Goddess (Banks album)
| Goddess | ||||
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| Studio album by Banks | ||||
| Released | September 5, 2014 | |||
| Studio |
Various
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| Genre | ||||
| Length | 59:37 | |||
| Label | Harvest | |||
| Producer |
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| Banks chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Goddess | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
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| Aggregate scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Metacritic | 74/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    |
| Clash | 7/10 |
| DIY | |
| Entertainment Weekly | B+ |
| The Guardian | |
| NME | 7/10 |
| The Observer | |
| Pitchfork | 5.0/10 |
| Rolling Stone | |
| Slant Magazine | |
Goddess is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Banks, released on September 5, 2014 by Harvest Records. It includes all four tracks from her second extended play (EP) London (2013), while the deluxe edition includes two tracks from her debut extended play Fall Over (2013). The album spawned four singles: "Warm Water", "Brain", "Drowning", and "Beggin for Thread". A companion remix album, Goddess Remixes, was released digitally on March 23, 2015.
In February 2014, Banks mentioned that her then-untitled debut studio album was nearing completion; she commented that "I feel like I still have a few more things to let out so that I'll feel really comfortable and happy with my first album being released." In April, Banks announced that the album would be titled Goddess, and confirmed that it would be released on September 9, 2014 in the United States.
"Warm Water" was released as the lead single from Goddess on May 27, 2013. "Brain" was released as the second single from the album on January 29, 2014. The album's third single, "Drowning", was released on June 9, 2014, peaking at number 48 on the US Rock Digital Songs chart. On July 22, 2014, "Beggin for Thread" was released as the fourth and final single from the album. The song reached number 11 on the US Alternative Songs chart, reached number 64 in Germany, and number 80 in Australia.
"Change" and "Alibi" were released as promotional singles from the album in the United Kingdom on February 9, 2014 and September 8, 2014, respectively.
Before announcing Goddess, Banks toured with Canadian recording artist The Weeknd in 2013, for whom she was the opening act. In May 2014, it was announced that she would embark on her first headlining concert tour, which visited North America during May and June.
Goddess received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 74, based on 22 reviews, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Miles Raymer of Entertainment Weekly commended Banks for her "sonic ambition and willingness to risk alienating a pop audience with Goddess' gloomy, tweaky beats". Tshepo Mokoena of The Guardian noted that Banks "lays her emotions bare, at times almost embarrassingly so, sounding raw and vengeful when she belts—and a bit like Fiona Apple in the chirr of her upper vocal register", concluding that although the songs "Someone New" and "Under the Table" "sink into nondescript ballad territory", Goddess is otherwise an "accomplished debut". Felicity Martin of Clash expressed that Banks' "Aaliyah-like vocals pour from Goddess, while a gang of bleeding-edge underground producers ... concoct soulful beats to cushion them", adding that "her confessional appeal is not lost ... as ballads such as 'Under The Table' hark back to her humble piano-and-voice origins."
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