Symptoms (Ashley Tisdale)

Symptoms is Ashley Tisdale's third studio album that was released on May 30, 2019 by Big Noise Music Group.
==Tracklisting==
#Symptoms 2:54
#Looking Glass 2:37
#Love Me & Let Me Go 2:46
#Insomnia 2:54
#Vibrations 2:23
#Under Pressure 2:33
#True Romance 2:54
#Voices In My Head 3:19
#Feeling So Good 3:07
==Album Background==
In 2009, Ashley Tisdale released her second studio album, "Guilty Pleasure." Described as a "rocker and edgier" album by Tisdale, the album generated mixed reviews with a 54% rating on Metacritic. It debuted at #12 on the Billboard 200, selling 25,000 copies during its first week, making it significantly lower than the first week sales of her 2007 debut album, "Headstrong."
Promotion for "Guilty Pleasure" ended in the end of that year (following the release of the album's second single "Crank It Up") and in order to start focusing on her career as an actress and producer, Tisdale decided to end her record deal with Warner Bros. Records.
While promoting the 2013 film "Scary Movie 5" (in which she starred in), Tisdale said in an interview that she was inspired to make music again and confirmed that since 2012, she has been recording for her third studio album. She hoped to "surprise people a little bit, [with] something different from what [she has] done before."
In August of 2013, Tisdale became engaged to musician Christopher French and they began working together on music for her third studio album. On December 9, 2013, she announced the release of a song called "You're Always Here", making it her first release on music since 2009.
However, "You're Always Here" wasn't promoted to radio and Tisdale eventually paused on working on the album because she "wasn't excited about anything [she] was doing" and began adventuring into other ventures such as makeup and clothing lines.
In 2016, Tisdale relaunched her YouTube channel and began posting acoustic cover versions of hit songs, collaborating with other artists such as Vanessa Hudgens, Lea Michele, Echosmith's Sydney Sierota and her husband Chris French.
The success of the Paramore's "Still into You" cover featuring Chris French led Tisdale to release it as a promotional single in 2016.
Early in 2018, Tisdale released an extended play titled "Music Sessions, Vol. 1" containing a few of the covers she originally recorded for her YouTube channel.
===Recording===
Although Tisdale had been thinking about releasing a new album since 2013, she was not inspired by the content of the material she had been working on. 
Later in 2018, she discussed the mental health issues that she had gone through with her co-writer Rachel West, and together, they wrote a song titled "Symptoms", which led her to be inspired to resume work on her third studio album.
Tisdale eventually signed with then-newly-launched label Big Noise and in July, 2018, announced her third studio album would be titled "Symptoms", which was then set to be released sometime in the fall of 2018.
===Composition & Concept===
Tisdale had been silently fighting anxiety and depression for years, so working on the album was therapeutic for her. 
She wanted each song of the album to discuss a symptom of anxiety and depression in an implicit way so the songs could have other meanings as well.
She elaborated by describing the song "Love Me & Let Me Go", which "has the undertones of me talking about my journey with anxiety and depression, but... it could be about a boyfriend, it doesn't have to be about that".
When asked by Paper magazine on November 9, 2018, what had inspired her to record the album, Tisdale claimed: "When it comes to something like depression, and someone were to be like, "Hey, who here has depression?" Not a lot of hands go up. It's because there's a stigma about that word. I am a naturalist and I did have depression, but I never took anything for it, I just kind of got my way through it, but I think we have to stop putting these words on us. We have to let go of it and not give it so much power. It's okay to just be okay, and to know that it's okay that you might have depression or you might go through depressive periods. I want people to be feel like they're not alone. "Oh, Ashley goes through this too. I don't feel so alone at home." I didn't want to dwell on it [with the music]."
==Chart Performance==
"Symptoms" peaked at #22 on Billboard's Independent Album chart.
==Critical Reception==
"Symptoms" received positive reviews from music critics. Monica Mercuri, writing for Forbes, called it "unapologetically personal and incredibly good".
Alani Vargas, writing for Bustle, described the album as "highly personal".
Ineye Komonibo, writing for Marie Claire, referred to the record as "emotionally-charged" and a "candid and vulnerable account of what it feels like to go through [anxiety] — and a passionate reminder that you're never alone". Komonibo also deemed it Tisdale's "most thoughtful, mature release yet".
==Promotion==
The album was supported by the lead single, "Voices in My Head", released on November 8, 2018 and later by a second single, "Love Me & Let Me Go", released on January 25, 2019. 
On April 11, 2019, Tisdale tweeted the pre-order link for the album, which also revealed the track list. 
On May 2 2019, she performed on The Late Late Show with James Corden where she sung lead single “Voices In My Head” to promote "Symptoms."
Category:2010s albums
Category:Pop