Therapy is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Anne-Marie. It was released on the 23rd of July, 2021, through Major Tom's, Asylum Records, and Atlantic Records. The album, a pop record, was produced by TMS, who previously produced her debut studio album, Speak Your Mind (2018), alongside Digital Farm Animals, Mojam, Nathan Dawe, Grades, Sire Noah, Lostboye, Cameron Gower Poole, Oak, Jean-Marie, Rudimental, Elvira Anderfjärd, Blake Slatkin, and Fred Ball. The album features guest appearances from producers Digital Farm Animals, Nathan Dawe, and Rudimental, alongside KSI, Little Mix, Niall Horan (previously of One Direction), and MoStack. Raye also provided backing vocals on the opening track, "x2". Before the album released, four non-album singles preceded the album, included "To Be Young" (featuring Doja Cat).
The album was supported by four singles. The first, "Don't Play" (featuring KSI and Digital Farm Animals), was released on the 15th of January, 2021, and was successful in the United Kingdom, peaking at number 2 on the UK singles chart, Anne-Marie's highest-charting single as a lead artist as of 2025. It also peaked at number 9 on the Irish Singles Chart and was certified Platinum in the UK. The second single, "Way Too Long" (featuring Nathan Dawe and MoStack), was released on the 9th of April, 2021, and was modestly successful, peaking at number 37 in both the UK and Ireland and certifying Silver. The third single, "Our Song" (featuring Niall Horan), was released on the 21st of May, 2021, and was decently successful, peaking at number 13 in the UK and number 7 in Ireland, and certifying Platinum in the UK. The fourth and final single, "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)", was released on the 23rd of July, 2021, and peaked at number 10 on the UK singles chart, where it certified Platinum.
Upon its release, the album was positively received by music critics, who praised the guest appearances and Anne-Marie's vocals, but criticized its lack of a unique sound and confusing direction. Commercially, the album charted higher in the UK than its predecessor, Speak Your Mind, peaking at number 2 on the UK Albums Chart. It also charted at number 4 and number 2 in Ireland and Scotland, and at number 3 on Ultratop's Belgian Albums Chart in Flanders. The album would eventually be certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for equivalent sales of 100,000 units in the country. To promote the album, Anne-Marie went on the Dysfunctional Tour, which featured artists such as Gracey, Billen Ted, and Mimi Webb. A deluxe edition would later be released, featuring the non-album singles "To Be Young" with Doja Cat and "Birthday", alongside a guest appearance from JJ Lin.
Background
Planning for Anne-Marie's second album began in 2019; in an interview with Music Week in March of that year, she provided information on her upcoming second studio album, stating "I love the studio. I was able to get in there and have some sort of therapy with my own brain for a week and that's going towards the next album". She further commented that "the first album was made up of so many songs that people had heard for years and that's amazing. But for me as a creative person, I'm writing something new all the time and all I want to do is put it out straight away. That wasn't the way it happened with [the debut] album so, for this next one, I'm hoping to be more active on writing and put something out straight away that's fresh and no one's heard before."[2] During 2020, Anne-Marie released the standalone singles "Birthday", "Her", "To Be Young" (featuring American singer and rapper Doja Cat) and "Problems",[3] with "Birthday" and "To Be Young" later appearing on the Japanese edition of Therapy.
On 15 January 2021, Anne-Marie released the lead single of Therapy, "Don't Play", in collaboration with British YouTuber and rapper-singer KSI and English DJ and producer Digital Farm Animals.[4] On 9 April 2021, the second single "Way Too Long" was released in collaboration with English producer Nathan Dawe and British rapper MoStack.[5] On 21 May 2021, the third single "Our Song", a collaboration with Niall Horan, was released.[6] On that date, Anne-Marie announced the title, cover art, and release date of Therapy.[7] She later announced that she would embark on the Dysfunctional Tour in 2022, and Therapy: The Live Experience on 7 August 2021 in support of the album.[8][9]
On 6 July 2021, via Twitter, Anne-Marie created a website that involved her fans/followers to figure out the track-listing for the album, with new ones appearing daily.[10][11] On 7 July 2021, random followers were sent DMs of one of two snippets of a song along with parts of the title. The track was revealed to be "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" with British girlband Little Mix on 8 July 2021. The song samples "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" by Lumidee. The track was announced as the album's fourth single on 9 July 2021 along with its release date being 23 July 2021.[12] A snippet of the song was released on TikTok. The cover was revealed on Anne-Marie's social media on 21 July 2021. On the day of release the song was accompanied by a music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. The music video parodies the 2011 comedy film Bridesmaids.
Composition
Therapy was described by music critics as a genre-hopping pop album that draws influence from trance, indie, electronic, trap, UK garage, and pop rock.[1][13] The opener, "x2", begins as a soulful song before turning into a revenge track.[1][14] Lead single "Don't Play" was described as a 2-step-influenced UK garage track about heartache.[15][16] "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)", a collaboration with Little Mix, was described as a calypso-pop number that was compared to the works of Beyoncé.[15][14] It samples "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" by Lumidee.[13] "Who I Am" was described as a pop song with lyrics of defiance and self-acceptance.[15][14] "Unlovable", a collaboration with Rudimental, is a "fist-pumping" dance track.[1] "Beautiful" sees the singer detailing her own insecurities over what NME described as swaying percussion.[1] The tracks "Tell Your Girlfriend" and "Better Not Together" both contain lyrics about turning heartbreak into self-confidence.[1] The title track serves as the closer for the album, being a trop-pop number.[15]
The third single, "Our Song" (featuring Niall Horan, previously of One Direction), was released on the 21st of May, 2021. Upon its release, the song charted at number 13 on the UK singles chart, number 7 on the Irish Singles Chart, number 5 on the Euro Digital Song Sales chart, number 8 on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and number 6 on the Sweden Heatseeker chart. It was also certified Platinum in the UK, New Zealand, and Canada. The fourth and final single, "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" (featuring Little Mix), was released on the 23rd of July, 2021. Upon its release, it charted at number 10 on the UK singles chart, number 3 on the Euro Digital Song Sales chart, number 10 on the EHR Top 40 chart in Latvia, number 4 on the Single Tip chart, and number 10 on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts. It was also certified Platinum in the UK.
Promotional singles
The album's ninth track, "Beautiful", was released as the album's first and only promotional single on the 12th of July, 2021. Fellow English singer Ed Sheeran contributing a writing credit to the song.
Japanese edition bonus tracks
Before the album was released, four non-album singles preceded. The first, "Birthday", was released on the 7th of February, 2020. Upon its release, it charted at number 31 on the UK singles chart, number 7 on the Mexico Ingles Airplay chart, number 3 on the Dutch Tipparade, number 8 on the Official Aotearoa Music Charts, and a peak at the top of the Sweden Heatseeker chart. It was also certified Gold by the BPI for equivalent sales of 400,000 units. The third single in the series, "To Be Young" (featuring Doja Cat), was released on the 17th of July, 2020, and charted at number 6 on the Dance Top 40 chart in Hungary.
On 28 May 2021, Anne-Marie announced the Dysfunctional Tour, scheduled to take place from 3 to 11 May 2022 across cities in United Kingdom and Ireland. Tickets were released to the general public on 4 June at 10am BST, with the option of pre-sale tickets given to those who pre-ordered Therapy through the singer's official website. The pre-sale tickets were available from 2 to 4 June (for the London and Leeds shows only).[17] North American dates were announced on 30 November 2021.[18] European shows were announced on 7 June 2022,[19] while the Asian leg of the tour was announced on 15 July 2022.[20]
In September 2022, venues announced that both European and North American legs of tour were cancelled due to the singer's scheduling conflict, however Anne-Marie did not issue an official statement.[21] The tour ultimately ran for 2 legs and 11 shows, with Gracey, Billen Ted, and Mimi Webb appearing as supporting acts during the UK & Ireland leg.
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Therapy has an average score of 65 based on six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[23]
Ali Shutler of NME compared it favourably to her debut album, writing that while her previous effort "spent too much time playing it safe", "its follow-up Therapy doesn't make the same mistake". Referring to the record as "infinitely more confident" sonically, Shutler gave the album four out of five stars.[1] Robin Murray, writing for Clash, was similarly favourable, rating the album seven out of ten. Murray wrote that the album "pushes her story to its next chapter, and while it features some surging highs, it doesn't quite dispel notions that Anne-Marie has yet to nail down a singular sound she can call her own".[15] Ben Devlin of musicOMH gave the album four out of five stars writing, "her newest record is packed to the brim with famous faces on vocals, songwriting and production, but her relatable, unpretentious, sometimes playful delivery holds disparate sounds and moods together with ease."[24]
Lauren Murphy, writing for The Irish Times was slightly more mixed, criticising songs such as "Beautiful" and "Better Not Together", but states "the majority [of the tracks] land with a thud rather than a glance here".[14] Dani Blum of Pitchfork dubbed the album "crisply rendered [and] competently hooky", noting that it "promises a more personal self-portrait, but [the British singer] ends up disappearing into vague songwriting and anodyne dance-pop production."[25] Michael Cragg of The Guardian was more negative, referring to the album as a "missed opportunity", criticising the amount of collaborators on the album for overshadowing the singer, while preferring the "moments when Anne-Marie's brand of plain-spoken yet vulnerable pop shines through". He ultimately rated the album two out of five stars.[13]
Commercial performance
Anglosphere
In its first charting week, Therapy opened at number two on the UK Albums Chart with sales of 18,260, of which 12,463 were physical copies.[29] By the end of 2021, the album was positioned at number 98 on the chart. The album would eventually be certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for equivalent sales of 100,000 units. In Australia, the album charted at number 60 on the ARIA Charts. In New Zealand, the album charted at number 36 on the New Zealand Albums Chart.
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