Ashanti - Braveheart (2014) [10 Year Anniversary]

[s2dope]

Coming up on the 10 year anniversary of Ashanti's first album released under her own record label, Written Entertainment. The album was released March 4th, 2014 after suffering multiple pushbacks. "The Woman You Love", the initial first single was released in December of 2011. That single was eventually replaced with Never Should Have. Never Should Have was released in March of 2013 & tied into the season finale of Army Wives, where Ashanti starred in a supporting role during the season. Later that year in November, she pushed "I Got It" (which I STILL can't believe didn't go anywhere @ urban). "Early In The Morning" was pushed as the third and final single from the album a few months after it's release, due to fan reception.

'Braveheart' peaked at #1 on US iTunes R&B/Soul Albums Chart
'Braveheart' peaked at #1 on Billboard's Independent Albums Chart
'Braveheart' peaked at #4 on Billboard's US Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums
'Braveheart' peaked at #10 on the US Billboard 200 selling 28K first week, beating out predictions by over 8K
'Braveheart' peaked at #13 on US iTunes Overall Albums Chart

I've always felt a sense of pessimism with the performance of this album. Sure, it's Ashanti's 5th consecutive top 10 & it is a #1 album. However, the entire rollout was poorly executed. I don't feel there was enough behind her to push this project to it's full extent and the delays didn't benefit in the least. The quality of the album was solid, it still gets pretty heavy play. "Scars" & "Runaway" are two of my favorites. But with that being said I also feel like the singles were not selected accordingly. "Never Should Have" & "I Got It" should have swapped spots on which was released first. "I Got It" was the more Spring/Summer sound whereas "Never Should Have" would have been a perfect Fall release/push. Altogether, I think the album stands as one of Ashanti's best to-date, granted we haven't really heard much of a full project since then.

Albums released the same week:
Pharrell Williams: G I R L
Rick Ross: Mastermind



Ashanti - The Woman You Love (feat. Busta Rhymes)


Ashanti - Never Should Have


Ashanti - I Got It (feat. Rick Ross)


Ashanti - Early In The Morning (feat. French Montana)

[🇯🇲 lucy88 🇯🇲]

This was a very good album, indeed. I would place it after her debut, Concrete Rose, and The Declaration as those albums hold strong nostalgia for me, but I do think Braveheart is slightly stronger than Chapter II, as much as I enjoyed that one as well. I love all her albums tho. My fave tracks from Braveheart are Runaway, Early In The Morning, 3 Words, Scars, She Can't, I Got It, and First Real Love.