Sparks Fly

Sparks Fly is the debut studio album by American actress and singer Miranda Cosgrove. The plans for the album were first announced in July 2008, and the album was released by Columbia Records on April 27, 2010 as a standard version and a deluxe edition. The album has been preceded by its lead single, "Kissin U" which was co-written with Cosgrove and produced by Dr. Luke, and was released on March 22, 2010. The album sold 36,000 copies in its first week, making its peak #8 on the Billboard 200.[2]

Cosgrove's musical career first began with her recording the theme song of the Nickelodeon television series iCarly called "Leave It All to Me," on which Cosgrove stars as the title character on the show. The song features her former Drake and Josh cast mate Drake Bell, and was written by Michael Corcoran, one of Bell's band members. Following the success of iCarly, Columbia Records released a soundtrack album of the show on June 10, 2008. The soundtrack album included "Leave It All to Me" and three more songs recorded by Cosgrove.

Cosgrove stated, "Before that, I didn't see myself making an album, but when I spent time in the studio doing the theme song and saw how much fun it was, I wanted to go back."[3]

In July 2008, she officially announced plans for a debut album, stating that the album was "different" from her contributions to the iCarly soundtrack, with her "co-writing and getting really into it,"[4] and saying that "[I'm] playing a character on iCarly, but this shows more of myself. Some people might think I'm just another actress putting out an album, but I wanted to prove that I'm more than that."[3]

The album took two years to make, with Columbia Records' marketing manager Chris Poppe stating in May 2010 that "Miranda started working on [the album] at 14, and she's 16 now. The difference between those two ages is huge, and the songs have had to grow along with her."[3]

On February 5, 2009, Cosgrove released her debut solo recording; the 5-song EP About You Now exclusively onto the iTunes store.

In February 2010, Cosgrove announced the album's first single would be titled "Kissin U", which debuted live in an interview with Ryan Seacrest. The album's title Sparks Fly comes from the first two words of "Kissin U". The track list, including the four deluxe edition bonus tracks, was announced on Tommy2.net on March 12, 2010,[5] and the artwork was later revealed on March 19, 2010.[6] The song "Daydream" was co-written and originally recorded by Avril Lavigne and produced by Raine Maida, and was planned for her second album Under My Skin. The song "Disgusting" was co-written and originally recorded by Kesha and produced by Sheppard Solomon and Tom Meredith, and was planned for her debut album Animal. Both songs were unreleased and eventually recorded by Cosgrove. The song "Shakespeare" is a cover, co-written and originally recorded by Susan Cagle and produced by John Shanks and was released as a single on her debut album The Subway Recordings. The song "Adored" was co-written with Cosgrove and produced by The Matrix and was a free digital download two years before the album's official release. The song "Charlie" was co-written by Nicole Morier with Greg Kurstin who produced the song and was released as a bonus track exclusively on the iTunes deluxe edition of the album. [edit] Styles & Themes

The album has a variety of styles, but the album mainly consists of pop, pop rock, electropop, and soft rock. Cosgrove has stated that in the album she was trying to find her style, so the album experiments with several different kinds of music.[7] In a recent interview, Cosgrove stated that she tried to put a little bit of her own flare into each and every song on the album.[8] Cosgrove described the album's lead single "Kissin U", as "kind of a really happy, sweet song".[9] The songs on the album generally deal with love and relationships. Cosgrove has stated that this was not intentional, but she realized this after she had already picked all of the songs on the album.[8] [edit] Reception [edit] Critical [hide] Professional ratings Review scores Source 	Rating Allmusic 	2/5 stars[10]

Stephen Thomas Erlewine, who reviewed the album for allmusic.com was less than satisfied with the album, stating that "Miranda winds up buried underneath the weight of production on Sparks Fly — it often comes across like a cross of Miley Cyrus and Kesha’s full-frontal assault."[11] [edit] Commercial

Sparks Fly sold 36,057 copies in its first week, earning it the eighth position on the U.S. Billboard 200 on the issue dated May 5, 2010.[12] So far the album has spent one week in the top ten as well as another five weeks bouncing around the top fifty albums until the most recent chart position, number sixty-five, making this the album's first time outside the top fifty. The album has sold over 130,000 copies to date in the U.S.. In Mexico, the album debuted at number 84. The following week, the album fell 12 spots to 96.[citation needed] [edit] Promotion

To promote the album, Cosgrove performed the single "Kissin U" live at the Kids Choice Awards pre-show.[13] Nickelodeon also aired a television special titled 7 Secrets: Miranda Cosgrove, which aired on April 24, 2010. The half hour show revealed things about Cosgrove, such as how she got her start in the business, to some of her most embarrassing moments.[14] Cosgrove embarked on a radio promotional tour, and has made appearances at radio concerts in the summer of 2010. On September 6, 2010, she performed "Kissin U", "BAM", and "About You Now" on The Today Show. [15] [edit] Singles

* "Kissin U" is the album's lead single. Along with being the lead single from this album, it and "Adored" were the only two songs that Cosgrove co-wrote for it. The song was released onto iTunes on March 22, 2010.[16] The single debuted at #87 on the Billboard Hot 100, and peaked at #54. The music video was directed by Alan Ferguson. It is also her first single to chart outside of the United States, entering the charts in Germany and Austria, among others.

[edit] Track listing Standard Edition[5] No. 	Title 	Writer(s) 	Producer(s) 	Length 1. 	"Kissin U"  	Miranda Cosgrove, Lukasz Gottwald, Claude Kelly 	Dr. Luke 	3:18 2. 	"BAM"  	Antonina Armato, Tim James, Rodney Jerkins 	Rock Mafia, Darkchild 	2:50 3. 	"Disgusting "  	Kesha Sebert, Sheppard Solomon, Tom Meredith, Pebe Sebert 	Sheppard Solomon, Tom Meredith 	3:38 4. 	"Shakespeare" (Susan Cagle Cover) 	Susan Cagle, Jason Brett Levine 	John Shanks 	3:40 5. 	"Hey You"  	Paula Winger, Kip Winger 	Greg Wells 	3:56 6. 	"There Will Be Tears"  	Joshua Coleman, Allan Grigg, Bonnie McKee 	Ammo, Kool Kojak 	3:13 7. 	"Oh Oh"  	Peer Astrom, Savan Kotecha, Max Martin 	Max Martin, Tom Meredith 	2:53 8. 	"Daydream"  	Avril Lavigne, Chantal Kreviazuk 	Raine Maida 	3:10 [show]Deluxe edition bonus tracks[5] No. 	Title 	Writer(s) 	Producer(s) 	Length 9. 	"Brand New You"  	Espen Lind, Amund Bjorklund, James Bourne 	Espionage 	3:33 10. 	"What Are You Waiting For"  	Espen Lind, Amund Bjorklund, James Bourne 	Espionage 	3:35 11. 	"Adored"  	Miranda Cosgrove, Lauren Christy, Graham Edwards, Scott Spock 	The Matrix 	3:32 12. 	"Beautiful Mess"  	Desmond Child, Lauren Christy, Jon Vella, Shayne Swayney 	Desmond Child, Lauren Christy, Jon Vella, Shayne Swayney 	3:03 [show]Deluxe iTunes bonus track[17] No. 	Title 	Writer(s) 	Producer(s) 	Length 13. 	"Charlie"  	Greg Kurstin, Nicole Morier 	Greg Kurstin 	3:13 [edit] Release history Region 	Date 	Label 	Format United States[18] 	April 27, 2010 	Columbia Records 	Standard/Deluxe edition México Canada[19] India 	May 6, 2010 	Epic Records 	Standard edition Italy Germany[20] 	July 2, 2010 	Sony Music Entertainment 	Standard/Deluxe edition Poland 	September 4, 2010 	Sony Music Poland 	Special edition CD/DVD [edit] Charts Chart (2010) 	Peak position 	Sales Austria (Ö3 Austrian Top 40)[21] 	46 	2,000+ German Albums Chart [22] 	96 	1,000+ Mexican Albums Chart[23] 	84 	3,000+ Swiss Albums Chart[24] 	35 	5,000+ U.S. Billboard 200[24] 	8 	130,000+