''From the Roots Up'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

released by English singer-songwriter

Delilah Delilah ( ; , meaning "delicate";Gesenius's ''Hebrew-Chaldee Lexicon'' ar, دليلة, Dalīlah; grc, label=Greek, Δαλιδά, Dalidá) is a woman mentioned in the sixteenth chapter of the Book of Judges in the Hebrew Bible. She is loved b ...

. The album was released on 30 July 2012 via

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. The album's release follows the release of four hit singles: "Go", "Love You So", "Breathe", and a cover of

Minnie Riperton Minnie Julia Riperton Rudolph (November 8, 1947 – July 12, 1979) was an American singer-songwriter best known for her 1975 single "Lovin' You" and her four octave D3 to F7 coloratura soprano range. She is also widely known for her use o ...

's "Inside My Love". The album entered 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 C ...

at number 5. Following the release of the album, "Shades of Grey" was also issued as a single. Delilah unveiled the album cover and tracklist on 16 May 2012.

Background

In 2008, Delilah chose a

Tottenham Tottenham () is a town in North London, England, within the London Borough of Haringey. It is located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Tottenham is centred north-northeast of Charing Cross, bordering Edmonton to the north, Waltham ...

studio to work on a college project, where she paired with a local producer to record four tracks. A friend who was associated with

Choice FM Capital XTRA (formerly Choice FM) is a Global-owned radio station that broadcasts on 96.9 FM and 107.1 FM in Greater London. Nationally, it is heard on DAB Digital Radio, Freesat, Sky, Virgin Media and Global Player. It specialises in hip ...

heard the songs and sent them to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

. Stoecker caught the attention of industry executives at major record labels. She spent the following weeks arranging interviews, until she was eventually signed to Atlantic Records. Stoecker was signed to

at the age of 17 and upon the three years to her debut release, gathered a large back catalogue of songs. the singer supported British

drum & bass Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...

dubstep Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken be ...

act

Chase & Status Chase & Status are an English electronic music duo composed of Saul Milton (Chase) and Will Kennard (Status). In addition, Andy Gangadeen is the drummer when the band performs live. MC Rage formerly performed as MC with the group, but left in Ju ...

during their two-year UK tour, ending in 2011. Stoecker featured a support vocalist, performing Time and Heartbeat, by soul singer Nneka. The duo claimed after hearing one of her tracks, they thought the singer sounded "fantastic". Stoecker co-wrote the track "

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...

", along with fellow artists

and

Plan B Plan B typically refers to a contingency plan, a plan devised for an outcome other than in the expected plan. Plan B may also refer to: * Plan B, a brand name of levonorgestrel, an emergency contraception drug Film and television * Plan B En ...

, she also provided vocals on the track. The single "Time" was released on 21 April 2011, where it peaked at number 21 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. Her writing credits were added to the track "Don't Be Afraid", on

Wretch 32 Jermaine Sinclaire Scott (born 9 March 1985), better known by his stage name Wretch 32, is a British rapper, singer and songwriter from Tottenham, North London. He was a member of the grime collective Combination Chain Gang, before forming The M ...

's second album ''

Black and White Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

''. Following the success of the tour with Chase & Status, Stoecker later joined

Maverick Sabre Michael Stafford (born 12 July 1990), better known as Maverick Sabre, is an Irish singer, songwriter, and rapper. Early life Sabre was born in Hackney, London. At age four, he moved with his family to New Ross, County Wexford, where he grew ...

as his main support act on his 2011 Autumn tour throughout the UK and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. She was also one of the many artists featured on the

BBC 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

live tour.

Singles

" Go" was released as the lead single from the album on 6 September 2011. The song peaked at number 17 on the

, and at number 9 on the

Danish Singles Chart Hitlisten, also known as Tracklisten, is a Danish top 40 record chart that is updated every Thursday midnight on the website hitlisten.nu. The weekly Danish singles chart Track Top-40 combines the 40 best-selling tracks from legal music downloads ...

. * " Love You So" was released as the second single from the album on 18 December 2011. The song peaked at number 118 on the

. " Breathe" was released as the third single from the album on 7 May 2012. The song peaked at number 87 on the

. "

Inside My Love "Inside My Love" is a 1975 single by Minnie Riperton from her album '' Adventures in Paradise''. It was co-written by Riperton, Leon Ware and Richard Rudolph. Critical reception BBC Music wrote "Of Ware’s tracks, the standout is Inside My Lo ...

" was released as the fourth single from the album on 15 July 2012, followed by the album fifteen days later. "

Shades of Grey Variations of gray or grey include achromatic grayscale shades, which lie exactly between white and black, and nearby colors with low colorfulness. A selection of a number of these various colors is shown below. Chart of computer web color ...

" was released as the fifth single from the album on 16 September 2012. "Never Be Another" was due to be released as the sixth single on 25 November 2012, featuring British rapper

Devlin Devlin may refer to: * Devlin (surname) * Devlin (given name) * Devlin (rapper), a British rapper * ''Devlin'' (TV series), a 1974 animated TV series by Hanna-Barbera * ''Devlin'', a 1988 novel by Roderick Thorp * ''The Devil and Max Devlin '' ...

. But the single was never released other than from preview on YouTube and SoundCloud, and no reason was given for the single remaining unreleased.

Reception

All music praised the album for its "atmospheric R&B, trip-hop, and singer/songwriter-inflected electronic pop". They continued to praise the "expertly crafted and sophisticated" music "that showcase a nice mix of synthetic, club-oriented sounds as well as more organic instrumentation". Vocally, the critics compared Delilah's voice to Barbadian singer

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

along with

Sade Sade may refer to: People * Marquis de Sade (1740–1814), French aristocrat, writer, and libertine * Sade (singer) (born 1959, Helen Folasade Adu), British Nigerian musician and lead singer of the eponymous band * Sade Baderinwa (born 1969), WAB ...

's more "hushed, smooth style".

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for ''From the Roots Up'' adapted from Allmusic *Paloma Ayana - Composer, Producer, Vocals *Balistiq - Additional Production, Piano, Producer, Programming *Ben Baptie - Mixing Assistant *Joe Barbo - A&R *Chris Booth - Guitar *Andy Burrows - Bass, Composer, Drums, Guitar, Producer *Neil Comber - Engineer, Mixing *Delilah - Primary Artist *Ben Drew - Composer *Tom Elmhirst - Mixing *Fiona Garden - Photography *Rosabella Gregory - Piano *Andy Hayes - Design, Layout *Charlie Hugall - Mixing, Producer *Chris Hugall - Mixing *Denis Ingoldsby - Management *Jacqui Lubin - Management *L.V. - Producer *Mikey J - Producer *Mazen Murad - Mastering *Conor O'Mahony - A&R *Reginald Perry - Composer *Plan B - Producer *Finley Quaye - Composer *Dean Reid - Engineer *Minnie Ripperton - Composer *Tom Rogerson - Piano *Richard J. Rudolph - -Composer *Paul Samuels - A&R *Andrew Stewart - Composer *Ryan Sutherland - Composer *Dan Vinci - Engineer *Leon Ware - Composer *Will Wortley - A&R *Tom Wright-Goss - Composer

Chart performance

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2012 debut albums Atlantic Records albums Delilah (musician) albums