''Sticks and Stones'' (stylized as ''Sticks + Stones'' for its European release and ''Sticks & Stones'' for its North American and Australian release) 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 ...

by English recording artist

Cher Lloyd Cher Lloyd (born 28 July 1993) is an English singer. She finished fourth place in the seventh series of ''The X Factor'' in 2010. Following the seventh series finale, Lloyd was signed to Syco Music. Her debut single, " Swagger Jagger", was r ...

. It was released on 4 November 2011, through

Syco Records Syco Music is a defunct division of Syco Entertainment founded by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. Originally founded as S Records, the label launched while Cowell was still employed by BMG, the label oversaw music rele ...

. Lloyd co-wrote five songs and worked with various producers and songwriters for her first full-length release, including The Runners,

Kevin Rudolf Kevin Winston Rudolf (born February 17, 1980) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, rapper, and multi-instrumentalist from New York City, New York. He is best known for his 2008 single " Let It Rock". Early life Kevin Winston Rud ...

, and

Savan Kotecha Savan Harish Kotecha is an American songwriter and record producer from Austin, Texas. Kotecha is of Indian (Gujarati) descent. He was also the executive music producer of the 2020 film '' Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga'', for ...

, among others. Lloyd herself called the album a "jukebox." The album was released on 2 October 2012 in the United States through

Epic Records Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...

. ''Sticks + Stones'' debuted at number four in the United Kingdom, selling 55,668 copies in its first week, and at number nine in the United States, selling around 33,000 copies. The album received mixed reviews from music critics. The album was preceded by the lead single, "

Swagger Jagger "Swagger Jagger" is the debut single by English singer Cher Lloyd, taken from her debut studio album '' Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the album's lead single on 31 July 2011. The song was written by the two production teams Th ...

", which was released on 29 July 2011. The song peaked at number two on the

Irish Singles Chart The Irish Singles Chart is the Republic of Ireland's music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) and compiled on their behalf by the Official Charts Company. Chart rankings are bas ...

and topped the Scottish and 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 ...

. "

With Ur Love "With Ur Love" is a song by English singer Cher Lloyd featuring vocals from American singer Mike Posner. The single was released on 4 October 2011, and was written by Shellback, Savan Kotecha, Max Martin and Posner and was produced by Shellba ...

" was confirmed as the second single from the album and was released on 30 October 2011, and became Lloyd's second consecutive top five single in both countries peaking at number four and five in the United Kingdom and Ireland. "

Want U Back "Want U Back" is a song by English singer Cher Lloyd from her debut studio album, '' Sticks and Stones'' (2011). It was released as the third single from the album on 3 February 2012, and it was released as the lead single from the US version o ...

", featuring American rapper

Astro Astro may refer to: Entertainment and media * Astro (South Korean band), a South Korean boy band * Astro (UB40) (1957–2021), member of the British reggae band UB40 * Astro (Chilean band), a Chilean indie rock band * Astro (Japanese band), ...

, was released as the third single on 19 February 2012.

Background and development

After the final of the seventh series of ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'', it was announced that Lloyd had been signed by

Syco Music Syco Music is a defunct division of Syco Entertainment founded by British entrepreneur and record executive Simon Cowell. Originally founded as S Records, the label launched while Cowell was still employed by BMG, the label oversaw music relea ...

. Songwriter

Autumn Rowe Autumn Rowe (born May 25, 1981), is an American singer-songwriter, TV personality, DJ and activist from South Bronx, New York, United States. In 2010, she helped write the song "Happiness" by Alexis Jordan, with producers Stargate and Deadmau5, w ...

and producer

RedOne Nadir Khayat ( ar, نادر الخياط; born 9 April 1972), better known by his stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan singer, songwriter, record producer and record executive. As a record producer and songwriter, he has worked with many high-profi ...

were soon rumoured to be working on Lloyd's debut album. On 28 July 2011, Lloyd previewed five tracks from the album during a UStream session, including tracks featuring

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after NFL and CFL wide receiver ...

Mike Posner Michael Robert Henrion Posner ( ; born February 12, 1988) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer.For Posner's full name, see He released his debut album, '' 31 Minutes to Takeoff'', in 2010. The album includes the US ''Billboa ...

Ghetts Justin Clarke, better known by his stage name Ghetts (formerly Ghetto), is a British grime MC, rapper and songwriter. His music has been played on national radio stations such as BBC Radio 1, Kiss 100, BBC Asian Network, and BBC Radio 1Xtra. Cur ...

, Mic Righteous and

Dot Rotten Joseph Ellis-Stephenson (born 19 October 1988), better known by his stage name Dot Rotten or Zeph Ellis, is a British grime MC, rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer from Lambeth, South London. Having released a series of mixtapes inde ...

. Lloyd signed a record deal with

in the United States. To promote ''Sticks and Stones'', Lloyd embarked on her first concert tour, the Sticks and Stones Tour, beginning in March 2012, visiting various venues across the United Kingdom.

Singles

", the album's lead single, first leaked onto the internet on 15 June 2011. The single was released officially on 31 July 2011, reaching number one on the

on 7 August 2011. As of December 2011, the single's sales have exceeded 220,000 copies. "

", the album's second single, features vocals from American singer

. The single was released on 30 October 2011. The single peaked at number five in Ireland, number four in the United Kingdom and number three in Scotland. It has since sold over 200,000 copies. A solo version of the song was released as the third and final single from the album in the US version, and a different video was filmed. "

" was released as the third official single from the album. It has sold over 120,000 copies in the UK. The British single version features vocals from American rapper

. The single was released on 19 February 2012. Parris directed the video. A solo version of the song served as Lloyd's debut single and the first from the album in the United States, released on Epic Records, run by her manager, L.A. Reid. The song sold around 2,000,000 copies, being certified double-platinum in America. 'Want U Back' is Lloyd's most successful single to date. "

Oath Traditionally an oath (from Anglo-Saxon ', also called plight) is either a statement of fact or a promise taken by a sacrality as a sign of verity. A common legal substitute for those who conscientiously object to making sacred oaths is to ...

", produced by

Dr. Luke Lukasz Sebastian Gottwald (born September 26, 1973), known professionally as Dr. Luke, Tyson Trax, and Made in China, is an American record producer and songwriter. His professional music career began in the late-night television sketch comedy ...

and

Cirkut Henry Russell Walter (born April 23, 1986), known professionally as Cirkut, is a Canadian record producer and songwriter. He has co-produced and co-written for Dr. Luke, Katy Perry, Becky G, Ava Max, Nicki Minaj, R. City, The Weeknd, Kesha, Ciar ...

, was released as the second US Single on 4 October 2012. The track features American singer and rapper

Becky G Rebbeca Marie Gomez (born March 2, 1997), known professionally as Becky G, is an American singer and actress. She first gained recognition in 2011 when she began posting videos of herself covering popular songs online. One of her videos caught t ...

. It sold around 500,000 copies in the US, being certified Gold. The track was released as a single in the United States, Canada, Australia and New Zealand only.

Promotional singles

On 21 October 2011, Cher Lloyd released the studio version for her cover of Shakespears Sister's "

Stay Stay may refer to: Places * Stay, Kentucky, an unincorporated community in the US Law * Stay of execution, a ruling to temporarily suspend the enforcement of a court judgment * Stay of proceedings, a ruling halting further legal process in a tri ...

" and the pre-order of "Sticks and Stones." The song "Dub on the Track" featuring Mic Righteous, Dot Rotten &

had a music video released on 13 December 2011. On September 1, 2012, Talkin' That was released as the first promotional single from the Sticks & Stones U.S. version.

Critical reception

Critical reception for the album has been mixed. At

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 51, based on 8 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". '' The Sun'' stated: "It's a real mixed bag of an album, with some solid pop songs on the tracklisting. Cher's sound works best when it's light and poppy on songs Grow Up, End Up Here and Superhero – which remind you of early

Lily Allen Lily Rose Beatrice Allen (born 2 May 1985) is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings publi ...

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 databas ...

gave the album three out of five stars, they said: "When Lloyd stops trying so hard, she's actually a pretty compelling pop star. "Want U Back" and "End Up Here" are both infectious examples of cutesy pure pop that recall

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the " Princess of Pop", she is credited with influencing the revival of teen pop during the late 1990s and early 2000s. After appearing in stage productio ...

" adding "At times, ''Sticks + Stones'' sounds like such a calculated effort to copy everything that's hot in 2011 that it's likely to feel utterly irrelevant by the time the clock strikes 12 on New Year's Eve."

BBC Music BBC Music is responsible for the music played across the BBC. The current director of music is Bob Shennan, who is also the controller of BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 6 Music, and the BBC Asian Network. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio o ...

gave the album a positive review, they said: "Cher has a natural and charismatic vocal presence throughout" and ultimately called it "A sassy, splashy modern pop album that's much better than its dodgy lead single". ''

Digital Spy Digital Spy (DS) is a British-based entertainment, television and film website and brand and is the largest digital property at Hearst UK. Since its launch in 1999, Digital Spy has focused on entertainment news related to television programmes, ...

'' awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "Want U Back", "With Ur Love", "Playa Boi" and "Grow Up" are all tracks worthy of downloading, and went on to praise "Dub on the Track" as "loaded with attitude that few could pull off".

Virgin Media Virgin Media is a British telecommunications company which provides telephone, Cable television, television and Internet access, internet services in the United Kingdom. Its headquarters are at Green Park in Reading, Berkshire, Reading, Engla ...

gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "''Sticks + Stones'' is a very pleasant shock. It's sparky and restless and sustains Lloyd's mini rapping firebrand/cute crooner aesthetic through a quickfire run of 10 top-notch songs." ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' gave the album 5 out of 10, they said: 'Grow Up', a grossly irritating slice of tweenish ragga-pop driven home with are-we-there-yet insistency, still-hideous 'Swagger Jagger' and bulldozing dubstep territory on 'Dub on the Track' but when ''Sticks + Stones'' stops charging about the place, there's evidence to suggest Cher is actually quite good at this pop malarkey. 'Want U Back' is a sassy bit of bubble-drunk pop, while 'End Up Here' finds Cher adopting a

Beyoncé Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...

-aping vocal style with not-at-all-bad results. ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, and popular cul ...

'' also gave the album a positive review, awarded it a B grade. They wrote "With her manic lowbrow sass – tiresome at length but lovable on singles like ''Want U Back'' – she makes these street-laced pop tracks her own in Sticks & Stones". Discussing Lloyd herself, they said she "has enough charisma for both sides of the Atlantic". They also declared "

" and "

" the best tracks. ''

Glamour Glamour may refer to: Arts Film * ''Glamour'' (1931 film), a British film * ''Glamour'' (1934 film), an American film * ''Glamour'' (2000 film), a Hungarian film Writing * ''Glamour'' (magazine), a magazine for women * ''The Glamour ...

'' also praised the album. They said that "While Sticks & Stones isn't an album that will change the world, its radio-ready dance-pop and high-spirited energy is harmless and infectious enough to earn her an army of new fans in America", and laid heavy praise on "

" and "Behind the Music".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number seven in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, 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 four behind new releases of

Susan Boyle Susan Magdalane Boyle (born 1 April 1961) is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of ''Britain's Got Talent'', singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from '. Boyle's debut studio album, ''I D ...

Florence and the Machine Florence and the Machine (stylised as Florence + the Machine) are an English indie rock band that formed in London in 2007, consisting of lead vocalist Florence Welch, keyboardist Isabella Summers, guitarist Rob Ackroyd, harpist Tom Monger, and ...

and

Michael Bublé Michael Steven Bublé ( ; born September 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer. A four-time Grammy Award winner, he is often credited for helping to renew public interest and appreciation for traditional pop standards and the Great American Songboo ...

. The album sold 55,668 copies in its opening week. As of September 2013, the album is certified gold by the BPI for shipments of 100,000 copies.

Track listing

Notes *"Playa Boi" interpolates portions of the composition entitled "

Buffalo Stance "Buffalo Stance" is a song by Swedish singer Neneh Cherry, released from her debut album, '' Raw Like Sushi'' (1989), in November 1988. The song peaked at 3 on both the UK Singles Chart and the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, and it reached No. 1 in ...

" by Neneh Cherry. *"Swagger Jagger" interpolates melodic portions of the composition entitled " Oh My Darling Clementine" * signifies a co-producer * signifies a vocal producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2011 debut albums Albums produced by Cirkut Albums produced by Dr. Luke Albums produced by Max Martin Albums produced by RedOne Albums produced by the Runners Albums produced by Shellback (record producer) Albums produced by Toby Gad Cher Lloyd albums Epic Records albums Albums produced by TMS (production team)