The Female Boss | |
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Studio album by | |
Released | 3 December 2012 |
Recorded | 2012 |
Genre | |
Length | 58:27 |
Label | |
Producer |
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Singles from The Female Boss | |
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The Female Boss is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter and N-Dubz member Tulisa. It was released on 3 December 2012 via All Around the World and Island Records. [1] The album's artwork was revealed on 6 October 2012 via Tulisa's official Facebook page. The Female Boss originally was to be released on 26 November but was pushed back by one week. It incorporates hip hop, grime and R&B styles while enlisting a variety of producers; [2] [3] The-Dream, Fazer, Stereotypes, Rico Love, Diane Warren and Ed White, among others. The album features guests appearances from British rapper Wiley, American rapper Tyga and Nines. Three singles preceded the album's release; the lead single "Young" peaked at number 1 while "Live It Up" and "Sight of You" peaked within the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart.
Upon its release, The Female Boss has received generally negative reviews from most music critics, with many critics panning the themes, intro of the album, production and some lyrical content, while some critics felt the dance songs were highlights.[ citation needed ] Commercially, the album opened with poor sales, debuting at number 35 on the UK Albums Chart and number 55 in Ireland. [4]
The Female Boss was recorded throughout 2012. [5] The album's second single, "Live It Up", was released on 9 September 2012, before the ballad "Sight of You" was released on 25 November 2012 as the album's third single. Tulisa revealed that her decision to release three singles prior to the album's release was to "focus on the long-term sales of the record". [6] "Visa" was originally recorded by N-Dubz for their third studio album, Love.Live.Life in 2010 but didn't make the final track list. [7]
Tulisa said of the album in an interview with Digital Spy: "Having a number one album isn't important. Let me tell you something, do you know how many artists go to number one in the charts and they release on a certain week because they know that in that week they have more chance of going to number one? Then they drop out of the album charts a week later and they might have sold 100,000 when they could have sold 400,000. For me, just like with N-Dubz, I don't care about having a number one album, I care about going platinum. I care about the overall sales. What's the point in having a number one but people saying, 'She only sold 60,000 though'? I don't want that. Most people these days kind of drop the one single and then the album but that was one thing I said I would never do," she explained. "I have to put the background work in. I've got to give people a reason to buy it. I want to prove myself this year, more than ever, as a musician and as a solo artist." [8]
Aggregate scores | |
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Source | Rating |
Metacritic | 35/100 [9] |
Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
AllMusic | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Independent | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
4Music | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
MusicOMH | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Digital Spy | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
The Observer | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Q | (mixed) [15] |
The Female Boss has received mostly negative reviews from contemporary music critics. [16] At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, The Female Boss received an average score of 35, which indicates "generally unfavourable reviews", based on 6 reviews. [9] Lewis Corner from Digital Spy was less harsh, but criticised the production with The-Dream saying "The result is an overly-considered debut that suffers from one-too-many label hook-ups for a singer who is way out of her depth." [13] Phil Mongredien from The Observer awarded it two stars out of five believing her debut didn't sound promising. [14] Amy Gravelle from Entertainmentwise felt that the R&B and hip hop songs were main issues on the album and felt she should stick to dance music, and criticised her "clichéd lyrics" and themes on the entire album. [2]
Philip Matusavage from MusicOMH awarded it a single star out of five, saying "[The Female Boss] is more endurance test than anything else, with the strong sense of 'will this do?’." He panned the intro and themes, calling them "hilarious" and felt "bafflement is typical of an album which has almost no identity of its own, instead sounding like a calculated effort to target certain demographic markets." [12] Q gave it a mixed review, feeling the album "Struggles to get to grips with the predictably generic R&B ballads." [15] Aneet Nijjar from Allmusic rated the album one-and-a-half stars out of five. In comparison to her former band N-Dubz, she stated they had "have bags of charisma, and most important of all, the songs" but stated the album "has neither." She found that Tulisa didn't "convince" her abilities of producing pop and urban music and criticised it for being "fleeting and insufficient", calling the album "a lamentable debut all round." [3]
On a more positive review, Andy Gill from The Independent compared the album to works of Rihanna, saying that she "tries to turn adversity to her advantage, employing the incident as her own version of the familiar R&B soap-opera gambit, whereby the private life becomes the subtext," but he nevertheless felt most of the songs were bad. [10]
The Female Boss entered the UK Albums Chart lower than its midweek position of 17, debuting at number 35 with over 7,000 copies sold. [17] The following week the album dropped out of the Top 40, falling to number 63. [18]
"Young" was released as the album's lead single on 29 April 2012. [19] The single went straight to number one in the United Kingdom, becoming the fastest selling debut single of the year, and the third fastest selling single overall, following the release of Cheryl Cole's "Call My Name". [20]
"Live It Up" was released as the album's second single on 10 September 2012. The track was announced on 24 July, and features vocals from American rapper Tyga. Tulisa commented on the song, saying: "This track is me going back to being me, and trying to define myself as an artist. It's even more urban than anything else i've done before". [21] The music video was released on 24 August 2012 [22] and the single peaked at number 11 on the UK Singles Chart. [6]
"Sight of You" and "Live Your Life" [23] were released as a double A-side, and the album's third single on 25 November 2012. On 11 September, Tulisa revealed that "Sight of You" would be a "Christmassy ballad", stating "I think it's important for every artist to have that ballad that stands the test of time." [24] "Live Your Life" (previously revealed to be "Freedom", and later re-titled) was written and produced by fellow N-Dubz musician Fazer, and is similar to her debut single, "Young". [25] The song premiered on radio on 19 October 2012. [26] Tulisa confirmed during an interview with KissFM that the music video would be released on 22 October. She performed the single on The X Factor on 2 December. The song entered the UK Singles Chart at number 18, becoming Tulisa's lowest-charting solo single in the UK.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
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1. | "Intro" | Jordan-Patrikios | 1:18 | |
2. | "Young" |
| STL | 4:12 |
3. | "Live It Up" (featuring Tyga) |
| Rico Love | 3:52 |
4. | "Damn" |
|
| 3:02 |
5. | "British Swag" (featuring Nines) |
| The Stereotypes | 3:41 |
6. | "Live Your Life" |
| STL | 3:57 |
7. | "Visa" (featuring Wiley) |
| STL | 3:31 |
8. | "Foreigner" | Terius Nash | The-Dream | 4:50 |
9. | "Skeletons" | Terius Nash | The-Dream | 4:50 |
10. | "I'm Ready" |
|
| 3:47 |
11. | "Steal My Breath Away" |
| Toby Gad | 4:17 |
12. | "Kill Me Tonight" |
|
| 3:47 |
13. | "Counterfeit" | Diane Warren | Inflo | 4:07 |
14. | "Habit" | Eg White | 3:49 | |
15. | "Sight of You" | Terius Nash | The-Dream | 4:39 |
16. | "Outro" |
| Jordan-Patrikios | 0:39 |
Total length: | 58:27 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) / Director(s) | Length |
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17. | "Live It Up" (Solo Acoustic Mix) |
| Rico Love | 2:58 |
18. | "Young" (Acoustic Mix) |
| STL | 3:27 |
19. | "Skeletons" (Acoustic Mix) | Terius Nash | The-Dream | 3:54 |
20. | "Titanium" (Acoustic Mix) | STL | 3:50 | |
21. | "Young" (music video) | 3:49 | ||
22. | "Live It Up" (music video) | 3:41 | ||
23. | "Sight of You" (music video) | 4:04 | ||
24. | "The Female Boss" (Video Interview) | 3:00 |
Chart (2012) | Peak position |
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Irish Albums (IRMA) [28] | 55 |
Scottish Albums (OCC) [29] | 46 |
UK Albums (OCC) [30] | 35 |
Regions | Dates | Format(s) | Label(s) |
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Ireland | 30 November 2012 | CD, digital download | All Around the World, Island Records |
United Kingdom [31] | 3 December 2012 |
"So Alive" is a song by British MC Skepta and British trio, N-Dubz. It was released as an official single on 6 February 2011. It is the fourth single released Skepta's third album Doin' It Again and N-Dubz's third album Love.Live.Life. The single peaked at #99 on the UK Singles Chart.
N-Dubz are an English hip-hop trio from Camden Town, London, consisting of cousins Dappy and Tulisa, and Fazer. After winning a MOBO Award for Best Newcomer in 2007, N-Dubz briefly signed with Polydor Records before joining All Around the World. Released the following year, the trio's debut album Uncle B was certified double platinum and spawned four UK top-40 singles.
"Ouch" is a song performed, written and produced by the English hip hop group N-Dubz. It was released as the group's fourth overall single, first single with the record label All Around The World and the first official single for their debut Platinum-selling album, Uncle B.
Uncle B is the debut studio album released by British hip hop group N-Dubz. The album is dedicated to former N-Dubz manager and father of Dappy, Byron Contostavlos, who died shortly before the band were signed to their second record label All Around the World. It entered the official UK Albums Chart at number 11. On 6 January 2009 it was announced on the official All Around the World website that the album had gone platinum. Seven singles have been released from the album, with the first three being released by LRC, and the last four being released by All Around the World. The album was not released until in 2008, despite recording starting in 2006. This was due to the group changing record label from LRC to All Around the World.
"Papa Can You Hear Me?" is a song by British hip hop trio, N-Dubz. The song is dedicated to the group's former manager Byron Contostavlos, who died shortly before the band were signed to new label All Around the World. The song later became their second top 40 hit in the UK.
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"Strong Again" is a song by British hip hop trio, N-Dubz. It is the sixth single from their debut album Uncle B and was produced by Kano and Fraser T Smith. It was later the B-side to "We Dance On", which would eventually be the first single from their third studio album, Love.Live.Life. Both songs were included on the StreetDance Soundtrack. On 28 January 2009, the song was added to Radio 1's A-List, becoming their first single to do so. The single was released as a digital download on 9 February 2009. The song "Wouldn't You" was originally intended to be the sixth single, however, it was later released as the seventh single instead.
Costadinos Contostavlos, better known by his stage name Dappy, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. He is the lead singer of the Camden-based hip hop and grime trio N-Dubz, with his cousin Tulisa and Fazer. He was known for his lack of dress sense and his love for what he describes as "eye-catching headwear". His trademark was wearing a selection of woolly chullos, turning up one or both of the ear-flaps of the hat.
"Number 1" is a song composed by Ghanaian-British rapper Tinchy Stryder featuring vocals from Dappy of N-Dubz and co-written by Dappy, James Lavelle and Fraser T. Smith, who produced the track, for Stryder's second studio album, Catch 22. The song was released as a single on 20 April 2009 from Stryder's studio album Catch 22 and a remix was later included on N-Dubz's second studio album, Against All Odds.
Tula Paulinea "Tulisa" Contostavlos is an English singer, songwriter, television personality, and actress. As a part of the R&B/hip hop group N-Dubz with her cousin Dappy and friend Fazer, they gained two platinum-certified albums, two gold-certified albums, five MOBO awards, a Brit Award nomination, thirteen top 40 singles, six silver-certified singles, and three Urban Music Awards.
"I Need You" is a song performed, written and produced by English hip hop trio N-Dubz. The song was written by all the group members: Dappy, Fazer and Tulisa. Dappy and Fazer have been noted as the track's producers. Released through All Around The World on 9 November 2009, "I Need You" acted as the group's eighth official single as well as the lead single from their Platinum-certified second album, Against All Odds.
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"Best Behaviour" is a song by British hip hop group N-Dubz. The song was produced by Dino Contostavlos and Richard Rawson and co-written by Tula Contostavlos, Mr Hudson, Tony Dixon, Fazer and Dappy. It was released on 17 October 2010 as the second single from N-Dubz's third studio album, Love.Live.Life. Musically, the song is a R&B ballad with prominent British hip hop characteristics. The initial writing consisted of the group being inspired to pen a song for their launch in the United States in addition to Dappy's feelings for his girlfriend, Kaye Vassell. It was inspired by the group's touring lifestyle and their enthusiastic fans. Lyrically, it is about trading one-night stands with people in favour of real love.
Love.Live.Life is the third studio album released by English hip-hop trio N-Dubz, released on 29 November 2010, as a collaboration by All Around the World and Island Records. Following the release of the album the group announced a hiatus to focus on all three individual solo projects.
"Young" is the debut solo single by British singer Tulisa from her debut album The Female Boss (2012). It was written by Pete Ibsen, Richard Rawson and Ali Tennant, while the production was handled by the former two. Upon discovering that the song was meant for another singer, Tulisa chose to record it herself. The track was originally titled "We Are Young" but was renamed to merely "Young" to avoid confusion with the 2012 Fun song of the same name. The dance-pop song is about making mistakes while being young. "Young" was initially slated for release on 6 May 2012. However, it was only issued on 27 April in Ireland and the United Kingdom by All Around the World and Island Records for digital download and streaming.
Live It Up is the second solo single by British singer Tulisa, and features guest vocals from American rapper Tyga. The song is taken from her debut studio album, The Female Boss, and was released on 9 September 2012.
"Sight of You" is the third single released from British singer-songwriter and former N-Dubz member Tulisa's debut studio album, The Female Boss. The single was released on 2 December 2012, a day before the release of the album. The single was released alongside another brand new track, "Live Your Life", was written by former N-Dubz colleague Richard "Fazer" Rawson.
The discography of British N-Dubz singer Tulisa consists of one studio album, seven singles and six music videos.
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