Speech Therapy | ||||
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Studio album by Speech Debelle | ||||
Released | 1 June 2009 | |||
Recorded |
Melbourne, Australia London, UK |
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Genre | Alternative hip hop, jazz rap | |||
Length | 51:16 | |||
Label | Big Dada | |||
Producer | Wayne "Lotek" Bennett, Plutonic Lab, Mike Lindsay, Ciaran "DreaKey" Fahy, Speech Debelle (co). | |||
Speech Debelle chronology | ||||
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Singles from Speech Therapy | ||||
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Professional ratings | |
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Review scores | |
Source | Rating |
Allmusic | |
The Guardian | |
The Independent | |
NME | (8/10) |
The Observer | (favourable) |
Pitchfork Media | (7.5/10) |
Q | |
The Sunday Times | |
The Times |
Speech Therapy is the debut album from British rapper Speech Debelle. It was awarded the British Mercury Prize in 2009.
The album was released in the United Kingdom on 31 May 2009. The album was led by a white label limited release of "Searching". Thereafter the album had three singles released, "The Key", "Better Days" featuring Micachu, "Go Then, Bye" and finally "Spinning".
Recorded mostly in Australia, the album was created by Debelle, Wayne Lotek and Plutonic Lab (who produced "The Key" and "Better Days") and Big Dada founder Will Ashon, the album documented her formative years in London. She has cited her biggest influences on the album as Tracy Chapman and Meshell Ndegeocello. Unlike many other hip hop albums, the tracks eschew the use of samples and rely instead on live instrumentals.
"The Key" won Best Budget Video for Pop, Dance, Urban at the UK Music Video Awards in 2009.
Debelle's single from the Speech Therapy, "Spinnin" has been re-worked by Tinchy Stryder and Dionne Bromfield and will be used as one of the official anthems of the 2012 Summer Olympics in London. In March 2011 she performed three songs from the album for Canal Street TV in France.
On 21 July 2009 Speech Therapy was announced as one of the twelve shortlisted albums for the year's Mercury Music Award. She became the first woman to win the award in seven years.Speech Therapy was considered an upset to more well-known competitors including The Horrors, Florence and the Machine, Kasabian and Friendly Fires.