Blue | ||||
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Studio album by iamamiwhoami | ||||
Released | 7 November 2014 | |||
Recorded | 2013–14 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 51:32 | |||
Label | To whom it may concern. | |||
Director | WAVE | |||
Producer | Claes Björklund | |||
iamamiwhoami chronology | ||||
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Singles from Blue | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Aggregate scores | |
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 73/100 |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
DIY | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Loud and Quiet | 5/10 |
musicOMH | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
NME | 7/10 |
Nothing but Hope and Passion | 3.1/5 |
Pitchfork Media | 6.1/10.0 |
PopMatters | 8/10 |
Uncut | 6/10 |
Blue (stylised as BLUE) is the third studio album by Swedish audiovisual project iamamiwhoami, led by singer and songwriter Jonna Lee. It was released on 7 November 2014 as musical album and as a film on February 2015. The album was announced on 8 July 2014 through a trailer on YouTube, and on the same day, it was made available for pre-order on Lee's label To whom it may concern.Blue is musically produced by Claes Björklund and visually directed by Swedish collective WAVE (Lee, John Strandh and Agustin Moreaux), with costume design by Mathieu Mirano.
Limited CD and 12-inch vinyl LP editions of Blue, as well as a CD and LP bundle, were made exclusively available via To whom it may concern.'s official online shop on 10 November 2014. All three editions include a 48-page book with lyrics and the Blue photo series.
An exclusive digital edition of the album, titled Blue island, was released on 10 November 2014, taking the form of a website. Created by To whom it may concern. in collaboration with creators of the iamamiwhoami fansite iambountyfan, the Blue island website and community home allows fans to either download or stream all parts of the album in high resolution (including audio, films, moving and still image series, and lyrics), as well as share the album's content with other users. A visitors' pass was also made available, giving fans streaming access only.
Blue received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 73, based on 10 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Evan Sawdey of PopMatters opined that Blue "isn't only the most satisfying record in the collective's discography; it's also one of the best albums released this year." Heather Phares of AllMusic concluded, "In its own way, this album might be Lee and Björklund's most balanced and unified work yet; it's certainly a confident journey into uncharted waters for the duo." Leonie Cooper of the NME wrote, "At times [...] it feels like Lee has overdosed on the Drive soundtrack. Ultimately though, sensitivity outweighs '80s cliché." Alex Jeffery of musicOMH viewed that "while Blue's electropop soundscapes are hardly a great move forwards from their first two projects, there are genuinely majestic emotional moments to savour here." El Hunt of DIY noted that "BLUE's watery explorations demonstrate an intriguing new facet to the project, but it might well come at the expense of the fearsome impact that earlier releases packed in the shedload."