Villains (Emma Blackery album)


Villains is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Emma Blackery, released on 31 August 2018 under her RWG Records label. Four tracks were also published as [|singles]. Toby Scott was the main producer of all songs.
Blackery promoted several Villains tracks as music videos, at VidCon in the US, and with HMV in the UK. In October, she went on the [|Villains Tour] with fifteen concerts in northern Europe and the UK.

Background

The album contains songs written in collaboration with Toby Scott, Maxwell Cooke and Peter Hutchings. BroadwayWorld noted that "Petty" "flirts with tropical house", and the Express & Star cited elements of power pop. Lisa Hafey, praising "Third Eyes "upbeat disco sound" and "nice ABBA-y vibe", called Villains "a bit of a feminist album". In June, Blackery performed "Third Eye" live at the 9th VidCon Night of Awesome. Blackery then partnered with HMV for a UK tour. Villains reached number 24 on the UK Albums Chart and number 18 on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart.
All of the songs from the album were previewed in some form prior to its release. Blackery's YouTube series 'In Pursuit Of A Dream' showcased occasional glimpses of the recording of vocals for the album as well as the production as she worked primarily with producer Toby Scott. The album was released under digital download, CD, LP and cassette formats together with limited yellow and red vinyl editions.

Singles

On 16 March 2018, RWG Records released "Dirt", produced by Toby Scott. The song, on Spotify's New Music Friday UK playlist, was described by Record of the Day as a "slick combination of Scandi-pop" and "sassy American pop"; Blackery described "Dirt" as "best served cold". She also released "Agenda" that month with a lyric video on Vevo, followed by "Icarus" and "Take Me Out".

Villains Tour

The European Villains Tour planned for March 2018 was postponed until October. The three-week tour began at Oslo's Parkteatret on 4 October, followed by performances in Stockholm, Copenhagen, Sugarfactory, Hamburg, Berlin, Vienna, Munich, Cologne, Frankfurt, Academy 2, O2 Institute2, The Garage and Tramshed before ending at KOKO in London on 25 October. A Never Enough Notes reviewer at KOKO saw "angst, passion, and energy in every word" and wrote that Blackery has "a knack for live shows; full of attitude, high energy and a phenomenal vocal performance".

Track listing

Charts Peak Position
UK Albums Chart24
UK Album Sales14
UK Album Downloads19
UK Indie Albums6
UK Physical Albums15
US Heatseeker Albums18
Scottish Albums21