Bigger Than God

Bigger Than God is the sixth studio album by British recording artist Alesha, released on 20 April, 2009 via Ensemble Entertainment. Alesha began working on the album in late 2008, writing and producing the album alone and with Shell Ruin.

The album marked a change in direction for Alesha as she continued to move towards a move alternative sound as hinted towards on her previous studio album The Second Coming (2008). The album was influenced by a variety of music, particularly indie rock and New Wave. Thematically, Alesha drew influence from dystopian literature such as George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, while also exploring agnosticism and existentialism.

Upon release, the album received universal acclaim, with reviewers commending the singer's new musical direction. They called it her "most adventurous" record, as well as noting its mature, restrained nature; the singer's songwriting was also praised. It won Best Album at the 17th Urapopstar Awards. The album charted at number one upon its release, eventually becoming Alesha’s third consecutive album to be certified diamond.

Bigger Than God spawned four platinum singles, including the number ones “Apocalypse City” and “Bear Dance”. In November 2009, the album was re-issued with three new tracks, one of them being the best-selling Shell Ruin duet “Delusions of Grandeur”. Alesha also embarked on her first stadium tour, 2009’s Apocalypse City Live. Critics and scholars have noted the album's influence on popular music. They also noted the way in which Alesha was able to re-invent herself and remain fresh and contemporary amidst a younger generation of stars.

Development
Alesha began writing for her sixth studio album in September 2008, writing rough demos of “Apocalypse City” and “Bear Dance”. She then revised the songs with close friend and frequent collaborator Shell Ruin, who had penned six tracks for Alesha’s previous studio album The Second Coming (2008). Ruin wrote an early version of “Brooklyn to Brixton” that was updated by Alesha. The pair also wrote “Give Up the Ghost” together.

Two major influences on Alesha’s work were British music legend David Bowie and Canadian singer-songwriter Emily Haines, lead singer of the band Metric. Alesha had familiarized herself with Bowie’s discography over the years and found herself drawn to his 1974 concept album Diamond Dogs, which was inspired by George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four and his own glam rock vision of a post-apocalyptic world.

Alesha also drew her own inspiration from Nineteen Eighty-Four and other examples of dystopian fiction. Orwell’s novel in particular had great influence on album opener “Apocalypse City,” which samples Bowie’s “We Are the Dead,” and album closer “Beat Heart Beat.” Elsewhere, Alesha found herself influenced by ideas of agnosticism and existentialism. Contrary to popular belief, Alesha was not positioning herself as “God” with the album title, but instead questioning religion.

Music and lyrics
Bigger Than God was influenced by a variety of music styles, namely indie rock and New Wave, but also art rock, dub, folk, electronica, glam rock and power pop.

“Apocalypse City” depicts a dystopian future with a Big Brother figure. The song’s introduction and conclusion sample David Bowie’s “We Are the Dead.” Musically, the song is “pounding electro-punk” which is “fashioned from the same template as ‘Tsunami of the Soul.’” “Brooklyn to Brixton” is a propulsive, electronic track with tribal drums, inspired by A. R. Rahman’s score for the film Slumdog Millionaire (2008). “Minutes to Midnight” samples Thom Yorke’s “And It Rained All Night” and echoes the depiction of a future dystopia in the album opener. “Downtown Nowhere” is a piano ballad with a subtle orchestra section.

“Bear Dance” is a self-described “spooky” electronic song. Alesha was inspired by Kate Bush in her vocal delivery. The song references the controversial 2007 single “Power Power”. The album’s title comes from “Bear Dance.” “Sly of the Fox” is a dub-inspired power pop song reminiscent of Alesha’s previous studio album. “Witching Hour” is a New Wave song that samples Siouxsie and the Banshee’s “Lunar Camel.” The lyrics deal with the end of the world and space discovery. “Submission” is a glossy synthpop song with repetitive lyrics.

“Give Up the Ghost” is a folk-inspired indie rock that questions the existence of God. “The Pretty Ones” is a piano-led ballad about three aging pop singers who desperately cling to their fame; following an instrumental section, the song turns into a fast-paced electro-pop song with guest verses from Romo, China and Emily Henning. The Velveteen Rabbit is a somber, synth-driven electronica track about the impermanence of both fame and life. “Beat Heart Beat” is a downtempo indietronica song inspired by the relationship between Julia and Winston in Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Critical reception
Bigger Than God garnered widespread acclaim from critics, holding a score of 85/100 on Metacritic based on 26 professional reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine of Allmusic praised the album's layered music, giving it four out of five stars, and described Alesha’s collaboration with Shell Ruin as the reason why the album "comes alive with spark and style.” Dimitri Ehrlich from Vibe described the album as "a masterpiece of brilliantly arranged piano, haunting strings, and electronica dressings.” Paul Verna of Billboard called the album "a deliciously adventurous, ultimately victorious effort from one of pop music's most compelling performers." Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine described the album as "one of the great pop masterpieces of the 2000s.”

It won Best Album at the 17th Urapopstar Awards, while “Apocalypse City” was awarded Best Single. Alesha also won Best Alternative/Rock and Best Songwriter. “Apocalypse City” also picked up nominations for Best Single/Album Art and Best Video, while Alesha received nominations for: Best Female, Best Live, Best Miscellaneous Art (for the “Brooklyn to Brixton” promo tour) and Best Promotion.

Commercial response
Ten days after the album's release, CNN reported that it had sold over two million copies worldwide. Bigger Than God debuted at number-one in 23 countries, including the United Kingdom. It spent two weeks at the top of the chart. The album was certified diamond, becoming Alesha’s third album to reach that threshold. Bigger Than God sold a total of 1,454,201 copies, spending 44 weeks on the chart overall.

Singles
“Apocalypse City” was released as the album’s lead single on April 20, 2009. The song was praised by many contemporary critics. Some compared it with other Alesha songs, such as “Tsunami of the Soul” (2008). “Apocalypse City” achieved international success by topping the charts in 25 countries worldwide. It became Alesha’s seventh number one single in the UK. In the song’s accompanying music video, Alesha fled from a totalitarian government in a dystopian future. The song won Best Single at the 17th Urapopstar Awards.

“Brooklyn to Brixton” was released in June 2009 as the second single from the album. The original album version of the song featured rapper Latavia, but the radio edit was a revised solo version as Alesha felt she had released too many collaborations. The car chase music video was a continuation of the “Apocalypse City” video and guest starred Shell Ruin. To promote the single, Alesha performed a pair of concerts at Brooklyn’s Studio B and Brixton’s O2 Academy. The song reached number two on the charts, but it was Alesha’s lowest-selling single since 2007’s “Power Power”, barry receiving a platinum certification. Alesha engaged in a custody dispute with ex-husband Ben Parker and suffered a miscarriage.

The third single on the album was “Bear Dance,” backed by a cover of Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song” recorded for King of Pop: A Tribute to HIStory (and featured on the covers album Wanderust). The single controversially debuted on the singles chart at number six, leading to Alesha’s bizarre behavior in an infamous live television interview; however, “Bear Dance”/“Earth Song” rose to number one the following week. The fourth single on the album was “The Pretty Ones” which became Alesha’s twelfth consecutive platinum top-two hit.

“Delusions of Grandeur,” a duet with Shell Ruin, accompanied the album’s re-issue in November 2009. Self-hyped as one of their best singles yet, the song received universal acclaim from music critics. The song's video was filmed at Chile's Cape Horn and portrays Alesha and Ruin as immortal warriors. "Delusions of Grandeur" topped the singles chart upon its release, becoming Alesha’s first single to sell over 400,000 copies. Alesha and Shell Ruin hosted the 17th Urapopstar Awards. After the awards ceremony, Ruin was involved in a serious car accident outside of London's Earls Court. It was thought that Ruin had died, but later revealed she had faked her own death. "Delusions of Grandeur" won Best Collaboration at the 18th Urapopstar Awards.

Tour
Alesha embarked in her first stadium tour Apocalypse City Live to promote Bigger Than God. The tour started on June 10 in Dublin, Ireland and concluded on October 20 in Calgary, Canada. The concert tour was described as a "supermassive and cinematic" rock opera set in a futurustic dystopian city. Costumes were designed by British fashion designer Gareth Pugh. After the first leg, it became the highest grossing tour by a solo artist, earning US $282 million, breaking the previous record Alesha herself held with her Jesus Christ Supertour. Overall, Alesha performed to over 3.5 million fans, grossing a total of US $408 million, making it the highest-grossing tour of all time. The show was filmed in Moscow, Russia for its television broadcasts and home video release.

Standard edition
All songs written by Alesha Kurdadze unless noted otherwise.


 * 1) ”Apocalypse City” (Kurdadze, Shell Ruin)
 * 2) ”Brooklyn to Brixton” (Kurdadze, Ruin)
 * 3) ”Minutes to Midnight”
 * 4) ”Downtown Nowhere”
 * 5) ”Bear Dance” (Kurdadze, Ruin)
 * 6) ”Sly of the Fox”
 * 7) ”Witching Hour”
 * 8) ”Submission”
 * 9) ”Give Up the Ghost” (Kurdadze, Ruin)
 * 10) ”The Pretty Ones” (featuring China, Emily Henning & Romo) (Kurdadze, Jenna Romo)
 * 11) ”The Velveteen Rabbit”
 * 12) ”Beat Heart Beat”

Deluxe edition

 * 1) ”Apocalypse City”
 * 2) ”Delusions of Grandeur” (with Shell Ruin) (Kurdadze, Ruin)
 * 3) ”Brooklyn to Brixton”
 * 4) ”Bear Dance”
 * 5) ”The Pretty Ones” (featuring China, Emily Henning & Romo)
 * 6) ”Downtown Nowhere”
 * 7) ”Minutes to Midnight”
 * 8) ”Sly of the Fox”
 * 9) ”Witching Hour”
 * 10) ”Whore of Babylon” (featuring Putanovska)
 * 11) ”Submission”
 * 12) ”Give Up the Ghost”
 * 13) ”Nature's Child”
 * 14) ”The Velveteen Rabbit”
 * 15) ”Beat Heart Beat”