Fairytales (Alexander Rybak album)

Fairytales
Studio album by Alexander Rybak
Released	29 May 2009 15 June 2009 (UK) (see release history)
Recorded	2009 at Kitchen Studio in Oslo, Norway, Yla Studios and Lionheart Studio 2 in Malmö, Sweden
Label	EMI (NOR, FIN, DEN, GER, AUT) Universal (RUS, GRE, CYP)
Producer	Kim Edward Bergseth, Henrik Wikström, Amir Aly
Alexander Rybak chronology
"Fairytales" (2009) "No Boundaries" (2010)
Singles from Fairytales
"Fairytale" Released: 12 January 2009 "Funny Little World" Released: 13 May 2009 "Roll With the Wind" Released: 2 June 2009

Fairytales is the debut studio album by the Belarusian-Norwegian artist Alexander Rybak. It was released in Norway and most of Europe on 29 May 2009 (see release history). Most of the songs on the album are written and/or composed by Rybak himself.

The first single of this album is Rybak's "Fairytale", the winning song from the Eurovision Song Contest 2009. His entry broke the previous record of 292 in the festival and achieved a total of 387 points. All the participating countries (naturally excluding Norway) voted for the song.

Rybak wrote English lyrics for one Russian and one Norwegian song, for the album. The chorus in the song "Abandoned" (track #7), uses music by Kirill Moltchanov, from the theme from the 1968 Russian film Доживем до понедельника (en. We'll Live Till Monday).^[1] The song "If You Were Gone" (track #6), is an English version of the Norwegian song "Vårsøg", with music by Henning Sommerro.

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer	Length
1.	"Roll With the Wind"	Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson	3:34
2.	"Fairytale"	Alexander Rybak	3:05
3.	"Dolphin"	Rybak	4:16
4.	"Kiss and Tell"	Alexander Rybak, Kim Bergseth, Piotr Andrej	3:20
5.	"Funny Little World"	Alexander Rybak	3:46
6.	"If You Were Gone"	Henning Sommerro, Alexander Rybak	4:31
7.	"Abandoned"	Alexander Rybak, Kirill Moltchanov, Andrej	4:09
8.	"13 Horses"	Alexander Rybak	5:42
9.	"Song from a Secret Garden"	Rolf Løvland	3:30

Bonus track

No.	Title	Writer	Length
10.	"500 Miles"	The Proclaimers	3:24

Bonus track

No.	Title	Writer	Length
11.	"Vocalise"	Sergei Rachmaninoff	4:31

French edition

No.	Title	Writer	Length
12.	"Fairytale" (French lyrics)	Alexander Rybak, Thierry Samois	3:05

Russian edition bonus track

No.	Title	Writer	Length
10.	"Fairytale (Holter/Erixson Radio Remix)" (bonus track)	Alexander Rybak	2:53

Russian winter edition

Fairytales – Зимняя сказка (en. Winter Fairytales)

Standard-Edition

No.	Title	Writer	Length
1.	"Roll With the Wind"	Mårten Eriksson, Lina Eriksson	3:34
2.	"Сказка (English: Skazka (Russian version of "Fairytale"))"	Alexander Rybak	3:05
3.	"Dolphin"	Rybak	4:16
4.	"Kiss and Tell"	Alexander Rybak, Kim Bergseth, Piotr Andrej	3:20
5.	"Funny Little World"	Alexander Rybak	3:46
6.	"Когда Уйдешь (Russian version of "If You Were Gone")"	Henning Sommerro, Alexander Rybak	4:31
7.	"13 Horses"	Alexander Rybak	5:42
8.	"Song from a Secret Garden"	Rolf Løvland	3:30
9.	"Vocalise"	Sergei Rachmaninoff	4:31
10.	"500 Miles"	The Proclaimers	3:24
11.	"Fairytale (Bonustrack)"	Alexander Rybak	3:05
12.	"If You Were Gone (Bonustrack)"	Henning Sommerro, Alexander Rybak	4:31

Digipack-Edition

1. CD: Same songs as Standard-Edition

2. DVD:

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Fairytale (Video)"
2.	"Roll With the Wind (Video)"
3.	"Funny Little World (Video)"
4.	"Kupalinka (live in Minsk)"

Personnel

Musicians

• Alexander Rybak – lead vocals, violin, piano, strings. All string arrangements, song arrangements.
• Amir Aly – acoustic guitar (track #5), guitar (#1, #6), bass (#1, No. 5, #6), programming (#1, #6)
• Gunnar Flagstad – piano (#9)
• Henrik Wikström – keyboards (#5), programming (#5)
• Jorunn Hauge – background vocals (#2)
• Kai Morten Berg – percussion (#4)
• Karianne Kjærnes – background vocals (#2)
• Kim Edward Bergseth – background vocals (#4, #7), guitar (#3, No. 4, #7), bass (#2, No. 3, #4, #7), programming (#2, No. 3, #4, #8)
• Laila Samuels – background vocals (#7)
• Mattis Lerbak – drums (#3)
• Sylvie Loche – background vocals (French bonus track: "Fairytale")

Recording and production staff

• Amir Aly – producer (track No. 1, #5, #6), mixing (#1, No. 5, #6)
• Björn Engelmann Cutting Room Studios – mastering
• Henrik Wikström – producer (#5), mixing (#5)
• Kim Edward Bergseth – producer (#2, No. 3, #4, No. 7, #8)
• Ulf Ø. W. Holand – mixing (#2, No. 3, #4, No. 7, #8)

Album artwork

• Baard Lunde – photos
• Guro Synes – artwork, design
• Trond Kulterud – artwork, design

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format
Armenia[2]	29 May 2009	Universal	CD
Austria[3]		EMI	CD
Azerbaijan[2]		Universal	CD
Belarus[2]		Universal	CD
Belgium[4]		V2/Universal	CD
Denmark[2]		EMI	CD; Digital download
Finland[2][5]		EMI	CD; Digital download
Germany[6]		EMI	CD; Digital download
Kazakhstan[2]		Universal	CD
Kyrgyzstan[2]		Universal	CD
Luxembourg[4]		V2/Universal	CD
Netherlands[4]		V2/Universal	CD
Norway[7]		EMI	CD; Digital download[8]
Russia[2]		Universal	CD
Romania[2]		Universal	CD
Switzerland[9]		EMI	CD
Tajikistan[2]		Universal	CD
Turkmenistan[2]		Universal	CD
Uzbekistan[2]		Universal	CD
Ukraine[2]	Universal	CD
Cyprus[2]	2 June 2009	Universal	CD
Greece[2]		Universal	CD
Sweden[10]	3 June 2009	Lionheart	CD
Estonia[11]	June 4, 2009		CD
Ireland[12][13]	June 15, 2009	EMI	CD
United Kingdom[12][14]	15 June 2009	EMI	CD
France[15][16]	17 August 2009	M6 Interactions	CD
Poland[17]	21 August 2009	Universal	CD

Charts

Chart (2009)	Peak position	Certification	Sales
Austrian Albums Chart[18]	46
French Albums Chart[19]	21		20,000
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[20]	13
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[20]	62
Cyprus International Albums Chart[21]	9
Dutch Albums Chart[22]	29
Danish Albums Chart[23]	15
Finnish Albums Chart[24]	4
Irish Albums Chart[25]	91
German Albums Chart[26][27]	16
Norwegian Albums Chart[28]	1	3x Platinum	90,000
Polish Albums Chart[29]	7
Russian Albums Chart	1	2x Platinum	40,000
Swedish Albums Chart	2
Swiss Albums Chart[30]	65
European Top 100 Albums[31]	18

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[32]

On 27 May 2009 Norway's biggest newspaper Verdens Gang was the first to review the album giving it top score, 6 out of 6. "Alexander Rybak has not only become a star in no time, he deserves the status as well", the paper said.^[33] On the same day it was revealed that the album had been leaked illegally on the net. Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet was less enthused. "Rybak is seducing, but not entirely convincing" their critic stated, giving it 4 out of 6 points.^[34] Aftenposten gave it 5 out of 6 stars, calling Rybak "a complete artist."^[35] Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet, however, caused a stir by giving the record merely 1 star and hurling epithets like "violin hobbit" and "smurf hits" at the artist.^[36] TV2 in Norway gave the album 4 out of 6 stars, stating that Rybak was "no one-hit-wonder at all".^[37] NRK gave Rybak a good review saying that Rybak was "a good pop composer."^[38] Dagsavisen gave the record 5 points out of 6, exclaiming "the fairy tale continues!"^[39] The radio channel P4 Radio Hele Norge gave the album a rather poor review. Calling it a record for "13 year old girls and Eurovision enthusiasts" it got 2 stars.^[40] Bergensavisen was impressed by the record, especially by the album's "personal style", and gave it 5 stars.^[41]

References

1. ДОЖИВЕМ ДО ПОНЕДЕЛЬНИКА (1968) 1/10 on YouTube
2. Alexander Rybak – Official Facebook Page, Facebook, May 27, 2009
3. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, emimusic.at
4. Fairytales, Alexander Rybak, bol.com
5. Fairytales – Rybak Alexander, CDON
6. Fairytales: Alexander Rybak, Amazon.de
7. Fairytales – Rybak Alexander, CDON.eu
8. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales (obs! fredag 29. mai) (Norwegian), EMI Norway
9. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, emimusic.ch
10. Fairytales – album, Lionheart
11. Alexander Rybaki "Fairytales" album ilmub 4. juunil (Estonian), publik.delfi.ee, May 19, 2009
12. "Alexander Rybak – Fairytales HMV Release Date". Hmv.com. December 15, 2005. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
13. Fairytales – Alexander Rybak, Amazon.ie
14. Fairytales – Alexander Rybak, Amazon.co.uk
15. Fairytales – Rybak Alexander, Amazon.fr
16. A French version of Fairytale, esctoday.com, August 19, 2009
17. Merlin.Pl. "Alexander Rybak – "Fairytales"" (in Polish). Merlin.pl. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
18. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, austriancharts.at
19. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, Acharts.us
20. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, ultratop.be
21. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, Super FM
22. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, dutchcharts.nl
23. Hitlisten.NU – Album Top-40, hitlisterne.dk
24. Suomen virallinen lista
25. ">> IRMA << Irish Charts - Singles, Albums & Compilations >>". Irma.ie. October 13, 2011. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
26. Alexander Rybak in den Top 20, newsticker.sueddeutsche.de, June 9, 2009
27. Offizielle Charts, musicload.de
28. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, norwegiancharts.com
29. "Oficjalna lista sprzedaży :: OLIS – Official Retail Sales Chart". OLIS. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
30. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, ultratop.be
31. Alexander Rybak – Fairytales, billboard.com
32. Allmusic review
33. "Alexander Rybak: Fairytales – VG Nett om Melodi Grand Prix". Vg.no. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
34. "Forfører – men blender ikke – kultur". Dagbladet.no. May 27, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
35. SVEIN ANDERSEN Publisert: 28.05.09 08:21. "Eventyrlig debut – Oslo – Fairytales, Alexander Rybak, CD, pop, (EMI Norway/EMI) 9 låter, 35.00 Oslopuls.no". Oslopuls.aftenposten.no. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
36. "Fiolhoben är för kass | Musik – Recensioner | Musik | Nöjesbladet | Aftonbladet". Aftonbladet.se. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
37. "ALEXANDER RYBAK – Slett ikke noe one-hit wonder – Side2". Pub.tv2.no. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
38. "Klar hjemmeseier – Kultur-og-underholdning – NRK". Nrk.no. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
39. "Eventyret fortsetter : Dagsavisen". Dagsavisen.no. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
40. ""For 13 år gamle jenter og Grand Prix-entusiaster" – P4 Radio Hele Norge". P4.no. May 27, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
41. "Alexander Rybak" (in Norwegian Bokmål). ba.no. May 28, 2009. Retrieved October 20, 2011.