''Alpha'' is the debut studio album by Jamaican musician Shenseea. It was released on March 11, 2022, through Rich Immigrants and

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. It includes guest appearances from

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, and Tyga. Production is contributed by Rvssian, London On Da Track, and Scott Storch.

Background and release

In 2019, Shenseea signed to Rich Immigrants, an imprint of

. She praised the owner of the imprint, Rvssian, for allowing her to work with different producers, instead of limiting her to just him. The lead single of ''Alpha'', "

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", was released on January 21, 2022. The song is a collaboration with American rapper

. The second single, "R U That", featuring Atlanta-based rapper 21 Savage, was released on February 17. The next single, "Deserve It", was released on March 3. It was performed on ''

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'' the night of its release.

Title

Shenseea originally opted to title the album ''Eleanor'', after her late mother. 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.

Composition

''Alpha'' is a

dancehall Dancehall is a genre of Jamaican popular music that originated in the late 1970s. Initially, dancehall was a more sparse version of reggae than the roots style, which had dominated much of the 1970s.Barrow, Steve & Dalton, Peter (2004) "The Rou ...

, hip hop, and

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Music * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop!, a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Albums * ''Pop'' (G ...

record. 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 to get nasty". ''Alpha'' remains in a positive mood through the fourth track "R U That", which features

. The song was described as "cheeky", and its lyrics go through a list of qualifications that a potential lover must meet.

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. The following week, ''Alpha'' fell two spots to number four on the Reggae chart, moving 2,600 units. ''Alpha'' posted the best first-week sales for a reggae album since Popcaan's album '' Fixtape'' (2020).

Track listing

Charts

References

{{reflist 2022 albums Dancehall albums Hip hop albums by Jamaican artists Pop albums by Jamaican artists