Betty is the third studio album by Australian-American singer Betty Who, released on 15 February 2019. The album was preceded by the singles "Ignore Me", "Taste", "Between You & Me", and "I Remember".[1] It is Who's first studio album under the independent record label AWAL,[2] after previously being signed to RCA Records for most of her early career. Betty has been described as a synth-pop and dance-pop album.[3]
| Betty | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 15 February 2019 | |||
| Recorded | 2017–2018 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 42:47 | |||
| Label | AWAL | |||
| Producer |
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| Betty Who chronology | ||||
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| Betty Who studio album chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Betty | ||||
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Background and recording
editOn 19 January 2018, Who released "Ignore Me", her first single as an independent artist after parting ways with RCA Records in 2017.[4][5] She felt it was a necessary step, as the sometimes lagging and slow-paced corporate nature of record labels prevented her from releasing music at the pace she wanted to.[4] In 2018, Who released a remixed version of Widelife's "All Things (Just Keep Getting Better)" to be used as the theme song for season two of the Netflix reboot Queer Eye.[6][7] A music video was released featuring the cast of Queer Eye and Who.[8][9][10]
On 14 November 2018, "Between You and Me" was released as another new single. It was the first single from her then-forthcoming album that had not been previously released on the album's precursory EP.[11] With the release of this single, Betty Who used different shades of blue and photos of herself on her social media profiles to release lyrics to the song.[12] The lyrics that were revealed were "You've got one hand on the wheel", "Sitting at the red light, tensions are high, vibe you could cut with a knife", and "just between you & me, I can feel something here, wondering if you do too". An Instagram post by Betty Who on the day after the release showed that the single already had 22,310 streams on Spotify, and had risen to 31,000 streams two hours later.[13] By 12 December 2018, streams had surpassed 500,000.[14] The music video for this song dropped on 28 November 2018, in which Betty Who plays herself as well as her own love interest. She performed "Language" on Full Frontal with Samantha Bee in August 2019. A music video was for "The One" was released on 20 February 2020.
Release
editBetty was released on 15 February 2019 to all major digital music stores and streaming platforms. The album saw a physical release on both CD and vinyl on 5 April 2019 and 3 May 2019, respectively.[15][16][17]
It peaked at number 24 on the US Independent Albums chart and number 86 on the Top Current Albums charts.[18][19]
Critical reception
edit| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [20] |
| Gay Times | [21] |
| The Music | [22] |
| PopMatters | 7/10[2] |
Betty received generally positive reviews from critics, with PopMatters praising the album's exploration of '80s synth-pop as well as comparing it to the works of Carly Rae Jepsen, Robyn, Britney Spears and The 1975.[2]
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Old Me" |
| 2:21 | |
| 2. | "Do With It" |
|
| 3:09 |
| 3. | "Just Thought You Should Know" |
|
| 3:23 |
| 4. | "I Remember" |
|
| 3:35 |
| 5. | "Marry Me" |
| Pretty Sister | 3:10 |
| 6. | "Language" |
|
| 3:10 |
| 7. | "Taste" |
| Pretty Sister | 3:22 |
| 8. | "All This Woman" |
|
| 3:50 |
| 9. | "Between You & Me" |
|
| 3:15 |
| 10. | "Ignore Me" |
|
| 3:15 |
| 11. | "Whisper" |
|
| 3:06 |
| 12. | "The One" |
|
| 3:10 |
| 13. | "Stop Thinking About You" |
|
| 3:59 |
| Total length: | 42:47 | |||
Charts
edit| Chart (2019) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Independent Albums (Billboard)[18] | 24 |
| US Top Current Album Sales (Billboard[19] | 86 |
Betty, Pt. 1
edit| Betty, Pt. 1 | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
.png) | ||||
| EP by | ||||
| Released | 15 May 2018 | |||
| Recorded | 2017–2018 | |||
| Length | 16:41 | |||
| Label | AWAL | |||
| Producer |
| |||
| Betty Who chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Betty, Pt. 1 | ||||
| ||||
Betty, Pt.1 is the fourth extended play by Australian singer Betty Who. It was released on 15 June 2018 to digital retailers. The songs "Just Thought You Should Know", "Taste", and "Ignore Me" would later appear on Who's third studio album Betty.
Track listing
edit| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Just Thought You Should Know" |
| 3:23 | |
| 2. | "Taste" |
| Pretty Sister | 3:22 |
| 3. | "Look Back" |
| 3:04 | |
| 4. | "Ignore Me" |
|
| 3:15 |
| 5. | "Friend Like Me" |
| Jarrad K | 3:37 |
| Total length: | 16:41 | |||
References
edit- ^ Spanos, Brittany (10 January 2019). "Hear Betty Who Celebrate Imperfect Relationships on 'I Remember'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 16 January 2019.
- ^ a b c Sawdey, Evan (15 February 2019). "Betty Who's 'Betty' Is the Synthpop Fix You've Been Looking For". PopMatters. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Betty Who's 'Betty' Is the Synthpop Fix You've Been Looking For". PopMatters. 15 February 2019.
- ^ a b Silver, Jocelyn (19 January 2018). "Betty Who Broke Free & Found Empowerment In Rejection". Out Magazine. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ Bell, Keaton (19 January 2018). "Meet Betty Who, an Unconventional Pop Star With a Plan". Teen Vogue. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
- ^ "Betty Who, Fab Five star in video of 'Queer Eye' theme song". Chicago Pride. 2 June 2018. Archived from the original on 7 June 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ Ziss, Sophy. "Can You Believe? This Video Of The 'Queer Eye' Cast Dancing To The New Theme Is SO Good". Bustle. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ Wong, Curtis M. (1 June 2018). "Betty Who Helps 'Queer Eye' Guys Give Their Theme Song A Fancy Makeover". Huffington Post. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ Moniuszko, Sara M (1 June 2018). "Let the Fab 5 and Betty Who brighten your day with a glittering 'Queer Eye' music video". USA TODAY. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ "'Queer Eye' Star Antoni Cradles His Avocados in New Music Video for Show's Theme Song, Feat. Betty Who". Billboard. Retrieved 6 June 2018.
- ^ "Betty Who Talks New Song 'Between You & Me,' 'Betty' Album & Finding Herself as an Independent Artist". Billboard. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ "Betty Who on Instagram: "You've got one hand on the wheel"". Retrieved 28 January 2019 – via Instagram.
- ^ "Betty Who on Instagram: "Over 20,000 streams in a day. I am constantly so humbled by you all. Thank you for hearing and seeing me. Making music for you has been the…"". Instagram. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ "Betty Who on Instagram: "Crossed half a million streams on Between You & Me 😭 ily guys I hope my tiny bleeding heart love story keeps you company all Christmas…"". Instagram. Retrieved 28 January 2019.
- ^ "Betty - Betty Who - JB Hi-Fi". JB Hi-Fi. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Betty (Vinyl) - Betty Who - Amazon.com". Amazon.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ "Betty (CD) - Betty Who - Amazon.com". Amazon.com. Retrieved 15 February 2019.
- ^ a b "Betty Who Chart History (Independent Albums)". Billboard. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ a b "Betty Who Chart History: Top Current Albums". Billboard. Retrieved 2 March 2021.
- ^ Phares, Heather. "Betty – Betty Who". AllMusic. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Damshenas, San (15 February 2019). "Betty Who's self-titled third album is pop perfection – review". Gay Times. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
- ^ Grulichova, Aneta (13 February 2019). "Betty Who / Betty". The Music. Retrieved 14 May 2019.