Peculiar Secret

Peculiar Secret
studio album by Amy Marshall
Released	February 20, 2006
Genre(s)	Rock/pop
Label	Alias
Producer	Amy Marshall
Certification	Diamond
Amy Marshall Chronology
Amy Marshall (2005)	Peculiar Secret (2006)	Morbid Lullabies (2007)
Singles from Peculiar Secret
"Teen Queens & iPod Dreams" Released: February 13, 2006 "Fake Smiles From Hollywood" Released: June 5, 2006 "Modest Machine/Love Is A Battlefield" Released: October 16, 2006 "I Screwed It Up" Released: January 1, 2007

Peculiar Secret is the second studio album by American singer-songwriter Amy Marshall. It was released February 20, 2006 in Europe and the following day in North America. It was Amy's effort to distance herself from the generally weak songwriting of the first album, as well as the piano-pop sound that brought her to fame, including more rock influences in her sound. It sold over a million copies as of January 2007 and was Amy's best selling album to date until its total was surpassed by the follow-up Morbid Lullabies in 2008.

Album information

Amy Marshall began work on what she promised would be "her best material yet", beginning to write new songs and decide on collaborators, in mid-2005. She wanted the lyrical content of the album to be much stronger than that of the first album, which she felt was "weak and rushed, with the exception of the singles". Seeking constructive criticism, she selected an anonymous jury of five established acts to grade the album's tracks, with the one they liked the most being released as the first single. That song, "Teen Queens & iPod Dreams", was released as the first single.

Amy received a great amount of support on the album, featuring collaborations with Lucreacia, Innocent, Rocco Varens, Nathalie Armani, and Kantar, and songs written by girlASKboy, Aloud, and Tom Fletcher.

Chart success

Peculiar Secret debuted and peaked at #2 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Albums Chart on February 26, 2006. It was certified diamond on January 14, 2007 with sales of over one million sold. It has sold 1,213,476 copies and spent 51 weeks in the top 40.

Track listing

1. Teen Queens & iPod Dreams
2. Fake Smiles From Hollywood
3. Different Now (featuring Lucreacia)
4. Gruesome Twosome (featuring Nathalie Armani and Kantar)
5. Love Labels Me A Fool
6. Modest Machine
7. Heart Attack (with Innocent)
8. There's Always A Light (At The End Of The Tunnel) (with Rocco Varens)
9. The Saddest Story
10. Another Face In The Photo Album
11. I Screwed It Up
12. Raspberry Swirl
13. Out Of Ideas
14. Unfortunately Yours
15. Save Me From Myself

Rejected songs

• It Must Be Love featuring Charlie C - Amy originally wrote the song for Charlie C's Listen Up! album but was scrapped when Amy brought up the idea of collaborating with her, nevertheless the duet was still recorded with the intention of including it on the album until it was leaked by a tabloid and received a high amount of unsolicited radio airplay. The single was rushed out onto a re-release of her debut but flopped in at #9.
• All Used Up - Supported by the jury that decided the track listing order and first single, Amy didn't like the song, instead offering it to Taylor Brookes whose recording of the song was included on the soundtrack for the movie No. 1.
• The Other Lover's Lover - A reject from her debut album, also rejected from her second and offered to Taylor Brookes though she never released it.
• Madness - The reject was the topic of much buzz from music critics when Amy asked Lisa to record it with her as a collaboration for a video game project from ex.one. Though Amy stated the song wouldn't likely appear on her second album, Lisa's vocals were dropped from the song when the project was canceled, intending to re-record it for the album as a duet with Emma Latham. That, however, didn't happen.
• Amy Amy Amy - Upon a fan's suggestion, Amy planned to remake the closing track from Amy Winehouse's debut album Frank as a collaboration with Tom Owen. After receiving a mixed reception from the jury, Amy decided it would be better off as a B-side, but due to Tom's low profile during the course of her album's promotion, it never saw the light of day.
• Something Good - One of the best reviewed songs by the jury, Amy scrapped the song at the last minute in favor of the experimental "Unfortunately Yours". The song later found its way on Alesha's greatest hits compilation Chic/Freak.

Alternate covers

• Peculiarsecret cover.jpg

  Original cover
• Amypsnewcover.jpg

  Second pressing cover