The English Rose

The English Rose is the debut studio album by British pop singer-songwriter and rapper Coral Harris, due to be released via her own label, Next Generation Records on 20 August, 2012.

The album was recorded for three years, with work starting in the Summer of 2010. By the following summer, material had began to form, and Coral felt she was ready to start introducing the world to her music. Despite the fact only half her album was done, a promotional download-only single "Hard Shoulder" was released in November 2011, and charted at #2 on the download chart. While she continued to work on the album, Coral maintained the public's attention by featuring on other artist's singles, such as "The Haze", "Toyboy" and the number one single "Guy Like You". This gave Coral enough time to finally come close to finishing her album, and in May the debut single, "Last Night On Earth" was released, peaking at #2. After only a few more months, the album was finally ready. As a build up for the album, it was released alongside another download-only promotional release, "Karate Chop" as well as Coral's second single "City Lights" both of which charted at #1 on their corresponding charts. The album is considered a mix of genres, featuring pop, dance and R&B, however it is primarily Grime. The majority of the tracks on the album were written by Coral herself, and she also produced several records. Due to the album being in development for such a long period of time, there was a lot of hype towards it's release. The album debuted at #1 on the album chart.

Background
Recording on the album began in July 2011, and concluded in May 2012, with the release of the lead single, the hip hop and pop track, "Last Night On Earth". The album's second single, urban party hit "City Lights", was released on August 27, 2012. However promotion for Coral's debut album began long before the release of these singles, due to the many promotional singles and featured appearances Coral appeared on in order to build up her name. Prior to the album she also released two promotional download-only singles, "Hard Shoulder" on November 21, 2011 and "Karate Chop" on August 06, 2012. Throughout February and March 2012 she also appeared on the tracks "The Haze" and "Guy Like You" with 8-BIT and Ruby and the Gems respectively. She was also due to appear on the track "Toyboy" by Intoxicated, however this was cancelled just weeks before it's release. Coral revealed that her decision to appear on as many tracks as possible prior to the album's release was to "focus on the long-term sales of the record and establish a name for herself".

Coral said of the album in an interview with Digital Spy: ""Having a number one album isn't important. Let me tell you something, do you know how many artists go to number one in the charts and they release on a certain week because they know that in that week they have more chance of going to number one? Then they drop out of the album charts a week later and they might have sold 100,000 when they could have sold 400,000. For me, I don't care about having a number one album, I care about going platinum. I care about the overall sales and the fan's opinion. What's the point in having a number one but people saying, 'She only sold 60,000 though'? I don't want that. Most people these days kind of drop the one single and then the album but that was one thing I said I would never do," she explained. "I have to put the background work in. I've got to give people a reason to buy it. I want to prove myself this year, with so much hype around me, as a musician and as a solo artist. I want to be able to stand on my own two feet."

Release and reception
The English Rose was released on 20 August, 2012, two weeks after the release of "Karate Chop" and one week before the album's second single, "City Lights".

The English Rose received generally positive reviews from music critics.At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 68, based on 26 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". James Reed of The Boston Globe called it "a brash pop album brimming with Harris's attitude and ferocious rhymes". Entertainment Weekly('s) Brad Wete commended Harris's "knack for melody" and "boasting lyrics". Sam Wolfson of NME complimented Harris's "pop sensibility" and found her "highly original" and "pushing boundries in rap that have yet to be touched upon". Los Angeles Times writer Margaret Wappler commented that the album "shows Harris is on the cusp", while Ann Powers noted Harris's attempt to showcase her multi-faceted range and complimented her female perspective. Marc Hogan of Spin felt that "as an MC showcase... the album falls short", but ultimately viewed it as "a budding artist's love letter to pop — well-wrought and exuberantly penned". Allmusic's David Jeffries wrote that it "both dazzles and disappoints", stating "Feed off the production, the great musical ideas, and Harris's keen sense of her surroundings, and The English Rose is an outstanding success". Allison Stewart of The Washington Post wrote that the album "nibbles at the edges of what female rappers are allowed to do, even as it provides a steady helping of pop hits". Robert Christgau of MSN Music found Harris "proud to be shamelessly British, with the hooks to back it up".

In a mixed review, Andy Gill of The Independent felt that "Man Dem" is the only track that exhibits "adequate use of [Harris's] R&B vocal skills" among an album of unoriginal "rap braggadocio". Slant Magazine's Jesse Cataldo praised Harris's versatility on tracks like "Karate Chop", but was disappointed with the collaborative "The Prettiest of Girls", noting that although she enjoyed the song, she felt the track represented everything Harris stood against. Kitty Empire of The Observer called the album a "triumph of prevarication", but stated "The English Rose can't decide whether Harris is a rapper or just another pop artist [...] This album's pop quotient... is adequate, but anonymous." Rich Juzwiak of The Village Voice criticized the album's "r&b crossover" material and found it lyrically "underwhelming". Alexis Petridis of The Guardian commented that "for every burst of originality, there's a burst of generic frosty synth", noting that "the pop- and R&B-influenced tracks simply aren't as exciting, lyrically or musically, as the foam-mouthed hardcore ones". Pitchfork Media's Scott Plagenhoef was ambivalent towards its pop concessions, although he felt that "even when she's aiming down the middle of the road, she's at least better than almost anyone else".

Singles

 * "Last Night On Earth" was released as the album's first single on 21 May, 2012. It debuted at #2 on the charts and went on to spend 18 weeks on the chart and recieve a platinum certification.
 * "City Lights" is the second official single from the album with a release date of 27 August, 2012. It was released the week after the album and debuted at #1 on the charts, remaining on the chart for 20 weeks.
 * "In Your Dreams/Runnin' Dis" is the third single released by Coral Harris. The release is a double A side with rapper L.E.X. It includes "In Your Dreams" from the album (although has a new verse and vocals from L.E.X) and "Runnin' Dis", a collaboration between Coral and L.E.X taken from his sophmore album "Lionheart". It was released on 03 December, 2012 and charted at #2 on the charts.

Other singles

 * "Hard Shoulder" was released on 21 November, 2011 as Coral's first promotional release. It was released only on the download chart, where it peaked at #2 in it's third week.
 * "Karate Chop" is the second promotional single, released on 6 August, 2012 on the download chart only. It is released as a buzz single for the album and "City Lights" which were both released later in the month. It peaked at #1 on the download chart.

Tracklisting
The tracklisting was confirmed on 6 August, 2012.

Charts
The English Rose was released on 20 August, 2012. It debuted at #1 on the album chart with first week sales of 98,324 copies sold.

Overall sales: 784,018