". The Telegraph. London. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
    4. ^ a b c Dan Gennoe (8 November 2004). "Jay Sean - Me Against Myself". Yahoo! Music. Archived from the original on 9 May 2006. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
    5. ^ a b Jason Cheah (15 October 2007). "Smooth R&B". The Star. Archived from the original on 15 October 2007. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    6. About.com. Archived from the original
      on 24 September 2009. Retrieved 14 December 2009.
    7. ^ a b Nick Duerden (6 December 2009). "Jay Sean: Ahead of the race". The Independent. London. Retrieved 3 December 2009.
    8. ^ a b Rishi Rich - The Project - Review Archived 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine
    9. ^
      YouTube
    10. ^ a b Nick Duerden (6 December 2009). "Jay Sean: Ahead of the race". The Independent. London. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
    11. ^ Jay Sean Featuring Lil Wayne, "Down" - Preview, Billboard
    12. ^ "All or Nothing: Jay Sean". Amazon. Retrieved 18 November 2009.
    13. ^ Nadeska Alexis (3 December 2009). "Jay Sean Says He's a 'More Serious' Beatboxer Than Justin Timberlake". The BoomBox. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    14. ^ "Jay Sean: Bad boy turned good". Belfast Telegraph. 22 January 2008. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    15. ^ O'Brien, Jon. "Jay Sean - Me Against Myself". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 August 2012.
    16. ^ a b Caroline Sullivan (5 November 2004). "Jay Sean, Me Against Myself (Relentless)". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 6 December 2009.
    17. ^ a b "CD review". Liverpool Daily Post. 5 November 2004. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    18. ^
      Zambia Post
      . Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    19. ^ Alex Fletcher (21 January 2008). "Jay Sean: 'Ride It'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    20. ^ Antony Hatfield (8 November 2004). "Me Against Myself Review". BBC Music. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
    21. ^ Tareck Ghoneim (2004). "Jay Sean - Me Against Myself - Album Review". Contactmusic.com. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
    22. ^ "Jay Sean: Me Against Myself". The Statesman. 25 March 2005. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    23. ^ Kiren Kaur (9 January 2005). "Danceable Jay". New Straits Times. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    24. ^ Mike Diver (4 December 2009). "Jay Sean All or Nothing Review". BBC. Retrieved 5 December 2009.
    25. ^ a b Angus Batey (25 April 2008). "Jay Sean, My Own Way". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 8 December 2009.
    26. ^ BPI certification search engine Archived 24 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine
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