Merchant's next studio album on the Elektra label was "Motherland", released in 2001. "Motherland" saw Merchant at her most experimental musically. "Motherland" achieved Gold on the Billboard charts after debuting at No. 30 on the Billboard 200 and No. 13 on the Top Internet Albums of 2001, respectively. "Rolling Stone" favored this album with 3½ stars, and also noticed a difference in Merchant's voice, which was more deep and gritty like that of Sade than her previous albums. Singles that were released from "Motherland" were "Just Can't Last", "Build a Levee" and "Tell Yourself".