Guilty Pleasure is the second studio album by American recording artist Ashley Tisdale. It was released on June 11, 2009, by Warner Bros. Records. The lead single from the album, "It's Alright, It's OK", was officially released in Canada on April 13, 2009. The album debuted at number 12 on the Billboard 200, selling 25,000 copies in its first week. The second single from Guilty Pleasure, "Crank It Up" was released on October 9, 2009, in Europe. The album ranked #7 on Billboard's reader poll for album of the decade and best album of 2009.
Background and release
In April 2008, she said that she has recorded a few songs for the album and she would fully focus on the album after filming High School Musical 3. Tisdale has noted that the songs in the album have a message and a story that anyone can relate to, and hoped to reveal her "edgier" side with more mature songs. She also said the album was titled Guilty Pleasure because of her guilty pleasures. Tisdale was involved in every aspect of the album's production. Tisdale's music inspirations for the album include Katy Perry and Pat Benatar. The song "Switch" is also featured in the motion picture Aliens in the Attic, which Tisdale starred in.
Warner Bros. said the first component of the label's album roll out was revealing Tisdale's new look with a relaunch of her web site in March and the cover of Cosmopolitans April issue. "We wanted to create a conversation and then follow quickly with the music," he said. The album was to be released on June 16, 2009 in North America, but it was pushed back to July 28, 2009, although it was released a month before, on June 12, 2009 in several countries such as Germany, Italy and Spain. The album's release date in the US and Canada was preceded by an exclusive "Countdown to Guilty Pleasure" on iTunes for the U.S. and Canada, on which "Overrated", "What If" and "Acting Out" had promotional releases in each week. The first two songs debuted on the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart due to digital downloads at number three and number one, respectively.
Composition
The first single, "It's Alright, It's OK", Tisdale said, "is a strong, empowering song that kind of helps you move on" and continued to say: I have definitely on and with someone you really like, if they are cheating on you, you don't want to believe it. But, unfortunately, you either stay in the relationship and keep getting hurt because it keeps happening or you get up and you move on. You don't look back. Tisdale said the song "Hot Mess" is "about hanging out with a motorcycle bad boy that makes life more interesting" and the song "How Do You Love Someone", written by Porcelain Black, is "about a girl who deals with the split of her parents". Tisdale said the song could also be about "when you have been cheated on or you're in a relationship". Black was initially reluctant to let Tisdale record the song, but eventually green-lit the track; however, she also recorded her own version, produced by RedOne. Tisdale co-wrote several songs on the album such as "What If", which was co-written with Kara DioGuardi. Tisdale described "What If" as the most personal song on the album, and said the song "is about when you’re in a relationship and you say 'If I really needed you, would you actually be there?’" "Time's Up" it was first recorded by American pop singer Katy Perry, for her second album One of the Boys (2008), though it was never included for the album and was passed on to Tisdale.