Love Handles is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Neriah Fisher. It follows the release of her two mixtapes, Happy New Year (2016) and Heartache (2017) as well as her extended play, Petals (2017). The album was written by Fisher alongside Charlie Puth.
The album was released on March 30, 2018 by Republic Records. The first single to be released from the album was "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" on November 10, 2017. The song debuted at number 39 on the US Pop Songs chart, on the chart dated December 23, 2017, surpassing Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do". That week, the song made its Billboard Hot 100 debut at number 96, becoming Fisher's third entry on the chart. It went up to number 88 in its second week, and number 71 the week after. It later reached its peak on the chart dated February 24, 2018, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Pop Songs chart that same week. It spent another three weeks atop the Pop Songs chart, and 48 weeks overall. "Cry Until I Die" was released as a promotional single on January 19, 2018. "Tears Dry On Their Own" was released as the second single from the album on March 30, 2018, alongside the album's release. "Sweet But Damaged" was released as the third single from the album on May 31, 2018, peaking at number 12 on the Hot 100 and number one on the Pop Songs chart, becoming Fisher's second chart topper from the album and fourth chart topper overall.
Upon release, the album was critically acclaimed and was noted as an improvement over Fisher's previous release, Petals and was even nominated for Album of The Year at the 61st Annual Grammy Awards. During its first week, the album sold 70,840 copies (60,000 pure) and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, being blocked from the top spot by The Weeknd's My Dear Melancholy. It sold 39,000 additional units in its second week, falling to fifth place.
The album was made available on CD, vinyl and cassette exclusively through Fisher's webstore. The CD includes two demos: one for "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" and "Sweet But Damaged". The vinyl includes two brand new tracks exclusive to the vinyl, and not available for digital download or streaming. These tracks are "Blood In My Bathtub" and "Protocol". The cassette includes two remixes for "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts": one by BRAVVO and the other by Rain or Shine.
Background and release
During an interview on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Fisher announced that she would be releasing an album in 2018. Later that week, on November 10, 2017, she released the first single from the album, "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts", which went on to peak at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. The album became available for preorder on January 19, 2018 with a promotional single being released alongside it, titled "Cry Until I Die". The album was released for streaming and digital download on March 30, 2018, with physical copies being released exclusively to Fisher's webstore.
Promotion
Singles
The first single to be released from the album was "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" on November 10, 2017. The song debuted at number 39 on the US Pop Songs chart, on the chart dated December 23, 2017, surpassing Taylor Swift's "Look What You Made Me Do". That week, the song made its Billboard Hot 100 debut at number 96, becoming Fisher's third entry on the chart. It went up to number 88 in its second week, and number 71 the week after. It later reached its peak on the chart dated February 24, 2018, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the Pop Songs and Radio Songs chart that same week. It spent another three weeks atop the Pop Songs chart, and 48 weeks overall. The song was praised by critics for its downtempo beat and breathy, soft vocals. "Tears Dry On Their Own" was released as the second single from the album on March 30, 2018, alongside the album's release. Despite not performing well with streaming and digital download, it peaked at number 7 on the Billboard Radio Songs chart and number 85 on the Billboard Hot 100. The track spent 31 weeks in the Hot 100. On the Radio Songs chart, it spent fourteen weeks in the top 10 and 62 weeks overall. It peaked at number four on the Pop Songs chart. "Sweet But Damaged" was released as the third single from the album on May 31, 2018. The song debuted at number 90 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 45 on the Billboard Radio Songs chart. The following week, the song jumped to number 77 and number 21 on the charts respectively, after the release of the music video. To promote the song, Fisher performed the track at the 2018 American Music Awards. It later peaked at number twelve on the Hot 100, slowly rising to higher section of the chart. It peaked at number one on the Radio Songs chart for 19 weeks at the top and 64 weeks in the top forty. It topped the charts in Canada and New Zealand, becoming her third song to top the chart in Canada and first in New Zealand. The song has since been certified platinum in the US.
Promotional singles
"Cry Until I Die" was released on January 19, 2018 alongside the album preorder. Due to most buyers choosing to preorder the full album rather than buy the song individually, it wasn't able to enter the Billboard Hot 100. Despite not being sent to radio, the song peaked at number 37 on the Pop Songs chart, which is based on radio play. It also peaked at number 39 on the US Rhythmic chart.
Live performances
Fisher made a surprise appearance at Coachella on April 13, 2018 and performed "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts", "Tears Dry On Their Own" and "Burn All The Witches". On May 12, 2018, Fisher performed "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" with Taylor Swift on the Reputation Stadium Tour, which led to a boost in sales for the album.
Critical reception
Love Handles received widespread acclaim from music critics, with most critics noting the widespread appeal of the album. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Headache has an average score of 97 based on 24 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Mark Kennedy of The Washington Post praised the album, calling it "a perfect summer album", and stating that Fisher has a unique sound that will "likely inspire many in the years to come". Taylor Weatherby of Billboard named Love Handles the album of the week, praising the dark undertones of the album, and the "pure hurt in Fisher's voice", saying that it is "apparent that she has been through hell and back".
Commercial performance
Upon release, the album sold 70,840 copies in its first week (60,000 pure) and debuted at number two on the US Billboard 200, being blocked from the top spot by The Weeknd's My Dear Melancholy. It sold 39,000 additional units in its second week, falling to fifth place. The next week, it sold 32,000 units and fell to number eight. In its fourth week, the album sold 31,250 units and stayed at number eight for a second week. The following week, it sold 27,000 units, and fell to number 12. Due to Fisher's performance on Taylor Swift's Reputation Stadium Tour, the album sold 40,000 units in its sixth week and went up seven spots to number five. The record sold 39,272 copies in its seventh week and fell to number six. It spent four more weeks in the top 10, for a total of ten weeks.
Track listing
- The album was produced entirely by Charlie Puth.
- "Tears Dry On Their Own" samples the song of the same name by Amy Winehouse as a tribute to her work and live accomplishments. Winehouse was also given writing credits.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Tears Dry On Their Own" |
|
4:06 |
| 2. | "Put It In Words" |
|
3:31 |
| 3. | "Burn All The Witches" |
|
3:17 |
| 4. | "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" |
|
3:20 |
| 5. | "How Do I Numb The Pain?" |
|
4:00 |
| 6. | "Lies Lead To Blood Being Spilled" |
|
3:10 |
| 7. | "Cry Until I Die" |
|
4:03 |
| 8. | "Work of Art" |
|
4:23 |
| 9. | "There Will Be Blood." |
|
3:10 |
| 10. | "You Left Your Knife In My Back" |
|
3:37 |
| 11. | "Lightening Bolts Will Strike You Down To Hell" |
|
4:48 |
| 12. | "Sweet But Damaged" |
|
3:50 |
| 13. | "You Should've Known Better, Sweetie" |
|
3:37 |
| Total length: | 49:12 | ||
| Deluxe edition CD (Webstore exclusive) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "Sweet But Damaged" (Demo) |
|
4:59 |
| 15. | "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" (Demo) |
|
5:24 |
| Deluxe edition vinyl (Webstore exclusive) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "Blood In My Bathtub" |
|
3:08 |
| 15. | "Protocol" |
|
3:11 |
| Deluxe edition cassette (Webstore exclusive) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
| 14. | "Goods Girls Don't Break Hearts" (BRAVVO Remix) |
|
4:03 |
| 15. | "Good Girls Don't Break Hearts" (Rain or Shine Remix) |
|
5:02 |
Charts
Weekly charts
|