"Masterpiece" is a song recorded by British singer Jessie J for her third studio album, Sweet Talker. The song was written and produced by Josh Alexander and was co-written by Britt Burton and Emily Warren, the latter of whom also co-wrote the album's opening track "Ain't Been Done". "Masterpiece" was released to iTunes on 7 October 2014, alongside "Ain't Been Done", as the second and third promotional singles off Sweet Talker, respectively. It was released to US radio January 13, 2015 as the third internationalsingle and fourth from the album overall, while its music video premiered December 10, 2014. It received generally positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who applauded the song's anthemic nature but others criticized it for being too generic. Even before being promoted as an official single, "Masterpiece" entered the BillboardCanadian Hot 100 at number 82 for the week of October 25, 2014. It later charted in European territories following its official release.
Composition
"Masterpiece" is a pop song about self-empowerment and living up to one's potential. Its instrumentation incorporates piano, synthesized beats, and a string section. Critics have noted the song's thematic similarity to her debut album, Who You Are, in that it is "addressed to her haters".
Critical reception
The song has received mixed to positive reviews. Lewis Corner at Digital Spy declared the song "ballsy", but was critical of its cliched lyrics. "It's a trap Jessie falls into a few times on the record," writes Lewis, "either diluting a song's impact with hackneyed lyrics or trilling beyond reason." Mike Wass of Idolator cited "Masterpiece" as a highlight of the album, noting that Jessie J "gets it just right" and that it is "a genuinely good pop song". Ken Capobianco of The Boston Globe found "Masterpiece" to be demonstrative of what he called Jessie J's "disconcerting tendency to over-emote". Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian compared "Masterpiece" to the music of American singer-songwriter Pink for being "heavy with pop-rock melodrama and strength-from-within ruminating". In his review of Sweet Talker, Dave Hanratty of Drowned in Sound condemned "Masterpiece" for being overly generic, but was moderately receptive of the production and Jessie J's vocals. Time named the track as the third worst song of 2014, commenting that "a song about how one's undaunted by mistakes in the public eye seems delusional when sung by someone with no persona to speak of".
Chart performance
Across Europe, "Masterpiece" was a moderate success, managing to chart inside the top 10 in countries such as Germany and Austria. In the United Kingdom, however, the single charted outside the top 100 at number 159. This is Jessie J's lowest charting single of her career in the UK due to the fact it was not actually released as a single and the version that charted was the album version with streaming included. In Oceania, the single had greater success. In Australia the single debuted at number 14 and was certified Gold by ARIA for sales over 35,000. In New Zealand, the single was successful charting at number 13 and was certified Gold by RMNZ for sales over 7,500. In the US, the single managed to chart inside the Billboard 100 at number 65 as well as charting in Canada at number 74.
Live performances
"Masterpiece" was performed in the UK on The Graham Norton Show in January 2015. In the US, Jessie J performed the single on Jimmy Kimmel Live and on The Voice of Germany featuring all four finalists of the show, in November 2014, and on The Voice US in December 2014 as part of the finale featuring finalist Chris Jamison. Jessie J performed the single at the 3rd Indonesian Choice Awards on May 29, 2016.
Music video
An official lyric video premiered on the official YouTube channel for Republic Records on November 10, 2014. The clip revolves around an aspiring dancer training in a studio space with the lyrics displayed in a graphic all-capital font. The official video for "Masterpiece" was recorded in Los Angeles on November 13 and 14. Directed by Tabitha Denholm, it premiered December 10, 2014.
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of Sweet Talker. Locations
