You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs, or simply You Light Up My Life, is the fourth studio album by the American country singer LeAnn Rimes. Released in the United States by Curb Records on September 9, 1997, when Rimes was 15 years old, it followed her third album and major label debut Blue (1996). The album comprises several covers of pop standards alongside original material.
The album was a commercial success but received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics, who criticized its production. When the album topped the Billboard 200, Rimes became the third artist under eighteen to have had two albums reach number one on the chart.[1]You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs was certified 4× Platinum by the RIAA.
Singles
Three singles were released from the album. The first was "How Do I Live."[2][3][4] The single was highly successful, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States and being certified 4 times Platinum.[5][6] In the UK, it peaked at number 7, spending 30 weeks on the UK Top 40 singles chart and ranking as the sixth highest selling single on the UK year-end chart for 1998.[7][8]
The album's second single, "You Light Up My Life", peaked at number 34 and was certified gold in the United States. The third and final single released from the album, "On the Side of Angels", peaked at number 4 on the US Country Chart.
You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs received generally negative to mixed reviews from music critics. Most criticism was given to the album's production. Writing for The Rolling Stone Album Guide, Arion Berger described the album as "an incoherent mess of western fluff and overblown ballads". He went on to say that "many of the songs are quite fine, but the arrangements are poisoned with bad decisions".[12] David Browne from Entertainment Weekly felt that the covers on the album did little to distinguish from the original songs.[11]
Criticism was also given to the album for being more adult contemporary than her previous record, Blue. Browne said that the album's "arrangements forsake the sleek honky-tonk of Blue for gloppy adult contemporary".[11] Thom Owens from AllMusic described the album as having "a bland, homogenous quality" that "could have used a bit of country grit". He praised "How Do I Live" and went on to say that the album was "far from disastrous", opining that "Rimes has too much natural talent to be sunk by poorly chosen material".[9]
Commercial performance
You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs debuted at number one on Billboard 200 with 186,000 copies sold in its first week,[13] the album dropped to number two in its second week but with a 10% increase with sales of 204,500. It returned to number one in its sixth week with 131,500 copies sold. The album spent 13 weeks in the top 5, 17 weeks in the top 10 and a total of 55 weeks in Billboard 200. You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs was certified 4× Platinum by RIAA, denoting shipments of over 4 million copies.
Track listing
All tracks produced by Wilbur C. Rimes, except where noted.
You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs track listing
↑ You Light Up My Life: Inspirational Songs (Compact disc). LeAnn Rimes. Curb Denon Records. 1997. COCB-83084.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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