Want One (2003)

Want One is the third studio album by the Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through DreamWorks Records on September 23, 2003. The album was produced by Marius de Vries and mixed by Andy Bradfield, with Lenny Waronker as the executive in charge of production. Want One spawned two singles: "I Don't Know What It Is", which peaked at number 74 on the UK Singles Chart, and "Oh What a World". The album charted in three countries, reaching number 60 on the Billboard 200, number 130 in France, and number 77 in the Netherlands.

Want One features guest vocals from Martha Wainwright, Joan Wasser, Teddy Thompson and Linda Thompson, as well as a banjo solo on "14th Street" by Wainwright's mother Kate McGarrigle. For the album, Wainwright won the award for Outstanding Music Artist at the 15th GLAAD Media Awards, won Best New Recording and received a nomination for Best Songwriter at the OutMusic Awards, and was nominated for the 2004 Shortlist Music Prize.

It was the first part of what was intended to be a double album called Want. The second part, Want Two, was released the following year. Want One was later repackaged along with Want Two as a two-disc set titled Want and was released on November 28, 2005 in the UK to coincide with Wainwright's tour.

Promotion

Singles

Want One's first single was "I Don't Know What It Is", released in a slim-line jewel case on July 26, 2004 in the UK. It included two B-sides: "L'absence" (a French aria from Hector Berlioz's Les nuits d'été, op. 7) and "14th Street", both of which were recorded live at The Fillmore in San Francisco in March 2004. "I Don't Know What It Is" appeared on the UK Singles Chart for one week, entering on August 7, 2004 and reaching its peak position at number 74. "Oh What a World" was the second single from the album, released digitally via iTunes and 7digital in the UK on November 8, 2004. Promotional copies were distributed to radio stations.

Other forms of promotion

The album was released as a double vinyl promo, retaining the original artwork. Vinyl was never pressed for commercial outlets at the time of release and these promo copies sell for over $75 US in the secondary market. While no official music videos were produced to promote the album, live videos of "Beautiful Child" and "Vibrate" were made available for download on iTunes. A thirty-second commercial which contained audio samples of "Oh What a World" and "I Don't Know What It Is" aired on television just prior to the album's release. "Vibrate" and "Natasha" featured in season two of Nip/Tuck.

Wainwright made several television appearances in 2003, including the Late Show with David Letterman on June 27 ("Dinner at Eight"), The Sharon Osbourne Show on November 4 ("Vibrate"), Letterman's show again on October 6 ("I Don't Know What It Is"), The Late Late Show on November 11 ("Vibrate"), and Breakfast with the Arts on December 21 ("Dinner at Eight" and "Spotlight on Christmas"). 2004 television appearances included Jimmy Kimmel Live! on March 3 ("Gay Messiah"), The Vicki Gabereau Show on April 9 ("Dinner at Eight"), Later... with Jools Holland on May 14 ("Vibrate"), and The Frank Skinner Show on November 4 ("Oh What a World"). Wainwright also appeared on Play, CNN's "Headline News" and a local airing of Central Park SummerStage to promote Want One. Live at the Fillmore, which contained songs from Want One and later accompanied the release of Want Two, originally aired as a special on the cable television network Trio in May 2004.

Songs

The album's opener, "Oh What a World", has been described as a, "choir of harmonies building to a full orchestra that finds Wainwright leading what can only be described as a masterpiece of horns, harmonies and hope". "I Don't Know What It Is", the album's first single, "climbs to a soaring Beatles-esque climax of train rides". Wainwright revealed the source and meaning of the song:

When I first came up with the lines, I don't know what it is, but you got to do it/ I don't know where to go but you got to be there, I was at this party for The Strokes in New York. There was this prevailing sense of, 'We're not quite sure what's happening or what is cool, but we know that it's somewhere around here, in this room.' It was this vague confusion, with everybody kind of sniffing for blood. It wasn't that it was a bad party, or that I don't like The Strokes; I just think there's a lot of confusion right now in the music business. Then, later on, I realized the song was really personal. I didn't know where I was, and I didn't know I was actually lost. It wasn't about the party at all; it's about searching but not knowing what you're searching for. There's the train motif, being on this train heading for either oblivion or salvation – and just holding on for dear life. That song came down from some mountain somewhere, because it was right after I wrote it that I sort of packed it in.