No Angel (1999)

No Angel is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriter Dido. It was released on 1 June 1999, by Arista Records and Cheeky Records.

Dido began recording what would become No Angel in 1995, having already written numerous songs, principally based on real-life circumstances at the time. She simultaneously collaborated with her brother Rollo Armstrong's electronic dance band Faithless, attracting the attention of Clive Davis, founder and then-president of Arista. Dido subsequently signed with the label and completed the album, predominantly producing it with Rollo. She wrote all of the album's tracks, exploring lyrical themes such as love, codependency, and introspection. Further collaborators on the record included Rick Nowels, Youth, Jamie Catto, and Sister Bliss, whose contributions resulted with a folk-pop and folktronica musical style experimenting with trip hop, electronica, and dream pop.

Due to contractual reasons, No Angel would not be released outside the US until 16 October 2000, when it was issued in Dido's native UK, being progressively made available worldwide in subsequent months. Upon release, the album received generally mixed to positive reviews from music critics, who complimented its sonic quality and Dido's vocal performance, but criticized the lyricism. Commercially a sleeper hit, the album debuted at low positions in both the UK and the US, before steadily ascending to number one on the UK Albums Chart and in nine other countries, and number four on the US Billboard 200. It became one of the best-selling albums of 2001 worldwide, and won British Album of the Year at the Brit Awards 2002.

No Angel produced three commercial singles—"Here with Me", "Thank You", and "Hunter". "Here with Me" and "Thank You" both reached the top five on the UK Singles Chart, while the latter peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, after receiving widespread exposure due to being sampled on Eminem's "Stan". To further promote the album, Dido embarked on an extensive world tour. No Angel went on to become one of the best-selling albums of all time in the UK, being certified decuple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of three million units. It was also certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over four million units in the US. The album has sold 15 million copies worldwide.

Writing and recording

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". In 1995, Dido began collaborating with her brother Rollo Armstrong's electronic dance music band Faithless, recording backing vocals for their debut studio album Reverence (1996) and co-writing its track "Flowerstand Man". She simultaneously recorded material for her own album, assembling an 11-track demo collection Odds & Ends, which circulated via Nettwerk Music Group, with whom she had recently signed a management deal. Alongside "Take My Hand", Odds & Ends included "Sweet Eyed Baby", which would later be remixed and retitled "Don't Think of Me", and the tracks "Worthless" and "Me", which would be included as bonus tracks on the Japanese edition of No Angel.