''Topical Dancer'' is a studio album by

Charlotte Adigéry Charlotte Adigéry, also known as WWWater, is a Belgian musician. Early life and education Adigéry was born in France and grew up in Ghent, Belgium. Her mother was Jewish, born in France. She is of Martinican and Guadeloupian descent. Her fami ...

and Bolis Pupul and co-written and co-produced by

Soulwax Soulwax are an electronic band from Ghent, Belgium. Centred around brothers David and Stephen Dewaele, other current members include Igor Cavalera and Stefaan Van Leuven. They were first noticed after the release of their album ''Much Against Eve ...

. Released on 4 March 2022 under the label

Deewee Deewee, stylized as DEEWEE is a record label founded in 2015 by David and Stephen Dewaele of the band Soulwax. The label operates from a building in Ghent (Belgium) that the Dewaele brothers nickname ''DEEWEE 001'', referring to it as the first ...

, ''Topical Dancer'' is Adigéry and Pupul's debut album as a duo.

Background

Pupul and Adigéry are both based in Belgium with shared heritage from

Martinique Martinique ( , ; gcf, label=Martinican Creole, Matinik or ; Kalinago: or ) is an island and an overseas department/region and single territorial collectivity of France. An integral part of the French Republic, Martinique is located in th ...

, a French island. They first met while working for the soundtrack of ''

Belgica Gallia Belgica ("Belgic Gaul") was a Roman province, province of the Roman Empire located in the north-eastern part of Roman Gaul, in what is today primarily northern France, Belgium, and Luxembourg, along with parts of the Netherlands and German ...

'', a 2016 Belgian drama, after being invited by Soulwax, who also co-wrote and co-produced the album. The album is influenced by experiences of racial discrimination and sexual abuse. In the album, Adigéry sings in English, Dutch, Creole, and French. The album features Charlotte Adigéry's mother, Christiane Adigéry and was released under the label

, which the duo previously released three EPs on. "Thank You" is the lead single of ''Topical Dancer'' and the second single is "Blenda". "Blenda" was released on 4 November 2021 along with an announcement of the album and its release date. The first track of the album "Bel Deewee" is a

field recording Field recording is the term used for an audio recording produced outside a recording studio, and the term applies to recordings of both natural and human-produced sounds. It also applies to sound recordings like electromagnetic fields or vibra ...

of Adigéry entering the Deewee recording complex, which is also where they recorded the album, and calling through the intercom.

Critical reception

On the review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from professional publications, ''Topical Dancer'' received an

average In ordinary language, an average is a single number taken as representative of a list of numbers, usually the sum of the numbers divided by how many numbers are in the list (the arithmetic mean). For example, the average of the numbers 2, 3, 4, 7, ...

score of 85, based on six reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". Emily Mackay of ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' called the album "banging fusion of funk, house and techno". Paul Simpson of ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

'' claimed the album was "catchiest and most danceable songs Adigéry and Pupul have written to date" and that the lyrics "offer a lot of food for thought". Eric Torres of ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to th ...

'' called the album "riveting" and reported that the album had a "roguish charm". Jasper Willems wrote on ''

Beats Per Minute Beat, beats or beating may refer to: Common uses * Patrol, or beat, a group of personnel assigned to monitor a specific area ** Beat (police), the territory that a police officer patrols ** Gay beat, an area frequented by gay men * Battery ( ...

'' that ''Topical Dancer'' is "spiritual palette cleanser as much as it is a physical one" and "a record for literally anyone". In a review written for ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'', reviewer Max Pilley claimed that the album "arrived bursting with positive energy". The album was nominated for Best Electronic Record at the 2023 Libera Awards.

Track listing

All tracks are written and produced by

, Bolis Pupul (Boris Zeebroek) and

(David Dewaele and Stephen Dewaele).

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{reflist 2022 debut albums Electronic albums by Belgian artists Bolis Pupul albums Deewee albums