Yes! is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jason Mraz. The album was released on July 11, 2014, Atlantic Records. The album's lead single "Love Someone" was released on May 19, 2014.
The album is a collaboration between Jason Mraz and the members of indie-rock-folk band Raining Jane: Mai Bloomfield, Becky Gebhardt, Chaska Potter and Mona Tavakoli, with whom Mraz has been working since 2007, and who are his backing band on the record, as well as co-writers of majority of the songs.
Critical reception
Yes! was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from critics, the album received an average score of 62, which indicates "generally favorable reviews", based on 6 reviews.
Matt Fruchtman of Slant Magazine gave the album two out of five stars, saying "his wide-lens worldview leaves Yes! feeling like the musical equivalent of a G-rated sitcom." Stephen Thomas Erlewine of AllMusic gave the album four out of five stars, saying "The exclamation point that punctuates its title suggests Jason Mraz may be a little enthusiastic on Yes! but that's a feint, hiding how this 2014 record is the next logical step on the singer/songwriter's road of seduction. Gone is the celebrated wordplay, a self-conscious maturation that was perhaps inevitable, but also absent are the smooth soul flourishes of 2012's Love Is a Four Letter Word."
Commercial performance The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 102,000 copies in the United States.
In Canada, the album debuted at number two on the Canadian Albums Chart with 12,000 copies, falling behind Rise Against's The Black Market.
Track listing
Notes signifies a co-producer
Personnel Credits adapted from AllMusic.
Jason Mraz – vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, Fender Rhodes, piano, synthesizer bass, engineering, mixing, production
Raining Jane Mai Bloomfield – cello, glockenspiel, hi-string guitar, marimba, papoose, vocals Becky Gebhardt – bass, upright bass, sitar Chaska Potter – electric guitar, mandolin, ukulele, vocals Mona Tavakoli – drums, percussion, vocals
Additional musicians Mike Mogis – banjo, dobro, e-bow, electric guitar, mellotron, pedal steel, synthesizer bass Andy Powers – banjo, dobro, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, mandolin, pedal steel Ben Brodin – drums, percussion, piano, organ Chris Joyner – drones, organ, piano, tanpura Nate Walcott – organ, piano, Wurlitzer Brian Jones – drums John O'Reilly – drums Stewart Myers – bass Maryann Galewood – handclapping Amber Elliot – handclapping Ms. Tina – handclapping Colin Killalea – inspiration [sic], vocal arrangement Regan Sprenkle – vocal arrangement
Technical personnel Mike Mogis – engineering, mixing, production Chris Keup – engineering, production, additional production Stewart Myers – engineering, production, additional production Justin Hergett – engineering, mixing assistant David Kalish – engineering Ben Brodin – assistant engineering Tony Maserati – mixing James Krausse – mixing assistant Chris Gehringer – mastering
Additional personnel Tony Corey – production management Jeff Nicholas – creative direction Sam Riback – A&R Douglas Gledhill – design Ryan McCann – design Patrick Morales – design Jen Rosenstein – band photo
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts Chart (2014) PeakpositionItalian Albums (FIMI)54
Year-end charts Chart (2014) Position Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) 97 US Billboard 200 143
Certifications
Release history Region Date Format Label United Kingdom July 11, 2014 CD, digital download Atlantic Records United States July 15, 2014
References