}} Hook Me Up is the second studio album by Australian band The Veronicas, which was released in Australia on November 3, 2007 (see 2007 in music) by Sire Records. The album shows a new direction of music for the duo — exploring a new electro-pop sound, influenced by Los Angeles bands. The album debuted on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart at number two and has since been certified double platinum by ARIA. The singles released from the album were successful with the first single "Hook Me Up" becoming a number-one hit in Australia, the second single "Untouched" peaking at number two on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart and the third and fourth singles, "This Love", and "Take Me on the Floor" reaching the top ten. As of July 2008, the album has sold 164, 000 copies in Australia alone.

Content and writing

The album was mainly written and recorded in the girls' home in Los Angeles, California with German songwriter Toby Gad. Jessica Origliasso states "It was really great. Toby works on a simplified set-up on his Mac computer. It takes all the pressure out of being in a recording studio. We were able to take our time and get it right and not stress about time ticking." When working on the album the girls knew exactly which songwriters they wanted to work with including Billy Steinberg (who has worked with Madonna) and John Feldmann (who has worked with Good Charlotte and The Used). The songwriting saw the girls write about personal things in life mainly to do with love. The song "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" is about a person who Lisa Origliasso dated overseas, she states "When it comes down to it, that song's about cheating. A lot of people have been through it, like I've been through it, so it was very easy to relate to that situation. And I saw that whole situation go on, so it wasn't hard to write that song with her." Another personal song includes "In Another Life", is the most emotional song they've ever written. Lisa states that "While recording this song we couldn't sing it properly becausse we were balling our eyes out". Jess says "You actually hear me sniffing in the background".

In the song "Take Me on the Floor", the girls state that they "want to kiss a girl". Lisa states "Yeah, there's a sexual undertone to that song, but when we were writing it we were thinking about having fun, going to a club, being on the dancefloor. You can interpret it how you like." Jessica states "It would have been so easy to have made a record just like the first, with unison voices on the verse and chorus. It worked for us on the first record; it became a trademark sound. Not degrading it, we loved it, but at some point you have to grow as an artist or you get stuck." Lisa states "We made that record [The Secret Life Of...] two years ago. It would be so dated to do it again. I feel we're staying current but staying ourselves. It was a natural progression. We wanted a challenge, to take it somewhere new. People had become used to our sound. Other artists released that sound using songs we'd written. We get asked, "Did you get pushed into this sound?" We were doing the pushing!".

Critical reception and chart performance

K. Ross Hoffman of Allmusic gave the album a positive review, stating that the band "decided to take a page from the t.A.T.u. playbook". Hoffman praised that the album "is an improvement upon its predecessor in almost every regard, consolidating its strengths while making bold and exploratory forward leaps that verge on a wholesale stylistic reinvention." He states the songs at their core are "expertly crafted pop/rock tunes" and anyone who enjoyed their previous studio album would "embrace this album". Hoffman ends the review stating that the album is the "finest teen pop releases of the year." Cameron Adams of The Herald Sun also gave the album a positive review, stating that "this is one twisted, subversive pop album." He also states "It's not as laden with obvious hits as their debut, and takes more risks than most young pop stars would. In a word: brash."

The album's first single, "Hook Me Up", was released to Australian radio in late August 2007. Its music video received heavy rotation on many music shows around Australia, and the song received maximum radio airplay and became the band's first number-one single. The album debuted on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart at number two on November 12, 2007 with sales of 9,531 copies. The album certified gold in its first week by ARIA and was kept off the top spot by The Eagles album Long Road Out of Eden and fell slowly down the chart from then on. With the release of the successful second single, "Untouched", the album went back into the top ten and was certified platinum on December 3, 2007. It became the twenty-eighth highest selling album in Australia for 2007. The third single released from the album was "This Love" and peaked at number ten on the Australian ARIA Singles Chart. The fourth single has been confirmed as "Take Me on the Floor". It debuted on the ARIA Charts at number #13 and peaked at number #7 the week after with just downloads alone.

The album debuted on the New Zealand RIANZ Albums Chart on April 14, 2008 at number thirty-two. After its second re-entry into the chart, it peaked at number eight. The album was certified Gold with sales of 7,500+ after twenty-three weeks.

Track listing

Standard edition

1. "Untouched" (Toby Gad, Jessica Origliasso, Lisa Origliasso) – 4:14
2. "Hook Me Up" (Origliasso, Origliasso, Shelly Peiken, Greg Wells) – 2:56
3. "This Is How It Feels" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 4:11
4. "This Love" (Gad, Kesha Serbet) – 2:59
5. "I Can't Stay Away" (Josh Alexander, Billy Steinberg) – 3:26
6. "Take Me on the Floor" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:30
7. "I Don't Wanna Wait" (John Feldman, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 2:59
8. "Popular" (Beni Barca, Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 2:44
9. "Revenge Is Sweeter (Than You Ever Were)" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:43
10. "Someone Wake Me Up" (Alexander, Origliasso, Origliasso, Steinberg) – 3:35
11. "All I Have" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:14
12. "In Another Life" (Gad, Origliasso, Origliasso) – 3:47Australian iTunes edition

13. Track by Track (exclusive interview) – 7:34
14. "Hook Me Up" (music video) – 2:59
15. Booklet (digital booklet)

U.S. Bonus Track

13. "Goodbye to You" - 3:14

Charts

Chart (2007)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Albums Chart	2
Chart (2008)	Peak position
New Zealand Albums Chart	8
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers	9

Chart	Certification	Sales
Australia ARIA	2× platinum	140,000+
New Zealand RIANZ	Gold	7,500+
United States RIAA	-	18,000+

Release history

The album was made available for pre-order on the Australian iTunes Music Store on October 16 2007. It includes a digital booklet, the music video for the single "Hook Me Up" and a track by track commentary by The Veronicas. It was released as a compact disc in Australia on November 3, 2007. The group recently posted a message on their myspace stating that the album will be released in the U.S. in May 2008. It was added to pre-order on Itunes , where it release was stated to May 13, with a bonus track , called "Goodbye to You" In June 2008 , it was added to Amazon on the "First to know" , and it means a physical release on the U.S. Fansite lovetheveronicas.com reports that the album will have a physical cd release on September 16th, 2008. In a recent Youtube message The Veronicas confirmed that the U.S. release of Hook Me Up has been pushed up and is now going to release on August 26, 2008. The clean version of the american release is set to be released September 9. In America, a recent YAZ Birth Control Commercial uses the track "Goodbye to You".

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalogue
Australia	November 3, 2007	Sire Records	CD, digital download	9362499015
New Zealand	April 7, 2008	Warner Bros. Records	CD, digital download	9362499154
United States	May 13, 2008	Sire	Digital download	395260
	August 26, 2008		CD

References