Awaken is the first mixtape by American singer Keke Palmer. It was officially released on March 18, 2011 for downloads on mixtape-downloading websites. It has not been released as a digital download or as an album. Three of the songs appear on Palmer's debut album, So Uncool. The only single "The One You Call" was released on iTunes on December 7, 2010, and was sent to Urban radio the same day.A music video was also released for the song. It premiered on Palmer's official YouTube channel and iTunes.
Background and development[]
Palmer released Awaken as a teaser of her upcoming new music, expected to be released in 2012. Palmer hoped that the mixtape would boost interest in her upcoming music. Three tracks from the mixtape appeared on her debut album, So Uncool: "The Game Song," "Bottoms Up" and "Keep it Movin'", each was released in 2007.
Lyrics and composition[]
Many of the songs on Awaken are about love and relationships including "Edit", "New Boyfriend", "Keke's Love", "Hard To Breathe", "Get Out of My Head", "The Game Song", and "The One You Call". "Top of The World" describes Keke being with her friends and feeling on top of the world. "Keep It Movin'", "Bottoms Up", and "Superjerkin'", are about dancing and have a synth pattern. Each song was written by Palmer, with the help of many professional song writers. She showed her range spanning from D3 to G5.
Promotion[]
Palmer sang her song "Top of the World" at the 2009 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on the Build-a-Bear Workshop float. Many of the songs were also leaked by Palmer of her official YouTube channel before the release of the mixtape.
Critical reception[]
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| TheUrbanMusicScene.com | positive |
| TerrellVanity.com | positive |
| TheJadonFiles.com | positive |
The reviews for Awaken are mostly positive, many complimenting Palmer's vocals, but questioning its ability to chart.
Peggy Oliver from The Urban Music Scene said "Palmer’s crystal voice is pleasing and soulful. As for the music on the Awaken Mixtape, the production is clean yet there are several auto tune spots and just so-so background vocals in certain places, which seem par for the course in today’s urban market. Thus, the question is not whether Palmer has very good vocal capabilities. It is a matter of whether her music at this point can stand toe to toe with the more prolific urban vocal talent hitting the charts today."
TerrellVanity.com also gave it a positive review saying that the tracks "SuperJerkin", "Keke’s Love", "Hard To Breathe", and "The One you Call" were their favorite tracks. They also said that they could see "Get out of My Head" being played on the radio.
TheJadonFiles.com gave the mix-tape an extremely positive review calling Palmer "one of the best young female talents we've out there." They also said "The girl can definitely carry a note and quite frankly puts those other young pop queens to shame. Unfortunately she has yet to reach that success as a recording artist. Hopefully her time is now."
Track listing[]
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Top Of The World" | Keke Palmer, Mischke Butler, Robert S. Nevil, | 3:19 | |
| 2. | "Edit (You Out Of My Life)" | Gary Spriggs, Sean Richard Marshall, Coutney Harrell | 3:50 | |
| 3. | "New Boyfriend" | Brandon Howard, Mischke Butler, L'Oreal Palmer, Keke Palmer | 3:06 | |
| 4. | "Super Jerkin'" | Keke Palmer, Toby Gad, L'Oreal Palmer, Crystal "Cri$tyle" Nicole | 3:14 | |
| 5. | "Keke's Love" | Keke Palmer, | 4:24 | |
| 6. | "Hard To Breathe" | 3:18 | ||
| 7. | "Get Out My Head" | Brian Kennedy Seals, Loreal Palmer, Mischke Butler, Keke Palmer | 3:51 | |
| 8. | "The One You Call" | Theron Feemster, Ericka J. Coulter | 3:06 | |
| 9. | "Shut Up, Stop Lyin" (Bonus) | Christopher “C4″ Umana, Atozzio Towns | 4:00 | |
| 10. | "Change It Up" (True Jackson, VP Theme Song) (Bonus) | Toby Gad, Keke Palmer | 2:35 |