''Feels Like'' is the debut

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

band

Bully Bullying is the use of force, coercion, hurtful teasing, comments, or threats, in order to abuse, aggressively dominate, or intimidate one or more others. The behavior is often repeated and habitual. One essential prerequisite is the perc ...

, released on June 23, 2015 by

Startime International Startime International was a New York City-based record label founded by Isaac Green, active between 2000 and 2017. It was owned by Sony Music Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Records. Its roster included Foster the People, Coin, Natali ...

and

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

. The album was produced by Bully frontwoman Alicia Bognanno and recorded in 2014 at

Electrical Audio Electrical Audio is a recording facility founded in Chicago, Illinois by musician and recording engineer Steve Albini in 1997. Hundreds of independent music projects have been recorded there. Unlike most producers, Albini refused to take any roya ...

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

Critical reception

''Feels Like'' received generally positive reviews from music critics. At

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, which assigns a

normalized Normalization or normalisation refers to a process that makes something more normal or regular. Science * Normalization process theory, a sociological theory of the implementation of new technologies or innovations * Normalization model, used in ...

rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, the album received an average score of 77, based on 19 reviews. In his review for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'', Robert Cooke highlighted Alicia Bognanno's "honest, witty" songwriting and stated that ''Feels Like'' "revels in the simplicity of a great

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

song while cleverly articulating the everyday truths of 20-something life". ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

''s Laura Snapes noted the contrast between the "explosive, rollicking" music and Bognanno's lyrics, which Snapes felt displayed an intimacy comparable to that of "

Courtney Barnett Courtney Melba Barnett (born 3 November 1987) is an Australian singer, songwriter, and musician. Known for her deadpan singing style and witty, rambling lyrics, she attracted attention with the release of her debut EP ''I've Got a Friend Calle ...

Waxahatchee Waxahatchee is an American indie music project, formed in 2010 by American singer-songwriter Kathryn Crutchfield (born January 4, 1989), known professionally as Katie Crutchfield, following the breakup of her previous band P.S. Eliot. The ban ...

's Katie Crutchfield". James Oldham of '' Q'' wrote that while Bully's heavy influence from 1990s

alternative rock Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...

is apparent, the album "retains a thrilling freshness" due to Bognanno's "formidable presence", as well as her "taut, confessional" lyrics, whose directness he said complemented the music's "brutal succinctness". Michael Hann of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' was less enthusiastic, describing ''Feels Like'' as "a grab-bag of early-90s alt-rock styles that sounded tired by the mid-90s – and haven't got any fresher since."

Track listing

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. Bully * Alicia Bognanno – vocals, guitar * Stewart Copeland – drums * Reece Lazarus – bass * Clayton Parker – guitar Production * Alicia Bognanno –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

, mixing * John Golden – mastering * Jon San Paolo – engineering Design * Daniel Topete – photography * Esther Pearl Watson – cover photography

Charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2015 debut albums Bully (band) albums Startime International albums Columbia Records albums