No Angel

Dido began writing songs for what would become No Angel around 1994, as she signed multiple ephemeral management deals, as well as her first publishing deal. Suffering from depression and frequent panic attacks, she wrote "Honestly OK" and "Slide". Soon thereafter, she met the entertainment lawyer Bob Page, with whom she would be in a 12-year relationship. A day after meeting him, she wrote "Here with Me", "Thank You", "I'm No Angel", and "Take My Hand". Dido spent 1996 touring with Faithless, recording additional songs while on tour, She recorded vocals for two tracks on Faithless' second studio album Sunday 8PM (1998), one of which incorporated elements of then-unreleased "My Lover's Gone". Her collaborative work with Faithless attracted attention of Clive Davis, founder and then-president of Arista Records, who instantly offered Dido a record deal with the label after attending their concert in London in 1998. She initially refused, opting to remain signed to Rollo's label Cheeky Records, but eventually accepted the offer after Rollo sold Cheeky to the Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG), Arista's parent company, in 1999, as she was finishing recording No Angel. Dido recorded over 25 songs for the album, 12 of which made the final track listing, at six locations in London—the Angel Recording Studios, The Church Studios, the Eden Studios, the Olympic Studios, Sarm West, and the Swanyard Studios. She wrote all of the album's tracks, and produced all except "Don't Think of Me", which is the sole track produced by Youth. Rollo co-wrote five and produced seven of the album's 12 tracks, while Rick Nowels produced three. Faithless members Jamie Catto and Sister Bliss also contributed to the album, with Catto co-writing and producing "My Lover's Gone", and Sister Bliss producing "Take My Hand" and co-writing and producing the bonus track "Worthless". ==Music and lyrics==

{{listen No Angel is, according to critical commentaries, predominantly a folk-pop and folktronica record, incorporating elements of genres such as trip hop and electronica. John Aizlewood of The Guardian described Dido's vocals as "ice-maiden" while possessing an "undertow of humanising vulnerability". while numerous critics likened the album's musical style to Beth Orton. Further comparisons were made to Faithless, The song depicts Dido as a woman dependent on her lover, attempting to imagine her life without him, while on "Hunter", she yearns to descend from the unsolicited pedestal he placed her on. Folktronica and trip hop track "Honestly OK" displays a minimalist vocal arrangement against an electronic dub background, and is among the more introspective songs on the album: "I'm so lonely, I don't even want to be with myself anymore". "Slide" and "Isobel" are lyrical encouragements directed towards an anguished and remorseful friend. Syncopated up-tempo title track "I'm No Angel" is followed by the blues-influenced closing track "My Life", built on "cinematic" strings and a Wurlitzer electronic piano. Lyrically, the latter sees Dido regaining control over her situation, concluding the events of the album's lyrics similarly to a romantic comedy climax, according to Natalie Shaw of BBC. ==Marketing and touring==

Prior to the completion of No Angel, "Thank You" first appeared on the soundtrack for the 1998 film Sliding Doors. As early as the summer of 1998, Arista began distributing samples of the album to journalists, including the five-track The Highbury Fields EP, while some material also appeared on a promotional cassette for the 1998 Lilith Fair. "Don't Think of Me" was released as a promotional single on 7 February 2000, before "Thank You" was released as the second single on 18 September, as Dido continued touring the US throughout the year, also serving as an opening act for Sting. The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Late Show with David Letterman, Saturday Night Live, As Rollo's negotiations regarding the 1999 sale of Cheeky Records to BMG postponed all Cheeky releases for over a year, peaking at number four on the UK Singles Chart, and within the top 10 in 12 additional countries. Prior to the single's relaunch, Dido filmed a second accompanying music video for the song. peaking at number three on both the UK Singles Chart and the US Billboard Hot 100. "Hunter" was released as the third and final single from No Angel on 18 June, attaining less commercial success than its predecessors by peaking at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and failing to enter the US Billboard Hot 100. and separate performances of "Here with Me", "Thank You", and "Hunter" on Top of the Pops in February, June, and September 2001, respectively. In Australia, she performed "Here with Me" at the 2001 ARIA Music Awards on 30 October. Earlier that month, a double-disc special edition of the album was released in Japan and Australia, Although she had refused to perform at the Brit Awards 2001, where she was slated to perform "Stan" with Eminem, In November 2008, No Angel was digitally reissued to include "Worthless" and a Deep Dish-produced remix of "Thank You" as bonus tracks. ==Critical reception==

No Angel received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics. American journalists, such as those of Elle, Los Angeles Times, and Time, as well as Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine, welcomed Dido and her "sparkling", "stylish" and "accomplished" debut. Meanwhile, British journalist Christian Ward of NME opined that Dido failed to match the strength of Eminem's "Stan", which helped introduce her to her native UK market after she had already become prominent in the US. At the Brit Awards 2002, the album won British Album of the Year; it would go on to be nominated for British Album of 30 Years at the Brit Awards 2010, but would ultimately lose to ''(What's the Story) Morning Glory? by Oasis. Internationally, the album won the 2002 NRJ Music Award for International Album of the Year, in addition to being nominated for the 2001 MTV Europe Music Award for Best Album. In The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Ernesto Lechner reflected on No Angel'' sounding "surprisingly mature for a debut album", concluding that although Dido's "mellow approach and pretty melodies are a bit too laid-back to qualify as groundbreaking", it would be "cynical to altogether dismiss the chanteuses sincere intentions and gorgeous voice". In a retrospective review for BBC, journalist Natalie Shaw remarked: "While there's little variation in No Angels material, its songs do their jobs diligently. But that's exactly the problem – it's all so constructed." Writing for The Independent upon the album's 25th anniversary, journalist Adam White declared it "neither as bland as conventional wisdom suggests it is, nor quite interesting enough to be a secret classic". ==Commercial performance==

No Angel was a universal sleeper hit. In the US, it debuted at number 50 on the Top Heatseekers chart dated 24 July 1999, after which it fluctuated for a year before reaching the summit on 5 August 2000. On the Billboard 200, the album debuted at number 144 on the issue dated 3 June 2000, and began rapidly ascending the chart in subsequent months, which was attributed to extensive touring, adult contemporary radio exposure, and Eminem's "Stan". In January 2001, the album leaped towards the top 10 on the Billboard 200 at number nine, On the year-end Billboard 200 for 2001, it was positioned at number 17, having been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA that July. and has spent a total of 69 weeks on the Billboard 200. peaking at number four in its tenth week. For sales of 400,000 copies in the country, it was certified quadruple platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) in September 2003. In the UK, No Angel debuted at number 50 on the UK Albums Chart dated 28 October 2000. Despite not yet being supported by a single in the country, it entered the top 10 at number five in its 14th week, ascending to the summit two weeks later, and the second-best-selling of the 2000s, behind James Blunt's Back to Bedlam. and was certified decuple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013. No Angel was the second-best-selling album of 2001 in both countries. According to the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the album was the second-best-selling of 2001 worldwide. ==Track listing==

{{Track listing ;Notes • denotes an additional producer • denotes a producer and an additional producer ==Personnel==

Credits are adapted from the liner notes of No Angel. • Dido – keyboards (tracks 7 and 9), production (tracks 1, 2, and 4–12), recorder (track 6), songwriting (all tracks), vocals (all tracks) • Bruce Aisher – additional keyboards (track 7), keyboards (track 8) • Rusty Anderson – electric guitar (tracks 2 and 5) • Aquila – background vocals (track 8) • Mark Bates – keyboards (tracks 6, 11, and 12), organ (track 11), piano (tracks 3, 6, 9, and 11), songwriting (track 11), Wurlitzer (track 11) • Matty Benbrook – live drums (tracks 8, 9, and 11), programming (track 7), songwriting (track 7) • Duncan Bridgeman – keyboards (track 4), production (track 4), programming (track 4), recording (track 4) • Phill Brown – mixing (tracks 6–11), recording (tracks 9 and 10) • Rachael Brown – background vocals (tracks 8 and 11) • Jamie Catto – production (track 4), songwriting (track 4) • Tom Coyne – mastering • Laura de Leon – hair • Richard Dekkard – songwriting (track 12) • Geoff Dugmore – live drums (track 3), percussion (track 3) • Peter Edge – A&R • Mark Felton – harmonica (track 10) • Pascal Gabriel – songwriting (tracks 1 and 10) • Goetz – additional recording (track 9), mixing (tracks 4 and 12), recording (tracks 6–8, 11, and 12) • Hosh Gureli – A&R • Paulie Herman – guitar (tracks 3, 6, 8, and 9), harmonica (track 9), songwriting (3, 5, 6, and 8) • Ash Howes – mixing (tracks 1, 2, and 5), recording (tracks 1, 2, and 5) • Len Irish – photography • Sudha Kheterpal – percussion (tracks 8 and 10) • Peter Leak – management • Heidi Lee – makeup • Sheri G. Lee – art direction • Wil Malone – string arrangement (tracks 1, 3, 11, and 12) • Martin McCorry – electric guitar (track 9) • Hugo Nicolson – mixing (track 3), recording (track 3) • Rick Nowels – acoustic guitar (tracks 1, 2, and 5), chamberlin (tracks 2 and 5), keyboards (tracks 1, 2, and 5), production (tracks 1, 2, and 5) • Aubrey Nunn – bass guitar (tracks 4, 8, 10, and 12) • John Pierce – bass (tracks 2 and 5) • Dave Randall – guitar (tracks 4, 10, and 12) • Nick "Manasseh" Raphael – additional programming (track 7), dub effects (track 7) • Jony Rockstar – programming (track 3) • Rollo – production (tracks 6–12), programming (tracks 6, 8–10, and 12), songwriting (tracks 2, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11) • James Sanger – programming (tracks 1, 2, and 5) • Sister Bliss – keyboards (track 12), production (track 12) • Mal Hyde Smith – percussion (tracks 6, 9, and 12) • Andrew Southam – photography • Paul Statham – keyboards (tracks 1 and 10), piano (track 10), songwriting (tracks 1 and 10) • Richie Stevens – additional live drums (tracks 2 and 5), additional percussion (track 5) • Pauline Taylor – additional arrangement (track 8), additional background vocals (tracks 2, 3, and 12), background vocals (tracks 8 and 11), background vocal arrangement (track 11), songwriting (track 3) • John Themis – electric guitar (tracks 1, 2, and 5), percussion (tracks 1, 2, and 5) • Peter Vittese – additional programming (track 1), keyboards (track 1) • Tim Vogt – bass (track 9) • Randy Wine – engineering (tracks 2 and 5) • Gavyn Wright – strings (tracks 1, 3, 11, and 12) • Youth – bass (track 3), production (track 3) • Basia Zamorska – styling ==Charts==

Weekly charts Monthly charts Year-end charts Decade-end charts Centurial charts All-time charts ==Certifications==

{{certification Table Entry|region=Chile (IFPI Chile)|type=album|title=No Angel|artist=Dido|award=Gold|relyear=1999|certyear=2001|salesamount=15,000|salesref=|certref=}} ==Release history==