Unexpected is the third solo studio album by American singer Michelle Williams, released via Columbia Records and Music World Entertainment in North America on October 7, 2008 (see 2008 in music). It is Williams' first full-length dance-influenced commercial pop album, moving away from the gospel style of her previous efforts. Unexpected was Williams' last release through Columbia.
Recording sessions for the album originally began in 2005, with the songs being mostly mid-tempo contemporary R&B and soul songs, however, after playing the "first sketch" of the album to her mother, Williams says she was "challenged" to go back and record songs that "people could dance to" and so in 2007 Williams began working extensively with producer, songwriter and arranger Rico Love to create an entirely new album - which Williams would later sum up simply as "unexpected". Unexpected fuses dance-pop, R&B and electronic music to form a wide selection of up-tempo, beat-driven, club-oriented songs which gradually calm into slower material more R&B in sound and style.
Despite being a critical success, the album debuted and peaked at number forty-two and number eleven on the US Billboard 200 and US Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts respectively, selling 14,618 copies in the United States in its first week of release. The album spawned three singles - "We Break the Dawn", which preceded the release of the album, "The Greatest" and "Hello Heartbreak".[