Causing Mayhem

Causing Mayhem is the second studio album by Antarctican DJ and singer, Cadence, which released on December 13, 2010 on Club Penguin Music Records. Production for the album took place during 2009 to 2010 at Club Penguin Recording Studios. The album was handled by Flipperstomp, serving as executive producers of the album, while being assisted by Petey K, DJ Crab, Zippy Penguin and Ray Kodo. The album includes fourteen tracks, five which were released as singles.

The album serves as a thematic and musical shift from her debut effort The Beginning (2009), focusing on a dark side of Cadence, which is full of destruction and mayhem, but at the same time there are some tracks that represent the normal Cadence. Causing Mayhem features guest appearances from Nyninyne, Meaghan and Loony Scoundrel. Many songs, such as "24 Hours", "The Dark Side" and "Gone Psycho" have been deemed very controversial because of their lyrical content (and two of them for their music videos). Musically, the influence of DJ Crow is predominantly absent, which critics pointed out when the album received mixed reviews and reception.

Background
Album production began in December 2009 and finished in September 2010. Cadence's mentor, DJ Crow, was executive producer of Cadence: The Beginning - but Club Penguin Music Records didn't allow him to be executive for Causing Mayhem. In result of this, Crow was only permitted to write and produce as little as possible. Now the record label directors were in the charge of the album, and went for a more "dark-themed" album and appearance. Flipperstomp were appointed as main producers. Cadence wrote limited songs on the album, as the label got songwriters in advance. Cadence was satisfied with the album theme and production though. Before the album decisions were made, Crow invited Nyninyne and Loony Scoundrel to feature on the album, while the Meaghan featured was handled by Cadence. Three of the fourteen songs on the album consist of hip hop elements, while the others are mostly R&B songs. Dance-pop songs were not populated for the album.

Cadence first revealed details about the album in June 2010, revealing that the lead single was to be released within a few months - also saying that she was working with Flipperstomp, Ray Kodo and Petey K on the album. In July 2010, Cadence revealed in an interview that: "The album consists of a more dark and mentally emotional theme. There's more tracks on here than expected too." The lead single details were revealed in August, along with the music video. Promotion for the album began in October, with the tracklist and artwork being revealed too. The album release date (Dec. 13, 2010) was revealed when the second single was premiered on November 10. Upon speaking about the album name, Cadence said: "It's based on the album theme. I'm getting in trouble, I'm causing mayhem. The name was actually set just for the single, not for the album. Eventually we decided to call the album Causing Mayhem too." Crow spoke about the album direction a few weeks before the release: "I wouldn't of chose this kind of theme for Cadence if I was in charge of the album. Hopefully it works for her though." It was later revealed that the three hip hop songs were originally demos made by Crow for Cadence, and were then given to the label to rework. Cadence said that not all songs on the album were designed for single releases - expressing that some songs were weak. More than thirty different instrumentals were given in for the album - with Cadence choosing fifteen to use for the album. Ten of the desired instrumentals were produced by DJ Crow. In the end only one Crow-produced track made it onto the album, along with two co-produced tracks. The album is 60 minutes long, as it was planned that the album would be longer in length than usual. Songwriters Nevim and Childpengu1 were hired. Flipperstomp wrote a vast majority of the album too.

Release and promotion
The album was planning to be released in November 2010 but the record label had to reschedule the album's release date for unknown reasons. A week before the album released, an advertisement was shot and started airing on television - a promotion scheme which Club Penguin Music Records don't normally do. Cadence went onto radio stations and done a few broadcasts, and a few billboards were put up around the country. For UnitedTerra and elsewhere, there were billboards, radio broadcasts that played the album and press releases.

Artwork
The cover art was revealed on Cadence's official website, along with a message stating the release of the lead single and title track for November 22, 2010. The cover was drawn by Yusei in early November. The background shows a green/grey coloured storm hitting a city, and buildings being torn apart and collapsing with shreds of wood near the bottom. At the top it has Cadence's logo and at the bottom it says "Causing Mayhem". In between it a black outline of Cadence, with a white glow. Another outline of her is below and next to the first outline - this one is white with a white outline and a black glow. Inside both of them it shows a faded image of Cadence. Yusei describes the concept of the art: "It describes the album name completely - it shows a city and the storm is causing mayhem - buildings being torn apart, a murky storm brewing, it's perfect! The black outline represents the dark side of Cadence, and the white one is just Cadence-normal - and inside them is a picture of Cadence, fading away. That represents the cross between the dark side and the light side. We were originally going to use this for the single cover of the song with the same name, but Cadence thought it suited the album better."

Singles

 * The first single, "Around the World", released on September 13, 2010 and features fellow disc-jockey Meaghan. It charted number 1 in Club Penguin and UnitedTerra and number 4 in the USA, despite heavy promotion all around the USA.
 * "Causing Mayhem" released on November 22, 2010 as the second single of the album - it is also the lead single and title track of the album. It features rapper Nyninyne. It is the most success single off the album, charting number 1 in five charts.
 * The third single, "Chaos and Commotion (Crazy)" is to be released on February 7, 2011 and features rapper Loony Scoundrel.
 * The fourth single, "Gone Physco", was released on February 28, 2011.
 * The fifth and last confirmed single, "Rescue Me", was released on May 2, 2011.

Commercial performance
The album charted at number 1 in Club Penguin on December 19, 2010, selling 681,527 in the first week, certified Gold. The next week it dropped to number 2 as "The Four Penguins" by Penguin Band entered at number 1. Two weeks later it was certified Platinum. It remained in the Top 10 for seven weeks and in the Top 40 for 32 weeks. The album also charted at number 1 in the USA, first selling 936,615, then in the second week it dropped to number 2. In UnitedTerra it sold 826,791 copies and charted at number 1 for one week. The album charted at number 1 in Dorkugal and Puffle'and aswell, selling over 900,000 copies in both countries. It charted at number 3 in Freezeland, selling 597,280 in it's first week. In Tel Ah Phon, it was expected to chart at number 2, but entered at number 7, selling 95,106 in the first week. In all countries where it charted number 1, it was dropped to number 2 in it's second week because of "The Four Penguins" by Penguin Band, which charted number 1 worldwide.

Controversy
According to music critics, the songs "24 Hours", "The Dark Side" and "Gone Psycho" have been deemed quite controversial because of the lyrical content in the songs - as they relate to violence, the Underworld and other lyrical mentions. The controversy continued when music videos were made for two of the three songs - "24 Hours" and "Gone Psycho". "24 Hours" is about how Cadence is living her last day, and is about to die. The video featured Cadence sitting on a flight of dark stairs, singing the first verse, then going up the stairs and around the lobby of the dark igloo. A supposed murderer sneaks into the igloo with a gun (showing that he is wanting to shoot her). Near the last verses and bridge, the murderer tries to hide and make sure Cadence doesn't see him. During the intro she goes to her bed and puts the covers completely over her. When the song has finished, the murderer is shown creeping up to her, and is about to shoot her before Cadence comes out of the covers and shoots him before he gets the change. Critics described the video as "scary" and "not for youngers".

The second video and song, "Gone Psycho", has similar lyrics and the video is a sequel to "24 Hours" - mainly about her going crazy and mental. Cadence wakes up after a bad nights sleep. Her alarm clock says 11:04am but it's still dark outside. After her encounter with her murderer she has a flashback of her at a club, and seems to realize who her murderer was. She starts to go crazy during the end of her first verse and is shown breaking things and wrecking the house during the chorus. She sits on the stairs and a portal in the stairs opens and sucks her in. She arrives at the Underworld, where the Demon Penguins capture her and torture her, making her more crazy. This part was deemed the most controversial in the video. She frees herself, kills the Demon Penguins and falls into the lava. She arrives back at home where various, gruesome stains surround the walls of the igloo. She falls unconscious but soon wakes up and is back to normal. The time is 3:25pm and the atmosphere is no longer dark. Cadence then sits down on the sofa and watches herself on the TV, then turns it off as the song ends and waddles outside. The last shot is a birds-eye view zooming out as she walks out of the igloo towards the Town.

Both videos were banned from television for three months, but the ban was lifted after Club Penguin Music Records ordered to do so repeatedly. "Gone Physco" is noted as the most controversial out the two. Many sounds of a knife cutting and slitting materials, gunshots and screaming are heard in the instrumental/background of the song, which disturbed many young listeners. After the controversy, a re-packaged clean version of the album was released, where the sounds are limited and more of the lyrics muted (despite them not being emalfs).