The Art Heaven

The standard edition cover art

### Producer

Alexandra Moreau · Christian Killer · Alicia Ruiz · Aaron Dessner · Harriet Frida

## Singles

### 3.

Last Day of PlutoDecember 10, 2021

**The Art Heaven** is the seventh studio album by American singer-songwriter Alexa Mercury, released on December 17, 2021 by Universal Music Group. Alike its predecessor, it marks a minor shift in Mercury's sound, striving away from her signature synth pop sound, instead focusing on light, breathy and dreamy composition with lyrics often referencing nature and astrology.

## Background and recording

Mercury first mentioned the possibility of her seventh album being 'almost done' in November 2020, only a few months after the release of *Atmosphere*. In reality, it was only halfway finished at that point. In January 2021, Mercury released a charity single *There Are Angels*, which hinted at heavenly theme of the upcoming record, but was not included on the final tracklist. Throughout 2021, Mercury was secretly recording songs in her Pennsylvania house, Venus Estate, as well as in New York City's 'Electric Lady' and 'Killer Is Here', a studio in Massachusetts owned by *The Art Heaven*'s co-producer, Christian Killer. During the process, she hasn't engaged much in public life and kept her work extremely private.

In an interview for DM Magazine in January 2022, Mercury stated that she wanted to 'create something unique, but not game-changing' and that the album 'is just a way for [her] to discover new sounds, techniques and learn something new from [her] collaborators'. All twelve songs on the album have been written by Mercury, some with help from Christian Killer, Aaron Dessner and Harriet Frida. They were produced and mastered by Killer, Dessner, as well as Mercury's life-long recording partner, Alicia Ruiz.

Works on the album concluded around two months before its release. With no songs from it released yet, *The Art Heaven* was still unknown to the general public at the time, but Mercury's comeback to social media marked the start of a new era.

## Release and promotion

The first single off *The Art Heaven* was released with no prior announcement on November 26, 2021. The song *Art Angels* and its music video were streamed over forty million times in first twenty-four hours. In the United States, it reached #8 on the official Paper Songs chart, as well as #2 on Hot Indie and Viral Hits charts. Despite massive success, it was the first single by Mercury to not reach the top of iTunes music chart in eight years. It did not succeed on foreign markets, only peaking at #78 in the United Kingdom and #92 in Australia, mostly because of its non-radio-friendly nature and little promotion.

*The Tale of Hermes*, which served as the album's second promotional single, was released a week later, on December 3, also as a surprise. It received a music video, at the end of which *The Art Heaven* album was announced. The song was streamed 5.4 million times on Spotify and viewed 14.8 million times on YouTube in its first twenty-four hours, marking a decline from its predecessor. It entered the Paper US Songs chart at #45 and peaked at #16 in its third week, following album's release. It hit #1 on Hot Indie chart and entered official charts in United Kingdom, Australia, France and Canada. It was sent to radios in North America on December 6, but was pulled after two weeks.

The third and final single off the album, *Last Day of Pluto*, which also serves as its closing track, was released on December 10, 2021. Alike its two predecessors, it received a music video, which was viewed over ten million times on YouTube. The song itself was streamed 5.7 million times on Spotify worldwide in a day. It's the only single off *The Art Heaven* to receive proper radio promotion and a live performance during Mercury's appereance on the *Apple Music Night Show* on December 12. It debuted and peaked at #10 on Paper US Songs chart, as well as inside the top-fifty in United Kingdom and Canada. Unlike the two previous singles, *Last Day of Pluto* topped the iTunes chart.

   The album itself was released on December 17, 2021 exclusively in stores, available only on CD and vinyl. A limited cassette edition was also released as part of the Christmas collection on Mercury's merchandise store. It also eventually was uploaded to all streaming services on January 1, 2022. As of July 2022, the physical copies of *The Art Heaven* are no longer available in stores, and it can only be purchased on Mercury's website. A digital deluxe edition of the album was released on February 4, 2022 on streaming services and iTunes, containing 'analog' versions of five songs and three demo recordings.

## Release history

### Standard Edition

* CD, vinyl - December 17, 2021
* Cassette - December 25, 2021
* Streaming - January 1, 2022