Wildfire

Wildfire is the debut studio album by French-British alternative pop singer Beastette. Spawning three singles to date ("California", "Revolve", and "Priorities"), the album was released and distributed by Fusion Records on 17 January 2011 in the UK, the same day that the album's second single, "Revolve", was released. The album was released on 15 February 2011 in the United States. A French-languaged version of the album, Flamme, was released in Canada, France, Belgium, and Switzerland on 11 July 2011; the original English version of the album was also released in Canada that same day.

To date, the album peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) and has sold 516,492 copies in the UK.

Background and production
Beastette had already released a few independently released EPs and "mixtapes" of her when she was still an underground artist. In 2010, Beastette, while still keeping her indie pop style, decided that she wanted to go mainstream with her music career.

In October 2010, Beastette began production on the album with primary recording being done at a little recording studio in Manchester, which is her hometown. The first song she recorded for the album was "Revolve". During that month, she managed to record at least ten tracks for the album and eventually recruited an indie pop band titled The Weekenders to help write, produce, and contribute additional vocals to her album. "California" was said to be the fourth and fifth song recorded for the album but was suggested by many people, including the Weekenders, to be released as Beastette's first single because of the fact that it supposedly gave as "feel-good and sunny vibe". According to some sources, Beastette initially thought about releasing "Revolve" as the lead single since it was the first song recorded for the album. "California", once released as single, was successful on the UK Singles Charts. After the success of "California" and during the promotion of the album's second single, "Revolve", Beastette's popularity began to grow and a few people desired to work with her. Among those people who wanted to work with her was urban pop singers MIDNIGHT and Honey.

In December 2010, Beastette entered a recording studio in London to record three more tracks for the album. It had already been announced that the album would already have ten tracks but with three tracks attached onto the album, its tracklisting was expanded to thirteen tracks. Among those three tracks were two duets that Beastette recorded with MIDNIGHT and Honey, titled "Trigger" and "Bandwagon". For "Bandwagon", Honey sings predominantly on the track basically because on the day of recording the song, Beastette was too drunk to record the parts that were meant for her and since they were on a deadline to turn in the song, Honey had to sing most of the song including the parts that were meant for Beastette to sing. Another song recorded was a song called "Chase". "Chase" would be the final song recorded for the album.

Composition
Wildfire deals with typical topics, such as love, infatuation, joy and nostaligia, but mostly deals with somewhat unconventional (and seemingly negative) topics such as insecurity, maturity, vanity, paranoia, vindictiveness, finding acceptance (and possibly failed to get it), fickleness, addiction and even murder and jealousy. "Revolve" was written by Beastette about her insecurites and how she thought (and possibly still to this day thinks) that nobody liked/likes her. "Priorities" also played on her the subject of her being insecure but was mostly about her "practicing" maturity. "Priorities" is considered to be a fan favorite. "Trigger", although written by MIDNIGHT, was conceived by Beastette and is about a scorned woman who get dumped by a lover so that lover can be with someone else. Not willing to see that lover move on and be happy with someone else, the protagonist takes a gun and threatens to lover that they're gonna pull the trigger. It has since been described by many to be the most explicit song on the album and has since been declared by many as a fan favorite. "Answer" also dealt with the topic about insecurity, lack of self-considece, and "self disrepect" while "Mainstream" talked about finding acceptance and failing to get it. "Trend" and "Bandgwagon", in the meantime, talked about the fickleness of people, though "Trend" also incorporated themes of addiction in it as well. Though it lyrically talks about the latest popular trend amongst the general public and in popular culture, Beastette admitted that the inspiration of the song was because of her fascination with the "idea" of sex and pornography addiction and love dependency therefore meaning that the entire song could have a double meaning to it. "California" is a love song and the protagonist of the song compares her love interest to the positive characteristics and assumptions of the US state of California. The song eventually served as the album's first single. "June" dealt with the topic of nostalgia and joy and though lyrically the song talks about enjoying a relaxing beautiful summer day in June, the inspiration turned out to be of when Beastette was so enraptured in the immense popularity of the FIFA World Cup in that happened between June and July 2010. "Question" once again talked about finding and failed to gain acceptance but this time, instead of failing to impress peers, the protagonist is trying to impress a lover. "Chase" also talked about finding acceptance except this time the song depicts that the protagonist finally gets it but then rejects it and then later tries to get it again. "Potential" was inspired by Beastette's inspirations but is lyrically a "wake-up call/red flag" song that is supposed to, as stated by Beastette, "to wake up your consciousness". "Choice" is said by Beastette to be her "vanity song" is supposedly about her and was inspired by her stage name which says is another way to say that its a "beautiful female beast".

Release
The album was first released on 17 January 2011 in the UK and on 15 February 2011 in the US. The original version of the album was also finally released in Canada on 11 July 2011, alongside the French version that was also released in that country that same day. All regions got the same tracklisting. On 11 July 2011, the French version of the album, Flamme, was released in francophone Canada, France, Belgium, and Switzerland. Except for the fact that every track from the original English version was re-recorded in French, the tracklisting remained unchanged. Flamme was also had limited pressings in the UK where only 10,000 copies could be bought via the official website for Fusion Records, Beastette's website. The limited copies of Flamme will go on sale in the UK soon.

Singles

 * "California" is the first single from the album and served as Beastette's debut single. Released on 29 November 2010, the single reached #6 on the UK Singles Chart and #9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States, becoming her first top ten single in both countries.


 * "Revolve" is the second single from the album. The single was released on 17 January 2011 and managed to reach #4 on the UK Singles Chart. The single will be released in February 2010 in the United States.


 * "Priorities" is the third and final single from the album and will be released on 30 May 2011. It reached #5 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Beastette's third top ten single in the country.

Criticial reaction
Wildfire received positive reviews from contemporary critics and fans alike, mainly because of the lyrics of the song. Beastette found this fact surprising as she stated "Wow. I, like, didn't think people would actually, like, read the lyrics. I mean, I'm not trying to say that people are illiterate or anything but I never thought they were actually paying attention". The album has also become known for the fact that its tracklisting consists of songs that only have one word in their titles.

Commercial performance
Wildfire debuted at #3 on the UK Albums chart and managed to sell 84,972 copies in its first week. Though many people predicted that the album might debut at #1, Beastette was happy with her first week sales and claimed that "she was happy that the album fully didn't flop". In its second week, the album remained at #3 and managed to be certified Silver doing that time. To date, the album has sold 516,492 copies in the UK and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). In February 2011, Wildfire debuted at #7 on the Billboard 200 in the United States. The album managed to sell more than 56,000 copies in its first week. The album has since been certified by Gold by the RIAA for shipping more than 500,000 copies and has shifted more than 946,000 copies in the US. The album has also reached #2 in Ireland and has also been certified Platinum in the country. The album has sold more than 22,400 copies in Ireland. In July 2011, the album debuted and peaked at #1 on the French Albums Chart. Also peaking at #1 on the Wallonia Belgian charts, it also debuted at #3 in Canada, #9 on the Swiss Albums charts, and #10 on the Flanders Belgian Albums Chart. The album has been certified Platinum in France and Gold in Belgium, Switzerland, and Canada.

Personnel

 * Beastette: Writing, vocals, and production
 * The Weekenders: Writing, production, and additional background vocals
 * Azre Matsor*: Writing and additional vocals on "Priorities"
 * Keoni Jilgnam*: Writing
 * MIDNIGHT: Production, writing, and vocals
 * Honey: Writing and vocals
 * Stargate: Production