Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree, Diana’s number one debut album, failed to sell what RCA had expected even after trying to rescue the album campaign by releasing a brand new song during The X Factor last year. The single, My Wicked Heart, failed to become a success following an X Factor performance and plans to re-release the album were scrapped in favour of moving onto its follow up.

Diana announced the news via her Tumblr:

yo guys! I just want to let you know what the crack is at the moment down in the vickers camp. Myself and RCA have decided to part company, purely based on a creative level. I will always be really thankful for the time we’ve spent together and the support they’ve given me. But, I’ve grown up a lot since the first album and whilst the past couple years have been a lot of fun and a great success, I’m now ready to take a wander down a different, very exciting path! In order to grow, this change has to be made.

I’m so proud of where the second album is right now and I’m counting down the minutes until it’s all ready and you guys can finally hear it! I’ve been having the best time over the past 6 months- being creative, working with so many inspirational people, falling in love with LA and growing as an artist.

I just got back from the INCREDIBLE Arcade Fire gig at Hyde park they bloody rocked it. Up early for studio tomorrow so need my rest ! Love always to all my amazing fans. Diana xx

leave you with this

It seems RCA have let Diana keep the new tracks she recorded, in order to take them with her to her new label which has yet to be revealed.

Hopefully the new album will be of the same standard as her debut and manages to find much more success.

The video is set at Diana’s house in various rooms where she is seen surrounded by love letters, dead roses, old photographs and a vinyl player. The cartoon animations around her make her house seem like a crime scene where the “murder of love” took place. Other cartoons include a bow and arrows, roses changing from red to black, angel wings, wall and floor cracks, the house filling with water and a tomb stone with “LOVE R.I.P.” engraved on it in the garden.

The video references the movie The Shining. Diana’s ex-boyfriend in the video is seen holding a mug shot card displaying “REDRUM” (“MURDER” spelled backwards) as seen in the movie. The scenes of Diana in the bath in her clothes and the house filling with water while crumbling down are also references to The Shining. At the end of the video, Diana is seen walking up a cartoon yellow brick road alongside a sign for “Happiness”, with a rainbow overhead which references The Wizard of Oz also.

Overall, the video for The Boy Who Murdered Love is a step in the right direction for Diana as it perfectly captures who she is as an artist which the video for Once failed to portray.

The Boy Who Murdered Love will be released on July 12th through RCA Records.

Diana Vickers celebrated debuting at number one on the UK album charts with a cake. (Twitter Link)

Avril Lavigne finally got herself a Twitter account, even if it is hard to believe that it’s really her or that she’s 25 years old from her Tweets. (Twitter Link)

Jade Ewen thought she was driving on a motorway today but it was in fact a dual-carriageway. (Twitter Link)

Alexandra Burke’s third single from her debut album has reached number one on the Irish iTunes. (Twitter Link)

As you can see it’s a bit average in comparison to the rest of the campaign and the incredible songs that are on it. The album title Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree is no where to be seen and it looks more like a self-titled album. It even pales in comparison to the single cover for Diana’s debut single Once.

The fans on Diana’s official site are already causing an uproar over the artwork so hopefully RCA will have the sense to change it. If it doesn’t get changed, hopefully potential buyers will realise the cover has no reflection on the quality of the songs it contains which are all everything this cover is not i.e. amazing.

Each scene has a different costume change. The swing scene echoes her performance of Smile on The X Factor. The scene where Diana is singing into the microphone with her band is a little Blondie-esque. She also manages to get the infamous “claw” hand movement into the video. Diana looks her best in the scene with the mirror, the scene with the bed, the scene on the rug and the scene on the bathroom floor which all show a much more grown up Diana to the one we saw on The X Factor.

Once has been uploaded to Muzic Junkie’s Youtube channel which you can view below:

Once will be released on April 19th followed by the debut album Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree which has been pushed back to May 3rd.

Diana Vickers will be sending out some important news on Monday afternoon through her newsletter which is expected be the music video for her debut single Once or an announcement about its premier date. (Twitter link)

Lady GaGa’s The Fame has gone diamond worldwide with sales of over 10,000,000. The Fame is the first album to do so since Amy Winehouse’s Back To Black. (Twitter link)

Lily Allen is postponing her retirement from music until June when she will be supporting Jay-Z at the Wireless Festival in London. (Twitter link)

Frankmusik believes his work-in-progress second album is sounding “crazy”. (Twitter link)

Latest Sugababe, Jade Ewen has promised she will take her top off on Twitter if Sugababes’ new single Wear My Kiss peaks in the top 5 of the UK singles chart. (Twitter link)

Annie is going to an exhibition. (Twitter link)

The sampler includes the following five tracks:

01. Once – The Cathy Dennis and Eg White penned debut single which puts everything people loved about Diana on The X Factor into its 3 minutes, 12 seconds while also defining her sound as a artist. While Once is a debut single, Diana’s unique quirky vocal makes her recognisable and it seems like you are listening to an established artist rather than a new one.

02. Remake Me And You – A Diana co-write with Brit Award winner Ellie Goulding and Guy Sigsworth which sounds a bit Alphabeat-esque. It’s very repetitive and doesn’t seem to reach where it’s trying to go but instead sounds like it’s going around in circles.

03. The Boy Who Murdered Love – Another Diana co-write with Chris Braide. The verses sound like a good Gwen Stefani ballad while the chorus escalates into another one-word repeating spree similar to Once but with a darker, melancholic melody.

04. My Hip – A Harmony Boucher and Tobias Karlsson track. After a few listens, My Hip is definitely the weakest song on the sampler but it’s still listenable. It just seems to plod along with nothing really interesting about it. The production is nice but the song lacks a stronger melody.

05. Put It Back Together Again – A Nerina Pallot track and the best song on the sampler. It’s very melancholic and atmospheric. It’s by far Diana’s best vocal to date. It builds like a big Snow Patrol ballad. The only thing to fault with this track is the mouthful in the chorus when Diana tries to squeeze “put it back together again” into such a small time frame.

Overall, the album is shaping up to be quite a strong debut and possibly the best debut to come from an ex-X Factor contestant yet. It proves that spending time to develop a sound instead of rush-releasing an album off the back of The X Factor pays off as Diana is demonstrating with this album.

Songs From The Tainted Cherry Tree is set for release on April 26th through RCA Records.

Once has the same sound as Jumping Into Rivers which leaked last year but sounds more like a debut single than …Rivers. Diana’s distinctive vocals take the track from being average to very good. Had another artist been singing on the track, it could have sounded a little boring. It’s very instant and even after your first listen, you’ll never forget it.

[See post to listen to audio]

Once will be released on April 19th through RCA Records.