''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter

Lianne La Havas Lianne Charlotte Barnes (born 23 August 1989), known professionally as Lianne La Havas ( ), is a British singer-songwriter and record producer. Her career began after being introduced to various musicians, including singer Paloma Faith, for who ...

. It was released in the United Kingdom on July 9, 2012, through

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

The album peaked at number 4 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 C ...

. The album was nominated for the 2012

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 ...

and 2013

Ivor Novello Awards The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They have been presented annually in London by the Ivors Academy (formerly the BASCA) since 1956, and over 1,000 statuettes have been a ...

Background

Whilst attending sixth-form in

Croydon Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...

, a friend of La Havas', the singer and songwriter Allan Rose (who had attended the

Brit School The BRIT School is a British performing and creative arts school located in Selhurst, Croydon, England, with a mandate to provide education and vocational training for the performing arts, music, music technology, theatre, musical theatre, danc ...

), introduced her to other musicians who would assist La Havas in the recording of her first demos. Through that same friend La Havas was also introduced to British singer

Paloma Faith Paloma Faith Blomfield (born 21 July 1981) is an English singer and actress. Her debut studio album, ''Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?,'' was released in 2009 and was certified double platinum in the UK. The album spawned the sing ...

; she later sang backing vocals on tour for Faith. La Havas was co-writer and performer in The Paris Parade alongside Christian Pinchbeck (who designed the artwork for ''Lost & Found'' and is also now part of the duo Memphis Industries duo Elephant); their short-lived career would kick off La Havas' career in commercial music. In 2010, Lianne signed to

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 ...

, spending two years developing her songwriting skills before releasing any music publicly. Her first EP ''Lost & Found'' was released on October 21, 2011, on the Labour of Love label, featuring

Willy Mason Willy Mason (born November 21, 1984) is an American singer-songwriter. Early life Mason was born in White Plains, New York, the son of Jemima James and Michael Mason, both songwriters. Mason is a direct descendant of the 19th-century phi ...

on the opening track "No Room For Doubt". That same month, La Havas released the live EP ''Live From LA'', which was made available for free download on her website. La Havas made her television debut on October 21, 2011, broadcast of

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream an ...

's ''

Later… with Jools Holland ''Later... with Jools Holland'' (also known as ''Even Later... with Jools Holland'', and previously known as ''Later Live... with Jools Holland'' and ''...Later with Jools Holland'') is a contemporary British music television show hosted by Jo ...

'', a programme that also featured Wisconsin folk band

Bon Iver Bon Iver ( ) is an American indie folk band founded in 2006 by singer-songwriter Justin Vernon. Vernon released Bon Iver's debut album, ''For Emma, Forever Ago,'' independently in July 2007. The majority of the album was recorded while Vernon ...

; soon after this on October 25, 2011, it was announced that La Havas would be the supporting act for

's December 2011 North American tour.

Release and promotion

Her official debut single "Lost & Found" was released in the UK on April 30, 2012, and her debut album, was released on July 9, 2012, on Warner Brothers. "Forget" was released as the second single from the album on December 30, 2011. "Lost & Found" was released as the third single from the album on April 27, 2012. "Is Your Love Big Enough?" was released as the fourth single from the album on May 22, 2012. The song was heavily contributed to the 2014 documentary film ''

The Distortion of Sound ''The Distortion of Sound'' is a 2014 advertisement for Harman International Industries, Harman produced by Vice Media. The advertisement presents itself as a documentary on the decline of sound quality in music distributed with lossy compression ...

'', which features Lianne and her live performance of the single. "Age" was released as the fifth single from the album on December 3, 2012. At the end of 2012, ''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' was named iTunes Album of the Year. On September 24, 2012, September La Havas supported

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Col ...

at MTV 'Crashes' Manchester, a live performance in front of 1,000 people in Manchester Cathedral, which was broadcast in 164 countries. On December 31, 2012, she appeared on

's New Year's Eve show ''Jools' Annual Hootenanny'' singing ''Cow Cow Boogie''. On June 9, 2013, La Havas played at the RockNess music festival in

Inverness Inverness (; from the gd, Inbhir Nis , meaning "Mouth of the River Ness"; sco, Innerness) is a city in the Scottish Highlands. It is the administrative centre for The Highland Council and is regarded as the capital of the Highlands. Histori ...

, Scotland, and on June 30, 2013, La Havas performed at the

Glastonbury Festival 2013 The 2013 Glastonbury Festival, Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was held from 26 to 30 June 2013. It followed a fallow year, in which there was no festival. Ticket sales On 20 June 2012 it was announced that tickets for the ...

. La Havas also performed at the Isle of Wight Festival in June 2013.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 75, based on 15 reviews, which indicates "Generally favorable reviews". ''

Gaffa ''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and ...

'' listed ''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' the 30th best album of 2012 by a non-Danish artist.

Track listing

* The enhanced CD gives access to videos of an exclusive track-by-track interview. * All writing and production credits have been taken from ''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' booklet.

Release formats

;''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' (Standard edition) * Standard 12 tracks ;''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' (Deluxe edition) * Standard 12 tracks * Bonus 4 live tracks * 2 posters * 12-page booklet * 3-panel softpack case ;''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' (Limited vinyl edition) * MP3 download * Standard 12 tracks * Bonus 7" vinyl featuring two bonus tracks * Two exclusive 12" artcard prints ;''Is Your Love Big Enough?'' (iTunes Festival) * Standard 12 tracks * 3 bonus videos, live from the iTunes Festival 2012

Charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

Lianne La Havas: Is Your Love Big Enough? – review -The Guardian
{{Authority control 2012 debut albums Warner Records albums Lianne La Havas albums