The Entertainer (Alesha Dixon album)

The Entertainer
Studio album by Alesha Dixon
Released	29 November 2010
Recorded	2010
Genre	R&B hip hop electronica dance
Length	41:14
Label	Asylum Atlantic
Producer	Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins Toby Gad Jim Beanz Soulshock & Karlin Shahid "Naughty Boy" Khan
Alesha Dixon chronology
The Alesha Show (2008)The Alesha Show2008 The Entertainer (2010) Do It For Love (2015)Do It For Love2015
Singles from The Entertainer
"Drummer Boy" Released: 23 August 2010 "Take Control" Released: 31 October 2010 "Radio" Released: 28 November 2010 "Every Little Part of Me" Released: 27 February 2011[1]

The Entertainer is the third studio album by English recording artist Alesha Dixon. It was released on 29 November 2010 in the United Kingdom by Asylum Records, and Atlantic Records in the United States. The album's lead single, "Drummer Boy", was released on 5 September 2010. The album's second single, "Radio", was released on 28 November 2010. The album was originally planned to be named Unleashed, however the plans were scrapped and The Entertainer was decided upon instead.^[2]

Background and development

In early 2010, Dixon began work on The Entertainer her third studio album. On 15 March Dixon flew to Denmark to begin recording with Soulshock & Karlin, the producers of Dixon's "Breathe Slow".^[3] Dixon's fan site later reported that Dixon had secured a recording session with Rodney Jerkins, a record producer who has produced records for Michael Jackson's final studio album Invincible and most recently produced Lady Gaga and Beyoncé's "Telephone".^[4] In May 2010 the Daily Star claimed that Dixon has been working with producer Jim Beanz and that Beanz stated "We're going to build some up-tempo dance songs to take the UK and the US by storm".^[5] She hopes to release the album in the US.

Dixon herself later confirmed via a diary update on her official site that she had recorded two new tracks with Soulshock & Karlin and also revealed she had just finished recording a new track named "Bionic".^[6] Dixon described "Bionic" as "a powerful, fun, quirky song all about being strong when life tests you".^[6] On 16 June Dixon revealed on a post on her fansite that the upcoming album is to be called Unleashed,^[7] and on 30 June her fansite president revealed the lead single is a track called "Drummer Boy", produced by Haitian-American producer, Shama Joseph or "ShamRock".^[8] Dixon has also announced that she has worked with Busbee, who wrote Alexandra Burke's "Bad Boys", on new tracks for her album, and has also announced that she and Gary Barlow have "become good friends" and he is to write for her new album.^[9]

Dixon has stated that for her new album, The Entertainer, she is departing from the image of her previous album The Alesha Show, and has chosen to rap in some of the album's songs again, like she once did as member of girlband Mis-Teeq.^[10] Dixon stated with regards to The Entertainer: "The album shows lots of different layers. There's character songs like 'Drummer Boy', 'Baddest Chick', 'The Entertainer' that are really about playing a role. And then there are songs like 'Cool With Me' and 'Love In A Box' that deal with real issues."^[10] Dixon also stated her ambitions to release the album in the United States in a BBC interview.^[10] Dixon described the album in an interview with Company magazine that "I think this album is the one people expected me to do when I left Mis-Teeq", also describing it as "a lot tougher".^[11]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[12]
Daily Express	[13]
Daily Star	(mixed)[14]
The Independent	[15]
musicOMH	[16]
Yahoo! Music	[17]
Virgin Media	[18]

The Entertainer received mixed to positive reviews from music critics. Matthew Chisling from AllMusic rated it 4 stars out of 5 and wrote positively that: "Every line to every song on The Entertainer is brassy, reflecting a more confident and sexy pop star". Chisling further say that: " It's hard to tell so early in Alesha's solo career whether she'll be more of a household name over the next few years, but a follow-up release this promising from a solo pop-hop female vocalist, as Alesha puts it herself, has not been found since Rihanna's third album, Good Girl Gone Bad. Alesha isn't just making a claim; an entertainer, she definitely is".^[12] Ash Dosanjh of Yahoo! Music wrote that Dixon "displays an ability to effortlessly fuse mainstream pop with bombastic R&B and dance beats" and noticed that The Entertainer "triumphs as an album surging with mischievous attitude rather than surly aggression".^[17] Johnny Dee of Virgin Media noticed that "it's the full on pop tracks that work best: "Radio", "Colour" and "Cool With Me" are all huge sing-along anthems, while guest raps from Roll Deep and Wiley [...] give the album a little grimy edge".^[18] Simon Gage from Daily Express wrote that Dixon is "still turning out credible pop/dance tracks" and felt that the album "can hold its head up among the Rihannas of this world if not the Lady Gagas".^[13]

Michael Ashton of musicOMH described The Entertainer as "an album of diverse dance floor tracks that emulates some of pop and R&B's recent omnipresent female chart toppers such as Rihanna, Cheryl Cole and Lady Gaga" and praised the songs "Radio" and "Every Part of Me", but ultimately felt that it "fails to satisfy as a coherent album".^[16] Sarah-Louise James of the Daily Star described the album as "a club record with a distinctly American feel" that "boasts the kind of precision-tooled pop beats Britney and Lady Gaga love", but found it "autotuned to the max" and concluded by stating that "a woman in her 30s should leave “I’m the baddest chick”-type posturing to the teens".^[14] Andy Gill from The Independent gave a negative review, saying that "the music is anonymous, nibbling technopop inflated to cumbersome size, over which Alesha's voice is treated into similar anonymity, delivering the usual vapid sentiments with the usual bogus attitude" and awarding the album one out of five stars.^[15]

Promotion

As a judge on Strictly Come Dancing, she performed live during week 7 of series 8.^[19] She appeared on Tamil Television Network, TTN to promote The Entertainer and her single "Drummer Boy". In 2010, in order to promote her singles and her new album, Dixon appeared at many festival, including Freedom Festival^[20] She later performed at MOBO Awards 2010 at Liverpool. Alesha later announced that she will be travelling to the United States to promote her album, for an April release.^[21]

Singles

"Drummer Boy" which was officially released 23 August 2010, was written by Shama Joseph, Nate Walka, Deodrick Jackson, James Riles. The single was heavily praised, by the BBC, Popjustice. Fraser McAlpine said he was "delighted to report that it is enjoyment all the way".^[22] The single was accompanied by a music video which was directed by Norwegian director Ray Kay, with the shoot taking place in Los Angeles.^[23] "Drummer Boy" eventually debuted at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart. It was announced in the middle of September 2010, that "Take Control" would be Roll Deep's third single from their debut album, Winner Stays On, and Dixon would feature guest vocals on the single. It was Alesha's first collaboration. With very little promotion the single charted at number 29 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Radio" was confirmed at the second official single, released from The Entertainer. Alesha performed the song on Strictly Come Dancing on 14 November 2010. The single was written by Scottish singer-songwriter, Emeli Sandé and Shahid Khan.^[24] The reception of the song was positive, with one critic comparing the song to Robyn's "Dancing on My Own".^[25] However, despite promotion in the form of performances on high-profile programmes such as Strictly Come Dancing, the song was a commercial failure, and stalled outside of the Top 40. "Every Little Part of Me" is the third single released from 'The Entertainer'. It features English urban singer Jay Sean. Dixon confirmed this, just before the release of "Radio".^[26] The video was released on 13 January 2011 on YouTube.^[27] It is to be released on 27 February digitally in the United Kingdom, and physically a day after; the song was released onto the United States iTunes on 22 February.

Track listing

Personnel

• Rankin – photography

Charts

Release history

References