The Alesha Show

The Alesha Show is the second studio album from British recording artist Alesha Dixon, the album is her first album to be released in the United Kingdom. It was released on 24 November 2008 in the UK by Asylum Records. Dixon, an ex-member of R&B/garage girl group, Mis-Teeq, used her full name for the first time while releasing The Alesha Show (her previous album was credited mononymously as "Alesha"). The album's Xenomania-produced track, "The Boy Does Nothing" was chosen as the lead single.[2]

This article is about the Alesha Dixon album. For the 2009 concert tour, see The Alesha Show (tour).

The Alesha Show
Studio album by Alesha Dixon
Released	24 November 2008
Recorded	2007–2008 (Standard), 2009 (Encore Edition)
Genre	R&B soul big band[1]
Length	52:25
Label	Asylum Atlantic
Producer	Xenomania Steve Booker The Underdogs Kuk Harrell Stephen Lipson Soulshock & Karlin Al Shux
Alesha Dixon chronology
Fired Up (2006) The Alesha Show (2008) The Entertainer (2010)
Alternative cover
International cover
Singles from The Alesha Show
"The Boy Does Nothing" Released: 10 November 2008 "Breathe Slow" Released: 9 February 2009 "Let's Get Excited" Released: 11 May 2009 "To Love Again" Released: 15 November 2009

A deluxe edition of the album was released on 23 November 2009, entitled The Alesha Show – Encore. The first single from the Encore edition was "To Love Again". All the singles released from the album, including the Encore edition, reached the top 15 on the UK Singles Chart.

This album, along with her later album for Asylum Records The Entertainer is no longer distributed digitally, but The Boy Does Nothing, Breathe Slow and To Love Again singles, coming from this album, are still available here.

Reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Digital Spy	[3]
Dotmusic	[4]
The Independent	[5]
MusicOMH	[6]
Orange	[7]
Teentoday.co.uk	[8]
The Times	[9]

Commercial

The album entered the UK Albums Chart at number twenty-six, selling over 26,000 copies. It dropped off the top 75 chart after four weeks.[10] The album slowly climbed up the chart and after the success of her second "Breathe Slow" it rose to a new peak of 12, giving the album its first top-twenty chart placing and has since been certified Platinum for sales of over 300,000 copies. Following the release of "Let's Get Excited", it rebounded to a new peak of 11.

Following the international release of "The Boy Does Nothing", The Alesha Show has charted in various European countries, including a peak of 39 on the French Albums Chart, compiled by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique.

Critical

The album received generally mixed reviews from various critics. Alex Foster of the BBC started by praising Dixon on launching a well orchestrated comeback, saying "Modern celebrity is a fickle beast. After it chews you up and spits you out only a few are rewarded for their resilience with one more bite of the cherry".[11] However, Foster continued onwards criticising Dixon's apparent genre change, stating "Is this the Britney of old? A rhymes-spitting, N.E.R.D video featuring, uniquely British R&B vixen that can ace rather than ape the Americans? The answer sadly is 'no'".[11] However Foster did praise tracks such as "Breathe Slow" and "Hand It Over".[11] Nick Levine of Digital Spy gave the album three stars and stated that "Dixon tries her hand at everything from 60s glitz ('Cinderella Shoe') to synthy R&B ('Breathe Slow') to mellow ballads ('Don't Let Me Go'), managing more often that not to pull it off [...] Not unsurprisingly given its relentless genre-hopping, The Alesha Show does feature a few misfires. 'Ooh Baby I Like It Like That' sounds like a Dannii Minogue B-side from 2003".[12] However, the review ended on an optimistic note, saying that "these quibbles aren't enough to sink an album that's often as lively and likable as the woman who made it".[12]

Promotion

Singles

• "The Boy Does Nothing" was released as the first single from the album. It became a worldwide hit and her best single to date. It became a top 5 hit in the United Kingdom. A top 10 hit in Australia, France, Norway, Italy, Romania, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, Finland, Hungary, Sweden, and Switzerland. It also became at top 20 hit in Belgium, Ireland and Slovakia, as well as a top 40 hit in Austria, Denmark and Germany.
• "Breathe Slow" is the second single from the album. The track is Dixon's most successful single to date in the UK, peaking at number 3. The song was nominated at the BRIT awards 2010 in the Best British single category. It also became a top 20 hit in Belgium, the Czech Republic and Ireland.
• "Let's Get Excited" is the third single. It peaked at number 13 in the UK, number 14 in Finland, and number 36 in Ireland.
• "To Love Again" is the lead and only single from the Encore edition of the album. The song is produced by John Shanks and was written by Gary Barlow of Take That. The song peaked at number 15 in the United Kingdom and number 23 in Scotland.

Other songs

A promotional song called "Colours of the Rainbow" was made available to download from Dixon's official website.

Tour

Main article: The Alesha Show (tour)

In summer 2009 it was announced that Dixon would tour across the UK in support of The Alesha Show. Dixon named the 17 date concert tour "The Alesha Show". The tour is due to begin on 20 October in Nottingham and finish on 19 November in Brighton. Dixon had to reschedule three shows when it was announced that she would take on the role of judge on Strictly Come Dancing.[13]

Track listing

The Alesha Show – Standard edition

No.	Title	Music	Length
1.	"Welcome to the Alesha Show"	Alesha Dixon Marvin-Paul Ambrosius Yann Macé	0:26
2.	"Let's Get Excited"	Dixon Thaddis Harrell Sean Hall Todd Herfindal	3:18
3.	"Breathe Slow"	Carsten Schack Kenneth Karlin Harold Lily	4:13
4.	"Cinderella Shoe"	Dixon Miranda Cooper Brian Higgins Carla-Marie Williams Nick Coler Xenomania	2:41
5.	"The Boy Does Nothing"	Dixon Cooper Higgins Williams	3:34
6.	"Chasing Ghosts"	Dixon Steve Booker	3:43
7.	"Play Me"	Cooper Dixon Higgins Jon Shave Toby Scott Jason Resch Kieran Jones	3:36
8.	"Hand it Over"	Dixon Harvey Mason Jr. Warren Felder James Fauntleroy II Frankie Storm	3:35
9.	"Do You Know the Way it Feels"	Diane Warren	4:04
10.	"Can I Begin"	Dixon Alexander Shuckburgh Amanda Ghost Ian Dench	3:32
11.	"Italians Do it Better"	Dixon Cooper Higgins Jason Resch Kieran Jones	4:10
12.	"Ooh Baby I Like it Like That"	Dixon Cooper Higgins Sasha Collinson	3:45
13.	"Don't Ever Let Me Go"	Dixon Angus Stone Julia Stone	3:44
14.	"I'm Thru" "Mystery" (hidden track)	Cooper Higgins Matt Gray Owen Parker Dixon Tim Powell	8:56

The Alesha Show – Enhanced CD and iTunes deluxe edition

No.	Title	Length
15.	"Welcome to the Alesha Show"	3:18
16.	"I Don't Wanna Mess Around"	3:47
17.	"The Boy Does Nothing" (music video)	3:51
18.	"The Boy Does Nothing" (Behind The Scenes)	3:36
19.	"Hello iTunes" (iTunes Exclusive Thank you Video)	0:23

The Alesha Show – Japanese bonus tracks

No.	Title	Length
15.	"I Don't Wanna Mess Around"	3:47
16.	"Welcome to the Alesha Show"	3:18
17.	"The Boy Does Nothing" (music video)	3:51

The Alesha Show – Encore – bonus tracks

No.	Title	Music	Length
15.	"To Love Again"	Dixon Gary Barlow John Shanks	3:51
16.	"Shake"	Dixon Booker Paloma Faith	3:30
17.	"The Light"	Dixon Higgins Cooper Xenomania	3:57
18.	"All Out of Tune" "Mystery" (hidden track)	Dixon Alexander Grant Miranda Cooper Higgins Tim Powell	10:05

Notes "Don't Ever Let Me Go" samples "Paper Aeroplane" by Angus and Julia Stone.

Charts and certifications

Charts Chart (2009) Peak position Belgian Albums (Ultratop)[14] 60 Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)[15] 80 Finnish Albums (IFPI)[15] 23 French Albums (SNEP)[15] 39 Irish Albums (IRMA)[15] 64 Scottish Albums (OCC) 20 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[15] 23 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 69 UK Albums (OCC)[15] 11 UK Digital Albums (OCC)[16] 7

Year-end charts Chart (2008) Position UK Albums (OCC)[17] 181 Chart (2009) Position UK Albums (OCC)[18] 59 Certifications Region Certification Certified units/sales United Kingdom (BPI)[19] Platinum 300,000 ^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Release history

Region	Date	Label
United Kingdom[20]	24 November 2008	Asylum
Ireland
Japan[21]	21 January 2009	Victor
Europe	20 February 2009	Warner Music
Poland[22]	23 March 2009
Brazil[23]	23 April 2009
Spain[24]	12 May 2009
Germany[25]	29 May 2009
Austria[25]
Switzerland[25]
Australia[26]	4 September 2009
United Kingdom[27] (Encore edition)	23 November 2009	Asylum

References

1. Tripp, Anna (2009). Alesha Dixon: Her Story - The Unauthorized Biography. Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 978-1-84317-945-0. [...] Reviews of the album were mixed, with The Times calling it, 'A restless scamper through feisty R&B, 1960s soul, big band swing and misty eyed balladry, The Alesha Show has many collaborators as it does styles. The first half, with the groovy "Let's Get Excited" and the tongue-in-cheek, mambo style "The Boy Does Nothing", is great fun. But the "killer" love song turns out to be a damp squib, while the Euro-funk filler "Ooh Baby I Like it Like That" is just as inane as its name.'
2. Music (22 September 2008). "Hello!Magazine Interview". Hellomagazine.ca. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
3. Published Monday, 24 November 2008, 12:16 GMT (24 November 2008). "Digital Spy review". Digitalspy.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4.  4 hrs ago (20 April 2011). "Dotmusic review". Uk.launch.yahoo.com. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
5. Gill, Andy (20 November 2009). "The Independent review". Independent.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
6. "MusicOMH review". Musicomh.com. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
7. "Orange review". Web.orange.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
8. "review". Teentoday.co.uk. 18 December 2010. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
9. "The Times review". Entertainment.timesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
10. "The Alesha Show chart positions". acharts.us. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
11. Foster, Alex (5 December 2008). "Alesha Dixon The Alesha Show Review". BBC. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
12. Levine, Nick (24 November 2008). "Alesha Dixon: 'The Alesha Show'". Digital Spy. Retrieved 2 March 2010.
13. "The Official Alesha Dixon Website". Aleshadixon.co.uk. 7 October 1978. Archived from the original on 14 July 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
14. Steffen Hung. "Alesha Dixon - The Alesha Show". lescharts.com. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
15. "Alesha Dixon - The Alesha Show - Music Charts". Acharts.us. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
16. "Official Album Downloads Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company.
17. "UK Year End Chart 2008" (PDF). ChartsPlus/The Official Charts Company/British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 27 March 2009.
18. "Official Singles Chart 2009" (PDF). Ukchartsplus.co.uk. Retrieved 29 September 2013.
19. "Certified Awards". BPI. Retrieved 3 August 2014.
20. "Release Info". Hmv.com. 15 December 2005. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
21. "JVCmusic Release Info". Jvcmusic.co.jp. 21 January 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
22. Merlin.Pl. "Release Info" (in Polish). Merlin.pl. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
23. "Brazilian release info". Livrariasaraiva.com.br. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
24. "Spanish release date". Los40.com. 23 April 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
25. "German release date". Warnermusic.de. Archived from the original on 30 September 2011. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
26. "Australian release date". Jbhifionline.com.au. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
27. "The Alesha Show: The Encore release date". Amazon.co.uk. Retrieved 1 December 2011.