''Blue Weekend'' is the third studio album by English
alternative rock
Alternative rock, or alt-rock, is a category of rock music that emerged from the independent music underground of the 1970s and became widely popular in the 1990s. "Alternative" refers to the genre's distinction from mainstream or commerci ...
band
Wolf Alice
Wolf Alice are an English rock band from London, England. Formed in 2010 as an acoustic duo comprising singer Ellie Rowsell and guitarist Joff Oddie, Wolf Alice have also featured bassist Theo Ellis and drummer Joel Amey since 2012.
Wolf Ali ...
, released on 4 June 2021 through
Dirty Hit
Dirty Hit is a British independent record label founded in December 2009 by Jamie Oborne, Brian Smith, and former England footballer, Ugo Ehiogu. It is currently based in West London, England. Their releases are distributed to digital platforms ...
. ''Blue Weekend'' was preceded by four singles—"
The Last Man on Earth", "Smile", "No Hard Feelings" and "How Can I Make It OK?". The album received widespread acclaim from music critics, with many naming it the band's best work, and was shortlisted for the
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
in 2021.
Release
On 24 February 2021, Wolf Alice announced the album's title and initial release date of 11 June, alongside the release of lead single "The Last Man on Earth".
On 3 May 2021, the band announced that they would be bringing the album's release earlier by one week, to 4 June.
Promotion
Singles
''Blue Weekend'' was preceded by four singles. "The Last Man on Earth" was released on 24 February 2021 as the album's
lead single
A lead single (also known as a debut single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
Release s ...
.
It was
premiered by
Annie Mac on her
eponym
An eponym is a person, a place, or a thing after whom or which someone or something is, or is believed to be, named. The adjectives which are derived from the word eponym include ''eponymous'' and ''eponymic''.
Usage of the word
The term ''epon ...
ous
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
Radio program, where Ellie Rowsell and Theo Ellis from the band co-hosted with her. The music video was released on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...
an hour after Mac's radio show started.
"Smile" was released on 20 April 2021 as the album's second single. It was premiered the same way as its predecessor.
"No Hard Feelings" was released on 11 May 2021, an hour earlier than the previous two on
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
's Apple Music show, with the music video again released on YouTube an hour afterwards.
"How Can I Make It OK?" was released on 3 June 2021 as the fourth and last single of the album along with a music video on YouTube.
Critical reception
''Blue Weekend'' received widespread acclaim from music critics, many of whom described it as their best album. On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, which assigns a normalized rating of 100, the album received an average score of 91, based on 19 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".
It was ranked as the third highest-rated album of
2021
File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...
on the website at the time of release.
Music publication ''The Forty-Five'' awarded the album 5/5 stars, calling ''Blue Weekend'' "a ballsy idyll of feeling: the sound of a band satisfying themselves rather than proving themselves, and completely filling the space they've carved out over the years."
''Blue Weekend'' was nominated for the
Mercury Prize
The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual music prize awarded for the best album released in the United Kingdom by a British or Irish act. It was created by Jon Webster and Robert Chandler in association with the B ...
in 2021, and multiple
NME Awards
The ''NME'' Awards is an annual music awards show in the United Kingdom, founded by the music magazine '' NME'' (''New Musical Express''). The first awards show was held in 1953 as the ''NME'' Poll Winners Concerts, shortly after the founding ...
in 2022.
Accolades
Commercial performance
''Blue Weekend'' debuted at number one on the
UK Albums Chart
The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...
with 36,182 copies sold in its first week, becoming Wolf Alice's first number-one album. It was the biggest-selling album of 2021 in UK independent record shops.
Track listing
Personnel
Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Blue Weekend''.
Wolf Alice
*
Ellie Rowsell
Ellen Ciara Rowsell (born 19 July 1992) is an English singer and musician from North London. She serves as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the Mercury Prize winning indie rock band Wolf Alice. Rowsell is known for her soprano voice.
Early ...
– vocals, guitar, piano, bass, programming,
Mellotron, synth,
Wurlitzer
The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati in 1853 by German immigrant (Franz) Rudolph Wurlitzer. The company initially imported stringed, woodwind and brass instruments ...
, string arrangement
* Joff Oddie – guitar, piano, backing vocals,
glock
Glock is a brand of polymer-Receiver (firearms), framed, Recoil operation#Short recoil operation, short recoil-operated, locked-breech semi-automatic pistols designed and produced by Austrian manufacturer Glock Ges.m.b.H., Glock Ges.m.b.H. The ...
, programming, synth, claps,
electric upright bass
The electric upright bass (EUB) is an instrument that can perform the musical function of a double bass.
It requires only a minimal or 'skeleton' body to produce sound because it uses a pickup and electronic amplifier and loudspeaker. Therefore, ...
, bass,
tenor
A tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range lies between the countertenor and baritone voice types. It is the highest male chest voice type. The tenor's vocal range extends up to C5. The low extreme for tenors is wide ...
resonator
A resonator is a device or system that exhibits resonance or resonant behavior. That is, it naturally oscillates with greater amplitude at some frequencies, called resonant frequencies, than at other frequencies. The oscillations in a resonator ...
,
12-string
A twelve-string guitar (or 12-string guitar) is a steel-string guitar with 12 strings in six courses, which produces a thicker, more ringing tone than a standard six-string guitar. Typically, the strings of the lower four courses are tuned in o ...
, classical guitar, acoustic guitar
* Theo Ellis – bass, programming
* Joel Amey – drums, percussion, synth, backing vocals, guitar,
Stylophone, programming, claps
Additional musicians
*
Owen Pallett
Michael James Owen Pallett (born September 7, 1979) is a Canadian composer, violinist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Under their erstwhile moniker of Final Fantasy, Pallett won the 2006 Polaris Music Prize for the album '' He Poos Clouds''. Palle ...
– string arrangement, violin, viola
* Iain Berryman –
glasses
Glasses, also known as eyeglasses or spectacles, are vision eyewear, with lenses (clear or tinted) mounted in a frame that holds them in front of a person's eyes, typically utilizing a bridge over the nose and hinged arms (known as temples ...
, programming, keys, trumpet
* Joel Workman – electric upright bass
*
Michael Peter Olsen
Michael Peter Olsen (born June 28, 1974) is a Grammy nominated Canadian multi-instrumentalist, producer, engineer, composer and arranger currently based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Olsen has collaborated live on tour and on records with bands an ...
– cello
*
Markus Dravs
Markus Dravs is a British music producer, songwriter, programmer, engineer and mixer. His credits include Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Björk, Brian Eno, Sheep on Drugs, Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, The Maccabees and Kings o ...
– programming, synth
Technical
*
Markus Dravs
Markus Dravs is a British music producer, songwriter, programmer, engineer and mixer. His credits include Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Björk, Brian Eno, Sheep on Drugs, Mumford & Sons, Florence + the Machine, The Maccabees and Kings o ...
– production
* Iain Berryman – engineering, additional production
* Joel Workman – engineering assistance ; additional engineering
* Charlie Andrew – vocal production ; additional vocal production ; additional vocal recording
*
Mark "Spike" Stent
Mark "Spike" Stent (born 3 August 1965) is an English record producer and mixing engineer who has worked with many international artists including Madonna, Marshmello, U2, Beyoncé, Björk, Depeche Mode, Echo & The Bunnymen, Grimes, Ed She ...
– mixing
* Matt Wolach – mixing assistance
*
Ted Jensen
Ted Jensen (born September 19, 1954) is an American mastering engineer, known for having mastered many recordings, including the Eagles' ''Hotel California'', Green Day's '' American Idiot'' and Norah Jones' ''Come Away with Me''.
Biography
T ...
– mastering
Artwork
* Jordan Hemingway – creative direction, photography
*
Jamie Reid
Jamie Reid (born 16 January 1947 in London, United Kingdom) is an English artist and anarchist.
Career
His work, featuring letters cut from newspaper headlines in the style of a ransom note, came close to defining the image of punk rock, p ...
– art direction
* Aiden Miller – design
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
2021 albums
Wolf Alice albums
Albums produced by Markus Dravs
Dirty Hit albums
RCA Records albums