Nocturnal Emission

"Nocturnal Emission" is the second single from Romo's second studio album POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball. Like the lead single "Schizo Pop", it was written by Romo and co-produced by Romo and Andre Cassenove. The single was released January 26, 2009, the week before the release of POPSTAR, and became her fourth consecutive #1 single and platinum single.

Background and writing
"Nocturnal Emission" was written as a sequel to "Schizo Pop", a song where a celebrity (later revealed by Romo as the fictional popstar Belle Ball) takes pride in being overexposed in the media; in this song, the same celebrity takes pride in her wild nightlife adventures. Both songs were co-produced by Andre Cassenove of Indigo Peak.

The song is an exaggerated account of a late night party Romo attended. While talking to friends poolside at the hotel she was staying in, a group of people ran onto the deck, stripped down to their bathing suits, and jumped in the pool. She noticed one of her male friends run off to the pool to take cell phone shots of the girls coming out. She commented that "the little spoken parts before the choruses, those are all things my friend really said that night."

Romo later noticed the same people in one of the conference rooms playing Cranium, but by the time she introduced herself to them, they packed up and left to go to a party. "I came along with them that night. It wasn't as wild as the song makes it out to be, I made up the parts about strip poker and indecent exposure. But yes there was plenty of booze to go around." "Nocturnal Emission" was exaggerated purposely to paint her alter ego Belle Ball as a party addict.

The title refers to the clinical term for a spontaneous orgasm, usually during sleep, referred to in layman's terms as a "wet dream"; this meaning is mentioned in the middle 8 "I got the cocks all wet like a nocturnal emission". Romo says she chose the title as a metaphor for when female celebrities flash or slip their private parts for the cameras, usually while drunk.

Reception
"Nocturnal Emission" received a mixed reception. While fans and peers ranked it on par with "Schizo Pop" as another strong effort in her transition to pop, some critics believed the lyrics, particularly the middle 8, were "too juvenile for an artist of her caliber".

Track listings
CD1
 * 1) Nocturnal Emission (album version)
 * 2) Nocturnal Emission (radio edit)
 * 3) Nocturnal Emission (Indigo Peak remix)
 * 4) She's Got Balls
 * 5) Lye

CD2
 * 1) Nocturnal Emission (UpTempo Night Howler Club Mix)
 * 2) Nocturnal Emission (EC's Retro Style & Danceclub Hostile Mix)
 * 3) Nocturnal Emission (Ellen Bloody Fitzpatrick Left Another Stain On Her Rank Mattress Remix)
 * 4) Nocturnal Emission (Matt's Sound Check Remix)
 * 5) Nocturnal Emission (DAMNED Alternative Dub)
 * 6) Nocturnal Emission (Darling Violetta's Nocturnal Remission Mix)
 * 7) Nocturnal Emission (Bleak's Ode To The Night Remix)
 * 8) Music video

Promotion
Romo performed "Nocturnal Emission" on Rockin' Around on December 18, 2008, the Christmas Chart Show on December 21, 2008, and Urapopstar's inaugural Live Lounge on January 6, 2009.

Her first promotional appearance, a meet-up with Elice Claire at a record store, had her give a "nocturnal emission" of her own, as she caused a stir with a see-through sweater that showed part of her nipples.

The last week of 2008 saw Romo revive her feud with Rouge when they announced their single "Red Light" would be released on January 26th along with "Nocturnal Emission". Both acts' previous singles were released against each other in November 2008, during which time Rouge member Kerri Stevens referred to Romo as "not a real artist" and "full of shit" for abandoning rock for electropop. When Romo first found out, she said a feud would not be worth her time, adding "We've already established that I'm not exactly too fussed with them, but I believe we should carry out our singles' promotional campaigns like grown women. I don't need Kerri bitchslapping me at the Radio 1 studios again."

Symbolically moving on, Rouge moved "Red Light" to January 19th. But Romo didn't appear to move on. The next day, Romo announced a 21-date UK tour, Belle's Ball, boasting support acts China, Mischa, Elice Claire, and Phoenix Rising, which was timed coincidentally after the announcement of a smaller scale tour Rouge planned for around the same time. The day after that, Romo spent the day in a state of schadenfreude when Izzy announced she would release her next single "Fabulous" against Rouge on the 19th, a move that visibly pissed off the group. Romo had a change of heart when she saw "Red Light" listed on her date again, leading her to make yet another blog posting that put down the group. When Romo's posting was proven incorrect by Rouge continuing to promote the next day as a January 19th release as well as resubmitting the single to the release schedule as so, a rep for her label Elite Records came out saying that Romo "needs help" because she's preoccupied with competing with Rouge.

Continuing to dwell on her dislike of the pop group, when she discovered ticket prices for Rouge's tour would be marked down due to low sales, Romo rubbed it in by offering attendees to her Belle's Ball performances who don't like the show free tickets to a Rouge concert. She boasted because ticket sales for her tour were doing well that she could afford to buy Rouge tickets in bulk, plus she figured it would be cheaper than giving a full refund.

Romo's behind the scenes work at Elite Records also gained some attention when she complained she couldn't get any paperwork done because Full Quality drummer Zack Michaels was too busy whining about how he fails at life, as well as a "date" with competitor Ben Johnston where he wanted to take some time out to discuss the promotional budget for his new single.

On the last week of promotion, Romo became one of the housemates on Celebrity Big Brother, and her mature handling of the unusual antics of fellow houseguests such as Luke Ramada, Paul, and her friend China helped her place fourth in the competition.

Music video
The video for "Nocturnal Emission", directed by Romo, was due to premiere on January 9, 2009 but leaked online two days earlier. It depicts a surrealistic house party and is inspired by the works of photographer David LaChapelle, either completely re-enacting or containing elements of his famous photographs.

The video was banned after one airing by all of the major UK music channels, citing "explicit nudity and disturbing images". However, it is often regarded as Romo's best music video. As a result of its popularity, she took on a similar concept for one of the videos for "TITS-FM!", again utilizing the house party setting but instead drawing inspiration from the advertising and fashion of American Apparel.

Chart performance
"Nocturnal Emission" debuted at #40 on the Urapopstar Airplay 40 on November 30, 2008 and has since peaked at #2, becoming her third top 5 airplay hit.

On the singles charts, it debuted at #1 on the Urapopstar Top 40 Singles Chart the week of February 1, 2009 with sales of 83,244, once again beating Romo's best one-week sales total at the time. It sold a total of 304,821 copies, enough to be certified platinum.

"Nocturnal Emission" is Romo's fourth consecutive #1 single, and her fourth consecutive platinum single as well. It followed the lead of her previous single "Schizo Pop" and outsold both singles from her debut album; Romo's next three singles (two of which peaked at #2) went on to outsell "Nocturnal Emission", but not "Schizo Pop".

Other versions

 * A remix by UpTempo appears on the dance group's album Up To Tha Tempo.
 * The deluxe edition of POPSTAR: The Life & Times Of Belle Ball features a hip-hop remix of the song.

Unofficial sequel
"Bathroom Entourage" on Romo's third album POPSTAR 2: Belle After Death is considered a sequel to "Nocturnal Emission" due to its structure and subject matter.