Haute Mess

Haute Mess is the second studio album by British recording artist Aurora Reed, released on November 26, 2012, by Fusion Records. The album was recorded between January and August 2012. The album features collaborations with previous producers, such as Jeff Bhasker, Noah "40" Shebib, TWISTED DISCO!, Diplo and Stargate alongside new collaborators such as Mr Bangladesh, Danja and Nellee Hooper. Its music is strongly in the vein of urban,r&b and hip hop, similar to her debut album Thoughts To Word - but adding extra genres such as house music and dubstep. The album features collaborations from MIDNIGHT & Loretta Lambert.

Upon its release, Haute Mess received favourable reviews from music critics, who found its lyrical and genre progression as an interesting and genuine step for the soul singer. The album debuted at number one on the UK charts, selling 138,000, becoming Aurora's second number one album in the UK.

"Help A Sista Out" was released as the album's lead single on November 19, 2012. It peaked at number one on the UK charts. The "Club Coutour 2013" has been announced by Aurora in conjunction with the album's release - in which Aurora will tour the country through summer 2013.

Background and development
In 2011, Aurora made her mark on the industry, releasing her debut album entitled Thoughts To Word, which hit #1 on the album charts, and spawned 4 top 2 singles. Musically, the album had a strong soul and urban vibe, showing off the singer's deeply rooted r'n'b vocals. The album received lots of critical acclaim for a debut album, praising a UK singer for shunning the contemporary sounds of the radio for a more soulful vibe. The album was a commercial success, as of January 2013 selling over two million copies. The album produced 4 singles including two number one singles "Orchestra" and "Glitter On The Drums", and two number two singles "Burn, Burn, Burn" and "Healin' Heartbreak". The album became one of the top 5 best selling albums of the past ten years.

In July 2012, whilst promoting her SPELLS assisted single "C4 G4", Aurora revealed that she had taken inspiration from the collaboration as an inspiration for the new sound. The singer had also been seen bringing a rapping slant to some of her featured tracks, notably remixes to songs by MIDNIGHT, Arianna DiCorso and Syd Wolfe. Aurora promised fans that this rap influence would turn up on Haute Mess, and was ultimately apparent on tracks "Boo Voodoo", "Top Down" and "Truth Slips". The singer premiered the track "Queen N Country" on July 2nd, as a teaser for the album. The song, which was produced by Diplo, saw a more gritty, dubstep vibe to the singer's previous work, and a slight change in direction for the star. The single was released on August 12th, reaching #1 on the Download Chart. Aurora then announced via her official website that her album would be titled "Haute Mess", with a further announcement on the single being made in the next fortnight. Speaking to fans, Aurora explained "Sometimes you wanna fuck what everyone says because they didn't build the character you were but expect you to follow their set of beliefs. Sometimes you realise that you're too broke, or too lonely, or too common, or you're feeling particulary ugly. But you still do everything big because that's all you know.It's about the journey of establishing your life away from the perfect and just getting the fuck on with it." Aurora has often stated that the title of the album is a play on the words "Haute Couture" and "Hot Mess", explaining that she finds she is an erratic personality, but also to explain the coherence of the album which deals with several genres.

Recording and production
On January 25th, 2012, whilst still promoting her debut album, Aurora took to the studio with producer Diplo to begin work on the sophomore album. Working in New York, Aurora came to Diplo to initially ask him to name a sample she had heard on several nights out, that she had been too intoxicated to remember the title of. He recognized the track as "I Love London" by Crystal Fighters, and - using it as a sample - together they created the track Queen N Country, which became the first single from the album's campaign. Together, the outlined a new sound structure Aurora wanted to bring to her music - a mixture of dubstep and hip hop to suit an urban singer. Their second and final collaboration for album was "Acid (XXX)" - an uptempo track inspired by a stronger hip hop and rap vibe. "Acid (XXX)" was remixed as "Star Chaser" by SPELLS in June 2012 as a b side to their single C4 G4.

Noting the success and critical acclaim of C4 G4, and her desire to reach out into new genres to influence her album, Aurora took to the studio with TWISTED DISCO!. Calvin had previously worked on Aurora's debut album, producing the track "Stones", but this time Aurora wanted to get more onto Calvin's wavelength. Together they worked on House influenced track "Boo Voodoo", the hip hop dance track "Truth Slips" (which Aurora referred to as "C4 G4's angry auntie"), the reggae inspired track "I Fold", and the haunting, Moby sampling ballad "Cold & Beautiful".

In July 2012, Aurora tweeted the lyrics "S On My Chest / Superman with big breasts..." whilst in the studio with No ID, giving fans the first official indicator Aurora was working on new music. This track became the albums official first single, Help A Sista Out. The pair worked on one other track to contribute to the album, the midtempo urban track "Own Best Friend Again."

Further producers were announced, such as Stargate, Danja, Mr Bangladesh and Jamie XX. Aurora also worked with Nellee Hooper, the fruits of their labour being trip hop ballad "World Go Round" and reggae track "I Fold." Aurora claimed she felt 'blessed' to work with Hooper, stating she felt his music helped "Shape the generation I grew up in."

The final tracklist showed that only two new collaborators were on the album, MIDNIGHT & Loretta. Aurora stated that this was because she had featured on a lot of tracks by other people, but liked to keep her own work mostly solo. Regardless of this, in an interview in December 2011, Aurora said she would love to have a collaboration with Paulo Araujo on her album. Although no collaboration came to light, Aurora later made several songwriting contributions to Paulo's "Introspective Retrospective" album.

Music and lyrics
Aurora claimed that she was ready to build up on an urban and soul sound she showed on her debut album, wanting to bring together a variety of sounds and styles that reflect her personality, the eclectic music she listens to and that she was brought up with. Executive producer TWISTED DISCO! claimed that the albums sound would 'pull together a plethora of sounds so effortlessly'.

Aurora revealed in an interview with SOUND that a lot of her album was inspired by her relationship with Nick Blacker, whom she split up with during the recording of Haute Mess. Speaking about the record, she stated "The album started off with a lot of happy, cool songs, then it went to heartbreak, anger and sad songs, a lot of personal fuck you's. Then the music got very blunt and honest. It was all over the place, but I liked it. It represented how I felt at the time, it was a mess, but it was a haute mess." Aurora revealed that she would have trouble performing the tracks "The Other Side of Tonight" and "Decisions" difficult to perform live due to the emotions connected to them - revealing that the former made her cry in the booth.

Haute Mess is predominantly an urban album. The album features a less cohesive sound than the souful, alternative r'n'b vibe of Thoughts To Word, and a lot more uptempo tracks. Aurora claims this was due to the desire to hear her own music in the club. The uptempo tracks touch on a variety of genres, namely grime, house, hip hop and trap. The album features notable sounds and a lot of clashing instruments - such as heavy synths and tribal drums, bringing a more alternative vibe to Aurora's music.

Jon Caramanica of The New York Times claimed that the album was both musically and lyrically extremely raw, stating "World Go Round" and "The Other Side of Tonight" of examples of tracks whose lyrics and music 'cut a little too deep'. Music journalist Alexis Petridis views that "Somewhere between the plethora of producers and eccentric sounds Aurora holds her own and somehow brings an album that is true to her - a lot less polished but more exciting than her debut album." Jon Dolan of Rolling Stone observes that "although Aurora tries to prove she can soar on gritty uptempo, the power and honesty she is exerting into ballads on Haute Mess exceed the emotional quiet storm of Thoughts To Word"

MIDNIGHT is featured on Help A Sista Out, marking the pair's third collaboration - Aurora appearing on "Confession" from MIDNIGHT's sophomore album "UNCENSORED", and the remix to single Withering Love. It marks the first collaboration between Aurora and Loretta Lambert, although Aurora featured a remix of "Grey Goose" on her "AURORA REED IS *NOT* A RAPPER" Mixtape.

The themes of Haute Mess convey a variety of emotions - from Aurora celebrating her home town on Queen N Country, to making moves in the club on "Satellite" and "Haute Blood", whilst tracks such as "Top Down" and "Hungry For It" celebrate the moment you open up to a lover. However, the majority of the album deals with heartbreak, with tracks such as "Beyond Redemption" "World Go Round" and "The Other Side of Tonight" reflecting on Aurora's feelings of being unloved.

Songs
The album's opening track Queen N Country, which also served as the introduction to the album to the public, has been described as a "dirty, gritty and grimy" club banger - that mixes underground London grime beats with hip hop and dubstep. "Top Down" is an uptempo track which incorporates hip hop, soul and r'n'b, sampling tracks by Neneh Cherry and Diana King in an homage to 90's music."I Wanna Fuck Up" is an angry, tribal midtempo urban track. "World Go Round" features London's African Choir and incorporates breakbeat and trip hop influences, on a sad ballad about never finding love. "Mutate" is a gritty UK influenced dubstep uptempo. "Boo Voodoo" is a rap meets house song 'perfectly tailored for the clubs.' "Beyond Redemption" is an atmospheric, Prince-inspired ballad. "Satellite" sees Aurora take influence from trap and rap music, on another feisty club banger, whose beat was originally for a rap act.

Help A Sista Out is a gritty uptempo track with hard percussion and 80's influence. "Hungry For It" is a sexy island influenced midtempo track. "The Other Side of Tonight" is a PBR&B alternative track, which is 'both sensual and sorrowful'. "Acid (XXX)" is a booming, erratic rap influenced up-tempo. "Own Best Friend Again" is a sophisticated urban/r'n'b midtempo. "Truth Slips" is an aggressive rap and house inspired track, and "Decisions" is a stripped back urban track with very honest lyrics. The final track "I Fold" is a happy go lucky, sunny, reggae midtempo.

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with sales of over 138,000 copies sold in its first week, making it the highest selling opening figures for any Aurora album yet, and her 2nd album of 2 to debut at number. It remained number one the following week, making it the official Christmas #1 for 2012. The album passed a million copies sold on February 24th, 2013.

The album was nominated for and won the award for Best Album at The Urapopstar Awards 23.

Singles
"Queen N Country" was released as a download only single from Haute Mess, premiering on July 2, 2012 and being released on August 12, 2012. It topped the download charts, going straight in at #1

"Help A Sista Out", which features guest vocals from UK star MIDNIGHT and American rapper was released as the official first single on November 19, 2012 - being premiered two months earlier. The track debuted at #1, making it Aurora's third number one and continuing her top two streak. To date, the song has sold over 500,000 copies.

"Mutate" Is the official second single from the album. The track currently has a release date of February 25th. It hit the #1 spot on March 3rd, 2013

"The Other Side of Tonight" was announced as the second download only single from the campaign in late January. Aurora plans to release several download only singles from the album with accompanying videos, this one being shot by Rankin. The track was digitally released on March 18th. It reached #1 on the R&B/Hip Hop Airplay Charts in America, and currently stands at #28 on the Billboard Chart.

"World Go Round" Is the official third single from the album. The track currently has a release date of May 20th. It will also serve as Aurora's debut international single.

Release and promotion
In August 2012, it was revealed that the album would be released in late November 2012. In June 2012, music outlets Popjustice, Rap Up and NME were given previews of the album that would cater to their pop, urban and alternative tastes respectively. In September 2012, each of these websites previewed a track each from the album - Popjustice choosing "Boo Voodoo" as their song of the day, and Rap Up and NME reviewing "Top Down" and "World Go Round" respectively.

Aurora was named as VEVO's artist of the month for October 2012. In her Youtube series "On The Road To Help A Sista Out", Aurora showed viewers behind the scenes of recording her album, as well as filming the video for her single. She also uploaded album previews onto her VEVO channel, giving an individual recount of her inspirations and stories behind each track on the tracklisting.

Live performances
Aurora performed Queen N Country and C4 G4 in a medley with SPELLS at the Urapopstar 22 Awards show. She performed the track Queen N Country on Lorraine and Alan Carr: Chatty Man, whilst performing the track Help A Sista Out with one half of the collaboration pair MIDNIGHT on the Happy New Year show. Aurora also performed album track "Mutate" at The Wireless Festival" in July 2012. Aurora closed the Urapopstar 23 Awards with a perormance of "Mutate"

Club Coutour 2013
To further promote the album, Aurora will be embarking on her first arena tour, Club Coutour 2013. The tour will only tour throughout the UK. Support acts are TBA. Fans who bought tickets on pre release were treated to the track Club Mess taken from the "HAUTEMIX EP"

Track listing

 * Credits adapted from Aurora's official website.


 * Sampling credits
 * "Queen N Country" samples elements of "I Love London", as performed and written by Crystal Fighters
 * "Top Down" samples elements of "Buddy Ex", as performed by Neneh Cherry, and written by Neneh Carlsson and Cameron McVey, and incorporates lyrics from "Shy Guy", as performed by Diana King, and written by Diana King, Andy Marvel and Kingsley Gardner
 * "Own Best Friend Again" samples elements of "I'm Still Waiting", as performed and written by Diana Ross
 * "Truth Slips" samples elements of "Storm", as performed and written by Storm
 * "Cold & Beautiful" samples elements of "The Broken Places", as performed and written by Moby