This Is the Life is the debut studio album by British singer-songwriter Amy Macdonald, released on 30 July 2007. It reached number one on the UK Albums Chart on 13 January 2008[10] and sold over 900,000 copies in the UK as of February 2017,[11] awarding the album a certification of 3× Platinum.
Macdonald sent a demo CD in response to an advertisement placed in the NME[12] by a new production company set up by songwriters Pete Wilkinson and Sarah Erasmus.[13] Wilkinson said he was "literally aghast" at her songwriting abilities when first he heard Macdonald play the songs "This Is the Life" and "Mr Rock n Roll".[13] He then spent around eight or nine months recording demos with Macdonald at his home studio with a view to securing a record deal for his new client. In 2007 she signed a contract with Vertigo when she was 18 years old.[14]
She has claimed that she feels she was "in the right place at the right time" by answering the advertisement in NME, later claiming that the subsequent success she endured to be "a weird life". Macdonald has been described as "one of the last artists" to gain a recording contract by sending a demo to record companies, with Macdonald claiming it to be "mental", citing the music industry changes since 2007. Macdonald claims that "what’s funny is even then, everyone found it bizarre that I got a record deal from sending a demo, because this was when people were being discovered on MySpace — Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys; they were all doing it that way".[15]
Singles and other tracksedit
The first single from the album was "Poison Prince", a limited online release, while the debut first full single was the successful "Mr Rock & Roll", which debuted at number 12. The following singles "L.A." and "This Is the Life" were considerably less successful in the UK, although "This Is the Life" is considered her most successful song in the rest of Europe, where it peaked at number 1 in Belgium and the Netherlands, number 2 in Switzerland, number 3 in Spain, number 6 in Norway and number 8 in Denmark. It peaked at number 28 in the UK, spending 17 weeks in the top 75. After fifth single "Run", the sixth release from the album was a re-release of "Poison Prince" on 19 May 2008.[16]
The album was particularly successful in Germany, spending 57 weeks in the top 20 of the German Albums Chart, 36 weeks in the top 10 of the German albums chart and a total of 100 weeks on the entire chart;[17] it has been certified 5× Platinum (as 2012) for over 1.000,000 copies sold in the country.[18] It also spent 57 weeks in the Dutch albums chart and 53 weeks in the Swiss albums chart.
It has also been certified Gold in Sweden. It has been certified Platinum in France for over 220,000 copies sold.[19] The album was released in the US on 19 August 2008.[20]
Track listingsedit
All tracks were written by Amy Macdonald except where shown.
After the major success of "This Is the Life" across Europe, near the end of 2008 a deluxe version of the album was released. The two-disc set include the standard version of the album and a bonus CD with several bonus tracks, live and acoustic versions.
^Bremner, Charles. "Amy Macdonald : This Is The Life". The Times. London.
^22 mins ago (20 April 2011). "Yahoo! UK & Ireland omg! - Celebrity Gossip | News | Photos | Videos". Uk.launch.yahoo.com. Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 12 March 2012.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
^"Macdonald tops the UK album chart". bbc.co.uk. 13 January 2008. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
^Gumble, Daniel (24 February 2017). "Official Charts Analysis: Rag'N'Bone Man holds top spot on albums chart". Music Week. Retrieved 25 February 2017.
^"Pick up an autographed Amy Macdonald album and guitar pick now!". MTV Asia. 6 February 2009. Archived from the original on 20 April 2009. Retrieved 20 June 2009.
^ ab"Interview With Manager Pete Wilkinson" Archived 6 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine, HitQuarters, 15 June 2009.
^"Amy Macdonald says new record deal for fifth album reminded her of debut: "It felt so fresh and different" | Official Charts". Official Charts. Retrieved 6 August 2023.
^"Amy Macdonald: Queen of Scots". headlinermagazine.net. Retrieved 22 March 2024.
^"Footballer's wife? Not me says Amy Macdonald". edinburghnews.scotsman.com. 9 May 2008. Retrieved 3 June 2008.
^"Die ganze Musik im Internet". musicline.de. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 12 March 2012.
^"Gold- & Platindatenbank Musikindustrie". musikindustrie.de. Archived from the original on 2 August 2019. Retrieved 4 October 2020.
^"Les Tops" (in French). Chartsinfrance.net. Retrieved 26 July 2013.
^"This Is The Life". Amazon. Retrieved 4 June 2008.
^"iTunes - Musik – "This is The Life" von Amy Macdonald". iTunes Store. 30 July 2007. Retrieved 12 March 2012.[permanent dead link]
^"Austriancharts.at – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
^"Ultratop.be – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
^"Ultratop.be – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in French). Hung Medien.
^"Danishcharts.dk – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life". Hung Medien.
^"Dutchcharts.nl – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in Dutch). Hung Medien.
^"Lescharts.com – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life". Hung Medien.
^"Italian album certifications – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in Italian). Federazione Industria Musicale Italiana. Select "Tutti gli anni" in the "Anno" drop-down menu. Select "This Is the Life" in the "Filtra" field. Select "Album e Compilation" under "Sezione".
^"Russian album certifications – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life" (in Russian). National Federation of Phonogram Producers (NFPF).
^"Spanish album certifications" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Select Álbumes under "Categoría", select 2009 under "Año". Select 19 under "Semana". Click on "BUSCAR LISTA".
^"Guld- och Platinacertifikat − År 2008" (PDF) (in Swedish). IFPI Sweden. Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 May 2011.
^"The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards ('This Is the Life')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
^"British album certifications – Amy Macdonald – This Is the Life". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field.Select Platinum in the Certification field.Type This Is the Life in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
^Lacey, Hester (23 January 2021). "Amy Macdonald: 'I dislike people who need to be the centre of attention'". Financial Times. Retrieved 25 February 2024.