The First Time: The Album

On June 26, 1995, Jenny Nagy's debut studio album "The First Time" was released to the public. It contains 12 tracks recorded by Jenny Nagy including the song "The First Time" (check the story of it in this page in case you haven't read it), released a month before.

Nagy had achieved popularity with her performance in "Somewhere Together", released on August 25, 1994. The most famous scene from that film was arguably her singing performance, following the film's critical and commercial success, there were many offers to Nagy to sign recording contracts, but Nagy stated numerous times that she wasn't really interested in pursuing a singing career, despite the fact that singing was one of her passions. After a talk with her agent Ron Jones, however, she decided to try recording an album, to see if it would work as an experiment. She signed a contract with Epic Records on September 6, 1994; after the success of her debut single, it was official that she would record songs on a permanent basis. Recording sessions took place from September 23, 1994 to January 30, 1995 at Capitol Studios in Hollywood, California. The first song to be recorded by Nagy was "Hello, It's Me". The first of the twelve songs from the album to be recorded was "Hello", recorded between October 3 and 5, 1994. "Somewhere in This Place" was recorded the following day, October 6. "If I Could" was recorded on the 7th and "With You" on the 8th, one of the few occasions in which Nagy recorded a song on a Saturday. The title track was recorded on October 11 and "Love Trouble" on October 13 & 14. No more songs from the album were recorded during the rest of October. On November 2 & 3, the penultimate track "Give Something" was recorded. "Tell Me" was recorded at the end of the month, "Don't You...?" was the last of the 12 songs recorded in 1994, being recorded on December 2, after a few more sessions throughout December, Nagy did not return to the studio until January 9, 1995. A number of unreleased songs were recorded between January 9 and 16, on the 17th, the closing track "Do It" was recorded; the following day, Nagy and the staff began work on the longest track on the album "Yes, Yes, Yes", the song's production continued until the 21st, but it wasn't finished until the 25th. On the 30th, the last day of the album's production the song "Someone There" was written recorded in just one hour. The album was produced Nagy and Fred Roberts. Nagy considered producing the album herself but Jones convinced her to receive help from someone. Jones and Roberts had met in the 1980s, when Jones was the manager of Katie Rogan. During a talk with Nagy, Jones showed her records that Roberts had produced. Nagy liked them and so Jones approached Robert to produce the album along with Nagy. Jones and Nagy briefly considered that Roberts produce Nagy's other albums, if The First Time was successful enough, but Nagy later decided that she would rather work with different people in each album if The First Time was successful. The people that Roberts hired to work on the album were: Jake Thompson (uncle of Rose Thompson from Real Friends) who was the lead guitarist in the making of the album, Harry Ramirez who was the rhythm guitarist and also played the flute and synthesizer on "If I Could", Ernest Smith who played bass and Tom Hart who was the drummer and was in charge of other percussion instruments. More musicians were considered to work on the album but Nagy thought that the ones hired were enough to work on the album with. Nagy sang all vocals and played acoustic guitar, as well as the guitar solo on the title tracks; Nagy was the only female person involved in the making of the album and also in the next two albums and in her 2011 album Music for Everyone's Ears.

All the tracks were written, produced and mixed by Nagy and Roberts while Jones was in charge of arranging and engineering the tracks and every single tracks that Nagy would record in the future, This remains true to Nagy's material but not to the ones where she is a featured artist, save for "Where You Will Go", released in 2004. The tracks were songs that Nagy had written in the spring and summer of 1994. Every song has at least one part in the lyrics added or fixed by Roberts. Most of the songs' music was written by Nagy herself with parts of: "Someone There", "Yes, Yes, Yes", "If I Could", "Tell Me", and "Don't You...?" being added or fixed by Roberts. Jake Thompson suggested Nagy that she add an electric guitar solo on the title track, Nagy was hesitant on it, given the song's tune, but after giving it a try she decided to add it. "If I Could" is based on the song "El Cóndor Pasa (If I Could)", the cover version of "El Cóndor Pasa" by Simon and Garfunkel. Roberts wanted Nagy to record a cover of it but Nagy insisted of making a song based on it. It was midway through production that Nagy and the staff agreed on the fact that that the album would have 12 songs, and if it became successful, at least 3 more songs would be released  as singles, after the album's success; and 3 more songs being released as singles, 2 more singles were released in the summer of 1995. As with all of Nagy's albums, on the last day of production, Nagy along with the peopled involved in the making of the album would gather to decide the song's order in the album, with Nagy writing on a board with a black marker. The single's videos were filmed in April 1995, and the album's photo sessions took place on the 3rd day of said month, the same day when the title track's video was filmed. The photographs were taken by Roger Earl, a long-time friend of Jones. The album cover features Nagy wearing a blue dress, sitting on a stool, holding an acoustic guitar, and smiling. The album was released at 12:00 P.M., Nagy, Jones and the people involved in the making of the album were at "Shell Store", a music store located near Nagy's House, to sign autographs, over 400 autographs were signed. 

The album's title track was released as a single on May 1, 1995, where it became a big hit, it sold over 28 million copies, becoming the sixth best-selling single of all time.

On July 3, the second single from the album "Tell Me" was released, it also became a big hit, it entered at #6 within half an hour of its release, and eventually reaching #1. In the UK, it stayed at #1 for 12 weeks, the longest time any of Nagy's singles stayed in that position there. On the 17th, the third single "Someone There" was released, peaking at #3, it was also a significant hit, albeit not as big as the previous two singles. On August 14, "Don't You...? was released as a single, peaking at #2 in the US and many other countries. On the 21st, "Do It" was released where it reached #1 in over 16 countries, and just seven days later; on the 28th, "Somewhere in This Place", it also reached #1 in the US and internationally, effectively replacing "Do It" and stayed in that position until October 30th. 

The album received generally positive reviews from critics. It has a 95 rating of 100 on Metacritic and 4.5 stars out of 5 given by Rolling Stone. It won "Album of the Year" at the 1996 Grammy Award, and the title track won Nagy the "Song of the Year" award; and was also nominated for the "Best Pop Song" Award . Nagy also won the "Best New Artist" Award. It sold over 29 million copies, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and as of June 2017, it is Nagy's second best-selling material. The video for "The First Time" won the "MTV Video Music Award for Video of the Year" in 1996. On the album's 10th anniversary celebration, Billboard declared it on the best albums of all-time, placing it at #17.
Track listing
1. The First Time 3:12
2. Someone There 4:01
3. With You 2:47
4. Hello 3:37
5. Yes, Yes, Yes 6:00
6. If I Could 5:14
7. Somewhere in This Place 4:39
8. Tell Me 3:02
9. Love Trouble 4:41
10. Don't You...? 3:29
11. Give Something 3:06
12. Do It 3:38
2015 20th anniversary deluxe edition bonus tracks:
13. The First Time (Demo) 3:31
14. Things I Want From You 4:42
15. Do It (Alternate Version) 4:32
16. Someone There (Radio Edit) 3:26
17. Somewhere in This Place (Radio Edit) 3:19
18. Love Trouble (Original Version) 4:41
19. Stay in My Mind 3:29
20. Definitely 4:50
Japanese extra bonus tracks:
21. If I Could (Version without flute) 5:14
22. Don't You...? (Alternate Version) 3:29
20th anniversary deluxe edition DVD:
1. The First Time (Video) 3:12
2. Tell Me (Video) 3:15
3. Someone There (Video) 4:52
4. Don't You...? (Video) 3:29
5. Do It (Video) 4:00
6. Somewhere in This Place (Video) 4:39
7. The Making of The First Time 4:59
8. The Making of Tell Me 5:22
9. The Making of Someone There 4:21
10. The Making of Don't You...? 4:12
11. The Making of Do It 4:21
12. The Making of Somewhere in This Place 7:12
13. Documentary: The Making of The First Time 55:30
14. International Sleeve Gallery
Total length: 43:26 (standard edition)
All songs written and produced by Jenny Nagy and Fred Roberts.
Singles (release date, highest position at the Billboard Hot 100 Chart):
The First Time (May 1, 1995, #1)
Tell Me (July 3, 1995, #1)
Someone There (July 17, 1995, #3)
Don't You...? (August 14, 1995, #2)
Do It (August 21, 1995, #1)
Somewhere in This Place (August 28, 1995, #1)
Awards:
Album of the Year, 1996
The First Time: Song of the Year, 1996
The First Time (Video), Video of the Year, 1996
Best New Artist: 1996