Therapy (Anne-Marie album)

"Tell Your Girlfriend" redirects here. For the song by Lay Bankz, see Tell Ur Girlfriend.

Therapy is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Anne-Marie. It was released on 23 July 2021, through Major Tom's and Asylum Records. It features guest appearances by KSI, Digital Farm Animals, Little Mix, Niall Horan, Nathan Dawe, MoStack, and Rudimental. The album was supported by four singles: "Don't Play", "Way Too Long", "Our Song", and "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)".

Therapy
Studio album by Anne-Marie
Released	23 July 2021 (2021-07-23)
Genre	Pop
Length	33:50
Label	Major Tom's Atlantic Asylum
Producer	Digital Farm Animals Mojam TMS Nathan Dawe Grades Sire Noah Lostboy Cameron Gower Poole Oak Jean-Marie Rudimental Elvira Anderfjärd Blake Slatkin Fred Ball
Anne-Marie chronology
Speak Your Mind (2018) Therapy (2021) Unhealthy (2023)
Singles from Therapy
"Don't Play" Released: 15 January 2021 "Way Too Long" Released: 9 April 2021 "Our Song" Released: 21 May 2021 "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" Released: 23 July 2021

The album received generally positive reviews from music critics and was also a commercial success. Therapy peaked at number 2 in both the UK albums chart and the Scottish albums chart. It also peaked at number 4 on the Irish albums chart.

Background

Planning for Anne-Marie's second album began in 2019; in an interview with Music Week in March of that year, she provided information on her upcoming second studio album, stating "I love the studio. I was able to get in there and have some sort of therapy with my own brain for a week and that's going towards the next album". She further commented that "the first album was made up of so many songs that people had heard for years and that's amazing. But for me as a creative person, I'm writing something new all the time and all I want to do is put it out straight away. That wasn't the way it happened with [the debut] album so, for this next one, I'm hoping to be more active on writing and put something out straight away that's fresh and no one's heard before."

During 2020, Anne-Marie released the standalone singles "Birthday", "Her", "To Be Young" (featuring American singer and rapper Doja Cat) and "Problems", with "Birthday" and "To Be Young" later appearing on the Japanese edition of Therapy.

On 15 January 2021, Anne-Marie released the lead single of Therapy, "Don't Play", in collaboration with British YouTuber and rapper-singer KSI and English DJ and producer Digital Farm Animals. On 9 April 2021, the second single "Way Too Long" was released in collaboration with English producer Nathan Dawe and British rapper MoStack. On 21 May 2021, the third single "Our Song", a collaboration with Niall Horan, was released. On that date, Anne-Marie announced the title, cover art, and release date of Therapy. She later announced that she would embark on the Dysfunctional Tour in 2022, and Therapy: The Live Experience on 7 August 2021 in support of the album.

On 6 July 2021, via Twitter, Anne-Marie created a website that involved her fans/followers to figure out the track-listing for the album, with new ones appearing daily.

On 7 July 2021, random followers were sent DMs of one of two snippets of a song along with parts of the title. The track was revealed to be "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" with British girlband Little Mix on 8 July 2021. The song samples "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" by Lumidee. The track was announced as the album's fourth single on 9 July 2021 along with its release date being 23 July 2021. A snippet of the song was released on TikTok. The cover was revealed on Anne-Marie's social media on 21 July 2021. On the day of release the song was accompanied by a music video was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. The music video parodies the 2011 comedy film Bridesmaids.

Composition

Therapy was described by music critics as a genre-hopping pop album that draws influence from trance, indie, electronic, trap, UK garage, and pop rock. The opener, "x2", begins as a soulful song before turning into a revenge track. Lead single "Don't Play" was described as a 2-step-influenced UK garage track about heartache. "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)", a collaboration with Little Mix, was described as a calypso-pop number that was compared to the works of Beyoncé. It samples "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)" by Lumidee. "Who I Am" was described as a pop song with lyrics of defiance and self-acceptance. "Unlovable", a collaboration with Rudimental, is a "fist-pumping" dance track. "Beautiful" sees the singer detailing her own insecurities over what NME described as swaying percussion. The tracks "Tell Your Girlfriend" and "Better Not Together" both contain lyrics about turning heartbreak into self-confidence. The title track serves as the closer for the album, being a trop-pop number.

Promotion

Dysfunctional Tour

Dysfunctional Tour

Tour by Anne-Marie
Location	UK & Ireland Asia
Associated album	Therapy
Start date	3 May 2022
End date	18 October 2022
Legs	2
No. of shows	11
Supporting acts	Gracey Billen Ted Mimi Webb
Anne-Marie concert chronology

On 28 May 2021, Anne-Marie announced the Dysfunctional Tour, scheduled to take place from 3 to 11 May 2022 across cities in United Kingdom and Ireland. Tickets were released to the general public on 4 June at 10 am BST, with the option of pre-sale tickets given to those who pre-ordered Therapy through the singer's official website. The pre-sale tickets were available from 2 to 4 June (for the London and Leeds shows only). North American dates were announced on 30 November 2021. European shows were announced on 7 June 2022, while the Asian leg of the tour was announced on 15 July 2022.

In September 2022, venues announced that both European and North American legs of tour were cancelled due to the singer's scheduling conflict, however Anne-Marie did not issue an official statement.

Tour Dates

List of confirmed dates and venues

Date	City	Country	Venue	Supporting act
UK & Ireland
3 May 2022	Dublin	Ireland	3Arena	Gracey Billen Ted
6 May 2022	Glasgow	Scotland	OVO Hydro
7 May 2022	Cardiff	Wales	Motorpoint Arena Cardiff
9 May 2022	Leeds	England	First Direct Arena
11 May 2022	London		SSE Arena
29 July 2022	Newmarket		Newmarket Racecourse	Gracey Mimi Webb
30 July 2022	Swansea	Wales	Singleton Park
Asia
13 October 2022	Tokyo	Japan	Toyosu Pit	—
14 October 2022	Osaka		Namba Hatch
16 October 2022	Quezon City	Philippines	New Frontier Theater
18 October 2022	Singapore	Singapore	Capitol Theatre

List of cancelled dates

Date	City	Country	Venue	Reason
5 November 2022	Hamburg	Germany	Sporthalle Hamburg	Unknown Reasons
7 November 2022	Cologne		Palladium
10 November 2022	Esch-sur-Alzette	Luxembourg	Rockhal
12 November 2022	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Ziggo Dome
13 November 2022	Brussels	Belgium	Palais 12
15 November 2022	Paris	France	Zénith Paris - La Villette
11 October 2022	New Taipei	Taiwan	ZEPP New Taipei	Covid-19 Pandemic
26 November 2022	San Francisco	United States	August Hall	Unknown Reasons
27 November 2022	Los Angeles		Belasco Theatre
1 December 2022	Chicago		Park West
3 December 2022	Columbus		Newport Music Hall
5 December 2022	Toronto	Canada	Phoenix Concert Theatre
7 December 2022	New York City	United States	Webster Hall

Setlist

This setlist comes from opening night in Dublin on 3 May 2022, it does not represent the setlist for the remainder of the tour.

1. "Ciao Adios"
2. "x2"
3. "Alarm"
4. "Tell Your Girlfriend"
5. "Then"
6. "Rockabye"
7. "Therapy"
8. "Our Song"
9. "Breathing"
10. "Beautiful"
11. "Perfect to Me"
12. "Better Off"
13. "2002"
14. "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)"
15. "Way Too Long"
16. "Don't Play"

Encore

17. "Friends"
18. "Birthday"

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	65/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Clash	7/10
The Guardian
The Irish Times
NME
musicOMH
Pitchfork	5.4/10
The Telegraph
Spectrum Culture
The Arts Desk

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, Therapy has an average score of 65 based on six reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Ali Shutler of NME compared it favourably to her debut album, writing that while her previous effort "spent too much time playing it safe", "its follow-up Therapy doesn't make the same mistake". Referring to the record as "infinitely more confident" sonically, Shutler gave the album four out of five stars. Robin Murray, writing for Clash, was similarly favourable, rating the album seven out of ten. Murray wrote that the album "pushes her story to its next chapter, and while it features some surging highs, it doesn't quite dispel notions that Anne-Marie has yet to nail down a singular sound she can call her own". Ben Devlin of musicOMH gave the album four out of five stars writing, "her newest record is packed to the brim with famous faces on vocals, songwriting and production, but her relatable, unpretentious, sometimes playful delivery holds disparate sounds and moods together with ease."

Lauren Murphy, writing for The Irish Times was slightly more mixed, criticising songs such as "Beautiful" and "Better Not Together", but states "the majority [of the tracks] land with a thud rather than a glance here". Dani Blum of Pitchfork dubbed the album "crisply rendered [and] competently hooky", noting that it "promises a more personal self-portrait, but [the British singer] ends up disappearing into vague songwriting and anodyne dance-pop production." Michael Cragg of The Guardian was more negative, referring to the album as a "missed opportunity", criticising the amount of collaborators on the album for overshadowing the singer, while preferring the "moments when Anne-Marie's brand of plain-spoken yet vulnerable pop shines through". He ultimately rated the album two out of five stars.

Commercial performance

In its first charting week, Therapy opened at number-two on the UK Albums Chart with sales of 18,260, of which 12,463 were physical copies.

Track listing

Standard edition

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"x2"	Anne-Marie Nicholson Rachel Keen Fred Ball Peter Rycroft	Ball Lostboy Mojam[a] Cameron Gower Poole[v]	2:46
2.	"Don't Play" (with KSI and Digital Farm Animals)	Nicholson Olajide Olatunji Nicholas Gale Samuel Gumbley Richard Boardman Pablo Bowman Mustafa Omer Andrew Murray James Murray	Digital Farm Animals Mojam	3:09
3.	"Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" (with Little Mix)	Nicholson Taylor Upsahl Camille Purcell Pete Nappi Jacob Banfield	Mojam Nappi Poole[v] Raphaella[v] Lewis Thompson[a]	2:57
4.	"Who I Am"	Nicholson Warren Felder Sean Douglas Alex Niceforo Keith Sorrells	Oak Alex Nice[c] Sorrells[c] Poole[v]	2:32
5.	"Our Song" (with Niall Horan)	Nicholson Horan Thomas Barnes Peter Kelleher Benjamin Kohn Philip Plested	TMS[m] Poole[v]	2:44
6.	"Way Too Long" (with Nathan Dawe and MoStack)	Nicholson Dawe Montell Daley Tre Jean-Marie Daniel Traynor Uzoechi Emenike Oladayo Olatunji Michael Orabiyi Ryan Campbell	Dawe Jean-Marie Grades Sire Noah Poole[v]	2:30
7.	"Breathing"	Nicholson Keen Ball	Ball Poole[v]	3:24
8.	"Unlovable" (featuring Rudimental)	Nicholson Purcell Emenike Dawe Jean-Marie	Jean-Marie Rudimental Mojam[a] Poole[v]	2:23
9.	"Beautiful"	Ed Sheeran Max Martin Elvira Anderfjärd	Anderfjärd Poole[v]	3:15
10.	"Tell Your Girlfriend"	Nicholson Brittany Amaradio Blake Slatkin	Slatkin Poole[v]	2:15
11.	"Better Not Together"	Nicholson Purcell Emenike Jean-Marie Dawe	Mojam Popscar[a] Poole[v]	3:09
12.	"Therapy"	Nicholson Barnes Kelleher Kohn Plested	TMS[m] Aod[a]	2:46
Total length:				33:50

Japanese edition bonus tracks

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
13.	"Birthday"	Nicholson Amaradio Felder Sorrells	Oak Nice[c] Sorrells[c]	3:01
14.	"To Be Young" (featuring Doja Cat)	Nicholson Amala Dlamini Louis Bell Teo Halm Amaradio	Bell Halm	3:24
15.	"Don't Play" (with KSI and Digital Farm Animals) (Nathan Dawe Remix)	Nicholson Olajide Olatunji Gale Gumbley Boardman Bowman Omer A. Murray J. Murray	Digital Farm Animals Mojam	3:18
16.	"Bedroom" (JJ Lin featuring Anne-Marie)	Nicholson Barnes Kelleher Purcell Kohn	TMS Chris Bishop[v]	3:24
Total length:				46:57

Notes

• "Kiss My (Uh-Oh)" samples "Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)", written by Lumidee Cedeño, Teddy Mendez, Edwin Perez, Steven "Lenky" Marsden, Steven Marsden, Trevor Smith, and John Jackson, as performed by Lumidee.
• ^{^[m]} indicates a main and vocal producer
• ^{^[a]} indicates an additional producer
• ^{^[c]} indicates a co-producer
• ^{^[v]} indicates a vocal producer

Personnel

Credits adapted from Tidal.

Musicians

• Anne-Marie – vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (1)
• Raye – backing vocals (1)
• James Murray – bass synthesizer, drums, percussion, sound effects (1); programming (8, 11)
• Mustafa Omer – bass synthesizer, drums, percussion, sound effects (1); programming (8, 11)
• Lostboy – drum programming, synthesizer programming (1)
• Fred Ball – keyboards, percussion (1, 7)
• Andrew Murray – keyboards, strings programming (1); harp, live strings (2, 15); programming (11)
• Digital Farm Animals – bass, drums, keyboards, percussion, piano, programming, sound effects, strings, synthesizer (2, 15)
• Mojam – drums, sound effects, synthesizer (2, 3, 15); keyboards, programming (2, 15); bass, guitar, percussion (3)
• KSI – vocals (2, 15)
• Pete Nappi – guitar, keyboards (3)
• Lewis Thompson – keyboards (3)
• Little Mix – vocals (3)
• Keith Ten4 Sorrells – drum programming, gang vocals, programming (4)
• Oak Felder – drum programming, gang vocals, keyboards, programming (4, 14)
• Alex Nice – gang vocals, keyboards, programming (4)
• Ben Kohn – bass (5, 12), piano (16)
• Tom Barnes – drums (5, 12)
• Pete Kelleher – keyboards (5, 12), bass (16)
• Niall Horan – guitar, vocals (5)
• Vern Asbury – guitar (5)
• Dyo – backing vocals (6)
• Grades – bass, drums, piano, programming, strings, synthesizer (6)
• Sire Noah – bass, drums, piano, programming, strings, synthesizer (6)
• Tre Jean-Marie – bass, drums, piano, synthesizer (6, 8); programming (6, 8, 11), strings (6), keyboards (8), vocoder (11)
• Nathan Dawe – programming (6), remixer (15)
• MoStack – vocals (6)
• Amy Langley – cello (7)
• Rudimental – vocals (8)
  • Amir Amor – drums, keyboards, programming (8)
  • Leon Rolle – drums, keyboards (8)
  • Piers Aggett – drums, synthesizer (8)
  • Kesi Dryden – drums, keyboards (8)
• Mark Crown – trumpet (8)
• Claire Hack – backing vocals (9)
• Jenny Addis – backing vocals (9)
• Nicola Lambrianos – backing vocals (9)
• Sebastian Hack – backing vocals (9)
• Siena Hack – backing vocals (9)
• Sue Nicholson – backing vocals (9)
• Wayne Nicholson – backing vocals (9)
• Elvira Anderfjärd – bass, drums, keyboards, programming (9)
• Blake Slatkin – bass, drums, keyboards, programming (10)
• Aod – guitar (12)
• Cameron Gower Poole – additional programming (12)
• Chris Bishop – additional programming (12)
• Teo Halm – bass, drums, piano, programming, synthesizer (14)
• Louis Bell – drums, keyboards, piano, programming, strings (14)
• JJ Lin – lead vocals (16)

Technical

• Stuart Hawkes – masterer (1, 3–5, 7–14)
• Kevin Grainger – masterer, mixer (2, 6); engineer (2)
• Geoff Swan – mixer (1, 7, 8, 10–12)
• Phil Tan – mixer (3)
• Charlie Holmes – mixer (4)
• Mark "Spike" Stent – mixer (5, 13)
• Serban Ghenea – mixer (9)
• Manny Marroquin – mixer (14)
• Chris Galland – mix engineer (14)
• James F. Reynolds – mixing engineer (16)
• Fred Ball – engineer (1, 7)
• Lostboy – engineer (1)
• Paul Norris – engineer (3)
• Pete Nappi – engineer (3)
• TMS – engineer, vocal recording engineer (5, 12), vocal engineer (16)
• James Murray – engineer (8, 11)
• Mustafa Omer – engineer (8, 11)
• John Hanes – engineer (9)
• Keith Ten4 Sorrells – engineer (1)
• Cameron Gower Poole – vocal engineer (2, 15, 16), additional vocal recording engineer (5)
• S-X – vocal engineer (2, 15)
• Rob Macfarlane – vocal recording engineer (2, 15)
• Tom Hough – vocal engineer, additional vocal recording engineer (6)
• JJ Lin – vocal engineer (16)
• Joe Burgess – assistant mixer (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
• Niko Battistini – assistant mixer (1, 7, 8, 10, 11)
• Bill Zimmerman – assistant mixer (3)
• Matt Wolach – assistant mixer (5, 13)
• Dave Emery – assistant mixer (13)
• Jeremie Inhaber – assistant mix engineer (14)
• Robin Florent – assistant mix engineer (14)
• Scott Desmarais – assistant mix engineer (14)
• Ari Starace – additional vocal recording engineer (14)

Artwork

• Bella Howard - photography
• Kate Moross - creative director
• Studio Moross - design
• Phoebe Lettice Thompson - styling
• Jessica Griffiths - hair stylist
• Mona Leanne - make-up artist
• Emily Gilmour - nail design

Charts

Weekly charts

Weekly chart performance for Therapy

Chart (2021)	Peak position
Australian Albums (ARIA)	60
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)	15
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)	3
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)	50
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)	19
French Albums (SNEP)	135
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)	22
Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)	5
Irish Albums (OCC)	4
Japan Hot Albums (Billboard Japan)	66
Japanese Albums (Oricon)	178
Lithuanian Albums (AGATA)	54
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)	36
Scottish Albums (OCC)	2
Slovak Albums (ČNS IFPI)	78
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)	76
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)	36
UK Albums (OCC)	2

Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Therapy

Chart (2021)	Position
UK Albums (OCC)	98

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)	Gold	100,000‡
‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history

Release dates and formats for Therapy

Region	Date	Format	Version	Label	Ref.
Various	23 July 2021	Cassette CD digital download streaming vinyl	Standard	Major Tom's Asylum
Japan		CD	Japan bonus	Warner Music Japan