In a 2012 interview, McKnight elaborated : "If Anytime was the spark, then Back at One became the fire.
While he enjoyed working on the record, McKnight was tormented by personal problems during the production process since he had fallen in love with someone else outside of his marriage with his wife Julie. After the commercial triumph of Anytime, McKnight signed with Motown Records to release his first Christmas album Bethlehem (1998) and began work on his fourth album. However, while Anytime exposed McKnight to a wider audience, taking his work further into the hip hop soul genre, McKnight disliked their approach to incorporate sampling on their songs. Following the moderate success of his previous album I Remember You (1995), the singer, who was used to writing, playing and producing most of his music by himself, decided to work with a wider range of musicians on the album, including Sean "Puffy" Combs, Keith Thomas, and Poke & Tone. In 1997, Brian McKnight released his third studio album Anytime. The album produced three singles, including its title track which reached number two in the US, and garnered nominations for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Album. McKnight's most successful album to date, it sold more than 3.0 million copies worldwide and was certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and platinum by Music Canada. A commercial success, Back at One sold 144,000 units in its first week of release, reaching number seven on the US Billboard 200.
Upon its release, the album received generally mixed reviews from music critics.
While McKnight co-wrote and produced nearly every song on the album, he also worked with a few new producers, including Rodney Jerkins, his brother Fred Jerkins III, and Anthony Nance. Back at One contains a mix of hip hop-influenced contemporary R&B songs, as well as a variety of ballads. The album followed the same pattern as McKnight's previous album of original material, Anytime (1997), in which he began his transition from urban adult contemporary into the hip hop soul market. Back at One is the fifth studio album by American singer Brian McKnight, released on September 21, 1999, by Motown Records.
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