| Firecracker | |
| Type: | Album |
| Artist: | Lisa Loeb |
| Cover: | LisaLoeb_Firecracker.jpg |
| Released: | November 11, 1997 |
| Recorded: | 1997 |
| Genre: | Pop rock |
| Length: | 46:14 |
| Label: | Geffen |
| Prev Title: | Tails |
| Prev Year: | 1995 |
| Next Title: | Cake and Pie |
| Next Year: | 2002 |
Firecracker is a studio album by Lisa Loeb. It was released in 1997 through Geffen Records. Its cover features original artwork by illustrator Mark Miller, who transposed Loeb on to one of his original artworks, "Kitten".[1]
Loeb frames Firecracker as "sort of a sequel" to her first album Tails, noting, for example, that the song "Split Second" "evolved musically out of the previous album's 'Taffy'".
The album was produced with Juan Patino, "with an ear for greater 'orchestration'" to reflect the dual influence of classical music and 70s pop on Loeb. She cited two things as particularly influential on the composition of the album: touring with Lyle Lovett and performing at the inaugural Lilith Fair festival.
The album was met with mixed reviews upon release. Rolling Stone labeled it a "disappointing" return that felt like "the sound of a songwriter stumbling toward adulthood with a sophomore's two left feet."[2] Entertainment Weekly declared it a, "well-crafted but largely soporific" that "could have benefited from some extra gunpowder."[3] Spin, meanwhile, found it "underwhelming and middlebrow, overproduced and pointlessly moody."[4]
The album was certified Gold in the U.S. and Canada and was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
The first single from the album, "I Do" hit #17 on the U.S. Billboard Charts, her third Top 20 single after "Stay (I Missed You)" and "Do You Sleep?". The single also hit #1 in Canada.
The follow-up single, "Let's Forget About It" hit #71 in the U.S. and #21 in Canada. "Truthfully" was also issued as a single in Japan.
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Australian Albums (ARIA)[5] | 182 |
| 1997 | New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[6] | 31 |
| 1997 | Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) | 57 |
| 1997 | US Billboard 200[7] | 88 |
| 1997 | Canadian Album Chart[8] | 53 |
| 1997 | Japan Album Chart[9] | 10 |
The song, "How", was used in the feature films, Twister and Jack Frost.
