Leo Rising

This article is about the album by Karmin. For the album by Frank Foster, see Leo Rising (Frank Foster album).

Leo Rising is the second and final studio album by American music duo Karmin, released exclusively on Apple Music on September 9, 2016, before being released to all other platforms on September 23, 2016.^[1] It is the follow-up to their 2014 major label debut Pulses. Preceding the album's release, five singles were released to promote the album: "Along the Road", "Didn't Know You", "Come with Me (Pure Imagination)", "Sugar", and "Blame It on My Heart".

Leo Rising
Studio album by Karmin
Released	September 9, 2016
Recorded	2014–16
Genre	Alternative pop indie pop
Label	Karmin Music RED
Producer	Karmin (exec.) Nick Noonan Steve Tirogene
Karmin chronology
Pulses (2014) Leo Rising (2016)
Singles from Leo Rising
"Sugar" Released: October 1, 2014 "Along the Road" Released: March 24, 2015 "Didn't Know You" Released: June 2, 2015 "Come with Me (Pure Imagination)" Released: February 19, 2016 "Sugar (re-release)" Released: April 29, 2016 "Blame It on My Heart" Released: August 5, 2016

Background and concept

In preparing for the album's release, husband and wife duo Amy Heidemann-Noonan and Nick Noonan met with an astrologist to understand the signs of the horoscope, drawing inspiration from each of them in writing the album's twelve tracks.^[2]

Three tracks, "Yesterday" (previously released as a digital single), "Maybelline" and "Young in Love" were originally slated for the album but did not make the final cut. "Young in Love" was later given to artist Borgeous, who released it as a single in late 2016 featuring vocals from Karmin.^[3]

Singles

The first single from Leo Rising, "Sugar", was originally released in October 2014, but has since been amended multiple times with a re-release version of the single impacting radio on April 29, 2016. A new version then appeared on Leo Rising. It is the Taurus track. Three music videos have been released for the single. The couch video was released on October 14, 2014.^[4] A teaser for the second music video was released on January 27, 2015, before the video's release on February 28, 2015.^[5][6] A music video for the re-released version of the track was later released on May 16, 2016, and had minor edits made to it.^[7]

"Along the Road" was the second single from the album, however was not intended to appear on Leo Rising. It was released on March 24, 2015. It appeared on the album after the duo felt that some songs needed to be swapped out for others. It is the Libra track from the album.^[8]

"Didn't Know You" was announced as the lead single from Leo Rising before the track listing's shuffle, and impacted radio on June 2, 2015, along with its release to streaming and purchasing platforms. A music video was released to their Vevo page on July 16, 2015.^[9]

"Come with Me (Pure Imagination)" was the fourth single from the album, it was a remix/cover of the song "Pure Imagination" by Gene Wilder from the 1971 film Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Its music video was released to their YouTube channel shortly after its release before being taken down and uploaded to their Vevo channel on August 19, 2016.^[10]

"Blame It on My Heart" was released as the fifth single from the album on August 5, 2016, with its corresponding music video being released on the same day.

Promotional singles

Easy Money was released as the first and only promotional single on October 28, 2015.

Couch videos

After the release of the original music video for "Sugar", Karmin came up with the idea to create couch videos to every song from Leo Rising.

The "Sugar" couch video was released on October 14, 2014.^[4]

The second, for "Easy Money" was released on September 23, 2016.^[11]

"I Got You" followed on September 24,^[12] "Dance with You" on September 25,^[13] "Didn't Know You" on September 27,^[14] "No Suitcase" on September 28,^[15] "Come with Me (Pure Imagination)" on September 29,^[16] "Everything" on September 30,^[17] "Along the Road" on October 1,^[18] "Can't Live" on October 2,^[19] "Blame It on My Heart" on October 3,^[20] "Save Me Now" on October 4,^[21] and the bonus track "Love Is Louder" received a music video rather than a couch video on November 7.^[22]

Commercial performance

Leo Rising reached number 27 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart on the week ending October 1, 2016. ^[23]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Dance with You"	Amy Heidemann Nick Noonan Jeff Gitelman	Nick Noonan	3:50
2.	"Sugar"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	4:00
3.	"Didn't Know You"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:08
4.	"No Suitcase"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:36
5.	"Come with Me (Pure Imagination)"	Heidemann Noonan Leslie Briscuss Anthony Newley	Noonan Steve Tirogene	3:20
6.	"Everything"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:24
7.	"Along the Road"	Heidemann Noonan Gitelman Elijah Blake Hasham Hussein Denarius Motes	Noonan	3:13
8.	"Can't Live"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:47
9.	"Blame It on My Heart"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:04
10.	"Save Me Now"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:16
11.	"Easy Money"	Heidemann Noonan Gitelman	Noonan	3:35
12.	"I Got You"	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:53
13.	"Love Is Louder" (bonus track)	Heidemann Noonan	Noonan	3:02
Total length:				45:08

Charts

Chart (2016)	Peak position
US Independent Albums (Billboard)^[24]	27
US Top Current Albums (Billboard)^[25]	88

References

1. "Leo Rising by Karmin on Apple Music". Itunes.apple.com. 2016-09-09. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
2. "Album Preview: Karmin's Future is Bright With "Leo Rising"". The Hudsucker. 2016-07-27. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
3. "Karmin, Borgeous New Releases: Young In Love on Beatport". Beatport.com. 2016-12-19. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
4. "Karmin - Sugar (Video)". YouTube. 2014-10-14. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
5. "Karmin - Sugar (Teaser)". YouTube. 2015-01-27. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
6. "Karmin - Sugar (Official Video)". YouTube. 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
7. "Karmin - Sugar (Official Video)". YouTube. 2016-05-16. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
8. "Karmin - Along The Road (Audio)". YouTube. 2015-03-30. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
9. "Karmin - Didn't Know You (Official Video)". YouTube. 2015-07-16. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
10. "Karmin - Come With Me (Pure Imagination) [Official Video". YouTube. 2016-08-19. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
11. "Karmin - Easy Money (Aquarius)". YouTube. 2016-09-23. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
12. "Karmin - I Got You (Pisces)". YouTube. 2016-09-24. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
13. "Karmin - Dance With You (Aries)". YouTube. 2016-09-25. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
14. "Karmin - Didn't Know You (Gemini)". YouTube. 2016-09-27. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
15. "Karmin - No Suitcase (Cancer)". YouTube. 2016-09-28. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
16. "Karmin - Come With Me (Pure Imagination) [Leo". YouTube. 2016-09-29. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
17. "Karmin - Everything (Virgo)". YouTube. 2016-09-30. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
18. "Karmin - Along The Road (Libra)". YouTube. 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
19. "Karmin - Can't Live (Scorpio)". YouTube. 2016-10-02. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
20. "Karmin - Blame It On My Heart (Sagittarius)". YouTube. 2016-10-03. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
21. "Karmin - Save Me Now (Capricorn)". YouTube. 2016-10-04. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
22. "Karmin - Love Is Louder (Bonus Track) [Official Video". YouTube. 2016-11-07. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
23. "Karmin – Chart history". Billboard. 2016-10-01. Retrieved 2017-01-03.
24. "Karmin Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved January 2, 2017.
25. "Karmin – Chart history". Billboard Top Current Albums for Karmin. Retrieved January 2, 2017.