Aquarius

Content

Summarized The A.V. Club, Aquarius is a "beat-driven and brainless" Europop album that "features the simplest rhythms, the most nasal vocals, the goofiest lyrics, and the most inane subject matter imaginable". The signature aspects of Aqua's Europop sound, such as the large-sounding hooks, upbeat tone, disco beats and the simultaneous presence of Nystrom and Dif, are present. However, it is much more varied than its previous album in the particulars of its choruses, pacing, style and additional instruments between songs, with each song having its own identity. "Freaky Friday" is a country parody, while "We Belong to the Sea" is an anthemic ballad.

Singles

The lead single, "Cartoon Heroes", peaked at number one in Denmark and Norway, reached number 7 in the UK in February 2000 and later received top 10 positions globally except for the US where it failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single, "Around the World", also peaked at number one in Denmark, but only made number 26 in UK and did not sell highly in most regions. It was the last release in most territories before the band split in 2001.

Scandinavia and other European countries saw further releases of "Bumble Bees" and "We Belong to the Sea" during late 2000, both achieving only moderate success.

"Freaky Friday" was meant to be released as a single back when the band was still promoting the album, but it ended up being cancelled. The song was then released 16 years later, in 2017, through an EP of remixes.

Critical reception

Critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine labeled Aquarius an all-timer in Euro-pop, while still being alienating to those not into the genre or Aqua. As Keith Phipps wrote in his review for The A.V. Club, "the scary thing: Aqua seems heavily invested in what it does, [...] Aqua wants to make you happy, right now and in the simplest way possible. The additional pounding you hear will either be at your feet or in your head."

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number one in Denmark and Norway while peaking inside the top ten in seven countries. It sold 39,000 copies in its first week in Denmark, becoming the fastest-selling album of the decade. The album became the second best-selling album of 2000, selling 174,523 copies. As of August 2001, Aquarius had sold 265,000 copies in Denmark. It became the third best-selling album of the 2000s in Denmark.

In the United States, the album debuted at number 82 on the Billboard 200 and spent six weeks on the chart. This is a significant drop from their previous album Aquarium (1997), which peaked at number seven and spent 50 weeks on the chart. Aquarius has been certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) for shipments of one million copies inside Europe. Worldwide, the album has sold four million copies.

Track listing

All tracks written and produced by Søren Rasted and Claus Norreen, except where noted.

Personnel

Credits adapted from album liner notes.