Red Flag | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Studio album by | ||||
Released | 8 April 2016 | |||
Recorded | 2014–2016 | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 47:36 | |||
Label | London | |||
Producer |
| |||
All Saints chronology | ||||
| ||||
Singles from Red Flag | ||||
|
Red Flag is the fourth studio album by English girl group All Saints. It was released on 8 April 2016, by London Records, which relaunched especially for the project. It serves as the group's comeback album, their first in nearly a decade, following the release of 2006's Studio 1 , which resulted in them being dropped by Parlophone. A string of live performances and touring with the Backstreet Boys in 2014 sparked interest within the group to reform and record Red Flag. All Saints collaborated with producers K-Gee, Hutch, The Invisible Men and Utters for the album.
Red Flag was preceded by the release of "One Strike" as its lead single on 23 February 2016. The album received positive reviews from music critics with some even considering it their best work yet. The album was a success in the UK where it debuted at number three on the album chart. To promote Red Flag, All Saints played a headlining gig at London's KOKO on 4 April 2016 and embarked on their first headlining tour in 15 years, the Red Flag Tour, in October 2016.
In 2007, All Saints were dropped by Parlophone following lacklustre sales of their third studio album, Studio 1 . [3] Two years later, group member Melanie Blatt declared that All Saints would be "never ever getting back together again". [4] A limited release of the group's third compilation album, Pure Shores: The Very Best of All Saints , was commissioned by Music Club Deluxe in September 2010. [5] [6] The group were approached to star in the second series of The Big Reunion , but promptly declined the offer in April 2013. [7] Unexpectedly the following year, All Saints were invited to perform as special guests for five dates of the Backstreet Boys' In a World Like This Tour in Ireland and the UK. [4] Their tour dates ran from 26 March to 5 April 2014. [8] Although All Saints made no money from the tour and funded their sets themselves, they saw it as an opportunity to do what they enjoyed the most and did the least, describing the experience as "refreshing" and "money well spent". [4] It ultimately sparked interest within the group to pursue a new studio album and full-scale comeback; group member Natalie Appleton explained: "We thought we'd just do it for a laugh, but then we just didn't want it to end. We liked being together. We wanted to be together. I mean we hang out anyway, but we wanted to be together in this world." [4]
All Saints went on to perform additional gigs at G-A-Y, Manchester Pride and the V Festival that year. [9] [10] The string of live performances were viewed as a triumphant return for the group and prompted much reunion speculation. [4] [10] A promotional video was shared by All Saints on social media in June 2015, suggesting an upcoming project and tour. [10] Similarly, on 1 January 2016, the group posted a promotional image of themselves looking upwards in front of a grey background with the text "2016". [11]
We didn't force ourselves into this situation and it couldn't have happened at a better time in all of our lives. I just missed being with the girls. It makes us happy. [4]
Writing and recording of Red Flag began in April 2014 after the In a World Like This Tour. [12] All Saints decided that they would not pursue a studio album had they not believed in the music they recorded. This was especially important for Blatt who considered the Studio 1 era and Parlophone contract fraudulent. [4] In an interview for i-D , group member Shaznay Lewis said the comeback was about the group's relationship with each other and "nothing to do with the industry, or making money, or selling records". [4] Unlike with the group's previous albums, Red Flag's recording happened casually and on good terms; Lewis stated it would have been completed "a lot quicker if [the group] spent less time joking around while making it". [13]
Red Flag was the first album to be entirely arranged by the group with no record label input. [14] Prior to its development, Lewis had taken notice of a new producer, Hutch, whose work she loved and saw the album as the ideal opportunity for a collaboration with him. The group also approached other producers including, Utters and The Invisible Men, and K-Gee who had produced much of their back catalogue. K-Gee insisted that All Saints worked with other producers before working with him and consequently became the record's executive producer. [4] The track listing was ordered from the first track the group recorded for the album to the last. A total of 20 songs were recorded with eight later recordings not making the cut. [15] The group became so involved during the recording and development process that they kept returning for additional sessions and further fine-tuning. Only when the album was complete did they seek investors and a label for the project. [14]
Most tracks on Red Flag were written by Lewis with themes very personal to the group. [15] They were written with a significantly more mature perspective than that of the group's previous releases. In an interview for The Observer , Lewis explained: "Because we're old enough to know that hey, life's not perfect, and it's not like: 'I'm in love and nothing bad will ever happen to me …' No. Shit happens." [14] "One Strike" was inspired by the breakdown of group member Nicole Appleton's highly publicised marriage to Oasis and Beady Eye band member Liam Gallagher. It details Nicole's emotions when it was revealed to her that Gallagher had an affair and was expecting a child with American journalist Liza Ghorbani. [4] [16] Blatt cited Red Flag as the group's best output [14] and her favourite All Saints album and the one she "always wanted [them] to make", [4] while Lewis said it "couldn't feel any more right". [12]
All Saints initially planned to start up their own record label for the release of Red Flag, however, their former label London Records decided to relaunch especially for the project. [4] On 27 January 2016, the group announced that Red Flag would be released on 8 April 2016. [12] Each member took to Twitter the same day to post red flag emojis. [17] The album was made available for pre-order on 23 February 2016. [18] [19] Signed CDs were made available for pre-order exclusively to Amazon.co.uk. [20]
To promote Red Flag, All Saints appeared on Alan Carr: Chatty Man for an interview and a performance of "One Strike" on 17 March 2016. [21] [22] The group then played their first headlining show in over a decade at London's KOKO on 4 April 2016. [23] The show was a critical and commercial success; it received praise from reviewers for The Daily Telegraph and The Guardian , and tickets sold out in one minute. [24] [25] [26] The group were scheduled to further promote the album with performances at G-A-Y on 18 April 2016, the Chipping Norton Music Festival on 9 July 2016 and at the V Festival on 20 August 2016. [27] They also embarked on their first headlining tour in 15 years, the Red Flag Tour, in support of the album. [26] Tickets for the tour were first made available on 16 March 2016 through an exclusive fan pre-sale on the group's website for its newsletter subscribers, [28] and then later through Gigsandtours.com on 18 March 2016 at 09:00 BST. [12] The Red Flag Tour visited 10 British cities throughout October 2016, beginning in Newcastle upon Tyne and ending in Norwich. [29]
"One Strike" was released as the lead single from Red Flag mid-week on 23 February 2016. [12] It bowed at number 198 initially on the UK Singles Chart, and re-entered at number 115 after the release of Red Flag. It also received rave reviews from critics. [30] [31]
"One Woman Man" was released as the first promotional single from the album on 18 March 2016, peaking at number 192 on the UK Singles Chart. [32] [33]
"This Is a War" followed as the second and final promotional single on 1 April 2016. [31] Later, "This Is a War" was eventually announced as the album's second single. [34] On 13 May 2016, a remixes EP was released on the iTunes Store, as well as on Spotify. [35] [2] [36] The music video for the song was released on 8 June 2016. [37]
Aggregate scores | |
---|---|
Source | Rating |
AnyDecentMusic? | 6.9/10 [38] |
Metacritic | 68/100 [39] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [40] |
Exclaim! | 8/10 [41] |
The Guardian | [42] |
musicOMH | [43] |
NME | [44] |
The Observer | [45] |
PopMatters | [1] |
Q | [46] |
Spin | 8/10 [47] |
The Times | [48] |
Red Flag received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 68, based on 9 reviews. [49] Writing for Q magazine, David Quantick called it the best album of the group's career, writing, "Unlike previous efforts, which have relied on a standout moment [...], Red Flag is both consistent and memorable." [46] Yasmine Shemesh of Exclaim! also regarded it as All Saints' best album, noting that it triumphed by being entirely contemporary while still having the group's trademark sound. [41] Similarly, John Murphy of musicOMH commended the group's ability to remain contemporary after a decade's absence and considered the album a more genuine follow-up to their 2000 album Saints & Sinners than 2006's Studio 1. [43] AllMusic's Neil Z. Yeung wrote that All Saints grew with confidence and prospered with their harmonizing. [40] Brennan Carley of Spin magazine deemed it "a mature but still totally floor-ready return", [47] while Michael Cragg of The Observer felt it was "expertly judged" and "a sassy and soulful return to form". [45]
Other reviewers were critical of the album's latter half. Leonie Cooper of the NME noted a large drop in quality after the track "Summer Rain", ultimately calling Red Flag equally thrilling and disappointing. [44] While impressed by "One Strike" and "One Woman Man", Harriet Gibsone of The Guardian said the album was beset by "rogue energies" and "mellow ballads of varying degrees of schmaltz". [42] In his review for The Times , Will Hodgkinson wrote that Red Flag had "some awful filler", but appreciated its genuine musicianship and called it "a far from disgraceful return". [48] Richard Folland of PopMatters found the second half weaker, dismissing its R&B-influenced style as anonymity, but complimented the album's maturity and variety. He concluded that the group's complementary harmonies "can conjure an esoteric kind of pop magic" and that they "can still create a sound which few if any of their peers can match." [1] Digital Spy placed Red Flag at number 19 in their list of the 20 best albums of 2016. [50]
Red Flag debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 9,298 units, behind The Lumineers' Cleopatra and Adele's 25 . [51] It dropped to number 24 in its second week with sales of 3,056 units. [52]
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|---|
1. | "One Strike" |
| Hutch | 3:33 |
2. | "One Woman Man" |
|
| 4:01 |
3. | "Make U Love Me" |
| Gordon | 3:46 |
4. | "Summer Rain" |
| 3:43 | |
5. | "This Is a War" |
|
| 4:49 |
6. | "Who Hurt Who" | Skarbek | 4:00 | |
7. | "Puppet on a String" |
| Ball | 3:24 |
8. | "Fear" |
|
| 3:56 |
9. | "Ratchet Behaviour" |
| Gordon | 3:54 |
10. | "Red Flag" |
| Gordon | 4:19 |
11. | "Tribal" |
| Gordon | 4:05 |
12. | "Pieces" |
| Gordon | 4:06 |
Total length: | 47:36 |
Chart (2016) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (ARIA) [53] | 77 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [54] | 104 |
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [55] | 73 |
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [56] | 89 |
Irish Albums (IRMA) [57] | 29 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [58] | 6 |
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade) [59] | 70 |
UK Albums (OCC) [60] | 3 |
Take That are an English pop group formed in Manchester in 1990. The group currently consists of Gary Barlow, Howard Donald and Mark Owen. The original line-up also featured Jason Orange and Robbie Williams. Barlow is the group's lead singer and primary songwriter, with Owen and Williams initially providing backing vocals, and Donald and Orange serving primarily as dancers.
The Sugababes are an English girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011.
Nicole Marie Appleton is a Canadian singer and television presenter. She is a member of the British girl group All Saints and the pop duo Appleton with her elder sister Natalie Appleton.
Blue are a British boy band consisting of members Simon Webbe, Duncan James, Antony Costa, and Lee Ryan. The group formed in 2000 and released three studio albums before announcing a hiatus in late 2004. In January 2011, the group reformed and represented the United Kingdom at the 2011 Eurovision Song Contest in Düsseldorf with the song "I Can", coming in 11th place with 100 points. In 2013, it was confirmed that the group would be joining The Big Reunion, in which six groups from the past reform for a one-off gig. On 27 March 2013, the group announced they would embark on their first headlining tour later on in the year, their first tour in nearly ten years.
Melanie Ruth Blatt is an English singer. She rose to fame in 1997 as a member of the girl group All Saints. The group have gained five UK number-one singles, two multi-platinum albums and two BRIT Awards, and have sold over 10 million records worldwide.
Tricia Marie "Shaznay" Lewis is an English singer and songwriter. Lewis rose to fame as a member of the girl group All Saints which she formed with Melanie Blatt in 1993. As a member of All Saints, Lewis won two Brit Awards and an Ivor Novello Award, and co-wrote three of the group's five UK number-one singles: "Never Ever", "Bootie Call" and "Pure Shores". In 2002, Lewis starred in the film Bend It Like Beckham.
"Pure Shores" is a song by English girl group All Saints from their second studio album, Saints & Sinners (2000). Group member Shaznay Lewis and producer William Orbit wrote the song for a scene in the 2000 adventure drama film, The Beach. Eschewing the R&B sound of All Saints' previous releases, "Pure Shores" is a dream pop song with ambient and electronic production, and a syncopation of synth delays, arpeggiated guitar and ethereal sound effects. It was released by London Records on 14 February 2000 as the lead single from the film's soundtrack and Saints & Sinners.
"War of Nerves" is a song by English girl group All Saints, released by London Records on 23 November 1998 as the fifth and final single from their debut album, All Saints. Group members Shaznay Lewis, Natalie Appleton and Nicole Appleton wrote the song with producers Cameron McVey and Magnus Fiennes. It is a ballad concerning mortality, inspired by the death of Diana, Princess of Wales. "War of Nerves" debuted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart, making it the group's fifth consecutive single to chart in the top 10.
"Black Coffee" is a song by English girl group All Saints from their second studio album, Saints & Sinners (2000). It was released on 2 October 2000 by London Records as the album's second single. The track was produced by William Orbit, and written by Tom Nichols, Alexander von Soos and Kirsty Bertarelli, initially intended as a single for Kirsty under the title "I Wouldn't Wanna Be". It is a mellow electropop, acid techno and R&B song, unique for its production-laden sound featuring breathy keyboards, glitching electronics and elements of ambient music. A wistful love song, its lyrics stem from Kirsty's relationship with Swiss entrepreneur Ernesto Bertarelli, detailing feelings of love at first sight and contentment.
"Rock Steady" is a song performed by English-Canadian recording girl group All Saints from their third studio album, Studio 1 (2006). It was co-written by group member Shaznay Lewis in collaboration with the track's producer Greg Kurstin. The song was released by Parlophone on 6 November 2006. All Saints collaborated with Kurstin on a number of songs; six were chosen for the album. "Rock Steady" was released as the first single from it. The song contains prominent 2 tone, dance-pop, reggae fusion, rocksteady and ska musical characteristics. It is lyrically influenced by the personalities of the group members themselves.
Leona Louise Lewis is a British singer, songwriter, actress, model, and activist. Born and raised in Islington, Inner London, she later attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved national recognition when she won the third series of the television talent show The X Factor in 2006, winning a £1 million recording contract with Syco Music. Her winner's single, a cover of Kelly Clarkson's "A Moment Like This", peaked at number one for four weeks on the UK Singles Chart and broke a world record by reaching 50,000 digital downloads within 30 minutes. In February 2007, Lewis signed a five-album contract in the United States with Clive Davis's record label, J Records.
The discography of the English girl group All Saints consists of five studio albums, two compilation albums, one remix album, two video albums and 18 singles between London Records and Parlophone Records.
The Saturdays are an English-Irish girl group based in London, England. The group formed during the summer of 2007 and has been on hiatus since 2014. The lineup consists of Frankie Bridge, Una Healy, Rochelle Humes, Mollie King, and Vanessa White. They were formed through Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records, which gave them an instant record deal with the label. As soon as the contract was finalized, the Saturdays went on tour with Girls Aloud during their Tangled Up Tour. The group's music style is pop, but throughout their career, their management has experimented with dance-pop and electropop. Songwriters and producers Ina Wroldsen, Steve Mac, Camille Purcell, and Quiz & Larossi have helped create their music. In July 2008, The Saturdays released their debut single and first Top Ten hit, "If This Is Love". Their debut album, Chasing Lights, released the same year, charted at number nine on the UK Albums Chart; it was certified platinum by the BPI and produced three more top ten singles: "Up", "Issues", and "Just Can't Get Enough". "Work" was also released from the album. The group's first concert tour, The Work Tour, took place in 2009. The group's second album, Wordshaker, produced the Top Ten hits "Forever Is Over" and "Ego". In 2010, the Saturdays released a mini album, Headlines!, which contained the top 10 hits "Missing You" and "Higher", the latter of which featured guest vocals from Flo Rida. The mini-album was supported by the group's second concert tour, The Headlines Tour. Their third album, On Your Radar, was released in 2011 and resulted in two top 10 singles: "Notorious" and "All Fired Up".
JLS are an English boy band consisting of members Aston Merrygold, Oritsé Williams, Marvin Humes, and JB Gill; Williams formed the band. They initially signed with Tracklacers production company New Track City and were the runners-up of the fifth series of the ITV reality talent show The X Factor in 2008, coming in second to Alexandra Burke. After their appearance on The X Factor, JLS signed to Epic Records. Their first two singles "Beat Again" and "Everybody in Love" were both number one on the UK Singles Chart.
"One Strike" is a song recorded by English-Canadian girl group All Saints for their fourth studio album, Red Flag (2016). The track was written by group member Shaznay Lewis and its producer Hutch, inspired by the breakdown of group member Nicole Appleton's highly publicised marriage to Oasis and Beady Eye frontman Liam Gallagher. "One Strike" is a mid-tempo, R&B, soul and synth-pop song that lyrically deals with the protagonist's emotions immediately after breaking up with their significant other.
"One Woman Man" is a song recorded by English-Canadian girl group All Saints for their fourth studio album, Red Flag (2016). It was written by group member Shaznay Lewis in collaboration with Dan Radclyffe, whilst production was handled by the latter and K-Gee. "One Woman Man" was released as the album's third single on 7 October 2016, by London Records.
The Red Flag Tour was the second headlining concert tour by British girl group All Saints. Supporting their fourth studio album Red Flag (2016), the tour ran from 6 October 2016 to 18 October 2016. It marked the group's first headlining tour in 15 years and was preceded by a headlining show at London's KOKO on 4 April 2016.
All Saints are a British girl group formed in London in 1993. They were founded as All Saints 1.9.7.5 by music manager Ron Tom. with members Melanie Blatt, Shaznay Lewis, and Simone Rainford. The group struggled to find commercial success upon being signed to ZTT Records and were dropped by the label shortly after Rainford left the group. In 1996, the group were joined by sisters Nicole and Natalie Appleton and signed to London Records under their shortened name.
Testament is the fifth album by English girl group All Saints. It was released on 27 July 2018 through AS Recordings, the group's independent record label. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "Love Lasts Forever" and "After All". It debuted at number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and received generally favourable reviews from music critics upon release.
The Lost Tapes is the eighth studio album by British girl group Sugababes and their first independent release. While work for the album dates back to 2011 when the original lineup reunited, the album remained unreleased until its 24 December 2022 digital release. The Lost Tapes is the second Sugababes album to feature the original lineup after 2000's One Touch. The deluxe version, which included an additional three tracks, was released digitally on 31 December 2022.