Hope for the Hopeless

This article is about the album. For the Grey's Anatomy episode, see Hope for the Hopeless (Grey's Anatomy).

Hope for the Hopeless is the third studio album by the American singer-songwriter Brett Dennen. It was released on October 21, 2008, following Dennen's tour of Australia. The Nigerian Afro-beat musician Femi Kuti appears on the album's first single, "Make You Crazy".^[1] The album peaked at number 41 on the Billboard 200 album chart, and number 4 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart.^[2]

Hope for the Hopeless
Studio album by Brett Dennen
Released	October 21, 2008
Genre	Folk, pop
Length	42:41
Label	Dualtone
Producer	John Alagia
Brett Dennen chronology
(More) So Much More (2007) Hope for the Hopeless (2008) Loverboy (2011)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	link
Rolling Stone	link
About.com	link
Entertainment Weekly	B+ link
Popmatters	link
Paste	65% link

Referring to "Make You Crazy", Dennen told Rolling Stone: "I made the song catchy but it's about all the injustice in the world."^[3] That song has a music video starring the American singer Mandy Moore. "Heaven" was the second single released from this album and Dennen decided to sell it also on iTunes. Natalie Merchant, the former leading singer of 10,000 Maniacs rock band, appears on this single.^[4]

Critical response

Hope for the Hopeless received a score of 71 on Metacritic, which collated reviews from Entertainment Weekly, Allmusic, Popmatters, Paste, Billboard and Rolling Stone.^[5] The most favourable review came from Entertainment Weekly's Leah Greenblatt, who hailed the albums "tuneful folk-rock accessibility" before giving it a final rating of B+. Dennen's songwriting was held up to scrutiny by, among others, Popmatters' Aarik Danielsen, who said, in a 7/10 review, "...he’s no Dylan or Lennon, but he does capture the spirit of a generation attracted to the hopeful promise they witnessed in the Obama candidacy."^[6]

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Brett Dennen.

No.	Title	Length
1.	"San Francisco"	3:52
2.	"Make You Crazy" (featuring Femi Kuti)	3:38
3.	"Heaven"	4:03
4.	"Closer to You"	3:38
5.	"Wrong About Me"	4:32
6.	"So Far from Me"	4:08
7.	"When She's Gone"	3:40
8.	"World Keeps Turning"	3:01
9.	"Who Do You Think You Are?"	4:07
10.	"Follow Your Heart"	3:11
11.	"Ain't Gonna Lose You"	4:51
Total length:		42:41

Amazon.com exclusive track

No.	Title	Length
12.	"It Could Make You Cry"	3:11
Total length:		45:52

Personnel

The following people contributed to Hope for the Hopeless.^[7]

• Brett Dennen - guitar, vocals
• John Alagia - guitar, piano, backing vocals, production
• Tom Freund - Backing vocals
• Mark Goldenberg - guitar
• Missy Higgins - backing vocals
• Sean Hurley - bass guitar
• Femi Kuti - backing vocals
• Zac Rae - keyboards, ukulele
• Joey Waronker - percussion, drums
• Natalie Merchant - vocals