Heroes & Thieves is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton, released by The Inc. Records on October 9, 2007. It is co-produced by Irv Gotti, Linda Perry and Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins, who produced Carlton's second album, Harmonium (2004), and Carlton co-wrote the tracks with Perry and Jenkins. It is Carlton's only album on The Inc. Records, after Irv Gotti signed her to a record deal there in late 2006, and Gotti has said that Heroes & Thieves is the first album on which he is acting as "co-pilot" rather than "dictator".
The album itself was a commercial failure, becoming her first not to enter the Top 40 of the Billboard 200, selling just over 18,000 copies in its first week of release. As of 2011, the album has sold approximately 75,000 copies in the United States. Due to its commercial failure, the album only spawned two singles. The first, "Nolita Fairytale", was a minor success for Carlton, having some radio success in the United States. The follow-up single, "Hands On Me", was more successful, reaching the Top 40 in Australia, as well as becoming her first song in five years to chart in New Zealand. Although it was a commercial failure in the US, it did receive minimal airplay on mainstream radio.
Despite minimal chart success, the album was a critical success, becoming Carlton's highest rated album on Metacritic, with a 79% approval rate. Allmusic awarded the album three and a half stars, while PopMatters rated the album an eight out of a possible ten. USA Today also praised the album, awarding it three out of four stars. Slant Magazine awarded the album three out of five stars, and the Philadelphia Daily News rated the album at a "B".
Background In January 2005, two months after the release of Harmonium, Carlton co-wrote three songs with production team The Matrix: "It's Now", "Summer Child" (alternatively titled "Tuesday") and "Underneath"."The Projects That Time Forgot". MTV News. January 31, 2005. Retrieved June 28, 2007.BMI repertoire search : "It's Now" (work no. 7532078), "Summer Child"/"Tuesday" (work no. 7532080), "Underneath" (work no. 7532079). In May 2005, in a post on her official site's forum, Carlton said to her fans that she would be releasing a third album in 2006, although she added "most people will know it as my second!" because of a perceived lack of commitment to Harmonium at her then-current label, A&M Records."harmonium" . VanessaCarlton.com. May 7, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2006. During her Harmonium tour, Carlton debuted three new songs in June 2005 at The Living Room in New York City: "Put Your Hands on Me", "This Time" (co-written with Linda Perry) and "The One".Cinquemani, Sal. "Vanessa Carlton: A Pop Princess in Her Living Room". Slant. June 14, 2005. Retrieved September 16, 2006. (For the release of the album, the title of "Put Your Hands on Me" was shortened to "Hands on Me" because Joss Stone has a song with the original title on her 2007 album, Introducing Joss Stone.Cinquemani, Sal. "Vanessa Carlton: A Rent-Controlled Life". Slant. 2007.) When on tour with rock singer Stevie Nicks in 2005 and 2006, Carlton premiered the songs "Best Behavior"Laszewski, Caiti. "Stevie Nicks Summer 2005 FAN REVIEWS – 7/6/05 Target Center Minneapolis, MN". The Nicks Fix (official Stevie Nicks website). and "All Is Well". (Nicks recorded backing vocals for the track "The One".)
Production In August 2005, Carlton said she was to enter the recording studio the following month with producer Linda Perry,Carlton, Vanessa. "next chapter" . vanessacarlton.com (official Vanessa Carlton website) via NESSAholics.com. August 2, 2005. with whom she had previously collaborated after executives at A&M Records sent her into the studio to record a second single for Harmonium.Sclafani, Tony. "Don't Call It a Comeback: Vanessa Carlton" . Express. November 20, 2007. Carlton said of the album's creative pulsinator team,
In December 2005, they completed half the album and experienced what Carlton described as a "whirlwind moment", during which they recorded five songs in two weeks. Carlton said on her website that Perry was "fantastic and genuine and really inspiring".MusicMan. . popdirt.com. January 1, 2006.Staff. "For The Record: Quick News On Madonna, Jessica Simpson, Avenged Sevenfold, Nine Inch Nails, David Lee Roth & More". MTV News. January 4, 2006. Mastering work on the album was proceeding by February 2006, when Billboard magazine quoted a spokesperson for Carlton as saying that Stephan Jenkins and several "departure producers" had contributed to the album.Hasty, Katie. "Billboard Bits: Pearl Jam, Vanessa Carlton, Don Caballero". Billboard. February 24, 2006. According to Carlton, she recorded most of the album in a Victorian mansion with Jenkins in San Francisco.Stout, Gene. "Classically trained pianist Vanessa Carlton plays and sings her way across genres". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. November 8, 2007. She told her fans in September that she was writing songs in the city,MusicMan. . popdirt.com. September 22, 2006. and the following month, after signing with The Inc. Records, she said she would return to the studio in Los Angeles to record more songs.MusicMan. . popdirt.com. October 3, 2006. The head of The Inc., Irv Gotti, helped to produce the album and said that 7 Aurelius and Rick Rubin would also serve as co-producers,Reid, Shaheem. "Irv Gotti Maps Out Inc. Comeback With Vanessa Carlton, Lloyd, Ja Rule". MTV News. November 28, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2006. though neither are credited in the album's liner notes.
Composition According to Carlton, the album is "the best batch of songs I've ever written".Rodriguez, Jayson. "Yeah, Irv Gotti Knows Who Vanessa Carlton Is — He Just Signed Her". MTV News. November 2, 2006. Retrieved November 30, 2006. She described it as "pretty uplifting" and as having "a lot of layers ... [There are] very complex arrangements but everything just makes me feel good and not in a simplistic way." She also called it her most honest album, and the only one of hers that she considers "a body of work" as opposed to a collection of songs. "I think that shows", she said. "It really does feel like a real album."Benson, John. "Carlton Links With The Inc. For Third Album". Billboard. June 26, 2007. Retrieved June 28, 2007. Carlton says that the concept of the album is "about personal evolution and finding joy through hardships. Every song is like a different chapter in a book".Cheung, Nadine. "Vanessa Carlton Dodges Looming Question" . AOL Music PopEater. July 10, 2007. According to her, the lyrics are "far better written" and build on her greater life experience, which she says produces "a more interesting perspective through song" and lyrics more adults can listen to than previously, when she was writing from the point of view of a seventeen-year-old girl rather than "more of a fully formed person".Rowland, Marijke. "Acoustic Christmas – Carlton Brings new life to show". The Modesto Bee. December 27, 2007.
Carlton said she was inspired by the atmosphere of her New York City loft apartment, including the view from her window, and by her thoughts during long walks around the Nolita neighborhood — "I was very inspired by the vibe here ... There really is a very deep, underlying connection between this space and my record."Getlen, Larry. "Once upon a Time" . New York Post. October 11, 2007. Another inspiration was metaphors in German fairy tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, the theme of which she said she adapted for the album: "The moral of that story is to never stray from the beaten path or you'll get eaten by a wolf. And, of course, in the past few years, I've really strayed from the beaten path and reaped the rewards. Instead of being eaten by the wolf, I've tamed the wolf, and it does what I say." The album was influenced by Carlton's breakup with its co-producer, Stephan Jenkins, and Carlton said that one of the reasons they remained friends was that "nothing took precedence over the music ... No matter what was going on in the emotional realm, all we cared about was the album. It created this kinetic environment that was kind of like Fleetwood Mac. It made for better music."Vaziri, Aidin. "POP QUIZ: Vanessa Carlton". San Francisco Chronicle. November 4, 2007.
Carlton said the song "Nolita Fairytale" is about her life in Nolita, and in her words, "the series of revelations I have had over the past few years." She called the song "Heroes & Thieves" "a song about assessing, to put it in a dramatic way, the Heroes and Thieves in your life"; it is about her personal evolution, and her deciding how she wants to lead her life and the people with whom she wants to share it.Brill, Lauren. "One On One With Vanessa Carlton". WNBA.com. July 11, 2007. The fourth song, "My Best", has been described by Carlton as "one of the most level-headed responses to a broken relationship [...] no matter what crimes are committed in any relationship that fell apart, you kind of always keep your promise to that person, those people in your past. If you were to serendipitously cross paths with them again, you would always be the best version of yourself and offer them your best."Nome, Valerie. "OK! Interview: Vanessa Carlton". OK! (U.S.). November 28, 2007. The track "The One", which features Stevie Nicks, was inspired by conversations Carlton had with Nicks about relationships and the search for one true love.Halperin, Shirley. "On the Scene: Vanessa Carlton and special guest at L.A.'s Roxy" . Entertainment Weekly PopWatch Blog. July 26, 2007. According to Irv Gotti, the ballad "Home" (which Carlton said she felt sad singing) was written about Stephan Jenkins, Carlton's partner at the time of its writing, although he added that "Vanessa's found home in her music, and home can be anything for people: a boyfriend, husband, child, mother ... what home can represent makes it such an enormous record. That record is very special to me." The closing track, "More Than This", documents a relationship in which Carlton felt the other party "can never have enough. It's like if they don't want peace, it would just be peaceful. The song is saying how you could experience euphoria if, in this moment, you decided you didn't need any more than this. But I don't know ... Maybe it's hard to actively make that decision.""Desert Rose". Giant. August 2007, pg. 120–4.
Release and promotion According to the News-Times, the album was originally scheduled for release in early 2007.Friedman, David. "Third Eye Blind planning to test new songs in Hartford". News-Times. October 27, 2006. Entertainment Weekly reported in June 2007 that the album was to be released on October 9, that the first single was "Nolita Fairytale", and that the second single may be "Hands on Me".Vozick-Levinson, Simon. "Irv Gotti and Vanessa Carlton, together at last" . Entertainment Weekly. June 1, 2007. Retrieved June 25, 2007. Heroes & Thieves is also Carlton's first album on the Universal Motown music label, after she parted ways with A&M Records in 2004. In a November interview with Vibe magazine, Irv Gotti said of the response to Carlton's signing with the predominantly R&B and hip hop label The Inc.: