Belladonna of Sadness is the debut studio album by American singer Alexandra Savior, released on April 7, 2017, by Columbia Records.[4] It was written by Savior and English musician Alex Turner in 2014, mainly on acoustic guitar, at his Los Angeles home. It was produced in Hollywood by James Ford and Turner, alongside bass player Zach Dawes. Savior painted the album artwork herself, which depicts an Atropa belladonna with a flower resembling a red button. Its title refers to the 1973 Japanese anime of the same name.
Belladonna of Sadness was released to generally favorable reviews from critics and was named one of the 30 best albums of the year by The Independent.[5] The album was promoted by the singles "Shades", "M.T.M.E.", "Mystery Girl", "Mirage", and "Vanishing Point".
Background and recording
In mid-2013, Savior moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career.[6] Around September of that year, she signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, which she chose as the other labels were interested in modeling her after established pop artists such as Katy Perry or Pink.[1] Savior was in the process of writing her album with different songwriters, but felt those sessions were leading her nowhere.[1][7] She met English musician Miles Kane at a party, where they jokingly talked about doing something together. Shortly afterwards, she suggested working with either, Kane, or his friend Alex Turner to her label.[8][6]
Columbia contacted Turner and arranged a meeting. A week later Savior and Turner met at a coffee shop, and found out they had a lot in common musically. Savior said "We went back to his house and listened to records. I played him some acoustic songs that I had been writing and worked on them and wrote a song that day."[8][6][9] Savior found the experience to be hard at first, but having written with other musicians in the past helped.[8] She said the process was "pretty collaborative", and described Turner as being "much more organised", compared to her more "fluid" approach.[6][9] Savior would first work on melodies and lyrics by herself, and later bring them to Turner's house where they would build on those ideas together. Bass player Zach Dawes would often come by Turner's house during their sessions, and ended up writing the bass line for "Girlie".[6] Once the songs were written they would record demos onto an 8-trackTascam.[1][10] The writing process took over a year and half, due to Turner's other commitments, Savior said, "I didn't want to wait around so I kind of tried to work with other people but as the musical relationship developed and the songs stated to come with more of a consistent theme. I had to stop working with other people as I felt like I was cheating on him or something, like cheating on the record.”[1]
In 2015, Savior began recording material at Vox Studios in Hollywood. Turner's frequent collaborator James Ford co-produced the album at his request.[11][12] The studio setup for the album mostly consisted of Savior, Turner and Ford, with the three occasionally joined by bassist Zach Dawes. Ford played drums and keys, with Turner on guitar and sometimes bass, as Savior described her playing as "elementary level." Because of her inexperience, Savior felt nervous at first but as the sessions went on she said “I was puppeteering James more than he preferred, I'm sure.”[13][14] The record was done by June 2015.[6] The recording process for Belladonna of Sadness was captured by film director Ben Chappell in the video "Alexandra Savior – An Introduction", which featured on Savior's YouTube channel.[15]
Belladonna of Sadness was released to mostly positive reviews. Paste praised Savior's singing, comparing her style to Françoise Hardy and Lana Del Rey.[22] There were mixed reviews from The Guardian, writing that the album made Savior sound more "like an imitation, than the real thing."[23] and from Pitchfork, writing "Instead of a debut album that flaunts the dynamism of a new artist, the result is an album that barely even feels like one—or, at the very least, only vaguely resembles a collaborative effort that casts Savior as the hostess of Turner's discount ideas."[24]
Retrospective commentary
In 2018, Alex Turner claimed that the use of a TASCAM 388 8-track, to record Savior's album demos, helped him put together his own demos for Arctic Monkeys's sixth studio album Tranquility Base Hotel & Casino (2018).[10] In 2023, producer James Ford claimed Belladonna of Sadness was the most underrated record he had been a part of, adding, "I remember really enjoying making that and thinking it sounded great, [...] There's lots of ones that you think are gonna do great but don't."[25]
