It Was All a Dream (Dream album)

It Was All a Dream
Studio album by Dream
Released	January 23, 2001
Recorded	1998–2000
Genre	Pop, teen pop, dance-pop, R&B
Length	55:04
Label	Bad Boy
Producer	Steve Kipner, Ken Burns, David Frank, Vincent Herbert, Todd Chapman
Dream chronology
It Was All a Dream (2001) Reality (2008)Reality2008
Singles from Dream
"He Loves U Not" Released: September 12, 2000 "This Is Me" Released: May 1, 2001 "This Is Me (Remix)" Released: July 2001

It Was All a Dream is the debut studio album released by American girl group Dream. It was released on January 23, 2001 by Bad Boy Records. The album garnered a mixed reception from critics. It Was All a Dream debuted at number 6 on the Billboard 200 and spawned three singles: "He Loves U Not", "This Is Me" and "This Is Me (Remix)". The album sold over 1.5 million copies in the United States and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. To promote the album, the group toured across North America and the UK with appearances at award shows and talk shows.

Production

Shortly after being formed, Dream's former manager, Judith Fontaine, signed them to Clockwork Entertainment so they could begin working on their debut album. There, they recorded several tracks for the album. Subsequently, Dream parted ways with Fontaine and Clockwork Entertainment. Shortly thereafter, the group signed a record deal with Bad Boy Records. This meant that much of what was recorded at Clockwork Entertainment would be excluded from the album. In January 1999, original member Alex Chester left the group and was replaced by Diana Ortiz. With Ortiz on board, Dream recorded It Was All a Dream from 1999 to 2000.

Cover

Initial pressings of the CD feature a darked cover, making the background look brown as well as the picture and text being harder to see, and a misprint on the track listing. The song "Mr. Telephone Man" is listed as simply "Mr. Telephone." Both of these were fixed on subsequent pressings, with the new color being the same image and text, but brightened. Here, the cover's background looks red.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic
Entertainment Weekly	(B-)
People	Unfavorable
Rolling Stone

It Was All a Dream received mixed reviews from music critics. Arion Berger of Rolling Stone commended the girl group for delivering an album that contains a charm that's both fierce and adorable, concluding that it "sounds good, and, if you're under eighteen, very good for you, too." David Browne, writing for Entertainment Weekly, was lukewarm on the album, praising the first couple of tracks and the girls' competent vocal delivery but criticized the rest of the album's overlong, generic teen pop content and sounding similar to other girl groups. AllMusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine also gave a lukewarm review to the album, praising the good-sounding production and decent vocal performances but felt that it overstayed its running time and made the girls feel like non-entities on their own album, concluding that "what separates the good from the great is personality, which is lacking on the otherwise adequate It Was All a Dream." A writer for People found the album's adult content oft-putting due to the band members' ages and preferred the tracks "Mr. Telephone Man" and "How Long" for being more age-appropriate for the girl group.

Release and promotion

It Was All a Dream was released on January 23, 2001. It spent 20 weeks on the Billboard 200, peaking at number 6. The album sold 1.5 million copies in the U.S. and was certified gold by the RIAA on February 21, 2001, then platinum on March 5, 2001.

In order to promote the album, two singles were released: "He Loves U Not" and "This is Me". "He Loves U Not" was released on September 12, 2000 and was a transatlantic hit, peaking at number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, number 15 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks, number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and number 35 on the ARIA Singles Chart. "This is Me" was released on May 1, 2001 and although it wasn't as successful as "He Loves U Not", it did peak at number 39 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 80 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks. "Miss You" and "In My Dreams" were supposed to be released as the album's third and fourth singles, but due to the September 11 attacks, plans for their release were cancelled.

To further promote the album, Dream toured with 'N Sync on their No Strings Attached Tour in November 2000 and toured with Destiny's Child, Eve, Jessica Simpson, 3LW and Nelly on the MTV TRL Tour in 2001. Dream also made several guest appearances on television shows including TRL, The Rosie O'Donnell Show, The Early Show, Live With Regis and Kelly and Good Morning America.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"It Was All a Dream (Intro)"	Vincent Herbert, Curtis Williams, Kenny Burns, Todd Chapman	Burns	1:16
2.	"He Loves U Not"	David Frank, Steve Kipner, Pamela Sheyne	Frank, Kipner	3:46
3.	"In My Dreams"	Sean Combs, Mario Winans, D. Dottin, K. Johnson, Gordon Dukes	Combs	4:55
4.	"This Is Me"	Frank, Kipner, Sheyne	Kipner, Frank	3:12
5.	"I Don't Like Anyone"	M. Briley, A. Marvel, D. Calitri	Briley, Marvel, Calitri	3:27
6.	"Reality (Interlude)"	Burns, Chapman	Burns, Chapman	3:27
7.	"Pain"	Holly Arnstein, Melissa Schuman, Ashley Poole, Diana Ortiz, Burns, Tom McLaughlin	Burns	3:55
8.	"When I Get There"	Shelly Peiken, Guy Roche	Roche	3:55
9.	"What We Gonna Do About Us"	J. Knight, Winans, Combs	Winans, Combs	4:28
10.	"Jordan (Interlude)"	Burns, Chapman	Winans	1:54
11.	"Mr. Telephone Man"	Ray Parker, Jr., Williams, Combs, Winans	Combs	5:02
12.	"Angel Inside"	Knight, Winans, Combs	Winans	3:10
13.	"Do You Wanna Dance" (features former member Alex Chester on background vocals)	Herbert, Williams	Herbert, Williams	3:06
14.	"Miss You" (features former member Alex Chester on background vocals)	Herbert, Williams	Herbert, Williams	4:14
15.	"Our Prayer (Interlude)"	Burns, Chapman	Burns	1:04
16.	"How Long"	F. Golde, K. Livingston, Chapman	Burns	4:05
17.	"He Loves U Not (Remix)" (uses interpolations of a song by H. Ousley)	Kipner, Frank, H. Ousley, Sheyne	Kipner, Frank

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of It Was All a Dream.

• Sean "Puffy" Combs – executive producer
• Andre Harrell – executive producer
• Debbie Hammond – executive producer
• Vincent Herbert – associate executive producer
• Kenny Burns – A&R, associate executive producer, management
• Esaie Witherspoon – project manager
• Leo Williams - product manager, project manager
• Kim Lumpkin – project manager
• Eddy Schreyer – mastering
• Gary Greenberg – legal

• Kenny Meiselas – Bad Boy legal representation
• Tonya Salvant – product manager
• Alison Stanley – product manager
• BENTO – creative direction and design
• Troy Ward – photography
• Rodney O'Neal McKnight – stylist
• Charlene Roxborough – stylist
• David Cox – hair
• Hikari & Jose – hair
• Erin Ayanian – makeup

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (2001)	Peak position
US Billboard 200	6
US Top Internet Albums (Billboard)	15
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)	11

Certifications

Region	Certification	Sales/shipments
United States (RIAA)	Platinum	1,000,000
*sales figures based on certification alone ^shipments figures based on certification alone xunspecified figures based on certification alone

Year-end charts

Chart (2001)	Position
US Billboard 200	57
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums	96

Notes

• Two other versions of the album were released: one version included two bonus tracks, "Baby" and "Back 2 U", released as tracks 18 and 19 with the same original track listing; the second version included three bonus tracks, "Baby", "Back 2 U", and "Daddy's Little Girl" (which features original member Alex Chester) and omitted "In My Dreams", "I Don't Like Anyone", "This Is Me", and "He Loves U Not (Remix)".
• It Was All a Dream peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on February 10, 2001.
• "He Loves U Not" peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #15 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
• "This Is Me" peaked at #39 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and #80 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart.
• "Mr. Telephone Man" is a cover of the New Edition song of the same name. Coincidentally, P. Diddy signed that group some time after Dream broke up.

External links

• It Was All a Dream (Dream album) at Discogs (list of releases)