Sticks + Stones

Sticks + Stones (U.S. Version).

Sticks and Stones is Cher Lloyd's Debut Album.

Sticks + Stones (stylised as Sticks & Stones in the United States) is the debut studio album by British Singer/Rapper Cher Lloyd and was released on 7 November 2011 through Sony Music. The project marks the first official release from Lloyd since finishing fourth on The X Factor a year prior. Lloyd worked with various producers and songwriters for her first full-length release, including RedOne, Toby Gad, Max Martin , The Runners, Kevin Rudolf and Savan Kotchea, among others. Lloyd co-wrote five songs on the tracklisiting. Lloyd herself called the album a "jukebox".

Background and development
After the final of the seventh series of The X Factor, it was announced that Cher Lloyd had been signed by Syco Music. Songwriter Autumn Rowe  and producer RedOne were soon rumoured to be working on Lloyd's debut album.On 28 July 2011, Lloyd previewed five tracks from the album during a UStream session, including tracks featuring Busta Rhymes, Mike Posner, Ghetts , Mic Righteous and Dot Rotten. In December, Cher made a remix of "Want U Back " with American rapper Astro. To promote Sticks and Stones, Lloyd will embark on her first concert tour, the Sticks And Stones Tour , beginning in March 2012, visiting various venues across the United Kingdom.

Critical reception
Critical reception for the album has been mixed. At Metacritic, which assigns a Normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an Average score of 47, based on 8 reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

The Sun stated: "It's a real mixed bag of an album, with some solid pop songs on the tracklisting. Cher's sound works best when it's light and poppy on songs Grow Up, End Up Here and Superhero – which remind you of early Lily Allen." All Music gave the album three out of five stars, they said: "When Lloyd stops trying so hard, she's actually a pretty compelling pop star. "Want U Back" and "End Up Here" are both infectious examples of cutesy pure pop that recall Britney Spears" adding "At times, Sticks + Stones sounds like such a calculated effort to copy everything that's hot in 2011 that it's likely to feel utterly irrelevant by the time the clock strikes 12 on New Year's Eve." BBC Music gave the album a positive review, they said: "Cher has a natural and charismatic vocal presence throughout" and ultimately called it "A sassy, splashy modern pop album that's much better than its dodgy lead single".Digital Spy awarded the album 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "Want U Back", "With Ur Love", "Playa Boi" and "Grow Up" are all tracks worthy of downloading, and went on to praise "Dub on the Track" as "loaded with attitude that few could pull off". Virgin Media gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "Sticks + Stones is a very pleasant shock. It's sparky and restless and sustains Lloyd's mini rapping firebrand/cute crooner aesthetic through a quickfire run of 10 top-notch songs."MSN Music gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, they said: "''first single 'Swagger Jagger' seems like a deliberate invitation to ridicule." "Current single 'With Ur Love', a plaintive slice of R&B-infused pop with a big fat shiny chorus, plays to her strengths far better. 'Beautiful People', a collaboration with Swedish pop-rockers Carolina Liar, similarly showcases her strong vocals, Cher Lloyd could yet emerge as a pop star with real longevity''." NME gave the album two and a half out of five stars, they said: ‘Grow Up’, a grossly irritating slice of tweenish ragga-pop driven home with are-we-there-yet insistency,still-hideous ‘Swagger Jagger’ and bulldozing dubstep territory on ‘Dub On The Track’ but when Sticks + Stones stops charging about the place, there’s evidence to suggest Cher is actually quite good at this pop malarkey. ‘Want U Back’ is a sassy bit of bubble-drunk pop, while ‘End Up Here’ finds Cher adopting a Beyonce-aping vocal style with not-at-all-bad results.

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number seven in Ireland. In the United Kingdom, the album entered the UK Albums Chart at number four behind new releases of Susan Boyle, Florence And The Machine and Michael Buble. The album sold 55,668 copies in its opening week. As of June 2012, the album has sold 224,198 copies in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Track listing
Charts