Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent

Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent is Lewis Capaldi's debut studio album which was released on May 17, 2019 through Virgin EMI Records.
==Tracklisting==
#Grace
#Bruises
#Hold Me While You Wait
#Someone You Loved
#Maybe
#Forever
#One
#Don't Get Me Wrong
#Hollywood
#Lost On You
#Fade
#Headspace
==Album Background==
In the album announcement, Capaldi said: "Everyone always tells you about how amazing recording their first album was and how they'll always look back on the 'process' with fond memories. I will look back on it as an extremely stressful time that somehow also managed to be extremely boring."
Capaldi went on to describe that while he liked "building up the songs", he did not enjoy re-recording guitar parts and the long mixing process.
He also joked that he did not think that when he got to release his debut album that he "would give it a name as stupid I have, but here we are." MTV said Capaldi "might have just won Best Album Title of 2019."
==Chart Performance==
"Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent" became the second fastest-selling album of the year in Ireland after three days of availability.
The album started atop the Irish Albums Chart with 6,389 units (physical sales, downloads and streaming), just nearly 1,100 fewer than the gold certification disc (deleted in 2013).
It later became the fastest-selling album of the year (with 2,100 units more than Billie Eilish's debut album), the decade and the fourth all-time in the country.
In its second week, the album stayed at #1; it spent a total of four weeks at number one. As of July 2019, it is the fifth best-selling album of mid-year and the ninth best-selling vinyl album there.
==Critical Reception==
Ben Beaumont-Thomas of The Guardian awarded the album three out of five stars, saying that "few artists have quite such a disparity between their music and their public persona" as Capaldi, who, in song, is "a man utterly battered by a breakup".
He called Capaldi's honesty "appealing" and felt that there is "some solid songwriting here, and a nobility to the sheer honesty of the lyrics", describing the music as "full-force, ugly crying pop".
Roisin O'Connor of The Independent called Capaldi's voice "a gravelly powerhouse that manages to evoke the 22-year-old's natural charisma even on the weepiest of ballads" and said the album "alternates between piano and guitar-based tracks, with production that retains raw moments" that, while "not the most adventurous album [...] is more about unveiling the rough materials Capaldi has to work with".
Hayley Milross from The Line of Best Fit gave the album a score of 8 out of 10 and called the album "an assured and settled debut", saying that while Capaldi may not have "deliver[ed] an album that leans towards the extraordinary", it is a "collection of poignant love songs that are honest and sincere".
Robin Murray of Clash gave the album a score of four out of 10 and questioned why Capaldi's music is "so boring" given his "hilarous" public persona.
Murray judged that the album "isn't something anyone should hate. It's well produced, well played, and for the more part well written, if highly repetitive in its he said/she said subject matter", saying its "refusal to be disliked" is "perhaps its most dispiriting, irritating aspect."
Writing for NME, Jordan Bassett characterised the album as "emotional piano ballads" that "sit at stark contrast with his public persona", concluding that it is "somewhat baffling that such a charismatic star could make a record so lacking in personality, though his fans won't mind one bit" and giving the album two out of five stars.
Category:2010s albums
Category:Pop