Released to a lukewarm reception by critics,[1] the album debuted at number eight on the German Albums Chart and reached number fifteen and twenty-two in Austria and Switzerland respectively.[2] Altogether, Real Love produced two singles, including "Cold as Ice," which reached the top twenty on the German Singles Chart, and its title track.[3][4] Following the underperformance of the album and both of its singles, Connor went on a hiatus after which she would release the commercially successful German-language album Muttersprache in 2015. Connor would return to English-language material in 2022, with her second Christmas album Not So Silent Night.
Background
In late 2008, Connor separated from her husband Marc Terenzi. In 2009, she was featured on the Central European version of Enrique Iglesias' song "Takin' Back My Love". Later that year, she released the song "Standing On Top Of The World" as a download, available through a code on Always packaging for a limited time.[5] The song, retitled "Top Of The World", was then included on the deluxe edition of Real Love. In August of 2010, two months before the album's release, Connor made her relationship with Florian Fischer public.
Real Love earned largely mixed to negative reviews from music critics. laut.de critic Sarah-Nina Rademacher wrote: "Known for her soulful powerhouse voice, Sarah pushes it to the limit on Real Love — only to run it through an aggressive electro filter. The result? Disco fox fit for a dance school, featuring horribly distorted, robotic vocals, wrapped in sticky pop and lukewarm beats [...] The conclusion is clear: it’s high time Sarah and her mentor George Glueck should go their separate ways."[7] In his reviews for Die Welt, Michael Pilz noted that "not much has happened since "From Sarah with Love" nearly ten years ago [...] She's back to singing songs that often sound quite different from what their titles suggest — like the upbeat, sweaty "Cold As Ice," or "It Only Hurts When I Breathe," where all bravery drowns in self-pity."[8]
Albert Ranner from CDStarts gave the album a 3/10 rating. He found that Real Love "doesn’t feel like a new album from the Delmenhorst native, but more like the debut of a talent show winner — one that puts a strong emphasis on variety without depth, in order to gauge audience feedback and use it to define a rough stylistic direction for future releases. Deep down, Sarah probably knows herself that she doesn't need to go through this process at all."[6] In a positive review, MusikWoche wrote: "You can really hear and feel that this is a woman standing at a crossroads in her career — torn between celebrity life and music. And fortunately, she has now clearly chosen to prioritize the music."[9]
Commercial performance
In Germany, Real Love opened and peaked at number eight on the German Albums Chart.[10] While it was her lowest-charting project since Key to My Soul (2003),[10] it also marked Connor's seventh consecutive top ten album in her home country.[10] In Austria, Real Love reached number 15 on the Austrian Albums Chart.[11] It would remain three further weeks on the chart.[11] In Switzerland, the album debuted and peaked at number 22,[12] making it Connor's lowest charting album yet.[12]
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
