POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball

POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball is the second studio album by Romo, a concept album following the story of a fictional troubled pop superstar named Belle Ball. The album was released on February 2, 2009.

POPSTAR debuted at #1 on the strength of the successful #1 singles "Schizo Pop" and "Nocturnal Emission". As of October 2009, it had sold in excess of one million copies, earning a diamond certification. It was nominated for Best Album at Urapopstar Awards 17, placing as runner-up to Alesha's Bigger Than God, for which Romo contributed songwriting and vocals on the track "The Pretty Ones".

Background and recording
In July 2007, towards the end of promotion for her debut album and its second single, Romo admitted in an interview she wouldn't mind recording a pop album if sales beyond her current era tanked:

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind selling out, do things that are more hooky and beat driven. Elite let me do the story kind of songs because most of the acts on their roster are lyric-heavy artists. But if no one gets it and my bosses think I'd do better as a sellout, I don't have a problem with it. As long as I'm putting bread on my table."

Though Eve spent four weeks at #1 on the album charts, Romo found herself the target of pestering by people on the street who referred to her as "boring", leading her to actually listen to the finished product from start to finish and coming to realize she was disgusted with it. She abruptly canceled plans to release a third single and began writing what came to be the Popstar album.

The first song she wrote was a track entitled "Revolution Of Conformity", an attack on consumer culture. Inspired by a night out on London's rave scene, and a track from Alesha's The Second Coming album called "Blow Your Speakers Out", she changed some lyrics and added a hook and the song became the lead single "Schizo Pop". The original demo was released on the deluxe edition of POPSTAR and as a B-side to her single "The Carpet Didn't Bleed By Itself".

From "Schizo Pop", the idea to change from alternative rock to electropop evolved into the idea of a concept album involving a troubled pop star. Romo introduced this pop star, her alter ego Belle Ball (her name alludes to the saying "the belle of the ball"), in the video for "Schizo Pop" and decided to center the album about her rise to fame and fall from grace.

Romo said the album's music and lyrics have many influences, from the London rave scene to Jack Stevens' Filthy! Dirty! Sexxxy! Audio! album. She once was quoted as saying she listened to "nothing but Girls Aloud and Lady GaGa for 36 straight hours".

The album contains 15 tracks, which is an unintended reference to Andy Warhol's statement that "everyone will be famous for 15 minutes".

Belle Ball
Main article: Belle Ball

The album follows the career of Belle Ball, a troubled pop superstar who was first revealed in the music video for "Schizo Pop". The character's quick ascent to the top of the charts, her hard partying lifestyle, criticism from the public, intervention from friends and family, and eventual death are touched on in the story told in the album's songs.

"My vision for Belle Ball was to create the ultimate celebrity train wreck," Romo said in an interview on BBC Radio 1. "She goes into the entertainment industry as this sweet young girl who wants to be a star. She goes out as an eccentric diva who never stops barking out orders, who never stops going out to party, who's addicted to sex and drugs, who gets depressed and experiments with self-mutilation when she's not on drugs. It's basically a sick and twisted look at how some people let being in the public eye change themselves for the worst."

Belle Ball was inspired by celebrities such as Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, and Lindsay Lohan, who all were tabloid sensations for all the wrong reasons in 2007. While all three turned their lives around the following year, Romo did not want Belle to go down the same path, saying that if she turned her life around it would be "like a cheap fairytale ending".

With Lindsay Lohan's life in continued turmoil as of December 2009, Romo said that "she hasn't lost the Belle Ball inside her".

Collaborations
Like Eve, all of the album's tracks were written and produced or co-produced by Romo.

China appears uncredited on "Schizo Pop" performing the hook with her vocals altered. She also made an appearance on "Belle Ball" as the roadie in the intro and the Elite Records boss in the outro; Romo later invited her back into the studio to perform the song's chorus. In spring 2009, the song was re-recorded and remixed for single release, with China receiving a solo verse.

DAMNED vocalist Halle York appeared as a guest on "If Blair Waldorf Jumped Off A Cliff", a call-and-response track detailing the events of Belle's intervention.

Andre Cassenove of Indigo Peak co-produced "Schizo Pop", "Nocturnal Emission", and "Faded Red Flags". Cassenove appears uncredited in the outro of "Faded Red Flags" as a bail bondsman. Josh Wink co-produced "From Raggedy Ann To Rich Uncle Pennybags" and "The Carpet Didn't Bleed By Itself".

Romo sent a letter to Claire Kitten requesting for an appearance on one of the album's tracks in an attempt to catapult her back into the limelight. She declined.

She also expressed interest in working with Buffi on the track "Prussian Blue", which was strongly influenced by the singer's reflective songs about drugs.

References to other songs
"Belle Ball" contains the line "it's better to burn out than to fade away", a line in the Neil Young song "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)". The line was famously quoted in Def Leppard's song "Rock Of Ages" and Nirvana frontman Kurt Cobain's suicide note.

The third verse of "Schizo Pop" begins "Hi-diddle-dee-dee, an actor's life for me / When you make my salary, life's a nonstop spending spree". This is a reference to the song "Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee" from the Disney movie Pinocchio.

"Strip Poker" interpolates the nursery rhyme "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe"; the song is performed in the tone of a children's song, though the lyrics are X-rated. The reference to a "fuckload of diamonds" is a line borrowed from Lily Allen's "The Fear".

"Undercover Cop" contains a sample from Ozzy Osbourne's "Flying High Again".

Concept
Romo tells the story of Belle Ball in four parts. The first part (tracks 1-4) involves how Belle got into the music business, in addition to her subsequent peak popularity. Part 2 (tracks 5-8) follows Belle on her first tour, the first glimpse into her crippling partying addictions. Part 3 (tracks 9-11) discusses the aftermath of a big scandal brought about by Belle's addictions, including round the clock media coverage and an intervention. The final four tracks involve Belle's descent into madness after abandonment from her friends and weeks of sobriety make a monster out of her.

Critical response
POPSTAR received positive or mixed reviews from critics, receiving a 76/100 rating on Metacritic based on 15 reviews. The majority of publications praised the lyrics, the concept of the album, and how each track told a story connected through each track.

Q called the album "a brilliant pop effort" and BBC Music said "Romo's transformation from Britpop to electropop makes it feel as if she's been doing it for years." Allmusic's review says "In the tradition of Pantera, Michael Bolton, and Lady Gaga before her debut album, Romo decided what she tried before wasn't working and decided to go for something different, and has achieved a breakthrough in doing so." Its review cited "Schizo Pop", "If Blair Waldorf Jumped Off A Cliff", and "Dance On My Grave" as the album's highlights, but made a misstep in sampling Ozzy Osbourne: "Ozzy should bite Romo's head off for butchering 'Flying High Again' on the hook of 'Undercover Cop'."

Pitchfork gave the album a 7.5 and referred to the album as "inspired by Alesha's best - and worst - moments", adding that "its class and substance doesn't hold a candle to her fellow Mancunian diva, but its concept helps it stand among its own in an overcrowded pop landscape." The publication gave the second POPSTAR album an infamous 0.0 rating, damaging Romo's indie credibility and resulting in the singer to take a confrontational stance against the publication, deriding it as narrow minded.

Chart performance
POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball debuted at #1 on the Urapopstar album charts on the week of February 8, 2009 with sales of 82,273 copies. It sold about 12,000 more copies than her debut album Eve did in its first week. POPSTAR sold a total of 1,040,053 copies, enough to be certified diamond. It is unsurprisingly her most successful album to date.

Tour
To support the album, Romo embarked on the 21-date UK tour Belle's Ball with support from China, Esmeralda Dimuzio, Elice Claire, and Phoenix Rising. The tour began March 2, 2009 at Manchester Heaton Park and concluded April 10, 2009 at London Wembley Stadium.

Track listing
Deluxe edition bonus tracks
 * 1) Belle Ball (featuring China)
 * 2) From Raggedy Ann To Rich Uncle Pennybags
 * 3) Cathy Dennis
 * 4) Schizo Pop
 * 5) Deception Inn
 * 6) Nocturnal Emission
 * 7) Strip Poker
 * 8) Undercover Cop (It Wasn't Me)
 * 9) Don't Avert The Crisis, It's Less Entertaining
 * 10) Faded Red Flags
 * 11) If Blair Waldorf Jumped Off A Cliff (featuring Halle York)
 * 12) The Carpet Didn't Bleed By Itself
 * 13) Prussian Blue
 * 14) Rage, Thy Name Is Belle
 * 15) Dance On My Grave
 * 1) The Boss (from the Live Lounge)
 * 2) Revolution Of Conformity (Schizo Pop demo)
 * 3) Nocturnal Emission (hip-hop remix)
 * 4) Schizo Pop (uncensored music video)
 * 5) Nocturnal Emission (uncensored music video)
 * 6) The Making of POPSTAR
 * 7) Belle Ball webisodes
 * 8) Gallery

Sequel
Main article: POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death

The follow-up to POPSTAR is a sequel, POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death, which picks up where the end of the first album left off and follows Belle Ball's biggest fan through the pitfalls that brought her idol down.