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Hook Me Up

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This article is about the album. For the song, see Hook Me Up (song).
Untitled

Hook Me Up is the second studio album by Australian band The Veronicas, which was released in Australia on November 3, 2007 (see 2007 in music) by Sire Records. The album shows a new direction of music for the duo — exploring a new electro-pop sound. The album debuted on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart at number two and has since been certified double platinum by ARIA.[1] The singles released from the album were successful with the first single "Hook Me Up" becoming a number-one hit in Australia, the second single "Untouched" peaking at number two on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and the third and fourth singles, "This Love", and "Take Me on the Floor" reaching the top ten. The fifth single "Popular" has peaked at #11 on the Australian Airplay Chart[2]. The album nominated The Veronicas for three awards at the 2008 ARIA Awards including; "Highest Selling Album", "Highest Selling Single" and "Best Pop Release".

Content and writing

The album was mainly written and recorded in the girls' home in Los Angeles, California with German songwriter Toby Gad. Jessica Origliasso states "It was really great. Toby works on a simplified set-up on his Mac computer. It takes all the pressure out of being in a recording studio. We were able to take our time and get it right and not stress about time ticking."[3] When working on the album the girls knew exactly which songwriters they wanted to work with including Billy Steinberg (who has worked with Madonna) and John Feldmann (who has worked with Good Charlotte and The Used).[3] The songwriting saw the girls write about personal things in life mainly to do with love. The song "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" is about a person who Lisa Origliasso dated overseas, she states "When it comes down to it, that song's about cheating. A lot of people have been through it, like I've been through it, so it was very easy to relate to that situation. And I saw that whole situation go on, so it wasn't hard to write that song with her."[3] Another personal song includes "In Another Life", is the most emotional song they've ever written. Lisa states that "While recording this song we couldn't sing it properly because we were bawling our eyes out". Jess says, "You actually hear me sniffing in the background".[3]

In the song "Take Me on the Floor", the girls state that they "want to kiss a girl". Lisa states "Yeah, there's a sexual undertone to that song, but when we were writing it we were thinking about having fun, going to a club, being on the dancefloor. You can interpret it how you like."[4] Jessica states "It would have been so easy to have made a record just like the first, with unison voices on the verse and chorus. It worked for us on the first record; it became a trademark sound. Not degrading it, we loved it, but at some point you have to grow as an artist or you get stuck."[4] Lisa states "We made that record [The Secret Life Of...] two years ago. It would be so dated to do it again. I feel we're staying current but staying ourselves. It was a natural progression. We wanted a challenge, to take it somewhere new. People had become used to our sound. Other artists released that sound using songs we'd written. We get asked, "Did you get pushed into this sound?" We were doing the pushing!".[4]

Critical reception and commercial performance

K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic gave the album a positive review,[5] stating that the band "decided to take a page from the t.A.T.u. playbook". Hoffman praised that the album "is an improvement upon its predecessor in almost every regard, consolidating its strengths while making bold and exploratory forward leaps that verge on a wholesale stylistic reinvention."[5] He states the songs at their core are "expertly crafted pop/rock tunes" and anyone who enjoyed their previous studio album would "embrace this album". Hoffman ends the review stating that the album is the "finest teen pop releases of the year."[5] Cameron Adams of The Herald Sun also gave the album a positive review, stating that "this is one twisted, subversive pop album."[6] He also states "It's not as laden with obvious hits as their debut, and takes more risks than most young pop stars would. In a word: brash."[6]

Hook Me Up was commercially successful in Australia and New Zealand. In November 2007, it debuted at number two on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart with sales of 9,531 copies.[7] The album certified gold in its first week and was kept off the top spot by The Eagles album Long Road Out of Eden (2007). The album dropped off the chart after eleven months, spending a total of forty-eight weeks in the top fifty.[8] The Australian Recording Industry Association awarded the album double platinum certification for shipping 140,000 copies and became the twenty-eighth highest selling album in Australia for 2007.[9][10] At the 2008 ARIA Awards, the album was nominated for "Highest Selling Album" and "Best Pop Release" but lost both awards to Delta by Delta Goodrem and Lessons to Be Learned by Gabriella Cilmi respectively.[11] In New Zealand, the album debuted at number thirty-two on the New Zealand Albums Chart, and went to peak at number eight, spending a total of twenty-six weeks on the chart.[12] The Recording Industry Association of New Zealand certified the album gold.[13]

The album is continuing to gain traction in the U.S., finally debuting on the U.S. Billboard 200 at number 147 on the U.S. The album has now reached number 107 on the U.S. Billboard. They have now been on the U.S. Billboard for 3 weeks. The first week they charted at 147, the second week it charted at 153 and the third week it is now at number 107.[14]

Track listing

Standard edition
  1. "Untouched" (Toby Gad, Jessica Origliasso, Lisa Origliasso) – 4:14
  2. "Hook Me Up" (Origliasso, Origliasso, Shelly Peiken, Greg Wells) – 2:56
  3. "This Is How It Feels" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 4:11
  4. "This Love" (Gad, Kesha Serbet) – 2:59
  5. "I Can't Stay Away" (Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg) – 3:26
  6. "Take Me on the Floor" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:30
  7. "I Don't Wanna Wait" (John Feldman, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 2:59
  8. "Popular" (Beni Barca, Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 2:44
  9. "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:43
  10. "Someone Wake Me Up" (Alexander, Origliasso, Origliasso, Steinberg) – 3:35
  11. "All I Have" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:14
  12. "In Another Life" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:47
Australian iTunes edition
  1. Track by Track (exclusive interview) – 7:34
  2. "Hook Me Up" (music video) – 2:59
  3. Booklet (digital booklet)
U.S. Bonus Track
  1. "Goodbye to You" - 3:14
U.S. iTunes Bonus Tracks[15]
  1. "Everything" - 3:20
  2. "Don't Say Goodbye" (feat. Tanya Doko) - 2:54
  3. "Untouched" (Listen Deep remix) - 4:32
  4. "Untouched" (Music Video) - 3:43
  5. Digital Booklet - Hook Me Up

DVD karaoke edition

DVD
  1. "Hook Me Up" (karaoke)
  2. "Untouched" (karaoke)
  3. "This Love" (karaoke)
  4. "Take Me on the Floor" (karaoke)

Sing along

  1. "Hook Me Up"
  2. "Untouched"
  3. "This Love"
  4. "Take Me on the Floor"

Charts

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