Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree
Encyclopedia
Upon its release, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree generated mixed reviews from music critics. Mayer Nissim of Digital Spy
awarded the album five out of five stars, stating that Vickers and her collaborators "have crafted an album that's drenched in accessible pop melodies while never sacrificing the charm and personality". Kevin Courtney of the Irish Times called it a "blend of pop and indie [that] works in her favour" along with having a "few catchy songs" that help to distinguish her from being "just another Cowell cyborg". Johnny Dee of Virgin Media
found it commercial but without sacrificing Vickers' "slightly eccentric charms" and noticed that it "works best when it's mixing beats with folky whisperings" concluding that "the girl's done great". musicOMH
's Ben Urdang gave the album three out of five stars, stating that "Vickers manages to achieve a consistency throughout so that the album sits comfortably as a fluid piece of work". He went on to add that although the album is not "groundbreaking nor perfect", it is "a solid start to her recording career". Mike Diver from BBC Music
praised Vickers' voice for the ability to "stand out from any crowd" but was not astounded by the lyrics and the album as a whole, stating that the impression it leaves is "compromised by songwriting by committee" and noticed that it would have been "considerably improved " with "a little more compositional guile".
Simon Gage of Daily Express
gave the album a scathing one out of five stars, criticising Vickers' "squawky" voice and describing it as a collection of "poppy, noisy and no doubt, expensive, songs made horrid". The Independent
s Simon Price thought that it "consists mostly of forgettable dance pop and folktronica" and that it "doesn't stand out", while Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music
noticed that it is "too busy trying to keep everyone happy to be anything other than indistinct and polite". David Smyth from the Evening Standard
felt that Vickers' voice is "almost indistinguishable" from Ellie Goulding
's and concluded by saying that "her songs are blander but the public seems open to a singer who will do more interesting work than this [the debut]". Hugh Montgomery of The Observer
felt that "despite employing indie-minded collaborators such as Ellie Goulding
and Lightspeed Champion
", the album was "given over to commercial box-ticking" and described it as "generic electro-pop with the kind of tasteful balladry that suggests a Dido
in-waiting". However he noticed that it did not lack "potential hits". He also expressed the hope that Vickers' songwriting voice might in the future become as compelling as her singing one. The album was regarded as "one of the best debut albums of 2010" by Jude Rogers in The Guardian
.
Note: "My Wicked Heart
" was confirmed as the third single during a live uStream chat with Vickers. It was a previously unheard track and was set to be on a deluxe edition of the album set for a Christmas 2010 release. However, it was later revealed plans for the re-release had been scrapped and "My Wicked Heart" would serve as the lead single from Vickers' second album.
but was knocked off the top spot in its second week by Keane's Night Train
. During the same week Vickers achieved unexpected success and debuted on the official Korean Gaon Charts with her single "Once", which stayed on the charts 8 weeks peaking at number 39. Her second single, "The Boy Who Murdered Love", also charted with the album; both peaking at number 16 and remaining 4 weeks on the charts. On 25 July 2010, with the full release of second single, "The Boy Who Murdered Love", the album returned to the Top 15 on the UK Albums Chart, rising 29 places from number 42 to number 13.
Digital Spy
Digital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
awarded the album five out of five stars, stating that Vickers and her collaborators "have crafted an album that's drenched in accessible pop melodies while never sacrificing the charm and personality". Kevin Courtney of the Irish Times called it a "blend of pop and indie [that] works in her favour" along with having a "few catchy songs" that help to distinguish her from being "just another Cowell cyborg". Johnny Dee of Virgin Media
Virgin Media
Virgin Media Inc. is a company which provides fixed and mobile telephone, television and broadband internet services to businesses and consumers in the United Kingdom...
found it commercial but without sacrificing Vickers' "slightly eccentric charms" and noticed that it "works best when it's mixing beats with folky whisperings" concluding that "the girl's done great". musicOMH
MusicOMH
musicOMH is a United Kingdom-based website which publishes independent reviews, featues and interviews from across all musical genres including classical, metal, rock and R&B.-History:...
's Ben Urdang gave the album three out of five stars, stating that "Vickers manages to achieve a consistency throughout so that the album sits comfortably as a fluid piece of work". He went on to add that although the album is not "groundbreaking nor perfect", it is "a solid start to her recording career". Mike Diver from BBC Music
BBC Music
BBC Music is a team working in the department of Audio and Music Interactive at the BBC. Responsible for the BBC Music website - the portal site to music content across the BBC website....
praised Vickers' voice for the ability to "stand out from any crowd" but was not astounded by the lyrics and the album as a whole, stating that the impression it leaves is "compromised by songwriting by committee" and noticed that it would have been "considerably improved " with "a little more compositional guile".
Simon Gage of Daily Express
Daily Express
The Daily Express switched from broadsheet to tabloid in 1977 and was bought by the construction company Trafalgar House in the same year. Its publishing company, Beaverbrook Newspapers, was renamed Express Newspapers...
gave the album a scathing one out of five stars, criticising Vickers' "squawky" voice and describing it as a collection of "poppy, noisy and no doubt, expensive, songs made horrid". The Independent
The Independent
The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
s Simon Price thought that it "consists mostly of forgettable dance pop and folktronica" and that it "doesn't stand out", while Dan Gennoe of Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music
Yahoo! Music, owned by Yahoo!, is the provider of a variety of music services, including Internet radio, music videos, news, artist information, and original programming...
noticed that it is "too busy trying to keep everyone happy to be anything other than indistinct and polite". David Smyth from the Evening Standard
Evening Standard
The Evening Standard, now styled the London Evening Standard, is a free local daily newspaper, published Monday–Friday in tabloid format in London. It is the dominant regional evening paper for London and the surrounding area, with coverage of national and international news and City of London...
felt that Vickers' voice is "almost indistinguishable" from Ellie Goulding
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding is an English singer-songwriter. In 2010 she became only the second artist to both top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll, and win the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in the same year, following Adele's win of both in 2008...
's and concluded by saying that "her songs are blander but the public seems open to a singer who will do more interesting work than this [the debut]". Hugh Montgomery of The Observer
The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
felt that "despite employing indie-minded collaborators such as Ellie Goulding
Ellie Goulding
Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding is an English singer-songwriter. In 2010 she became only the second artist to both top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll, and win the Critics' Choice Award at the BRIT Awards in the same year, following Adele's win of both in 2008...
and Lightspeed Champion
Lightspeed Champion
Devonté Hynes , better known as Lightspeed Champion or Blood Orange, is a British composer, songwriter, producer and author, who has written for artists such as Florence and the Machine, Diana Vickers and The Chemical Brothers on their 2007 Grammy award winning album We Are The Night...
", the album was "given over to commercial box-ticking" and described it as "generic electro-pop with the kind of tasteful balladry that suggests a Dido
Dido (singer)
Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong , known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel...
in-waiting". However he noticed that it did not lack "potential hits". He also expressed the hope that Vickers' songwriting voice might in the future become as compelling as her singing one. The album was regarded as "one of the best debut albums of 2010" by Jude Rogers in The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
.
Singles
Vickers released a total of 2 songs from the album. Vickers revealed in a 2011 uStream chat session she was set to release "Put It Back Together" as the third single.- "OnceOnce (Diana Vickers song)"Once" is a song by the British singer-songwriter Diana Vickers, written by Cathy Dennis and Eg White for Vickers' studio album Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree. "Once" was produced and mixed by Mike Spencer and released as the album's lead single and Vickers' debut single in the United Kingdom...
" was released as the album's lead single on 19 April 2010 in the United Kingdom. Upon its release it generated mainly positive reviews from critics, with the most positive coming from Nick Levine of Digital SpyDigital SpyDigital Spy is a British entertainment and media news website. According to Alexa Internet traffic statistics, as of February 2011, Digital Spy is the 93rd most popular website in the United Kingdom, with an overall Alexa ranking of 2,088....
who called it a "straight up brain-invader" with a "huge chorus" that is "hard to ignore". The single achieved commercial success by debuting at number 3 in Ireland, number 5 on the EU Hot 100 and number 1 in the United Kingdom. It also peaked at number 53 in Australia, number 45 in New Zealand and number 39 in Korea without any promotion. It is unknown as to whether Vickers intends to promote the single there or not. In late May 2010, "Once" was added to radio playlists in New Zealand.
- "The Boy Who Murdered LoveThe Boy Who Murdered Love"The Boy Who Murdered Love" is a song written by Diana Vickers and Chris Braide and recorded by Vickers for her debut album Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree. The song was released as the album's second single as a digital download on 18 July 2010 with the CD single released the following day. The...
" was confirmed as the second single by Vickers on TwitterTwitterTwitter is an online social networking and microblogging service that enables its users to send and read text-based posts of up to 140 characters, informally known as "tweets".Twitter was created in March 2006 by Jack Dorsey and launched that July...
on 7 May 2010. The music video premiered on 2 June 2010 via the MSNMSNMSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
video player. Vickers' second single was officially released in the United Kingdom on 18 July 2010. The single was playlisted on Radio 1. On the week ending July 25, 2010, the single entered the UK Top 40 Chart at number 36, giving Vickers' her second consecutive Top 40 single. The following week "The Boy Who Murdered Love" charted in Korea rising to its peak of 16.
Note: "My Wicked Heart
My Wicked Heart
"My Wicked Heart" is a song co-written and co-produced by English singer-songwriter Diana Vickers. It was supposedly released as the lead single from the re-release of her debut album, but plans were scrapped and it was revealed "My Wicked Heart" would serve as the first single from her upcoming...
" was confirmed as the third single during a live uStream chat with Vickers. It was a previously unheard track and was set to be on a deluxe edition of the album set for a Christmas 2010 release. However, it was later revealed plans for the re-release had been scrapped and "My Wicked Heart" would serve as the lead single from Vickers' second album.
Track listing
Chart performance
The album first entered the Irish album Chart on 29 April 2010 at number 7. On 9 May 2010, Songs from the Tainted Cherry Tree debuted on the UK Album Chart at number 1 replacing Plan B's The Defamation of Strickland BanksThe Defamation of Strickland Banks
The Defamation of Strickland Banks is the second studio album from British rapper Plan B which was released on 12 April 2010. The album is a departure from the sound heard on Plan B's debut album Who Needs Actions When You Got Words, with the rapper's sophomore effort providing a showcase for much...
but was knocked off the top spot in its second week by Keane's Night Train
Night Train (EP)
Night Train is the sixth single by the British pop group Visage, released by Polydor Records on 11 June 1982. It peaked at number 12 in the UK and was the band's final UK top 40 hit until a remix of their first hit "Fade to Grey" was released in 1993....
. During the same week Vickers achieved unexpected success and debuted on the official Korean Gaon Charts with her single "Once", which stayed on the charts 8 weeks peaking at number 39. Her second single, "The Boy Who Murdered Love", also charted with the album; both peaking at number 16 and remaining 4 weeks on the charts. On 25 July 2010, with the full release of second single, "The Boy Who Murdered Love", the album returned to the Top 15 on the UK Albums Chart, rising 29 places from number 42 to number 13.
| Chart (2010) | Peak position |
Certification | Sales |
|---|---|---|---|
| European Top 100 Albums European Top 100 Albums The European Top 100 Albums chart is the European adaptation of the Billboard 200 albums chart. It was created in March 1984.The European Top 100 Albums, commonly referred to as Eurochart Top 100 Albums shows the sales of an act in 19 European countries based on IFPI data.The European Top 100... |
4 | ||
| Irish Albums Chart Irish Albums Chart The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically... |
7 | ||
| UK Albums Chart UK Albums Chart The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart... |
1 | Gold | 200,000+ |
| Scottish Albums Chart | 2 | ||
| South Korean Gaon Chart Gaon Chart The Gaon Chart is a national record chart of South Korea. It is complied by the Korea Music Content Industry Association and sponsored by South Korea's Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism; with an aim to create a national chart for Korea similar to the Billboard charts and Oricon charts... |
15 | ||
Release history
| Region | Date | Format | Edition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ireland | 30 April 2010 | CD, digital download Music download A music download is the transferral of music from an Internet-facing computer or website to a user's local computer. This term encompasses both legal downloads and downloads of copyright material without permission or payment... |
Standard |
| United Kingdom | 3 May 2010 | ||
| Poland | 5 July 2010 | CD | |
| Australia | 6 August 2010 | ||
| Germany | 6 August 2010 |