A Million Lights
A Million Lights is the third studio album by English singer Cheryl, released on 15 June 2012 through Fascination Records. Following her divorce from Ashley Cole, this is Cheryl's first album to be released under the mononym Cheryl, dropping her married surname. The album was recorded in 2011 and 2012. As the executive producer of the album, Cheryl enlisted a variety of producers such as Alex da Kid, Calvin Harris, will.i.am, Pantha, Agent X, HyGrade, Dada Life, Jim Beanz, Taio Cruz, Mathias Wollo, The Beamer Boyz, Billy Wes, Electric, Bibi Jones and Dave Munday. Sonically, A Million Lights is a pop, dance and R&B album that draws influence from other genres such as dubstep, house and electronic music in its production.
For the Michael W. Smith album and song, see A Million Lights (Michael W. Smith album) and A Million Lights (Michael W. Smith song).A Million Lights
15 June 2012
July 2011 – May 2012
37:30
- Alex da Kid
- Calvin Harris
- will.i.am
- Jaylien Wesley
- Pantha
- HyGrade
- Agent X
- Dada Life
- Kid Gloves
- Jim Beanz
- Taio Cruz
- Mathias Wollo
- The Beamer Boyz
- Billy Wes
- Electric
- Bibi Jones
- Dave Munday
Upon its release, A Million Lights received mainly mixed to positive reviews from music critics, who commended its progression from Cheryl's previous albums, but were ambivalent towards the mix of genres. The album debuted on the UK Albums Chart at position two, selling 34,934 copies in its first week. A Million Lights also peaked at two on the Irish Albums Chart, and one on the Scottish albums chart. A Million Lights was certified Gold in the United Kingdom for shipments of 100,000 copies.
Two singles have been released from the album. The first single, "Call My Name", was released on 8 June 2012. With only three days of release, "Call My Name" sold a total of 97,000 in the United Kingdom alone, debuting at number one with first week sales of 152,001 and becoming the second fastest selling single of 2012. "Under the Sun" was released 2 September 2012 as the second single from the album.[4][5] The song peaked at number 13, becoming her sixth solo top-twenty single. "Screw You" was scheduled to be the album's third single, but the release was cancelled indefinitely and no more singles were released from A Million Lights due to the reunion of Girls Aloud in November 2012.
Background[edit]
Cheryl's second solo album, titled Messy Little Raindrops, was released on 1 November 2010. The album debuted at number one in the UK, and at number two in Ireland. On 19 August 2011 the album was certified Platinum by BPI, with sales in excess of 300,000.
On 5 May 2011, an announcement was made after months of speculation that Cheryl would be a judge alongside Simon Cowell, Antonio "L.A." Reid, and Paula Abdul on the first season of the American version of The X Factor following three consecutive years of having a judging seat on the UK show.[6] However, after only three weeks as a judge and completing the auditions in Los Angeles and Chicago, Cheryl was dropped from the American judging panel and replaced by Nicole Scherzinger.[7] Cowell said that the reason why Cheryl left was because he gave her the option to be a judge on the 2011 series of the UK show as he felt that she would have been more comfortable there.[8] Additionally, it was later confirmed that Cheryl would not be returning to the UK show either, as Tulisa already replaced her on the UK judging panel.[9][10] Cheryl then began to focus on her third studio album and began recording sessions in July 2011.
Singles[edit]
The lead single from the album, "Call My Name" featuring Calvin Harris was uploaded on 19 April onto Cheryl's YouTube account.[33] The song debuted on Capital FM's breakfast show on 20 April 2012.[34] On 2 May 2012, the full-length music video premiered.[35] The single was written and produced by Harris and was released digitally on 18 May 2012.[36] The video for the single was directed by Anthony Mandler and shot in Downtown Los Angeles. "Call My Name" was added to BBC Radio 1's A-list playlist in the week preceding the single's release.[37] It went on to debut at number 1 with sales of 152,000 the highest of the year so far.
"Under the Sun", the second and final single from the album, was released on 3 September 2012.[4][5] The accompanying music video was released on 26 July 2012, and it sees Cheryl travel back to the '50s to perform the track while strutting down the street. Further scenes see the singer draped on the bonnet of a classic car and performing a choreographed dance sequence with a handful of businessmen.
After the release of the video the song peaked at number twenty-six, before the singles official release date. The song peaked at number 20 on the week ending 30 August 2012, becoming her sixth solo top-twenty single. It has since peaked at number 13.
"Screw You", featuring Wretch 32, was to be released as the third single from the album to coincide with the release of Cheryl's autobiography, but the release was cancelled indefinitely due to Cheryl's reunion with Girls Aloud to celebrate the group's tenth anniversary. Upon the release of A Million Lights, the song debuted on the UK Singles Chart at number 100.[38]
Chart performance[edit]
Before the album release, A Million Lights had doubled the amount of pre-orders to her nearest competitor Justin Bieber with his album Believe on the Amazon UK store.[65] However, A Million Lights debuted at number 2 on the UK Album Chart selling 34,934 copies in its first week on sale, with Bieber selling 3,181 more copies and beating her to the number 1 spot. The album also became her first not to debut at number 1 in the UK and her first not to sell over 100,000 copies in its first week on sale.[66] Previous album 3 Words sold 125,000 copies while its follow-up Messy Little Raindrops sold around 105,000 copies in their first weeks.[67] A Million Lights was certified Gold in the United Kingdom for shipments of 100,000 copies.[68]
Notes