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Sparks (Imogen Heap album)

Sparks is the fourth studio album by English singer Imogen Heap, released on 19 August 2014 through Megaphonic Records in the United Kingdom and through RCA Records in the United States. Recorded between 2011 and 2014 across four different continents, with a new song being written and released every three months, it was primarily written and produced by Heap, with additional writing and production from collaborators Deadmau5, Vishal–Shekhar, and B.o.B, as well as production from Nick Ryan.

Sparks

19 August 2014

2011–2014

  • Purcell Room (London)
  • The Hideaway (Havering)
  • Bedfords Park Walled Garden (Havering)
  • Samode Palace (Jaipur)
  • Room 2105 at the Meander Tree Hotel (Hangzhou)
  • Mau5trap (Ontario)
  • Various locations (Edinburgh, Bhutan, Hangzhou, around the world)

59:34

The album is primarily an electropop record, also incorporating of other genres such as dance-pop, ambient, bhangra, a cappella, Bhutanese folk, and spoken word. It is also loosely a concept album, where each song makes use of different technological innovations such as crowdsourcing, 3D audio effects, reactive music, and a pair of musical gloves developed by Heap. Lyrically, the record covers a number of mostly disparate themes, among them being technology, relationships, sex, and Heap's life.


In the United States, Sparks sold ten thousand album-equivalent units, debuting and peaking at number 21 on the Billboard 200 chart and at number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, giving Heap her second chart-topper on the latter. The album was released with a standard edition, a deluxe edition, and a deluxe box set, the last of which was nominated for Best Boxed or Special Limited Edition Package at the 57th Annual Grammy Awards and for Special Catalogue Release of the Year at the 2015 AIM Independent Music Awards.

Commercial performance[edit]

In the United States, Sparks debuted and peaked at number 21 on the Billboard 200 chart, having sold ten thousand copies in its first week. The album also debuted at number one on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, giving Heap her second number-one on the chart after her previous record, Ellipse (2009) and extending her record as the artist with the third-most weeks on the chart, behind Lady Gaga and M.I.A.[29]