Guilty (Blue album)

In October 2002, Blue released their second album One Love which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart with over 150,000 first-week sales and went on to become one of the year's best-selling albums, achieving 4× Platinum status with over 1.2 million copies sold in the United Kingdom. Pushed by its second single, the Elton John cover "Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word," which became a top five hit across Europe, the album solidified Blue's international breakthrough, achieving gold or platinum certification in multiple countries throughout Central Europe and Asia. Between November 2002 and January 2003, the band embarked on their headlining concert tour, the One Love Tour, which took them to 26 stops across Ireland and the United Kingdom.

• "Guilty" — The debut single, released in October 2003. The single peaked at No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 29 on the Australian Top 40, at No. 14 in New Zealand and No. 6 in Ireland. The song has received a Silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK.
• "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours" — The second single, released in December 2003, featuring guest vocals from Stevie Wonder. The song is a cover version of Stevie's number one hit. The single peaked at No. 11 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 31 on the Australian Top 100, No. 22 in New Zealand and No. 17 in Ireland.
• "The Gift" - A Japanese alternative single to "Signed, Sealed, Delivered I'm Yours", featuring the said track as a B-side. "The Gift" only appears on the Japanese version of Guilty. The single peaked at No. 3 on the Japan Hot 100. A music video was recorded and included on the Japanese edition of 4Ever Blue.
• "Breathe Easy" — The third single, released in March 2004. The single peaked at No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The song was produced by multi-platinum producers DEEKAY & co-written by Lee Ryan, Lars Halvor Jensen, and Michael Martin Larsson. The song has received a Bronze sales status certification for sales of over 100,000 copies in the UK. In Italy, an Italian-language version of the song, "A Chi Mi Dice", was released as a single instead.
• "Bubblin'" - The fourth and final single, released in June 2004. The single peaked at No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart. The single version of "Bubblin'" features vocals from L.A.D.E. In France, a French-language version of the song, "You & Me Bubblin'", was released a single instead. This version features vocals from French boyband LINK-UP.

More information Review scores, Source ...

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Daily Telegraph	[3]
laut.de	[4]

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Betty Clarke from The Daily Telegraph found that Guilty showed "Blue as we already know them: heavy on soul-puppy richness, light on meaning. It's easy listening in the most honourable sense, and there's no need to dress it up in seam-bursting bondage pants [...] What's left is a nifty little record."^[3] In a retrospective review for AllMusic, Sharon Mawer rated the album two out of five stars. She remarked that some songs on the album "were straying perilously close to Westlife territory and to many Blue fans, the most important thing about them was that they were not as bland as Westlife."^[2]

In a negative review, Chris Long from BBC Music, called the album "in equal parts, vapid, bland, hopelessly derivative, unimaginative and, occasionally, downright offensive." He further wrote that "there is not one moment of the ballad-heavy, drippy, sugar-sweet overdose of Guilty that deserves even a second listen [...] This is the sound of a band more interested in increasing their tabloid column inch count with their various late night shenanigans and celebrity ligging, than in their music. There is no effort, no emotion, no desire in any of the tunes on offer."^[5] laut.de editor Stefan Johannesberg concluded: "The boys may lack the charisma to be worthy heirs to Take That, but their music already has the natural class that B3, Before Four, and all that other junk are completely missing. All Blue need now are a few rough edges to stay interesting for a more mature audience in the long run." He rated Guilty three out of five stars.^[4]

Released on 3 November 2003, Guilty opened at number one on the UK Albums Chart, becoming Blue's third consecutive album to reach the top spot.^[6] Although the album failed to replicate the major success of its two predecessors, it would spend 24 on the chart and achieve double platinum status in the United Kingdom.^[7] It was eventually ranked 29th on its 2003 year-end listing.^[8]

Notes

• ^{^[a]} signifies a remix producer