No Angel is the debut studio album by English singer-songwriterDido. It was released on 1 June 1999, byArista Records andCheeky Records.
Dido began recording what would becomeNo Angel in 1995, having already written numerous songs, principally based on real-life circumstances at the time. She simultaneously collaborated with her brotherRollo Armstrong'selectronic dance bandFaithless, attracting the attention ofClive 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 includedRick Nowels,Youth,Jamie Catto, andSister Bliss, whose contributions resulted with afolk-pop andfolktronica musical style experimenting withtrip hop,electronica, anddream 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 frommusic critics, who complimented its sonic quality and Dido's vocal performance, but criticized the lyricism. Commercially asleeper hit, the album debuted at low positions in both the UK and the US, before steadily ascending to number one on theUK Albums Chart and in nine other countries, and number four on the USBillboard 200. It became one of the best-selling albums of 2001 worldwide, and wonBritish Album of the Year at theBrit 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 theUK Singles Chart, while the latter peaked at number three on the USBillboard Hot 100, after receiving widespread exposure due to being sampled onEminem'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 theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) for sales of three million units. It was also certifiedquadruple platinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), selling over four million units in the US. One of thebest-selling albums of all time, the album has sold 15 million copies worldwide.
Dido began writing songs for what would becomeNo 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".[7] In 1995, Dido began collaborating with her brotherRollo Armstrong'selectronic dance music bandFaithless, recording backing vocals for their debut studio albumReverence (1996) and co-writing its track "Flowerstand Man". She simultaneously recorded material for her own album, assembling an 11-trackdemo collectionOdds & Ends, which circulated viaNettwerk 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 ofNo Angel.[8]
Dido spent 1996 touring with Faithless, recording additional songs while on tour,[8] and signed a publishing deal withWarner Chappell Music that October.[9] She recorded vocals for two tracks on Faithless' second studio albumSunday 8PM (1998), one of which incorporated elements of then-unreleased "My Lover's Gone". Her collaborative work with Faithless attracted attention ofClive Davis, founder and then-president ofArista Records, who instantly offered Dido a record deal with the label after attending their concert in London in 1998.[10] She initially refused, opting to remain signed to Rollo's label Cheeky Records, but eventually accepted the offer after Rollo sold Cheeky to theBertelsmann Music Group (BMG), Arista's parent company, in 1999, as she was finishing recordingNo Angel.[7][9] Dido recorded over 25 songs for the album, 12 of which made the final track listing, at six locations in London—theAngel Recording Studios,The Church Studios, theEden Studios, theOlympic Studios,Sarm West, and the Swanyard Studios.[10][11] She wrote all of the album's tracks, and produced all except "Don't Think of Me", which is the sole track produced byYouth. Rollo co-wrote five and produced seven of the album's 12 tracks, whileRick Nowels produced three. Faithless membersJamie Catto andSister Bliss also contributed to the album, with Catto co-writing and producing "My Lover's Gone", and Sister Bliss producing "Take My Hand" and co-writing and producing the bonus track "Worthless".[11]
On "Thank You", Dido expresses appreciation for her partner, who helps diminish various inconveniences in her life.[12] Christian Ward ofNME described the song as reminiscent ofThe Corrs.[13]
No Angel opens with "Here with Me", a "languid" folktronica track driven by "heart-monitor" synths and "dramatic" strings.[24] The song depicts Dido as a woman dependent on her lover, attempting to imagine her life without him, while on "Hunter", she yearns to descend from the unsolicited pedestal he placed her on.[17][14] String-infused "Don't Think of Me" shows a protagonist angrily scorning her former partner.[25][12] "All You Want" details romantic loss from the perspective of a fixated lover, as evident in the lines: "I'd like to watch you sleep at night / To hear you breathe by my side" and "Now our bed is oh so cold / My hands feel empty, no one to hold / And I can sleep what side I want."[14][24] "Thank You" expresses gratitude towards a partner alleviating different inconveniences.[12] Musically, it is aballad built on anacoustic guitar,congas, arecorder, and adrum machine.[26] Folktronica and trip hop track "Honestly OK" displays a minimalist vocal arrangement against an electronicdub background, and is among the more introspective songs on the album: "I'm so lonely, I don't even want to be with myself anymore".[14][17] "Slide" and "Isobel" are lyrical encouragements directed towards an anguished and remorseful friend.[12] Syncopated up-tempo title track "I'm No Angel" is followed by theblues-influenced closing track "My Life",[22] built on "cinematic" strings and aWurlitzer electronic piano.[17] Lyrically, the latter sees Dido regaining control over her situation, concluding the events of the album's lyrics similarly to aromantic comedy climax, according to Natalie Shaw ofBBC.[14]
Prior to the completion ofNo Angel, "Thank You" first appared on the soundtrack for the 1998 filmSliding Doors.[d] As early as the summer of 1998, Arista began distributing samples of the album to journalists, including the five-trackThe Highbury Fields EP, while some material also appeared on a promotional cassette for the 1998Lilith Fair.[8][10] Consequently, various retailers faced high demand for the album in the months preceding its release.[10]No Angel was ultimately released on 1 June 1999, with "Here with Me" released as itslead single two weeks earlier. Dido had begun touring clubs across the US, which commenced inBoston on 10 May, and was slated to perform on five dates of the 1999 Lilith Fair in July.[10] "Here with Me" was soon chosen as the opening theme for the American television seriesRoswell (1999–2002),[24] and reached number 16 on the USBubbling Under Hot 100, theBillboard Hot 100's extension chart.[28] "Don't Think of Me" was released as apromotional single on 7 February 2000,[29] before "Thank You" was released as the second single on 18 September,[30] as Dido continued touring the US throughout the year, also serving as an opening act for Sting.[31] She further promotedNo Angel with televised performances on shows such asLive with Regis,[32]The Tonight Show with Jay Leno,Late Show with David Letterman,Saturday Night Live,[33] andThe Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn.[34]
As Rollo's negotiations regarding the 1999 sale of Cheeky Records to BMG postponed all Cheeky releases for over a year,[9]No Angel was not released outside the US until 16 October 2000, when it was released in Dido's native UK.[35] It was progressively released worldwide within the following six months.[36][37][38] The album's release in Europe and Oceania coincided with the release ofEminem's international number-one hit single "Stan", a song which incorporates a sample of the opening verse of "Thank You", and was widely credited with propelling Dido to global prominence and accelerating the sales ofNo Angel.[e] In the UK, the album was reissued as anenhanced CD on 29 January 2001,[41] while "Here with Me" was released as the lead single on 12 February 2001,[42] peaking at number four on theUK Singles Chart,[43] and within the top 10 in 12 additional countries.[44] Prior to the single's relaunch, Dido filmed a second accompanyingmusic video for the song.[22] Dido began touring the UK for the first time in February,[7] followed by shows across Europe throughout the spring, before returning to North America to perform at larger venues throughout the summer.[9] "Thank You" was internationally released on 21 May 2001,[45] peaking at number three on both the UK Singles Chart and the USBillboard Hot 100.[43][46] "Hunter" was released as the third and final single fromNo Angel on 18 June,[47] attaining less commercial success than its predecessors by peaking at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart and failing to enter the USBillboard Hot 100.[43]
Dido also promotedNo Angel with televised performances in the UK, such as those of "Here with Me" and "Thank You" onLater... with Jools Holland,[48][49] and separate performances of "Here with Me", "Thank You", and "Hunter" onTop of the Pops in February,[50] June,[51] and September 2001,[52] respectively. In Australia, she performed "Here with Me" at the2001 ARIA Music Awards on 30 October.[53] Earlier that month, a double-disc special edition of the album was released in Japan and Australia,[54][55] while a double-disc limited edition, including the previously unreleased "Christmas Day", was released in the UK on 19 November.[56] "All You Want" was also released as a limited3-inch mini single exclusively in the UK on 10 December.[57] Although she had refused to perform at theBrit Awards 2001, where she was slated to perform "Stan" with Eminem,[9] she performed "Here with Me" at the following ceremony on 20 February 2002.[58] In November 2008,No Angel was digitally reissued to include "Worthless" and aDeep Dish-produced remix of "Thank You" as bonus tracks.[4] In commemoration of its 25th anniversary, the album was made available onvinyl worldwide for the first time, alongside additional merchandise, on September 19, 2025.[59][f]
No Angel received generally mixed to positive reviews frommusic critics. American journalists, such as those ofElle,Los Angeles Times, andTime, as well as Sal Cinquemani ofSlant Magazine, welcomed Dido and her "sparkling", "stylish" and "accomplished" debut.[23][17][33] Meanwhile, British journalist Christian Ward ofNME opined that Dido failed to match the strength ofEminem's "Stan", which helped introduce her to her native UK market after she had already become prominent in the US.[13] Jeff Burger fromAllMusic and Beth Johnson ofEntertainment Weekly both directed predominant praise towards the sonic quality ofNo Angel, which Burger described as "atmospheric, seductive, and beautifully produced and sequenced".[19][25]Fridae's Ikram Khasim further called the album "an amalgamation ofpop,soul,folk, and trip-hop (thanks to her brother Rollo from the band Faithless) rolled into a pleasing package",[16] while a critic fromInterview concluded that it "feels just about perfect".[33] Conversely, Chris Nettleton ofDrowned in Sound dismissed the record's sound as commercialised and overproduced, concluding that the album lacks a coherent theme.[39] He nonetheless complimented Dido's vocal performance, as did John Aizlewood ofThe Guardian. Both Nettleton and Aizlewood commended the album's Faithless-influenced aspects, with Nettleton highlighting "My Lover's Gone" for exhibiting a musical style reminiscent of the band, and Aizlewood accentuating a "template of aggressive lushness" shared between the artists.[39][20] Burger was, however, ambivalent towards the album's lyricism, which he labelled less adventurous than that of Sinéad O'Connor, to whom Dido received frequent critical comparisons.[19] Ward further criticized the lyricism as "tedious", and Dido's artistry as "music for people who buy one CD a year".[13]
Regardless of the critical polarity,Q listedNo Angel as one of the best 50 albums of 2001.[62] At theBrit Awards 2002, the album wonBritish Album of the Year;[63] it would go on to be nominated for British Album of 30 Years at theBrit Awards 2010, but would ultimately lose to(What's the Story) Morning Glory? byOasis.[64][65] Internationally, the album won the 2002NRJ Music Award for International Album of the Year,[66] in addition to being nominated for the2001 MTV Europe Music Award forBest Album.[67] InThe New Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), Ernesto Lechner reflected onNo Angel sounding "surprisingly mature for a debut album", concluding that although Dido's "mellow approach and pretty melodies are a bit too laid-back to qualify as groundbreaking", it would be "cynical to altogether dismiss thechanteuse's sincere intentions and gorgeous voice".[18] In a retrospective review forBBC, journalist Natalie Shaw remarked: "While there's little variation inNo Angel's material, its songs do their jobs diligently. But that's exactly the problem – it's all so constructed."[14] Writing forThe Independent upon the album's 25th anniversary, journalist Adam White declared it "neither as bland as conventional wisdom suggests it is, nor quite interesting enough to be a secret classic".[24]
No Angel was a universalsleeper hit. In the US, it debuted at number 50 on theTop Heatseekers chart dated 24 July 1999, after which it fluctuated for a year before reaching the summit on 5 August 2000.[31] On theBillboard 200, the album debuted at number 144 on the issue dated 3 June 2000,[68] and began rapidly ascending the chart in subsequent months, which was attributed to extensive touring,adult contemporary radio exposure, and Eminem's "Stan".[31] In November,No Angel was certifiedplatinum by theRecording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying shipments of one million units in the country,[69] and entered the top 40 of theBillboard 200.[70] In January 2001, the album leaped towards the top 10 on theBillboard 200 at number nine,[68] by which point it had already sold two million copies in the country.[7] The album reached its peak position of number four in its 40th week on theBillboard 200, on the chart dated 3 March 2001.[71] On the year-endBillboard 200 for 2001, it was positioned at number 17,[72] having been certified quadruple platinum by the RIAA that July.[69] According toNielsen SoundScan,No Angel had sold over 4.2 million units in the US by November 2008,[73] and has spent a total of 69 weeks on theBillboard 200.[74] In Canada, the album debuted at number 18 on theCanadian Albums Chart dated 6 January 2001,[75] peaking at number four in its tenth week.[76]For sales of 400,000 copies in the country, it was certified quadruple platinum by theCanadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) in September 2003.[77]
In the UK,No Angel debuted at number 50 on theUK Albums Chart dated 28 October 2000. Despite not yet being supported by a single in the country, it entered the top 10 at number five in its 14th week, ascending to the summit two weeks later,[78] and sold over 400,000 copies in the country by February 2001.[g] As "Here with Me" was commercially released as the lead single,No Angel remained atop the chart for five further consecutive weeks.[78] On the chart dated 6 October 2001, it returned to the top for a seventh and final week.[78] In the country, the album became the best-selling of 2001,[79] and the second-best-selling of the 2000s, behindJames Blunt'sBack to Bedlam.[24] With sales exceeding three million units, it is the 26thbest-selling album of all time in the UK,[80] and was certified decuple platinum by theBritish Phonographic Industry (BPI) in July 2013.[81] Across Europe, the album reached number one in Austria, Finland, France,[82] Greece,[83] Ireland,[84] and Norway,[85] as well as on theEuropean Top 100 Albums.[86] It was the best-selling album of 2001 in Europe,[87] and the second-best-selling in Finland,[88] Germany,[89] and Ireland.[90] The following year, it was certified quintuple platinum by theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), for sales of five million units in Europe.[91]
In Australia,No Angel debuted at number 21, rising to number one in its sixth week and spending eight consecutive weeks at the summit.[92] It went on to be certified sextuple platinum by theAustralian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) in 2004, denoting shipments of over 420,000 units in the country.[93] In New Zealand, the album debuted at number 17, reaching the summit in its fifth week; it stayed atop the chart for nine non-consecutive weeks.[94] By April 2002, it had sold 75,000 copies and was certified quintuple platinum by theRecording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ).[95]No Angel was the second-best-selling album of 2001 in both countries.[96][97] With shipments of 8.6 million copies worldwide, it toppedBillboard's Global 20 chart for 2001.[98] According to theInternational Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), the album was the second-best-selling of 2001 worldwide.[99] As of 2025, it has sold an estimated 15 million copies worldwide, being among thebest-selling albums of all time.[100]
^International special and Japanese editions cover features the background in silver rather than black and red.[1][2][3] Digital reissue cover features Dido's image inside her name tinged pink, against a grey background.[4] UK limited edition cover also features a grey background, but omits Dido's image from her name.[5] 2025 vinyl reissue cover featuresphotographic films, displaying imagery from the liner notes ofNo Angel tinged red, behind Dido's name.[6]
^The 45 King first heard "Thank You" while watching the film, and subsequently produced a tape incorporating a sample from the song. He sent the tape toInterscope Records, through which it reachedEminem, who reinterpreted the lyrics of "Thank You" as written from the perspective of an obsessed fan,[27] rather than an enamoured woman.[12]
^attributed to Khasim,[16] Sheryl Garratt ofThe Guardian,[9] Chris Nettleton ofDrowned in Sound,[39] and staff ofABC News[40]
^abPrior to the 2025 vinyl release,No Angel was made available on vinyl through a limited-edition pressing for National Album Day, exclusively in Ireland and the UK, on 15 October 2021.[181][182]
^Sheryl Garratt ofThe Guardian reported thatNo Angel had sold 100,000 copies by the end of 2000,[9] while Dave Simpson wrote for the same newspaper, as published on 29 January 2001, that the album had sold 300,000 additional units.[7]
^"The Noughties' Official UK Albums Chart Top 100".Music Week. 30 January 2010. p. 19.ISSN0265-1548.
^"Top Billboard 200 Albums"(PDF).Billboard. Vol. 121, no. 50. 19 December 2009. p. 163. Retrieved27 January 2021 – via World Radio History.Digit page 167 on the PDF archive.
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