My Best Friend Is Youwotyougot.com . 1 March 2010 is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Nash, released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2010 and elsewhere on 20 April."Kate Nash reveals album tracklisting" . Digital Spy. 12 February 2010 On 13 April 2010, Nash appeared on John Kennedy's XFM show Xposure, where they did a track-by-track interview playing the whole of the album. The album spawned three official singles: the lead single "Do-Wah-Doo" achieved the most commercial success, charting respectively in European countries. "I've Got A Secret" was released as a promotional single and the fourth single overall.
Singles
"Do-Wah-Doo" was the first single from the album. Nash confirmed on her blog that she filmed the music video for the single on 18 February 2010; "I shot the video for Do-Wah-Doo last week on Thursday and it was so so much fun! The best fun I ever had on a video shoot. It stars a lot of my wonderful friends who are pretty much amazing. I wrote the treatment almost a year ago, it's a love story set on a plane in the late 50s, for some reason the idea has always been in my head.""Kate Nash Announces New Tour And Makes Some Videos" , Addict Music, 23 February 2010 Nash also posted some pictures of the video shoot, showing her and her friends (including photographer and close friend Wesley Goode, who starred in Nash's video for "Pumpkin Soup") on a plane. The music video was available from 4 March 2010. The single charted at number 15 on the UK Singles Chart and number 36 in Ireland. The single also received a considerable amount of chart success in European countries such as Belgium and Germany. "Kiss That Grrrl" was the second single release. It follows the 60s-girlband theme that her recent singles have had, and nods to Nash's fondness to girl groups such as The Shirelles, the Chiffons and the Ronettes. It is also a reference to the riot grrrl scene of the early 1990s. The song received mixed reviews and the music video received generally negative reviews from critics. It was a commercial failure, charting just outside the top 200 on the UK Singles Chart. "Later On" was confirmed as the third single by Nash on her Facebook page, stating that she had filmed the video and thought it might be the best video yet. It was released on 18 October 2010 and promoted mainly through her UK tour on the week of the single's release. "I've Got a Secret" was issued as the fourth and final single from My Best Friend Is You, confirmed by Nash on her My Ignorant Youth blog. Nash stated that a physical vinyl single would be available, like "Later On", through the second leg of her UK tour, which began on 20 March 2011, entitled the After-School Club Tour. The single contains the b-side "Kate & Breasts Intro Duck Ton Song Tour 2010".
Tracks
"I Just Love You More" was made available on Nash's official website for free digital download. The song was previewed on radio station XFM, on which it received a mostly positive reaction from listeners. A demo version of "Don't You Want to Share the Guilt?" appeared as a B-side on the single "Merry Happy" from the previous album Made of Bricks. "I Hate Seagulls" and "Pickpocket" were both played at intimate venues in 2008 while Kate was still promoting the previous album. They were posted on YouTube and received many views before being confirmed as new tracks for the album.
Reception
The album was generally met with positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, a review aggregator which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic granted the album 3 stars out of 5, noting it sounded "professional" and compared the album's sound with Amy Winehouse's, yet also commented "the aim of much of [My Best Friend Is You] seems to be simply getting Kate Nash airplay without worrying overly much about a musical backing that suits her songwriting." Andrzej Lukowski of Drowned in Sound denotes confusion on the album sounding "both indie and universal" and called the album "rather daring" for a "mainstream album". The Guardian granted four out of five stars, praising Nash' growth as an artist. The Irish Times named the album their "Album of the Week" and called it "a considerable step from its predecessor".
Artwork
The official artwork for the sleeve leaked on 17 March 2010 appearing first on Kuwaiti music blog Loft965.com."Kate Nash's cover art for "My Best Friend Is You"" , Loft965.com, 18 March 2010
On 9 April 2010, Nash took part in a timesonline.co.uk web chat. When asked a question about the album's artwork she replied: "It's been pretty stressful getting all the artwork together on this album because I've cared so much about it and had so many ideas and wanted it to be perfect for my second record. I worked with a lady called Kate Gibb who does screen printing, we screen printed a bunch of photos and some of my own objects to create collages inspired by images that I collected and loved, they varied from the bauhaus art movement to punk and lo fi record covers because I love the simplicity in those. I've just got through all the final artwork and it was worth the hardwork because I love how it looks. I try to be as involved as possible in every single aspect of what I do so that it represents me properly and because it's fun and I care and I'm a control freak.""The Culture Clinic live web chat: Kate Nash answers your questions" , Times Online, 30 March 2010
Track listing
Personnel Primary musicians Kate Nash – vocals on all tracks; guitar on tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 9, 12 and 13; piano on tracks 5, 9, 10 and 11; percussion on tracks 5, 9, 11 and 14; keyboards on tracks 5, 9 and 11; drums on tracks 7 and 8; synthesizers on tracks 10 and 14; organ on track 10; string arrangements on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6; production and mixing on tracks 8 and 14; engineering assistance on track 9; engineering and mixing on track 14; art direction Jay Malhotra – bass on tracks 2, 3, 6 and 7; guitar on tracks 4, 7 and 10; glockenspiel and ukulele on track 3; production, engineering and mixing on track 8 Bernard Butler – synthesizers on 4, 9, 10 and 11; bass on tracks 1, 5 and 9; bongos on tracks 5 and 10; organ on tracks 5 and 12; acoustic guitar on track 5; production, engineering and mixing on all tracks except 8 and 9 Elliott Andrews – drums on all tracks except 8, 9 and 14 Brett Alaimo – guitar on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7 Ian Burdge – cello on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4, 6, 11 and 13 Additional musicians Jon Jackson – guitar on tracks 2, 6 and 7; bass on tracks 4 and 10 Bruce White – viola on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Ali Dods – violin on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Everton Nelson – violin on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Louisa Fuller – violin on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Sonia Slany – violin on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Sally Herbert – string arrangements on tracks 1, 2, 3, 4 and 6 Ryan Jarman – violin solo on "My Best Friend Is You" Production personnel Richard Woodcraft – engineering on all tracks except 8 and 9 Robbie Nelson – engineering on all tracks except 8 and 9 Adie Kaye – engineering assistance on all tracks Chris Potter – mastering Additional personnel Mat Maitland – art direction Kate Gibb – artwork Clare Nash – photography
Chart performance The album charted respectively at number 8 and 26 on the UK Album Chart and the Irish Albums Chart in its first week, however quickly dropped in its second week to number 39 and 40. It charted at number 62 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the German Album Charts.
Weekly charts +Weekly chart performance for My Best Friend Is You Chart (2010) PeakpositionEuropean Top 100 Albums (Billboard)28Greece Albums (IFPI)28Irish Albums (IRMA)26
Tour
On her website, Nash announced she would be touring from 26 May 2010, till end of 2010.
Date City Country Venue Europe26 May 2010BerlinAstra27 May 2010DresdenAlter Schlachthof28 May 2010HamburgGr. Freiheit30 May 2010LandgraafPinkpop31 May 2010CologneEssigfabrik1 June 2010ParisLa Cigalle2 June 2010StrasbourgLe Laiterie4 June 2010NürburgringRock am Ring2 June 2010NurembergRock im Park7 June 2010AmsterdamParadiso8 June 2010BrusselsBotanique/Orangerie10 June 2010SalzburgRockhouse11 June 2010NickelsdorfNovarock Festival25 June 2010GloucesterGuildhall26 June 2010GlastonburyGlastonbury Festival6 July 2010LondoniTunes Festival10 July 2010BaladoT in the Park, Kinross11 July 2010NaasOxegen Racefestival North America17 July 2010ChicagoLilith Fair 18 July 2010Minneapolis20 July 2010Indianapolis21 July 2010Detroit Australia1 August 2010WoodfordSplendour in the Grass4 August 2010MelbourneCorner Hotel5 August 2010SydneyMetro Theatre Europe20 August 2010Hasselt-Kiewit BelgiumPukkelpop5 September 2010TrinityRoyal Jersey Showground14 September 2010CopenhagenVEGA North America22 November 2010Mexico CityJosé Cuervo Salón South America24 February 2011Rio de JaneiroCirco Voador25 February 2011São PauloHSBC Hall27 February 2011Buenos AiresTeatro Gran Rex Europe13 April 2011IstanbulBabylon20 April 2011GlasgowO2 ABC Glasgow
References