In 2019, Shenseea signed to Rich Immigrants, an imprint of Interscope Records. She praised the owner of the imprint, Rvssian, for allowing her to work with different producers, instead of limiting her to just him.[4] The lead single of Alpha, "Lick", was released on January 21, 2022. The song is a collaboration with American rapper Megan Thee Stallion.[5] The second single, "R U That", featuring Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage, was released on February 17.[6] The next single, "Deserve It", was released on March 3. It was performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! the night of its release.[7]
Title
Shenseea originally opted to title the album Eleanor, after her late mother.[8] She decided to change the album's title to Alpha because she didn't want to experience the sadness associated with her mother's death every time she spoke about the record.[8]
Composition
Alpha is a dancehall, hip-hop, and pop record.[3] The album begins with the ballad "Target", a "beachy" song with a twist regarding love at the end. The track which follows, "Can't Anymore", is a more gleeful offering, where Shenseea announces that "she want[s] to get nasty". Alpha remains in a positive mood through the fourth track "R U That", which features 21 Savage. The song was described as "cheeky", and its lyrics go through a list of qualifications that a potential lover must meet.[9]
Critical reception
Dean Van Nguyen of Pitchfork in a 6.8/10 review, scribed, "The Jamaican singer (born Chinsea Lee) delivers 14 fully formed songs with polished production values, sticky hooks, and a few gimmicks."[1] Rachel Aroesti of The Guardian, in a 3/5 stars review, also wrote, "by the album’s conclusion, you can’t help but feel you’re in the presence of Jamaican dancehall’s next big crossover star: a woman with the ability to cover all bases without ever watering down her distinctive – and unabashedly risque – presence."[2]
Commercial performance
Alpha debuted at number two on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, with 4,900 album-equivalent units, of which 800 were sales of the record. 2,000 album units were composed of individual song sales. The album received 4,616,400 on-demand audio streams in its first week of release; it earned 750,000 video streams in that time frame. Alpha's number-two chart positioning occurred beneath Bob Marley and the Wailers' greatest hits album Legend (1984), which received 11,162 album-equivalent units in the same week, and remained at number one on the chart for a 115th consecutive week.[10] The following week, Alpha fell two spots to number four on the Reggae chart, moving 2,600 units.[11]
Alpha posted the best first-week sales for a reggae album since Popcaan's album Fixtape (2020).[10]
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