Hotspot | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 24 January 2020 | |||
Studio |
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Genre | Electropop [1] | |||
Length | 42:03 | |||
Label | x2 | |||
Producer | Stuart Price | |||
Pet Shop Boys chronology | ||||
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Singles from Hotspot | ||||
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Hotspot is the fourteenth studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 24 January 2020 by the band's own label x2, through Kobalt Label Services. [2] It was supported by the singles "Dreamland" featuring Years & Years, which was released on 25 October 2019, and "Burning the Heather", which was released alongside the album announcement on 13 December 2019. [3] The duo planned to tour the UK and Europe in support of the album in mid-2020. [2] The album charted in numerous countries, reaching number three on the album charts in the United Kingdom, Germany and Spain.
The album was primarily recorded at Hansa Studios in Berlin where the duo have written "most of [their] music over the last ten years", [4] with the exception of "Burning the Heather", which was recorded at RAK Studios in London, where Bernard Butler contributed guitar to the track. The duo's website dubbed it the last of a trilogy of albums produced by Stuart Price, beginning with Electric in 2013. All tracks were written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe. [5]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 75/100 [6] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [7] |
And It Don't Stop | [8] |
Clash | 8/10 [9] |
The Daily Telegraph | [10] |
The Independent | [11] |
NME | [12] |
Paste | 6.8/10 [13] |
Pitchfork | 6.1/10 [14] |
The Quietus | [15] |
Tom Hull – on the Web | [1] |
Hotspot was met with generally positive reviews. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 75 out of 100, based on 18 reviews. [6]
In his Substack-published "Consumer Guide" column, Robert Christgau highlighted "I Don't Wanna", "Wedding in Berlin", and "Will-o-the-Wisp", and wrote in summary of the album: "'Happy people/Living in a sad world,' they celebrate their good fortune by setting it to music both stirring and contained – music that never conceals its limitations". [8]
All tracks are written by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe aside from "Dreamland" which was written by Tennant, Lowe and Olly Alexander and "Monkey Business" which was written by Tennant, Lowe and Stuart Price
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Will-o-the-Wisp" | 4:28 |
2. | "You Are the One" | 3:35 |
3. | "Happy People" | 3:51 |
4. | "Dreamland" (featuring Years & Years) | 3:26 |
5. | "Hoping for a Miracle" | 5:00 |
6. | "I Don't Wanna" | 4:02 |
7. | "Monkey Business" | 4:08 |
8. | "Only the Dark" | 3:38 |
9. | "Burning the Heather" | 5:27 |
10. | "Wedding in Berlin" | 4:42 |
Total length: | 42:16 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
11. | "Dreamland" (TWD vocal remix) | 5:06 |
12. | "Monkey Business" (Prins Thomas Diskomiks) | 8:45 |
Total length: | 56:13 |
No. | Title | Length |
---|---|---|
1. | "Will-o-the-Wisp" (instrumental) | 4:28 |
2. | "You Are the One" (instrumental) | 3:35 |
3. | "Happy People" (instrumental) | 3:51 |
4. | "Dreamland" (featuring Years & Years) (instrumental) | 3:26 |
5. | "Hoping for a Miracle" (instrumental) | 5:00 |
6. | "I Don't Wanna" (instrumental) | 4:02 |
7. | "Monkey Business" (instrumental) | 4:08 |
8. | "Only the Dark" (instrumental) | 3:38 |
9. | "Burning the Heather" (instrumental) | 5:27 |
10. | "Wedding in Berlin" (instrumental) | 4:42 |
Total length: | 42:16 |
Additional musicians
Technical
Chart (2020) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [17] | 8 |
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) [18] | 7 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [19] | 21 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [20] | 5 |
Canadian Albums (Billboard) [21] | 61 |
Czech Albums (ČNS IFPI) [22] | 30 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [23] | 30 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [24] | 23 |
French Albums (SNEP) [25] | 72 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [26] | 3 |
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ) [27] | 35 |
Irish Albums (OCC) [28] | 20 |
Italian Albums (FIMI) [29] | 44 |
Japanese Albums (Oricon) [30] | 52 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [31] | 39 |
Polish Albums (ZPAV) [32] | 31 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [33] | 3 |
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE) [34] | 3 |
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [35] | 15 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [36] | 6 |
UK Albums (OCC) [37] | 3 |
US Billboard 200 [38] | 100 |
US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) [39] | 1 |
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