Staying at Tamara's explained

Staying at Tamara's
Type:	studio
Artist:	George Ezra
Cover:	Staying at Tamara's (album).png
Recorded:	2017
Studio:	Voltaire Road, Clapham, London
Genre:	Folk pop^[1] stadium rock^[2] indie folk
Length:	37:13
Label:	Columbia
Prev Title:	Wanted on Voyage
Prev Year:	2014
Next Title:	Gold Rush Kid
Next Year:	2022

Staying at Tamara's is the second studio album by English singer-songwriter George Ezra. It was released on 23 March 2018. The album reached number one in the UK as well as the top ten of several other countries including Australia and New Zealand. The album includes the singles "Paradise" and "Shotgun", which peaked at number two and number one on the UK Singles Chart, respectively.

It was the UK's best-selling artist album of the year in 2018 and was nominated for British Album of the Year at the 2019 Brit Awards.^[3]

In support of the album, Ezra embarked on a 2018 world tour entitled, Staying at Tamara's Tour, mostly visiting cities across North America and Europe.

Background

Ezra finished touring his debut album Wanted on Voyage (2014) in December 2016. Following this, he realised he "needed to write another record". He went to Barcelona for a month, but instead of booking a hotel or apartment, he found a stranger on the Internet whose name was Tamara. "[She] was renting her spare room," he told The Sydney Morning Herald. "I thought, if she's a bit crazy, if she's a bit unhinged, I can just leave. Her friends were all musicians, artists and designers and her apartment really felt like their HQ. It helped slow me down. There was a point about halfway through the trip where I was like, this trip has proved to be really important ... and the album's name came to me like that. I love it."^[4]

Singles

Five singles have been released from the album. "Don't Matter Now" was released as the lead single on 16 June 2017. It was a moderate success in Belgium, Iceland and the Netherlands and gave Ezra his seventh top 75 entry on the UK Singles Chart. The second single released from the album was "Paradise", which peaked at number two, being kept off the top spot by Rudimental's "These Days". It also reached the top ten in Ireland, Belgium, Austria and Scotland.

"Shotgun" was released as the third single from the album on 18 May 2018; it reached number one on the UK Singles Chart on 29 June 2018 and gave Ezra his first UK number-one single.^[5] "Hold My Girl" was released as the fourth single from the album in late-September. "Pretty Shining People" was released as the fifth single in early-March.

Promotional singles

"Pretty Shining People" was released as the first promotional single from the album on 2 March 2018; it reached number 54 on the UK Singles Chart.The track was later selected as the album's fifth single in March 2019. "Hold My Girl" was released as the second and final promotional single on 9 March 2018, and reached number 81 on the UK Singles Chart. The track was later selected as the album's fourth single, and impacted radio in September 2018.

Critical reception

At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has an average score of 61 based on seven reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Personnel

Musicians

• George Ezra – vocals, guitar (all tracks); keyboards (tracks 1, 3–11), bass guitar (1, 3–7, 11); percussion, synthesizer (2); harmonium (3), drums (7)
• Cam Blackwood – programming, synthesizer (all tracks); guitar (1–4, 6–11), percussion (1, 3, 5–11), piano (1, 5), bass guitar (1, 8, 9), keyboards (1), vocals (2, 3, 8), organ (2), background vocals (4, 6, 11), performance arrangement (8, 10), strings (8)
• Matthew Racher – drums, percussion, programming (all tracks); background vocals (6)
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – programming (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
• Liam Thorne – percussion (tracks 1, 3–6), programming (2, 4–6, 9–11), synthesizer (2), vocals (2)
• Florrie Arnold – vocals (tracks 2, 4, 5, 7, 11), drums (5), vocals (11)
• The Atlantic Horns – brass (tracks 2, 4)
• Billie Marten – vocals (track 2)
• Joel Pott – background vocals (tracks 3, 4, 6, 7)
• Rob Blackham – background vocals (track 3)
• Jamie Sefton – flute (tracls 3, 10); flugelhorn, trombone, trumpet (3)
• James Wyatt – organ (track 4), piano (8)
• Ollie Hodge – background vocals (track 4)
• Fred – bass guitar, drums, keyboards (track 4)
• Emma Corby – brass (track 4)
• Jaleesa Gemerts – drums (track 4)
• Daniel Thomas – background vocals (track 6)
• Derek Green – background vocals (track 6)
• Juliet Roberts – background vocals (track 6)
• Mary Pearce – background vocals (track 6)
• Rebecca Goulding – background vocals (track 6)
• Sylvia Mason – background vocals (track 6)
• Dan Caplen – cello (track 8)
• Davide Rossi – performance arrangement (track 8)
• First Aid Kit – background vocals (track 9)
• Duncan Eagles – alto saxophone, baritone saxophone, soprano saxophone, tenor saxophone (track 10)
• Jimmy Sims – bass guitar (track 10)
• Rae Morris – piano (track 10)

Technical

• Cam Blackwood – production (all tracks), engineering (tracks 2, 6)
• Fred – production (track 8)
• Dave Kutch – mastering
• Dan Grech-Marguerat – mixing (tracks 1–7, 9–11)
• Michael H. Brauer – mixing (track 8)
• Liam Thorne – engineering
• Dan Trachtenberg – engineering (track 4)
• Jon Bailey – engineering (track 6)
• Fernando Reyes – engineering (track 8)
• Steve Vealey – engineering (track 8)
• Charles Hicks – mixing assistance (1–7, 9–11)
• Joel Davies – mixing assistance (1–7, 9–11)
• Fiona Cruickshank – engineering assistance (track 6)

Visuals

• Steve Stacey – design
• Alex Eden-Smith – photography

Charts

Year-end charts

Chart (2018)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[6]	40
Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)^[7]	50
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[8]	58
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)^[9]	51
Dutch Albums (MegaCharts)^[10]	69
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)^[11]	54
Irish Albums (IRMA)^[12]	4
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[13]	43
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[14]	77
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)^[15]	66
UK Albums (OCC)^[16]	2

Chart (2019)	Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)^[17]	44
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[18]	60
Danish Albums (Hitlisten)^[19]	63
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)^[20]	71
Irish Albums (IRMA)^[21]	9
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[22]	36
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)^[23]	89
UK Albums (OCC)^[24]	5

Chart (2020)	Position
Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders)^[25]	193
UK Albums (OCC)^[26]	43

Decade-end charts

Notes and References

1. News: George Ezra: Staying at Tamara's review – Cheery pop and pep talks. The Irish Times. Bruton. Louise. 23 March 2018. 24 March 2018. the result is folk pop as laid-back as the man himself.
2. Web site: George Ezra - Staying At Tamara's (album review). Sputnikmusic. 2020-06-16.
3. Web site: BRITs 2019 Nominations Announced. BRIT Awards. en. 2019-03-08.
4. News: George Ezra opens up about finding fame and his long-awaited album. McInnes. William. 23 March 2018. The Sydney Morning Herald. 20 December 2018.
5. Web site: "I never thought that this would happen": George Ezra rides Shotgun to his first UK Number 1 single. White. Jack. 29 June 2018. Official Charts Company. 29 June 2018.
6. Web site: ARIA End of Year Albums 2018. Australian Recording Industry Association. 10 January 2019.
7. Web site: Ö3 Austria Top 40 Jahrescharts 2018: Longplay. Ö3 Austria Top 40. 30 December 2018. https://web.archive.org/web/20180621222745/http://oe3.orf.at/charts/stories/2886108. 2018-06-21. dead.
8. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2018. Ultratop. 21 December 2018.
9. Web site: Album Top-100 2018. Hitlisten. Danish. 16 January 2019.
10. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2018. MegaCharts. Dutch. 5 January 2019.
11. Web site: Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts. German. GfK Entertainment. offiziellecharts.de. 21 December 2018.
12. Web site: Ireland's Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2018. White. Jack. 4 January 2019. Official Charts Company. 13 January 2019.
13. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 2018. Recorded Music NZ. 14 December 2018.
14. Web site: Årslista Album – År 2018. Sverigetopplistan. Swedish. 15 January 2019.
15. Web site: Schweizer Jahreshitparade 2018 – hitparade.ch. Hung Medien. 31 December 2018.
16. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2018. Official Charts Company. 4 January 2019.
17. Web site: ARIA End of Year Albums Chart 2019. Australian Recording Industry Association. 10 January 2020.
18. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2019. Ultratop. 20 December 2019.
19. Web site: Album Top-100 2019. Hitlisten. Danish. 15 January 2020.
20. Web site: Jaaroverzichten – Album 2019. dutchcharts.nl. 5 January 2020.
21. Web site: Ireland's Official Top 50 biggest albums of 2019. Official Charts Company. White. Jack. 9 January 2020. 11 January 2020.
22. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 2019. Recorded Music NZ. 21 December 2019.
23. Web site: Årslista Album, 2019. Sverigetopplistan. 14 January 2020.
24. Web site: The Official Top 40 biggest albums of 2019. Official Charts Company. Copsey. Rob. 1 January 2020. 1 January 2020.
25. Web site: Jaaroverzichten 2020. Ultratop. 18 December 2020.
26. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2020. Official Charts Company. 5 January 2021.
27. Web site: End of Year Album Chart Top 100 – 2022. Official Charts Company. 4 January 2023.
28. Web site: The UK's Official Top 100 biggest albums of the decade. Official Charts Company. Copsey. Rob. 11 December 2019. 12 December 2019.