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Tigerlily is the debut studio album by American singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, released on June 20, 1995, following her departure from the alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs.

Tigerlily
Studio album by Natalie Merchant
Released	June 20, 1995
Recorded	December 1994-March 1995
Studio	Bearsville Studios, Bearsville, NY
Genre	Alternative rock
Length	52:06
Label	Elektra
Producer	Natalie Merchant
Natalie Merchant chronology
Tigerlily (1995) Ophelia (1998)
Singles from Tigerlily
"Carnival" Released: 1995 "Wonder" Released: 1995 "Jealousy" Released: 1996

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Entertainment Weekly	B+[2]
Los Angeles Times	[3]
Mojo	(favorable)[4]
Musician Magazine	(favorable)[5]
Q	[citation needed]
Robert Christgau	[6]
Rolling Stone	[7]

Tigerlily peaked at No. 13 on the Billboard 200 album chart and was certified five-times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2001.[8] It contained three singles that charted in the Billboard Hot 100: "Carnival" (No. 10), "Wonder" (No. 20), and "Jealousy" (No. 23).

Re-releases

Tigerlily was re-released in 1996 as a 2-CD set, with the second CD containing a remix of the song "Jealousy" and live performances from her tour.

In 2015, to commemorate the album's 20th anniversary, Merchant rerecorded the songs from the album and released them as Paradise Is There: The New Tigerlily Recordings.[9]

Background

The song "River" is a tribute to River Phoenix.[10][11]

Aileen Wuornos had requested that Merchant's song "Carnival" be played at her funeral, and the song later appeared in the credits of the 2003 documentary Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer. Merchant later commented:

"When director Nick Broomfield sent a working edit of the film, I was so disturbed by the subject matter that I couldn't even watch it. Aileen Wuornos led a tortured, torturing life that is beyond my worst nightmares. It wasn't until I was told that Aileen spent many hours listening to my album Tigerlily while on death row and requested "Carnival" be played at her funeral that I gave permission for the use of the song. It's very odd to think of the places my music can go once it leaves my hands. If it gave her some solace, I have to be grateful."[12]

Reception

Reviews of Tigerlily were mostly positive. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly gave the album a B+ rating, observing that, "with its unadorned, keyboard-based arrangements, Tigerlily is more sparely produced than anything Merchant did with 10,000 Maniacs, yet the starkness works in her favor. ... The hooks on this album are subtler, and ultimately Merchant sounds both more natural and affecting." While Browne expressed a desire for Merchant to "lighten up," he also praised her "uncompromising vision."[2]

In the Los Angeles Times 1995 Holiday Gift Guide, Jean Rosenbluth awarded the album three stars out of four, stating, "A rejuvenated Merchant sounds considerably more mature and womanly than the 10,000 Maniacs gave her room to be. Positive progress for a talent that is still in bloom."[13]

Al Weisel of Rolling Stone gave the album one and a half stars out of five, calling the album "bloodless and limp," and claiming Merchant's voice had "nearly deteriorated into self-parody." Weisel added, "With its surfeit of blindly self-obsessed lyrics and lulling lite-rock arrangements, the bulk of Tigerlily provides a perfect soundtrack for the Prozac nation."[14]

In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine awarded the album four and a half stars out of five, concluding that "the added emphasis on rhythmic texture works, creating an intimate but not exclusive atmosphere that holds throughout the record, even when her occasionally sophomoric, sentimental poetry threatens to sink the album in the weight of its own preciousness."[15]

Track listing

Personnel

• Natalie Merchant – vocals, piano, organ, vibraphone
• Jennifer Turner – acoustic & electric guitar, background vocals
• Peter Yanowitz – percussion, drums
• Barrie Maguire – bass, 12 string guitar
• John Holbrook – organ (3, 9), electric guitar (1, 9), engineer
• Adrián López Guevarra – percussion (5, 10)
• Matt Henderson – bass, electric guitar (1)
• Jay Ungar – violin (8)
• Katell Keineg – background vocals (5)
• Michelle Kinney – cello (11)
• Eric Schenkman – electric guitar (9)
• Randy Grant – percussion (1)

Charts

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[24]	Gold	35,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[25]	Gold	50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[26]	Silver	100,000[27]
United States (RIAA)[28]	5× Platinum	5,000,000^
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Notes

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