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 on Halloween 2017, and onto CD three days later by RCA Records. Brown worked with several producers, including Prince Chrishan, A1, Amadeus, Boi-1da, D. A. Doman, and Scott Storch. The album also features guest appearances by Jhené Aiko, R. Kelly, Dej Loaf, Lil Yachty, Usher, Gucci Mane, Yo Gotti, A Boogie wit da Hoodie, Kodak Black, Future, Young Thug, Ty Dolla Sign, and Verse Simmonds, with the deluxe edition having additional features from Agnez Mo, Trippie Redd, Ella Mai, and Solo Lucci. Recording sessions for Heartbreak on a Full Moon took place between the end of 2015 and August 2017.
Heartbreak on a Full Moon is an R&B and hip hop album that also incorporates genres such as alternative R&B, trap, pop and dancehall. The album features a darker sound compared to Brown’s other work, with heavy lyrical emphasis on the pain of breakup and escaping sorrows through a hedonistic lifestyle. Its lyrics are thought to have been inspired by Brown's breakup with Karrueche Tran. Although Brown was able to convince RCA Records of the album's length, they were initially hesitant. Heartbreak on a Full Moon received polarizing reviews from music critics, that praised Brown's performances, but expressed divided opinions relating to the album's unorthodox length.
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 became the first album by an R&B male artist since Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable to be certified gold within a week. It has since been certified double platinum by the RIAA. The album was anticipated with multiple snippets, which built anticipation for its release since early 2016. Six official singles were released from Heartbreak on a Full Moon: "Grass Ain't Greener", "Party", "Privacy", "Pills & Automobiles", "Questions", and "Tempo".
Heartbreak on a Full Moon is credited with pioneering lengthier albums in the music streaming era, paving the way for urban artists, such as Drake, Kanye West and SZA, to make albums with over 20 songs.
Background and recording
Brown started recording tracks for Heartbreak on a Full Moon a few weeks before the release of Royalty in late 2015. He continued working on the album during 2016 and 2017 in between the European leg of the One Hell of a Nite Tour and The Party Tour. Brown also built a home recording studio to record songs for the album. The recording sessions mostly took place in Los Angeles and New York City. One track, "Bite My Tongue", was left over from the sessions for Royalty.During the album's creation, Brown believed he had made too many songs to fit on a single album, so he decided to make a 40-track album. He said in a 2017 interview with Nessa, that with Heartbreak on a Full Moon’s unorthodox length he wanted to "outdo expectations" and "push the boundaries on artistry". RCA Records initially did not want to release an album of such length, thinking this would damage its commercial performance, but the singer ended up convincing them otherwise. Brown involved over 50 producers, including A1, Amadeus, Prince Chrishan, Scott Storch, D.A. Got That Dope, Hitmaka and OG Parker, in the recording sessions. Recording eventually ended in August 2017, with "Rock Your Body" being the last track completed. According to an investigative article published by Billboard in February 2017, the period during which the album was created was marked by Brown's heavy drug use.
The singer explained the concept for the album in August 2017 during an interview for Complex, saying, "I thought Heartbreak on a Full Moon was a depiction of what my soul wanted to say. It's funny because we're doing a double album. I've done so many records, but all of the records, to me, are personal favorites and I feel like it gets what I want to say across." Regarding the content of Heartbreak on a Full Moon, Brown explained that it's “about everything that I went through. I wanted to do songs with substance, R&B, Hip Hop. And you get every facet of who I am at this age.” When discussing its musicality, he added that he “wanted to capture all basis of who my audience liked. What songs they could actually identify with”.
Music and lyrics
Heartbreak on a Full Moon is an R&B album, that also incorporates hip hop, alternative R&B, trap, pop and dancehall. Brown's performances on the album often switch from his R&B singing to his rapping.The album's songwriting was described as capturing the entire spectrum of emotions the singer experienced in the aftermath of a heartfelt breakup. Critics have speculated that the album's lyrical content was inspired by Brown's breakup with his ex-girlfriend, Karrueche Tran, describing her as the emotional muse behind its material. Its themes encompass regret, the transformation of love into hatred, internal conflict, and the struggle to move on from someone. Several songs of the album also portray the singer's attempt to escape his sorrow through a reckless and promiscuous lifestyle, only to realize that such actions cannot numb the pain of heartbreak. According to Andy Kellman of AllMusic, the character portrayed by Brown on Heartbreak on a Full Moon "often mood swings from playboy-hedonistic to sweet-romantic to scorned-acidic to sorrowful-heartbroken". Analyzing its lyrical content Prezzy of The Boombox said that "throughout the first disc the singer tries to exorcise the demons of love lost, while on the second one he mostly pours out the torments of his heartbreak". Renowned for Sound stated that "The first disc is a hedonistic mix of moody and lascivious", while the second half of the album has a "somber feel", with the "break-up tracks" showing the singer's "emotional side". Vulture's writer Craig Jenkins found the sexual content of various songs of the first half of Heartbreak on a Full Moon to be "loaded with raunchy invitations for sex" and filled with "X-rated" subjects like "sex in hallways, drunken hookups, and girls who mix cocaine and painkillers. Jenkins wrote that the "breakup tracks' intensity" is elevated by "shattered, jilted reflection and profound yearning" transmitted through Brown's "pleading tenor voice".
Songs
Heartbreak on a Full Moon starts with "Lost & Found", a song where the singer depicts the situation of a hurtful breakup in the making, being sung in perspective to the girl he's dealing with. The song's production features slow chords of bass and guitar mixed with sporadic percussions. The crooner's vocals on the track showcase a melancholic intonation in the first verse, becoming more demanding and aggressive during the second verse, ending with an auto-tuned third verse where Brown raps. According to HotNewHipHop, on the opening track “he waxes poetic about a femme fatal addicted to the high life utilizing a lower register on the chorus”. 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 and drugs. The title track features Brown “lamenting his broken heart” over a “boom bap beat”. On the hip hop-influenced songs "Everybody Knows" and "Hurt the Same", the singer “ venom with vulnerability”, accusing the woman he loved of being insensitive and ungrateful. Brown “front-faces vulnerability” on the “regretful” songs "Enemy", "Tough Love" and "Even", apologizing to his ex-girlfriend for hurting her, sadly reminiscing the best moments passed together. "Privacy", "To My Bed", "Covered In You", "Tell Me What to Do" and "Rock Your Body" feature sexual content, with the singer approaching women in sultry ways."This Ain't" was described as a "quasi-ballad" showcasing the singer's “sensitive side”, with lyrics about Brown realizing that a woman treats their "lovin'" relationship as just physical. "Sip", "Hope You Do", and "Pills & Automobiles" feature lyrics about having sex under the influence of alcohol or drugs. On "Paradise", he pines for his ex-girlfriend, admitting he treated her wrong. "Nowhere" is a "soul-tinged" song where Brown expresses not being able to get over his ex-girlfriend following their breakup. On the dancehall pop track "If You're Down" he asks his loved one to turn her back on the complicated and frustrating things in life and instead decide to live in the moment with him embracing each other. "Run Away" is a story of two people in love that try to escape from police brutality. The song is a response to police's violence aimed at unarmed African Americans in the United States, that also makes a reference to the “Hands up, don't shoot” slogan that was created after the shooting of Michael Brown. "Bite My Tongue" and "Frustrated" showcase the "pop-styled" side of the singer, with the former being an “alternative pop” track featuring "alarm whine and futuristic pre-hook vocal blips", and the latter having a “chill house” and electropop instrumental. On the “bright” dancehall track "This Way" the singer ironically thanks his ex-girlfriend for leaving him when he wasn't ready for the relationship to cease, because now he's happier living a promiscuous lifestyle. The final track of the album, "Yellow Tape," features Brown contemplating the darker aspects of fame and his struggles to cope with his pain. He laments how his hedonistic lifestyle is filled with superficial emotions that fail to numb his suffering, ultimately leading to his suicide.
Artwork
The cover art for the album was announced on October 5, 2017. It features a pink full moon set against a starry night sky, topped with a graphic of a bleeding human heart, from which blood drips and transforms into ink. The pink moon symbolizes the album's themes, primarily centered around girls, love, heartbreak, and sex. Meanwhile, the bleeding heart, with its blood transforming into ink, embodies the raw, heartfelt emotions expressed by the singer in the album's lyrics.Ebbiana of The Source praised the cover for being "very creative". Capital Xtra's Gayle Blewnsky said that the cover is "cartoon-esque". ABC News's Randy Holmes commended its drawing style, saying that the "anatomically-correct heart looks as though it was just ripped out of someone's chest".