Now is the third studio album by American R&B singer Maxwell. It was released on August 14, 2001, by Columbia Records. Following the lukewarm commercial performance of his 1998 record Embrya, Maxwell pursued a different direction while recording Now, abandoning the conceptual style of his previous albums. 　　Now received positive reviews and became Maxwell's first album to reach number one on the Billboard 200, selling over 296,000 units in the U.S. in the first week, according to Nielsen SoundScan. The album's second single "This Woman's Work", a live staple of Maxwell's, charted at number 58 on the Hot 100 and at number 16 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.Now was Maxwell's last album before an eight-year hiatus, which culminated in the release of his fourth studio album BLACKsummers'night (2009).