Luminescence

Luminescence is Anggun’s third international studio album. The French-language version was released in France on 22 February 2005, while English-language version, also with the same title, was first released in Italy on 18 May 2005. The album was later repackaged in August 2006 as Luminescence: Special Edition with three brand new songs. Following her departure from Columbia Records in 2003, Anggun signed a recording contract with Heben Music. The album features production by several musicians, including Jean-Pierre Taïeb, Frédéric Jaffré and Niels Brinck. Anggun co-wrote music and lyrics of the entire album, except two tracks on the French version.

anggun-luminescence-front

Luminescence became Anggun’s comeback album in France, selling over 121,000 copies there. In Indonesia, the album was certified quadruple platinum for exceeding sales of over 450,000 copies as of 2015. With the album, Anggun expanded her popularity to Eastern Europe. Luminescence was certified gold in Russia, while the album’s singles accumulatively received more than 79,000 plays on Russian radio according to TopHit.ru. Luminescence received Platinum Export Award for its sales outside France. The album spawned singles s “Undress Me”, “In Your Mind”, “Saviour”, “I’ll Be Alright” and “A Crime”.

 

Background and development

In 2001, Anggun had already begun working on the follow-up of her second international studio album, Chrysalis (2000). She collaborated with Swedish musician Jörgen Elofsson and Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, whom she first met while performing at the 2000 Christmas concert in Vatican. One of the songs was “Walking Away” registered to Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI). However, the writing session for her solo album was shelved, and Anggun started another recording session with Danish producers Niels Brinck and Jesper Winge Leisner for the soundrack album of Susanne Bier’s film Open Hearts (2002). Following the release of the soundtrack album, Anggun announced her departure from Columbia Records due to the company’s structural change after its parent label Sony Music Entertainment merger with BMG Music.

In 2004, Anggun signed a record deal with Heben Music, an independent label in France. She restarted the production of her third international studio album with several producers, including Jean-Pierre Taieb and Frederic Jaffre as well as Niels Brinck. Anggun, who composes mainly in English, enlisted the help from several well-known French songwriters, such as Jean Fauque, Lionel Florence, Tété and Evelyn Kral to adapt her English songs into French. Both versions of Luminescence, French and English, shared the same title, a departure from her previous efforts.

Special Edition

Following the success of the album, Anggun re-released the album in 2006 as Luminescence Special Edition both in English and French. She launched the album in August 2006 in France with “Juste avant toi” and abroad with its English-language counterpart “I’ll Be __luminescence-special-edAlright”. In France, the single went onto chart inside the Top 30. The success of the single was apparently when the finalists of the singing competition television show Star Academy had been called upon to perform a medley of Anggun’s hits from this album, including “Être une femme”,” “Cesse la pluie” and “Juste avant toi” and the album was relaunched back into the Top 20 itself. As of December 2006, she has lifted another bonus track from the special edition of the record as a fourth single: a solo version of “Garde-moi” (David Hallyday appears on the album version of the track) — which has been recorded into English as “A Crime.” She also recorded another song, “Quelqu’un/Waiting” as a bonus.

Track listing

English version

Luminescence – International standard edition
No. Title Writer(s) Length
1. “In Your Mind” Anggun, Jean-Pierre Taïeb 3:28
2. “Undress Me” Anggun, Taïeb 3:30
3. “Evil & Angel” Anggun, Taïeb 3:47
4. “Breathe in Water” Anggun, Jean Fauque, Taïeb 4:42
5. “Saviour” Anggun, Evelyne Kral, Frédéric Jaffré 3:44
6. “Surrender” Anggun, Taïeb 5:12
7. “Captivity” Anggun, Taïeb 4:16
8. “Cover” Anggun, Fauque, Alexandre Reitzmann, Taïeb, Patrice Marlone 4:19
9. “Something Sublime” Anggun, Taïeb 3:31
10. “Devil in My Mind” Anggun, Taïeb 3:15
11. “Painted” Anggun, Taïeb 3:15
12. “Human” Anggun, Taïeb 3:15
13. “Go” Anggun, Taïeb 3:54
Total length:
 50:08