This Unruly Mess I've Made

This Unruly Mess I've Made is the second studio album by American hip hop duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. It was released on February 26, 2016, by Macklemore LLC and Alternative Distribution Alliance.[4] The album was supported by three singles: "Downtown" featuring Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz and "Dance Off" featuring Idris Elba and Anderson Paak,[5] along with "White Privilege II" featuring Jamila Woods, which was released as the album's promotional single.[6]

This Unruly Mess I've Made
Studio album by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis
Released	February 26, 2016
Recorded	2013–15
Genre	Conscious hip hop,[1][2][3] alternative hip hop[1]
Length	57:39
Label	Macklemore LLC, ADA
Producer	Ryan Lewis, Oboohoo, Budo
Macklemore & Ryan Lewis chronology
The Heist (2012) This Unruly Mess I've Made (2016)
Singles from This Unruly Mess I've Made
"Downtown" Released: August 27, 2015 "Dance Off" Released: February 25, 2016 "Brad Pitt's Cousin" Released: April 12, 2016

Background

Following the success of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's debut album The Heist (2012), Macklemore revealed that the album cover artwork for their follow-up album, titled This Unruly Mess I've Made, on January 15, 2016, on his Instagram post.[7] The album was self-released on February 26, 2016.[7] He also revealed on the trailer for their album on his official website,[7] which features himself discussing about how their album was created and their inspiration for making the new music.

Singles

The duo's lead single for This Unruly Mess I've Made, titled "Downtown", was released on August 27, 2015. The song was produced by Ryan Lewis, who co-wrote it with Macklemore. The duo collaborated with artists including Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz on this track. The music video for "Downtown" featuring Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz, was also released on August 27, 2015.[8]

The album's second single, "Dance Off", was released on February 25, 2016, in Australia, New Zealand and selected countries of Europe. The song was not released in the United States.[9] The song contains a dialogue from actor Idris Elba and a guest appearance from American recording artist Anderson Paak. The music video for "Dance Off" featuring Idris Elba was released on May 17, 2016.[10] "Brad Pitt's Cousin" was released as the album's third single on April 12, 2016, also in Australia and New Zealand.[11] The song features guest vocals from Xperience.

Promotional singles

"Growing Up (Sloane's Song)" featuring Ed Sheeran, was released on August 5, 2015.[12] The previously-leaked track, "White Privilege II" featuring Jamila Woods, was released on January 22, 2016.[13]

Other songs

On February 24, 2016, the music video was released for "Kevin" featuring Leon Bridges.[14]

Release

In the weeks and months of predating the album's release, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis shared three songs from the album such as "Downtown" featuring Kool Moe Dee, Melle Mel, Grandmaster Caz and Eric Nally, "Growing Up (Sloane's Song)" featuring Ed Sheeran, and "Kevin" featuring Leon Bridges.[15]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
AnyDecentMusic?	5.4/10[16]
Metacritic	59/100[17]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[18]
The A.V. Club	C+[19]
Entertainment Weekly	B−[20]
The Guardian	[21]
NME	3/5[22]
Pitchfork	5.1/10[23]
Rolling Stone	[24]
Spin	7/10[25]
Vice	A−[26]
XXL	4/5[27]

This Unruly Mess I've Made has received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, the score currently has a score of 59 out of 100 based on 17 reviews.[17]

Jeremy Gordon of Pitchfork gave the album a 5.1 out of 10, describing it as "an occasionally inspiring, often corny rap album made for winning Grammy nominations and waking the hearts of the unwoken."[23] Louis Pattison of NME said, "It's equal parts witty and serious, poppy and knotty, cracking wise one minute, then demanding you sit quietly and listen carefully through some complicated soul-searching."[22]

Writing for Rolling Stone, Mark Seliger said of the album, "On Unruly Mess, Macklemore's confrontational side returns..."[28] Ray Rahman of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a grade of B−, saying, "Unruly Mess sees him embracing his role as a social justice champion, sent to expand the minds of his (mainly young, white, suburban) audiences."[20]

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number 4 on the Billboard 200, with 61,000 album-equivalent units; it sold 51,000 copies in its first week in the United States.[29] The album debuted at number one on the US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums.[30] The album dropped to number 31 in its second week on the Billboard 200 and left the chart entirely after its seventh. As of November 2016 the album has sold 667,000 copies worldwide.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Light Tunnels" (featuring Mike Slap)	Ben Haggerty Ryan Lewis Michael Slavtcheff Josh Rawlings Andrew Joslyn Elan Wright Joshua Karp	Lewis	6:37
2.	"Downtown" (featuring Eric Nally, Melle Mel, Kool Moe Dee and Grandmaster Caz)	B. Haggerty Lewis Eric Nally Melvin Glover Mohandes Dewese Curtis Fisher Karp Rawlings Jacob Dutton Evan Flory-Barnes Tim Haggerty Darian Asplund	Lewis	4:52
3.	"Brad Pitt's Cousin" (featuring Xperience)	B. Haggerty Lewis Tyler Andrews Rawlings	Lewis	3:11
4.	"Buckshot" (featuring KRS-One and DJ Premier)	B. Haggerty Lewis Lawrence Parker Christopher Martin Rawlings Cab Calloway Buster Harding Jack Palmer	Lewis	3:33
5.	"Growing Up (Sloane's Song)" (featuring Ed Sheeran)	B. Haggerty Lewis Ed Sheeran Karp Owuor Arunga Rawlings	Lewis	5:05
6.	"Kevin" (featuring Leon Bridges)	B. Haggerty Lewis Todd Bridges Karp Rawlings Joslyn Andrews	Lewis	4:40
7.	"St. Ides"	B. Haggerty Lewis Karp Rawlings	Lewis	3:39
8.	"Need to Know" (featuring Chance the Rapper)	B. Haggerty Lewis Chancelor Bennett Calvin Price Carl "Cardiak" McCormick	Lewis	3:52
9.	"Dance Off" (featuring Idris Elba and Anderson .Paak)	B. Haggerty Lewis Idris Elba Brandon Anderson Karp Josh Dobson Sam Wishkoski Andrews	Lewis Karp^[a]	3:49
10.	"Let's Eat" (featuring Xperience)	B. Haggerty Lewis Andrews Rawlings	Lewis	2:55
11.	"Bolo Tie" (featuring YG)	B. Haggerty Lewis Keenon Jackson Stu Phillips Bob Stone	Lewis	3:37
12.	"The Train" (featuring Carla Morrison)	B. Haggerty Lewis Carla Morrison Rawlings Karp Andrews	Lewis Karp^[b]	3:07
13.	"White Privilege II" (featuring Jamila Woods)	B. Haggerty Lewis Jamila Woods Hollis Wong-Wear Ahamefule Oluo Karp Flory-Barnes Rawlings Asplund D'Vonne Lewis Andrews Larry Griffin, Jr. Glen Reynolds	Lewis Oboohoo^[b] Karp^[b]	8:42

Digital deluxe edition (bonus tracks)

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
14.	"The Shades"	B. Haggerty Lewis Karp Rawlings	Lewis	3:44
15.	"Spoons" (featuring Ryan Bedard)	B. Haggerty Lewis Karp Rawlings	Lewis	3:48

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies an additional producer.
• ^{^[b]} signifies a co-producer.

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2016) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[31] 6 Australian Urban Albums (ARIA)[32] 2 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[33] 4 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[34] 9 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[35] 17 Canadian Albums (Billboard)[36] 4 Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI)[37] 93 Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[38] 15 Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[39] 33 French Albums (SNEP)[40] 31 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[41] 4 Irish Albums (IRMA)[42] 6 Italian Albums (FIMI)[43] 16 New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[44] 5 Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[45] 17 Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[46] 36 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[47] 3 UK Albums (OCC)[48] 16 UK R&B Albums (OCC)[49] 1 US Billboard 200[50] 4 US Independent Albums (Billboard)[51] 1 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[52] 1

Year-end charts Chart (2016) Position Australian Albums (ARIA)[53] 48 Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[54] 112 US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)[55] 32

References

Footnotes

1. "Album Review: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis This Unruly Mess I've Made". 23 February 2016.
2. "Macklemore and Ryan Lewis's 'This Unruly Mess I've Made' is an unruly mess".
3. "An Honest Attempt At A Fair Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Review". 26 February 2016.
4. Rys, Dan (January 15, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Announce Sophomore Album This Unruly Mess I've Made Release Date". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved January 17, 2016.
5. "1-100 List - Hottest 100 2015 - triple j". Retrieved 2 February 2016.
6. Hernandez, Victoria (February 26, 2016). "Macklemore and Ryan Lewis lead singles". HipHopDX. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
7. Spanos, Brittany (January 15, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Announce new album". Rolling Stone. Retrieved February 27, 2016.
8. MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - DOWNTOWN (OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO). 27 August 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016 – via YouTube.
9. "Lukas Graham make it a hat-trick with '7 Years'". ARIA. September 21, 2015.
10. Ryan Lewis (17 May 2016). "MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - DANCE OFF (FEAT. IDRIS ELBA) OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO". Retrieved 8 September 2016 – via YouTube.
11. "Major Lazer spend second week at #1". ARIA Charts. August 27, 2015. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
12. Macklemore & Ryan Lewis - Growing Up (Sloane's Song) feat. Ed Sheeran. 5 August 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2016 – via YouTube.
13. MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS FEAT. JAMILA WOODS - WHITE PRIVILEGE II. 21 January 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016 – via YouTube.
14. MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - KEVIN (FEAT. LEON BRIDGES) - OFFICIAL MUSIC VIDEO. 24 February 2016. Retrieved 20 April 2016 – via YouTube.
15. Camp, Zoe (January 15, 2016). "Macklemore and Ryan Lewis share three songs". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved May 16, 2016.
16. "This Unruly Mess I've Made by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis reviews". AnyDecentMusic?. Retrieved December 2, 2019.
17. "Reviews for This Unruly Mess I've Made by Macklemore & Ryan Lewis". Metacritic. Retrieved March 3, 2016.
18. Jeffries, David. "This Unruly Mess I've Made – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis". AllMusic. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
19. Hugar, John (February 26, 2016). "Clumsy messages hurt what could have been a great album from Macklemore". The A.V. Club. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
20. Rahman, Ray (February 26, 2016). "This Unruly Mess I've Made by Macklemore and Ryan Lewis: EW review". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
21. Aroesti, Rachel (February 25, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: This Unruly Mess I've Made review – writhing earworms". The Guardian. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
22. Pattison, Louis (February 26, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – 'This Unruly Mess I've Made' Review". NME. Archived from the original on February 29, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
23. Gordon, Jeremy (February 26, 2016). "Macklemore / Ryan Lewis: This Unruly Mess I've Made". Pitchfork. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
24. Dolan, Jon (February 25, 2016). "This Unruly Mess I've Made". Rolling Stone. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
25. Weiss, Dan (March 3, 2016). "Review: Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Are the Best Kind of Bleached Assholes on 'This Unruly Mess I've Made'". Spin. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
26. Christgau, Robert (September 23, 2016). "Enjoy, However Bad This Shit Gets: Expert Witness with Robert Christgau". Vice. Retrieved September 24, 2016.
27. Glaysher, Scott (March 4, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Push Boundaries on 'This Unruly Mess I've Made'". XXL. Archived from the original on June 10, 2016. Retrieved April 20, 2016.
28. Seliger, Mark (March 14, 2016). "Why Macklemore Risked It All for 'White Privilege II'". Rolling Stone.
29. "The 1975 Gains First No. 1 Album on Billboard 200". Billboard. 2016-03-06. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
30. Mendizabal, Amaya (March 9, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Debut at No. 1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Chart". Billboard. Retrieved October 20, 2017.
31. "Australiancharts.com – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
32. "ARIA Australian Top 40 Urban Albums". Australian Recording Industry Association. March 7, 2016. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
33. "Austriancharts.at – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
34. "Ultratop.be – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
35. "Ultratop.be – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in French). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
36. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Chart History (Canadian Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
37. "Czech Albums – Top 100". ČNS IFPI. Note: On the chart page, select 201609 on the field besides the word "Zobrazit", and then click over the word to retrieve the correct chart data. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
38. "Dutchcharts.nl – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
39. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis: This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland. Retrieved March 13, 2016.
40. "Lescharts.com – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 30, 2016.
41. "Offiziellecharts.de – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
42. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 9, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
43. "Italiancharts.com – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
44. "Charts.nz – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 4, 2016.
45. "VG-lista - Topp 40 Album uke 9, 2016". Lista.vg.no. Archived from the original on 2017-08-14. Retrieved 2016-03-15.
46. "Swedishcharts.com – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
47. "Swisscharts.com – Macklemore & Ryan Lewis – This Unruly Mess I've Made". Hung Medien. Retrieved March 9, 2016.
48. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
49. "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. Retrieved March 5, 2016.
50. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
51. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
52. "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Chart History (Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved March 8, 2016.
53. "ARIA Top 100 Albums 2016". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved January 6, 2017.
54. "Jaaroverzichten 2016". Ultratop. Retrieved July 3, 2020.
55. "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums – Year-End 2016". Billboard. Retrieved July 3, 2020.

Sources

Menyes, Carolyn (January 15, 2016). "Macklemore & Ryan Lewis Unpack 'This Unruly Mess I've Made' Tracklist". Music Times. Retrieved February 2, 2016.

External links

• This Unruly Mess I've Made at Discogs (list of releases)