Take Me When You Go Explained

Take Me When You Go
Type:	studio
Artist:	Betty Who
Cover:	Betty Who - Take Me When You Go.png
Recorded:	2012–2014
Label:	RCA
Prev Title:	Worlds Apart
Prev Year:	2014
Next Title:	The Valley
Next Year:	2017

Take Me When You Go is the debut studio album by Australian-American recording artist Betty Who, released on 3 October 2014 by RCA Records. The album is preceded by the extended plays The Movement, Slow Dancing and Worlds Apart.

Who writes from the perspective of a millennial learning to navigate breakups, loves of all shapes and sizes, and coming to terms with her own growing maturity. In an interview with Billboard she said "A lot of the relationships that inspired this record ended with me coming to terms with [the fact] that I love myself far too much to be anybody's second choice. That was a huge growth for me that led to the arc, the storyline of this record."^[1]

Commercial performance

Take Me When You Go debuted at number 68 on the Billboard 200, selling 5,000 copies in its first week.^[2]

Critical reception

Take Me When You Go received general acclaim upon release.^[3] Heather Phares from AllMusic said; "Take Me When You Go has a lot of appealing moments". Phares complemented "The Whitney Houston-inspired 'Somebody Loves You'", and said "'Heartbreak Dream' remains soaringly romantic and 'Alone Again' continues to charm with its flirtatious yet bittersweet melody and slowly shredding guitar solo, which gives even more cred to Who's '80s devotion." Janine Schaults from Consequence of Sound said "Combining Adele's hopeless romanticism, Pink's spunky streak, and Madonna's early whimsy seems like a potion ready-made for radio domination...Yet, Miss Betty can't shake a 'been there, done that' feel." but added "That's not to say [Who] doesn't conjure exquisite moments. Coincidentally, these fleeting instances of perfection occur when she strips away all the trimmings of a pop princess." Robbie Daw from Idolator said "Bottom line: Betty Who's first album is as good as you hoped. In that regard, she's done her job and delivered on the promise of that first EP from 18 months ago." Enio Chiola from PopMatters said "It's an album filled to the brim with tracks that, on their own, are really quite good, but lack enough diversity to keep you interested for all 13 songs." Chiola complemented tracks "Just Like Me", "High Society", "Glory Days" and "Somebody Loves You".

Brennan Carley from Spin magazine said "Betty is at her absolute best when she lets us see the cracks in her gloss, like on the halting wallop of an album opener 'Just Like Me'" and said the stand out track is "Dreaming About You", adding "[it's] a smart dance album that's both totally of the moment and also mindful of its lengthy list of pop predecessors."^[4] Spinalso included the album on their list of the best albums of 2014.^[5]

Track listing

Notes

• signifies a vocal producer
• signifies an additional producer
• signifies an additional vocal producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Take Me When You Go.^[6]

• Betty Who – vocals ; gang vocals ; keyboards ; additional instrumentation, piano, programming ; executive producer
• Helene Valvatne Andås – back tray image
• John August – backing vocals, gang vocals ; additional programming
• Pran Bandi – engineering
• Lindsey Cook – A&R
• Chris Gehringer – mastering
• Serban Ghenea – mixing
• Erwin Gorostiza – creative director
• John Hanes – engineering for mix
• David Ryan Harris – additional instrumentation, guitar, guitar solo, keyboards, production, programming
• Michelle Holme – art direction, design
• Marcus Johnson – engineering assistance
• Martin Johnson – acoustic guitar ; additional instrumentation, backing vocals, gang vocals, keyboards, piano ; bass, electric guitar, engineering, percussion, production, programming
• Claude Kelly – additional vocal production
• Manya Kuzemchenko – cover design
• Mag – additional instrumentation, bass, guitar, keyboards, piano, production, programming
• Shane McCauley – photography
• Molly McCook – additional backing vocals
• Kyle Moorman – additional production, engineering ; programming ; gang vocals

• Vaughn Oliver – mixing ; additional instrumentation, guitar, keyboards, production, programming
• Brandon Paddock – additional production, engineering, programming ; gang vocals ; bass
• Nick Price – gang vocals
• Mike Roberts – additional engineering ; engineering ; mixing
• Max Schad – mixing
• Ethan Schiff – management
• John Schmidt – engineering assistance
• Starsmith – drum programming, keyboards, mixing, production, synthesizer
• Peter Thomas – bass ; additional instrumentation, programming ; keyboards ; production ; guitar ; gang vocals ; piano ; additional production ; executive producer
• Jay Vice – engineering ; vocal production ; additional vocal production ; additional programming
• Eric Von – engineering
• Miles Walker – mixing

Charts

Chart (2014)	Peak position
Australian Hitseekers Albums (ARIA)^[7]	4
US Billboard 200^[8]	68

Release history

Region	Date	Formats	Label
Germany	3 October 2014		Sony	^[9] ^[10]
United States	7 October 2014		RCA	^[11] ^[12]
Australia	7 November 2014		Sony	^[13] ^[14]

Notes and References

1. Betty Who Walks You Through Her Debut Album 'Take Me When You Go' Track-by-Track. Billboard. Chris Payne. 7 October 2014. 25 August 2016.
2. BBillboard 200 Chart Moves: Piano Guys, Jackson Browne Hit High Notes. . 17 October 2014 . 4 September 2015.
3. News: Helmore . Edward . April 19, 2014 . How Betty Who came from nowhere to climb the charts . . August 4, 2022 . Take the case of Betty Who, the rising star in the American dance-pop charts, who has just released her debut album to general acclaim..
4. Web site: Review: Betty Who's Sparkly-Eyed 'Take Me When You Go'. SPIN. October 2014. 26 August 2016.
5. Web site: The 50 Best Albums of 2014. Spin. 5 December 2020.
6. Take Me When You Go . CD liner notes . . . 2014 . 88875-00704-2.
7. Web site: ARIA Hitseekers – Week Commencing 17th November 2014 . https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20141119002200/http://pandora.nla.gov.au/pan/23790/20141119-1122/Issue1290.pdf . dead . 2014-11-19 . . 21 . 1 December 2014.
8. Betty Who – Chart history: Billboard 200 . . . 8 November 2014.
9. Web site: Take Me When You Go . German . . 8 November 2014.
10. Web site: Take Me When You Go: Betty Who: MP3-Downloads . German . Amazon.de . 8 November 2014.
11. Web site: Betty Who: Take Me When You Go . Amazon . 8 November 2014.
12. Web site: Take Me When You Go: Betty Who: MP3 Downloads . Amazon . 8 November 2014.
13. Web site: Take Me When You Go . . 8 November 2014.
14. Web site: Take Me When You Go by Betty Who . zdigital (AU) . 8 November 2014 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20141108224342/http://www.zdigital.com.au/artist/betty-who/release/take-me-when-you-go . 8 November 2014 . dmy-all .