Blue is the debut major-label album and third studio album by American country music artist LeAnn Rimes, released on July 9, 1996 in the United States, shortly before the singer’s fourteenth birthday, by Curb Records. It peaked at number three on the US Billboard 200, and number one on the Top Country Albums chart.
Singles released from Blue include, in order of release: "Blue", "Hurt Me", "One Way Ticket (Because I Can)", and "The Light in Your Eyes". These songs all charted on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart between 1996 and 1997; "Blue" and "The Light in Your Eyes" both reached top 10, while "Hurt Me" peaked at 43. "One Way Ticket" became a number one hit on the country music chart.[1]
During the 1996 Christmas season, copies of the album sold at Target stores included the promotional single "Put a Little Holiday in Your Heart" as a free gift with purchase.[1][2] The song peaked at number 51 on the Country Songs chart in January of the following year.[3] "Unchained Melody", included as the single's b-side, peaked at number three on the Country Songs chart in March 1997 when released as a single from Unchained Melody: The Early Years (1997).[4]
The album was met with generally positive reviews. Shawn M. Haney of AllMusic rated Blue four out of five stars, calling it "a glorious free-for-all of sassy pick-me-up country", and stated that "perhaps people of any age or style of interest will feel youthful again after a good listen and a half."[5] Similarly, Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ and stated that "such raw, old-fashioned country music, with such a big, twangy, sexy voice at the center, wouldn't be making such a stir in bland '90s Nashville if LeAnn Rimes weren't 13. In other words, the hype machine has inadvertently coughed up a gem."[7]
The Los Angeles Times gave the album two-and-a-half stars out of four and said that "Rimes displays the unbridled power and freshness you'd expect from a teenager. In an ideal world, she'd bring all that to bear on songs that tap her youthful zeal. Instead, too many on this major-label debut require a level of experience that's clearly beyond her years. There's no question Rimes has been blessed with a magnificent voice. Let's hope she'll be given a few years--say, at least until she's out of high school--to let her natural talent mature."[8] In his "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau gave the album a "neither" score, defined as an album which "may impress once or twice with consistent craft or an arresting track or two. Then it won't."[6][10]
Commercial performance
Blue debuted at number four on Billboard 200 with 123,000 copies sold in the week ending of July 27, 1996.[11] It peaked at number three in its second week with 129,500 copies sold.[12]Blue has been certified 6× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and is Rimes's best-selling album.[13]
