"Be My Baby" / "It's the Girl" Released: November 24, 2014
It's the Girls! is the fourteenth studio album by American singer Bette Midler. It was released by Warner Bros. Records on November 4, 2014. Midler's first release with the label since Bette (2000), the album is a collection representing the music of the great girl groups of the past.[1]
The album sold 40,000 copies in its first week of release in the United States thus allowing it to reach number three on the Billboard 200. This made Midler only the second female singer after Barbra Streisand to have top 10 albums in five consecutive decades. It's the Girls! also marked Midler's highest debut week sales ever, and her second-highest position in the US after the Beaches soundtrack, released in 1988.
AllMusic editor Matt Collar found that the album "sounds like a retrospective, a return to the cabaret and theatrical style of her early career. Working with veteran producers Marc Shaiman and Scott Riesett, Midler frames her resonant vocal chops with lush arrangements that, while reverential to the original recordings, certainly allow her to express her own personality on each song [...] These are brightly produced songs perfectly suited to Midler's vocal style, stage bravado, and cheeky sense of humor."[2] Amy Rose from Rolling Stone, wrote that "Midler has a voice that’s rich enough to reanimate any pop standard [...] and the album’s spirit of femme camaraderie comes through in their powerhouse harmonies and jokey just-us-girls delivery."[5] Stephen Holden, writing for The New York Times, felt that It's the Girls! "was "one of her best [...] That music, along with Motown, is in Ms. Midler and [producer] Mr. Shaiman’s bones, and their fit is as comfortable as ever [...] Midler’s brash, mouthy vocal persona is still capable of sounding playfully transgressive, at least by ’60s standards."[6]
It's the Girls! debuted at number three on the US Billboard 200, selling 40,000 copies in its first week of release, ending November 9, 2014, according to Nielsen SoundScan.[7] This made Midler only the second female singer after Barbra Streisand to have top 10 albums in five consecutive decades.[7] The album also marked Midler's highest debut week sales ever, and her second-highest position in the US after the Beaches soundtrack, which came in at number two in 1988.[7]
Track listing[edit]
All tracks prodced by Marc Shaiman and Scott M. Riesett.[8]
Standard edition[8]
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Original artist
Length
1.
"Be My Baby"
Jeff Barry
Ellie Greenwich
Phil Spector
The Ronettes
3:10
2.
"One Fine Day"
Gerry Goffin
Carole King
The Chiffons
2:54
3.
"Bei Mir Bist du Schön"
Sammy Cahn
Saul Chaplin
Sholom Secunda
The Andrews Sisters
2:23
4.
"Baby It's You"
Burt Bacharach
Mack David
Barney Williams
The Shirelles
3:18
5.
"Tell Him"
Bert Russell
The Exciters
2:57
6.
"He's Sure the Boy I Love" (duet with Darlene Love)
Barry Mann
Cynthia Weil
The Crystals
2:54
7.
"Mr. Sandman"
Pat Ballard
The Chordettes
2:25
8.
"Come and Get These Memories"
Holland–Dozier–Holland
Martha and the Vandellas
4:14
9.
"Too Many Fish in the Sea"
Eddie Holland
Norman Whitfield
The Marvelettes
3:05
10.
"Teach Me Tonight"
Sammy Cahn
Gene de Paul
The DeCastro Sisters
3:30
11.
"Waterfalls"
Marqueze Etheridge
Lisa Lopes
Rico Wade
Ray Murray
Sleepy Brown
TLC
4:14
12.
"You Can't Hurry Love"
Holland–Dozier–Holland
The Supremes
3:07
13.
"Give Him a Great Big Kiss"
George "Shadow" Morton
The Shangri-Las
3:01
14.
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow"
Goffin
King
The Shirelles
3:35
15.
"It's the Girl"
Abel Baer
David Oppenheimer
Boswell Sisters
2:38
Target deluxe edition bonus tracks[9]
No.
Title
Writer(s)
Original artist
Length
16.
"The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game"
Smokey Robinson
The Marvelettes
3:36
17.
"(Talk to Me of) Mendocino"
Kate McGarrigle
Kate and Anna McGarrigle
3:03
Total length:
54:11
Charts[edit]
Weekly charts[edit]
Chart (2014–15)
Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[10]
10
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[11]
38
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[12]
161
Canadian Albums (Billboard)[13]
24
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14]
62
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[15]
26
Irish Albums (IRMA)
17
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[16]
64
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[17]
62
UK Albums (OCC)[18]
6
US Billboard 200[19]
3
US Digital Albums (Billboard)[20]
5
Year-end charts[edit]
Chart (2014)
Position
UK Albums (OCC)[21]
37
Chart (2015)
Position
US Billboard 200[22]
187
Certifications[edit]
Region
Certification
Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[23]
Gold
100,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
References[edit]
^Hampp, Andrew. "Bette Midler Announces It's the Girls!, Her First Album Since 2006" Billboard.com, September 23, 2014.
^ a bAllMusic review
^Christgau, Robert (December 5, 2014). "Robert Christgau: Expert Witness". Cuepoint. Retrieved December 9, 2014.
^Paul, John (December 2, 2014). "Bette Midler: It's the Girls!". PopMatters. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ a bSpiegel, Amy Rose (November 20, 2014). "It's the Girls!". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^Holden, Stephen (November 3, 2014). "New in Music: Albums by Neil Young, Bette Midler and Miguel Zenón". New York Times. Retrieved April 17, 2021.
^ a b cCaulfield, Keith (November 14, 2014). "Bette Midler Scores Fifth Straight Decade of Top 10 Albums". Billboard. Retrieved December 2, 2014.
^ a bGans, Andrew. "New Bette Midler Recording, It's the Girls!, Due in November; Track List Announced" Playbill.com, September 23, 2014.
^"Target – It's the Girls! (Deluxe Edition) by Bette Midler." Archived 2014-10-29 at the Wayback Machine Target.com, September 23, 2014.
^"Australiancharts.com – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 2, 2015.
^"Austriancharts.at – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^"Ultratop.be – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^"Bette Midler Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
^"Officialcharts.de – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!". GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^"Album Top 40 slágerlista – 2014. 47. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved November 27, 2014.
^"Dutchcharts.nl – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
^"Swisscharts.com – Bette Midler – It's the Girls!". Hung Medien. Retrieved May 5, 2015.
^"Bette Midler | Artist | Official Charts". UK Albums Chart. Retrieved November 25, 2014.
^"Bette Midler Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
^"Bette Midler Chart History (Digital Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved November 16, 2014.
^Moss, Liv (January 1, 2015). "The Official Top 40 Biggest Selling Artist Albums of 2014". Official Charts Company. Archived from the original on January 1, 2015. Retrieved November 5, 2015.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums – Year-End 2015". Billboard. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
^"British album certifications – Bette Midler – It's The Girls!". British Phonographic Industry.Select albums in the Format field.Select Gold in the Certification field.Type It's The Girls! in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
External links[edit]
It's the Girls! at Bette Midler's website
vteBette Midler
Discography
Awards and nominations
Studio albums
The Divine Miss M
Bette Midler
Songs for the New Depression
Broken Blossom
Thighs and Whispers
No Frills
Some People's Lives
Bette of Roses
Bathhouse Betty
Bette
Sings the Rosemary Clooney Songbook
Sings the Peggy Lee Songbook
Cool Yule
It's the Girls!
Soundtracks
The Rose
Beaches
For the Boys
Gypsy
Live albums
Live at Last
Divine Madness
Mud Will Be Flung Tonight
Compilations
The Best of Bette
The Best of Bette (II)
Just Hits
Experience the Divine: Greatest Hits
(Jackpot!) The Best Bette
Memories of You
A Gift of Love
Video albums
Divine Madness
The Bette Midler Show
Diva Las Vegas
The Showgirl Must Go On
Singles
"Do You Want to Dance?"
"Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy"
"Friends"
"In the Mood"
"Strangers in the Night"
"Old Cape Cod"
"Buckets of Rain"
"Hang On in There Baby"
"You're Movin' Out Today"
"Big Noise from Winnetka"
"When a Man Loves a Woman"
"The Rose"
"Chapel of Love"
"All I Need to Know"
"Favorite Waste of Time"
"Beast of Burden"
"Under the Boardwalk"
"Wind Beneath My Wings"
"From a Distance"
"Night and Day"
"In My Life"
"In This Life"
"You Don't Own Me"
"I'm Beautiful"
"White Christmas"
"Fever"
"Be My Baby"
Tours
Experience the Divine
Diva Las Vegas
Kiss My Brass
The Showgirl Must Go On
Divine Intervention Tour
Books
The Saga of Baby Divine
Category
Authority control
MBRG: 05eb1511-64fe-4965-a19e-613aa01dfa02
This 2010s pop album-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.