| My Best Friend Is You | |
| Type: | Studio |
| Artist: | Kate Nash |
| Cover: | Katenashmybestfriendisyou.png |
| Studio: | RAK Studios · Studio 355 (London) |
| Genre: | Indie pop, indie rock |
| Length: | 49:20 |
| Label: | Geffen/Fiction |
| Producer: | Bernard Butler, Jay Malhotra, Kate Nash |
| Prev Title: | Made of Bricks |
| Prev Year: | 2007 |
| Next Title: | Girl Talk |
| Next Year: | 2013 |
My Best Friend Is You[1] is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter Kate Nash, released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2010 and elsewhere on 20 April.[2] On 13 April 2010, Nash appeared on John Kennedy's XFM show Xposure, where they did a track-by-track interview playing the whole of the album. The album spawned three official singles: the lead single "Do-Wah-Doo" achieved the most commercial success, charting respectively in European countries. "I've Got A Secret" was released as a promotional single and the fourth single overall.
The album was generally met with positive reviews from critics. At Metacritic, a review aggregator which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 69, which indicates "generally favorable reviews". Allmusic granted the album 3 stars out of 5, noting it sounded "professional" and compared the album's sound with Amy Winehouse's, yet also commented "the aim of much of [My Best Friend Is You] seems to be simply getting Kate Nash airplay without worrying overly much about a musical backing that suits her songwriting." Andrzej Lukowski of Drowned in Sound denotes confusion on the album sounding "both indie and universal" and called the album "rather daring" for a "mainstream album". The Guardian granted four out of five stars, praising Nash' growth as an artist. The Irish Times named the album their "Album of the Week" and called it "a considerable step from its predecessor".
The official artwork for the sleeve leaked on 17 March 2010 appearing first on Kuwaiti music blog Loft965.com.[7]
On 9 April 2010, Nash took part in a timesonline.co.uk web chat. When asked a question about the album's artwork she replied:
"It's been pretty stressful getting all the artwork together on this album because I've cared so much about it and had so many ideas and wanted it to be perfect for my second record. I worked with a lady called Kate Gibb who does screen printing, we screen printed a bunch of photos and some of my own objects to create collages inspired by images that I collected and loved, they varied from the bauhaus art movement to punk and lo fi record covers because I love the simplicity in those. I've just got through all the final artwork and it was worth the hardwork because I love how it looks. I try to be as involved as possible in every single aspect of what I do so that it represents me properly and because it's fun and I care and I'm a control freak."[8]
The album charted respectively at number 8 and 26 on the UK Album Chart and the Irish Albums Chart in its first week, however quickly dropped in its second week to number 39 and 40. It charted at number 62 on the Billboard 200 and number 6 in the German Album Charts.
| Chart (2010)[9] [10] | Peak position | |
|---|---|---|
| Australian Albums Chart | 50 | |
| Belgian Albums Chart | 35 | |
| Dutch Albums Chart | 47 | |
| European Top 100 Albums Chart | 28 | |
| French Albums Chart | 71 | |
| German Albums Chart | 6 | |
| Irish Albums Chart | 26 | |
| Swiss Albums Chart | 23 | |
| UK Albums Chart | 8 | |
| US Billboard 200 | 62 |
On her website, Nash announced she would be touring from 26 May 2010, till end of 2010.
| Date | City | Country | Venue | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Europe | ||||
| 26 May 2010 | Berlin |  Germany | Astra | |
| 27 May 2010 | Dresden | Alter Schlachthof | ||
| 28 May 2010 | Hamburg | Gr. Freiheit | ||
| 30 May 2010 | Landgraaf |  Netherlands | Pinkpop | |
| 31 May 2010 | Cologne | Germany | Essigfabrik | |
| 1 June 2010 | Paris |  France | La Cigalle | |
| 2 June 2010 | Strasbourg | Le Laiterie | ||
| 4 June 2010 | Nürburgring | Germany | Rock am Ring | |
| 2 June 2010 | Nuremberg | Rock im Park | ||
| 7 June 2010 | Amsterdam | Netherlands | Paradiso | |
| 8 June 2010 | Brussels |  Belgium | Botanique/Orangerie | |
| 10 June 2010 | Salzburg |  Austria | Rockhouse | |
| 11 June 2010 | Nickelsdorf | Novarock Festival | ||
| 25 June 2010 | Gloucester |  United Kingdom | Guildhall | |
| 26 June 2010 | Glastonbury | Glastonbury Festival | ||
| 6 July 2010 | London | iTunes Festival | ||
| 10 July 2010 | Balado | T in the Park, Kinross | ||
| 11 July 2010 | Naas |  Ireland | Oxegen Racefestival | |
| North America | ||||
| 17 July 2010 | Chicago |  United States | ||
| 18 July 2010 | Minneapolis | |||
| 20 July 2010 | Indianapolis | |||
| 21 July 2010 | Detroit | |||
| Australia | ||||
| 1 August 2010 | Woodford |  Australia | Splendour in the Grass | |
| 4 August 2010 | Melbourne | Corner Hotel | ||
| 5 August 2010 | Sydney | Metro Theatre | ||
| Europe | ||||
| 20 August 2010 | Hasselt-Kiewit | Belgium Belgium | Pukkelpop | |
| 5 September 2010 | Trinity | Royal Jersey Showground | ||
| 14 September 2010 | Copenhagen |  Denmark | VEGA | |
| North America | ||||
| 22 November 2010 | Mexico City |  Mexico | José Cuervo Salón | |
| South America | ||||
| 24 February 2011 | Rio de Janeiro |  Brazil | Circo Voador | |
| 25 February 2011 | São Paulo | HSBC Hall | ||
| 27 February 2011 | Buenos Aires |  Argentina | Teatro Gran Rex | |
| Europe | ||||
| 13 April 2011 | Istanbul |  Turkey | Babylon | |
| 20 April 2011 | Glasgow | O2 ABC Glasgow | ||