Persona (Selah Sue album) explained

Persona
Type:studio
Artist:Selah Sue
Cover:Selah Sue - Persona.png
Length:42:34
Label:Because
Producer:Matt Parad
Prev Title:Reason
Prev Year:2015

Persona is the third studio album by Belgian singer Selah Sue, released on 25 March 2022 through Because Music. The album includes collaborations with Nigerian-Canadian rapper Tobi, Congolese-Belgian rapper Damso and American rapper Mick Jenkins. It was preceded by the singles "Free Fall", "Hurray" and "Pills".[1]

Background

Sue said that with Persona she did not feel pressure to record as with her second album Reason (2015), and only began working on it when she felt she "could make something that [she] could fully support". The songs were inspired by a form of therapy Sue began before recording, called voice dialogue, which involves naming different aspects of one's own personality and learning to accept them "without judgment". Each song is told from the perspective of a different persona, with "Pills", for example, being sung by Sue's "apathetic self", "Hurray" from the dual personalities of "the critic and the attention seeker", and "All the Way Down" from the "inner reconciler", with Sue apologising to her sister.[2]

Critical reception

Willem Jongeneelen, writing for Oor, felt that "not everything is as it seems" on the album, as Sue "sounds cheerful at times" but acknowledges that in the years between her second and third albums, she had to deal with "a lot" in her personal life. Elsewhere, Jongeneelen observed that Sue "sings and raps freely" and "apparently effortlessly slaloms past funky beats and warm atmospheric passages", ultimately concluding that it is "good to have her back".[3]

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (2022)! scope="col"
Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)[4] 168
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia)[5] 140

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Pop Songstress Selah Sue Gets Real About "Pills" on Latest Single. American Songwriter. Walthall. Catherine. 26 January 2022. 2 April 2022.
  2. Web site: Selah Sue: 'Ik moet leren om soms gewoon naar anderen te luisteren'. Selah Sue: 'I have to learn to just listen to others sometimes'. NU.nl. Vos. Michiel. nl. 1 April 2022. 2 April 2022.
  3. Web site: Review: Selah Sue – Persona (album). Oor. Jongeneelen. Willem. nl. 25 March 2022. 2 April 2022.
  4. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2022. Ultratop. nl. 14 January 2023.
  5. Web site: Rapports annuels 2022. Ultratop. fr. 14 January 2023.