The Asylum: Collection

The Asylum: Collection is the sixth studio album and first compilation album by British recording artist Iris, released on 30 March 2014 by Next Generation Records. Iris first announced in late 2012 that she would release three albums throughout the course of 2014. These first albums became The Asylum series, The Asylum Pt. 1, The Asylum Pt. 2 and The Asylum Pt. 3, were released in January, June and November 2014. The three albums saw three single releases, with Iris citing that only one single would be released per album. "The King" was released as the lead single from the album.

The album acts as a compilation album, containing the "best songs" from the The Asylum series.

The album was recognized as one of The 100 Best Albums of the Decade So Far by Pitchfork Media in August 2015.

Background and development
In an interview with British website PopJustice, Iris announced that she had plans to release three new albums in 2014. She said, "I got all these great songs so why not? [...] It's been 2 years since Kaleidoscope and I didn't want to wait with a release until they are all recorded, so I decided to start putting them out right away." Iris told Popjustice journalist Peter Robinson, "It's been a long time since I actually made a record! And I was thinking of how to shorten that time down and I came up with the idea of what if I just start releasing songs, then I can tour them, then I can make some more songs. We started working like that. I think once it starts it will make more sense – you can just keep releasing stuff without the long breaks." A large proportion of the songs on the albums were produced by Iris, as she took more control than ever over her own music career. She said of writing, singing and producing her own material.

Critical Reception
The Asylum: Collection received acclaim from most music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 86, based on 19 reviews, which indicates "universal acclaim". Music critic Jonathan Keefe from Slant Magazine awarded the album with four stars out of five, saying the album is "a testament to Iris' truly forward-thinking take on contemporary pop music and to her rare ability to infuse chilly, futuristic soundscapes with genuine emotion and soul." Keefe also said that The Asylum: Collection "impresses for its thematic focus and laser-precise editing" and that the album is "one of the year's finest, most progressive pop albums". Genevieve Koski from The A.V. Club also felt that the album is "hands-down the best dance-pop album of the year." Koski said that the album "proves there’s still room for smart, mature songwriting and heartfelt performance in the high-gloss world of club music." The reviewer concluded her review by saying that "Over the course of The Asylum: Collection, Iris has proved that there’s real emotion to be found among the ones and zeros of electronic music, and Collection is the culmination of that outlook: euphoric, personal, and inspirational to the last beat."

Entertainment Weekly music critic Leah Greenblatt gave the album an A grade. She said that "Spectacular British import Iris continues to languish in the cult-act remainder bin, but these 16 excellently curated tracks deserve to change that." Pitchfork Media rated the album with a score of 8.7/10, stamping it with its "Best New Music" label. Christian Hoard from Rolling Stone gave the album four stars (out of five). He said that "It all adds up to potentially the best album of 2015, 16 songs that are both immaculately catchy and packed with quirks". Jon Falcone from musicOMH awarded the album four and a half stars (out of five). Falcone said that The Asylum: Collection "shows just how easily she can churn out hits more frequently than labels can process production teams. Iris deserves her success" stating that "it's impossible to think of a better pop communicator for our time." AllMusic music critic Heather Phares gave the album four stars (out of five). She said that "Releasing that much new music within six months was a feat in and of itself, but the fact that each part of The Asylum was so consistent made the whole project even more impressive." Phares said that the album's appeal "isn’t just experimental: by picking the best of the project’s songs, it feels like a greatest-hits collection and brand new album rolled into one."

The Asylum was chosen the 2nd best album released in 2015 by Popjustice and Slant Magazine, the 3rd best album released in 2015 by Entertainment Weekly, MTV and Billboard, the 10th best album of 2015 by both The A.V. Club and Spin, and was also selected as the 14th best album of 2015, by Rolling Stone.

Release and promotion
Although Iris had mentioned throughout 2014 that she had plans to release a 'The Asylum' complication album, it was not until 29 January 2015 that Iris fully revealed all the details on her official website. She described the album as the "turbo version of the The Asylum album", as it includes four songs from each previous The Asylum album along with four new songs.

Singles
Iris announced the release of the single, "The King", on 30 January 2014. The song was released on 06 April 2015, one week after the album and one day later in the United States. It has been described as a "pulsating full power version [that] takes every ounce of that emotion and wraps it up in another exceptional record worthy of any passion-laden sing-a-long." Although the single only reached #5 in the UK, it has become Iris best selling single to date, selling over 436,000 copies.

On 10 August 2015, "Into The Stars" was released as a download-only promotional single and charted at #4 on the Digital chart.

Tracklisting
It is known that the album will consist of sixteen tracks, four album from Pt. 1, four from Pt. 2, four from Pt. 3 and four brand new tracks.

Charts
The album debuted at #1 with first week sales of 93,363 copies sold and gave Iris her third #1 album and sixth top five.

Overall Sales: 696,855