''Guilty Pleasure '' is the second
studio album by American recording artist
Ashley Tisdale. It was released on June 11, 2009, by
Warner Bros. Records
Warner Records Inc. (formerly Warner Bros. Records Inc.) is an American record label. A subsidiary of the Warner Music Group, it is headquartered in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on March 19, 1958, as the recorded music division of the ...
. The lead single from the album, "
It's Alright, It's OK", premiered on ''
On Air with Ryan Seacrest
''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM as the television show with the same name, ...
'' and was officially released on April 14, 2009.
The album debuted at number 12 on the
''Billboard'' 200, selling 25,000 copies in its first week.
The second single from ''Guilty Pleasure'', "
Crank It Up" was released on October 16, 2009, in Europe. The song Switch was featured in the 2009 film
Aliens In The Attic.
The album ranked #7 on Billboard's reader poll for album of the decade and best album of 2009.
Background and release
In April 2008, she said that she has recorded a few songs for the album and she would fully focus on the album after filming ''High School Musical 3''. Tisdale has noted that the songs in the album have a message and a story that anyone can relate to, and hoped to reveal her "edgier" side with more mature songs. She also said the album was titled ''Guilty Pleasure'' because of her guilty pleasures. Tisdale was involved in every aspect of the album's production. Tisdale's music inspirations for the album include
Katy Perry and
Pat Benatar
Patricia Mae Giraldo ('' née'' Andrzejewski, formerly Benatar; born January 10, 1953), known professionally as Pat Benatar, is an American rock singer and songwriter. In the United States, she has had two multi-platinum albums, five platinum al ...
.
The song "Switch" is also featured in the motion picture ''
Aliens in the Attic'', which Tisdale starred in.
Warner Bros. said the first component of the label's album roll out was revealing Tisdale's new look with a relaunch of her web site in March and the cover of ''
Cosmopolitan
Cosmopolitan may refer to:
Food and drink
* Cosmopolitan (cocktail), also known as a "Cosmo"
History
* Rootless cosmopolitan, a Soviet derogatory epithet during Joseph Stalin's anti-Semitic campaign of 1949–1953
Hotels and resorts
* Cosmopoli ...
s April issue. "We wanted to create a conversation and then follow quickly with the music," he said.
The album was to be released on June 16, 2009 in North America, but it was pushed back to July 28, 2009, although it was released a month before, on June 12, 2009 in several countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. The album's release date in the US and Canada was preceded by an exclusive "Countdown to Guilty Pleasure" on
iTunes for the U.S. and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
, on which "Overrated", "
What If
What If may refer to:
Film
* ''What If'', a 2006 TV film starring Niall Buggy
* ''What If...'' (2010 film), an American film
* ''What If...'' (2012 film), a Greek film
* ''What If'' (2013 film) or ''The F Word'', a Canadian-Irish film
Telev ...
" and "Acting Out" had promotional releases in each week. The first two songs debuted on the ''
Billboard''
Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart due to digital downloads at number three and number one, respectively.
Composition
The first single, "
It's Alright, It's OK", Tisdale said, "is a strong, empowering song that kind of helps you move on" and continued to say: I have definitely on and with someone you really like, if they are cheating on you, you don't want to believe it. But, unfortunately, you either stay in the relationship and keep getting hurt because it keeps happening or you get up and you move on. You don't look back.
Tisdale said the song "Hot Mess" is "about hanging out with a motorcycle bad boy that makes life more interesting" and the song "How Do You Love Someone", written by
Porcelain Black
Alaina Marie Beaton (born October 1, 1985), known professionally as Porcelain Black, is an American singer-songwriter, rapper, and model. At age 16, she embarked on her music career as a solo act under the name Porcelain and the Tramps with Vir ...
, is "about a girl who deals with the split of her parents". Tisdale said the song could also be about "when you have been cheated on or you're in a relationship".
Black was initially reluctant to let Tisdale record the song, but eventually green-lit the track; however, she also recorded her own version, produced by
RedOne. Tisdale co-wrote several songs on the album such as "
What If
What If may refer to:
Film
* ''What If'', a 2006 TV film starring Niall Buggy
* ''What If...'' (2010 film), an American film
* ''What If...'' (2012 film), a Greek film
* ''What If'' (2013 film) or ''The F Word'', a Canadian-Irish film
Telev ...
", which was co-written with
Kara DioGuardi
Kara Elizabeth DioGuardi (; born December 9, 1970) is an American songwriter, record producer, music publisher, A&R executive, and singer. She writes music primarily in the pop rock genre. DioGuardi has worked with many popular artists; sales o ...
. Tisdale described "What If" as the most personal song on the album, and said the song "is about when you’re in a relationship and you say 'If I really needed you, would you actually be there?’"
Reception
Critical response
Following its release, ''Guilty Pleasure'' generated mixed reviews from critics and has a 48 out of 100 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 ...
, based on six critical reviews. The most positive of reviews came from
Allmusic
AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...
's Stephen Erlewine, who gave the album three and a half stars out of five, stating that when Tisdale "sticks to the surface, she makes sure that Guilty Pleasure lives up to its title". The ballads however, were not as well received, stating Tisdale "isn't convincing when she tries to deal in either pain or carnality".
''
Billboard'' gave the album a mixed review with four and a half stars out of ten, stating Tisdale "can deliver the radio-ready goods" but criticized the album as a whole and that it "doesn't give the singer room to comfortably let loose".
Digital Spy's Nick Levine praised ''Guilty Pleasure'' for Tisdale's new sound, comparing her to the likes of
Kelly Clarkson
Kelly Brianne Clarkson (born April 24, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, author, and television personality. She rose to fame after winning the first season of ''American Idol'' in 2002, which earned her a record deal with RCA. Her debu ...
and
Ashlee Simpson
Ashley Nicolle Ross ( Simpson; born October 3, 1984), known professionally as Ashlee Simpson, is an American singer and actress. The younger sister of singer and actress Jessica Simpson, she began her career as a back-up dancer for her sister ...
. Levine praised tracks such as "
It's Alright, It's OK", "Erase and Rewind" and "Hot Mess", however was not impressed with "
Crank It Up", stating it "shamelessly rips off Britney's robopop sound, right down to the Spears-aping vocals"; he went on to give the album three out of five stars.
The most negative of reviews came from Margaret Wappler of the ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the U ...
'' who only gave the album one and a half out of four stars. Wappler said the album has "few glimmers of hope" and went on to criticize the producers as "not seem
ngto have gifted Tisdale with their best work". The album was also ranked #7 on Billboard.com's Reader Poll for album of the decade and best album of 2009.
Chart performance
The album debuted on several European charts, the first appearances of the album were in the last week of June 2009, on Austrian Albums Chart and
German Albums Chart
The GfK Entertainment charts are the official music charts in Germany and are gathered and published by GfK Entertainment (formerly Media Control and Media Control GfK International), a subsidiary of GfK, on behalf of Bundesverband Musikindustr ...
, peaking at number seven and nine respectively, in the same week the album debuted at number 51 on
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The charts were previously compiled on behalf of IRMA by Chart-Track, and have been compiled by the ...
and rose to number 30 in the following week while in Spain, the album debuted at number 21 and rose to number nine in the second week. In the first week on August 2009, the album debuted at number 12 on the
''Billboard'' 200 selling 25,000 copies in its first week.
The album dropped out of the Billboard 200 after eight weeks on the chart. The album had sold 245,000 copies in the United States as of December 9, 2010.
Promotion
Tisdale embarked on a press European promo tour in March 2009, where she visited the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
, and
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
. Tisdale started a promo radio tour in May 2009 for United States. On April 14, 2009, she was presenting the
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 ...
of the album on ''
On Air with Ryan Seacrest
''On Air with Ryan Seacrest'' is a weekday syndicated radio program hosted by Ryan Seacrest. It was launched in 2004 as a drive time show at the same time on Los Angeles Top 40 station 102.7 KIIS-FM as the television show with the same name, ...
'', one month later she performed for first time a few songs from the album at the ''2009 KISS Concert'' on May 17, 2009. The music video of "It's Alright, It's OK" was shown in 6,600 movie theatres in the United States. In early June 2009, she started her second promotional tour for Europe, visiting Germany, Italy and
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, i ...
, here performed on several television shows, such as German ''
Wetten, dass..?'' and ''Comet Awards'', Spanish ''Fama'' and ''
Operación Triunfo'', and Italian ''
TRL TRL or trl may refer to:
Arts
* Temporary Residence Limited, a record label
* ''Total Request Live'', a former MTV show
* TRL Awards (''Total Request Live''), an Italian music award
Libraries
* Tampines Regional Library, a regional library in Ta ...
''. Her first performance in the American television was on June 16, 2009, performing the first single and "Masquerade" on ''
Good Morning America'', later Tisdale and her band promoted the album on several American television shows including ''
Today Show
''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It w ...
'' and ''
America's Got Talent''. Tisdale along with her band performed several free concerts across the United States, including the opening for the first
Microsoft Store
Microsoft Store (formerly known as Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It started as an app store for Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform app ...
on
Scottsdale, Arizona
, settlement_type = City
, named_for = Winfield Scott
, image_skyline =
, image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg
, image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg
, nick ...
on October 22, 2009. Later in the month she performed "It's Alright, It's OK" at the MTV Latin Video Music Awards held in Mexico. She also performed songs from ''Guilty Pleasure'' and recorded live performances for
AOL Sessions
AOL (stylized as Aol., formerly a company known as AOL Inc. and originally known as America Online) is an American web portal and online service provider based in New York City. It is a brand marketed by the current incarnation of Yahoo! Inc. ...
and
Walmart Soundcheck, the last being released as a digital
Extended Play
An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record. on August 4, 2009.
Singles
"
It's Alright, It's OK" was released as the album's lead single on April 14, 2009 in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
in both radio airplay and digital download formats.
The single debuted at #99 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the same week, making it Tisdale's lowest-charting official single on the chart.
[aCharts.us : It's Alright It's OK "Performance" on Charts](_blank)
aChart.us. Retrieved on 2009-07-21. The song's highest peak position was #5 on the
Austrian Singles Chart
Austrian may refer to:
* Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent
** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law
* Austrian German dialect
* Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...
.
"
Crank It Up" was released on October 16, 2009 as the album's second and final European single (also second and final overall).
The music video premiered on October 5, 2009 via
VIVA and was featured on MySpace on October 6, 2009.
Track listing
;Notes
*
signifies a vocal
producer
*
signifies a
remixer
Charts
Release history
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guilty Pleasure (Album)
2009 albums
Albums produced by Billy Steinberg
Albums produced by Dreamlab
Albums produced by Emanuel Kiriakou
Albums produced by the Matrix (production team)
Albums produced by Toby Gad
Albums produced by Twin
Ashley Tisdale albums
Warner Records albums
Albums produced by Oak Felder