Belladonna of Sadness

Belladonna of Sadness is the debut studio album by American singer Alexandra Savior, released on April 7, 2017, by Columbia Records. It was written by Savior and English musician Alex Turner in 2014, mainly on acoustic guitar, at his Los Angeles home. It was produced in Hollywood by James Ford and Turner, alongside bass player Zach Dawes. Savior painted the album artwork herself, which depicts an Atropa belladonna with a flower resembling a red button. Its title refers to the 1973 Japanese anime of the same name. Belladonna of Sadness was released to generally favorable reviews from critics and was named one of the 30 best albums of the year by The Independent. The album was promoted by the singles "Shades", "M.T.M.E.", "Mystery Girl", "Mirage", and "Vanishing Point". Background and recording In mid-2013, Savior moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career. Around September of that year, she signed a recording contract with Columbia Records, which she chose as the other labels were interested in modeling her after established pop artists such as Katy Perry or Pink. Savior was in the process of writing her album with different songwriters, but felt those sessions were leading her nowhere. She met English musician Miles Kane at a party, where they jokingly talked about doing something together. Shortly afterwards, she suggested working with either, Kane, or his friend Alex Turner to her label. Columbia contacted Turner and arranged a meeting. A week later Savior and Turner met at a coffee shop, and found out they had a lot in common musically. Savior said "We went back to his house and listened to records. I played him some acoustic songs that I had been writing and worked on them and wrote a song that day." Savior found the experience to be hard at first, but having written with other musicians in the past helped. She said the process was "pretty collaborative", and described Turner as being "much more organised", compared to her more "fluid" approach. Savior would first work on melodies and lyrics by herself, and later bring them to Turner's house where they would build on those ideas together. Bass player Zach Dawes would often come by Turner's house during their sessions, and ended up writing the bass line for "Girlie". Once the songs were written they would record demos onto an 8-track Tascam.