Lip Lock is the fourth studio album by American rapper Eve. The album, her first in eleven years, was released on May 14, 2013, by From The Rib Music and distributed by RED Distribution. The album features guest appearances from Gabe Saporta, Dawn Richard, Missy Elliott, Snoop Dogg, Chrisette Michele, Juicy J, and Pusha T among others. The album was supported with the singles "Make It Out This Town" and "Eve", in addition to the promotional single "She Bad Bad".
Lip Lock was met with generally positive reviews from music critics. The album debuted at number 46 on the US Billboard 200 chart, with first-week sales of 9,000 copies.
Background
In 2007, Eve began working on a new album titled Here I Am. In May 2007, XXL magazine profiled six recorded tracks from Here I Am; five of them being produced by Swizz Beatz, including the singles "Tambourine" and "Give It to You" (featuring Sean Paul). Another song showcased, produced by Pharrell Williams of The Neptunes, was "All Night Long", a song where Eve sings as opposes to rapping. In July 2007, XXL published a review of Here I Am, rating it an L in its "shoe size" rating system ranging from S to XXL. However the album ran into a series of delays due to corporate change at the record label and discontent with the lackluster success of the first and second singles, "Tambourine", released in April 2007, and "Give It to You" (featuring Sean Paul), released during the summer. The project was delayed to September 11, 2007 and then October 16, 2007 but it was never released. Problems at her label, Interscope Records, were responsible for the multiple delays. Due to the delays, the album was often reworked, and multiple times the album was renamed from Here I Am to Flirt and finally to Lip Lock. In an interview with New York Post, it was revealed under the title Here I Am the album had actually been completed; however, both times Interscope shelved the project.
On January 10, 2010, Eve announced on her Twitter that she left Interscope, saying: "Let me tell u what happened with music so ya’ll don’t think I quit." she told her followers "Left Interscope, free agent now. Went back in re-doing music. Trust me." The album was then expected to be released during 2011, but it was delayed once again. In 2012, Eve decided she would release the album independently, creating her own label From The Rib Music, with distribution being handled through Sony/Red. She stated that there would be several buzz singles before the official single and said the album would have "hard street stuff", "radio singles' and 'stuff to listen to when you're feeling down". In a 2013, interview with Billboard, Eve said: "One of the biggest things that I wanted to do on this album was make people realize why they fell in love with me in the first place and then take them on a journey to where I am now musically. My ear is different but I think people will recognize me. I think you'll hear that I'm in a happy place. I miss my music. My hunger is different than the first time around".
Promotion and singles
In anticipation of the album, Eve released the song "She Bad Bad", produced by Jukebox, on October 9, 2012. It is her first release through her own independent record label, From the Rib. An accompanying music video for the promotional single was released on January 8, 2013. An official remix of "She Bad Bad", featuring rappers Juicy J and Pusha T, was released on January 23, 2013.
The album's lead single "Make It Out This Town", featuring guest vocals from Gabe Saporta of the synthpop band Cobra Starship, was released on February 26, 2013. The music video for the song premiered on Vevo on March 29, 2013. Eve performed the song for the first time on the May 3, 2013 episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, along with Gabe Saporta and The Roots. She performed again the song on Good Morning America on May 14, 2013. "Make It Out This Town" was released in the UK on May 26, 2013, trailing Lip Lock by one week.
In an interview on Rap-Up TV, Eve confirmed that the second official single would be the track "EVE" featuring Jamaican reggae artist Miss Kitty. The music video for the song was shot in London in February and premiered on BET on April 29, 2013. The day after the single was officially released. Eve performed the song on the late night talk show Conan on June 26, 2013.
In September 2013, Eve said she was choosing between "Keep Me from You" featuring Dawn Richard and "Mama in the Kitchen" with Snoop Dogg as the album's third single, but eventually no more singles were released.