Stars is the debutstudio album by English musical theatre group Collabro. The album consists of selections from musical theatre and film as well as cover versions of two pop songs. It was released through Syco Music and Sony Music on 15 August 2014. Although receiving some critical reviews from publications such as AllMusic and Renowned for Sound, both of which have argued that the album starts off strong yet grows weaker in subsequent tracks, the release has been a commercial success. It debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart, knocking off the multi-week hold on the chart by x by Ed Sheeran. Examples of songs performed by Collabro in the album include "Bring Him Home", "Let It Go", and "Somewhere". The work has picked up mixed critical reviews, with AllMusic for example running a review that opined that the group needed more time to develop. However, the album has received a great deal of success such as in terms of international sales; in terms of the U.S., for instance, it reached #15 in the Top Heatseekers chart published by Billboard.
Background
Collabro won the eighth series of Britain's Got Talent on 8 June 2014. After they won, it was announced that they had signed to show judge Simon Cowell's record label Syco Music and would be releasing their debut studio album Stars in August 2014. It was also announced that they, along with show runner-up Lucy Kay, would go on tour together in 2015. In an interview with Digital Spy, the band explained that the nature of being a musical theatre act means they don't consider their new album a collection of cover versions. Jamie Lambert said, "I mean, people say it's covers, but they're not really, If you cover someone else's song, a pop song, that's a cover; we're not covering musical theatre songs, we're actually performing them – that's the difference. Because otherwise, anyone who'd ever sang musical theatre would be doing a cover of someone else and that's not the case. You know, with musical theatre you take on a character so I think that that's our argument with it. We're not doing covers, we're a musical theatre band, we're performing roles, and that's the difference." He also said, "And I don't think there'll be a backlash, I genuinely think we have a very dedicated fan base, it's an amazing sound, and I really hope everyone loves it."
Critical reception
Stars has received mixed to negative reviews from several critics in various publications. Criticism was mainly focused on the fact that the album's nature of having covers without any new, original songs made it sound reminiscent of 'karaoke'. For example, Renowned for Sound gave a somewhat negative review that awarded the album two and a half stars out of five. The website's critic praised the beginning of the album but also argued, "Collabro’s drive for timely perfection result in covers that are charmless compared to the originals." The publication Young Post awarded the album three stars out of five, stating that the band members "sometimes try too hard" while still praising their maturity on the track "Bring Him Home" ''. In addition, Allmusic published a mixed though mostly supportive review by critic Timothy Monger that also cited "Bring Him Home" as well as "Stars" as highlights of the album. He remarked that the group appeared "at their strongest here as musical thespians" in terms of song choice, and he felt that the "familiar" sounding work revealed that Collabro needed time to "develop off-camera".
Chart performance
On 24 August 2014, Stars debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, ending Ed Sheeran's eight-week run at number one with his album x. It sold 49,749 copies in its first week. It dropped down three places to number four the following week, staying in the top 10 for four weeks. As of March 2017, Stars has sold 209,516 copies in the UK. Stars has received a considerable amount of international success as well. In the U.S., it reached #15 in the Top Heatseekers chart published by Billboard.
