La Roux broke new personal ground this week when her sophomore album Trouble In Paradise hit No. 1 on Billboard's Dance/Electronic chart.
Despite the success of the single "Bulletproof" on her 2009 self-titled debut album -- the song hit No. 8 on the U.S. charts -- La Roux couldn't get past No. 70 on the overall album chart. But Trouble In Paradise has already climbed to No. 20 in the U.S. by selling 12,000 copies in its first week.
The second effort has also spawned the single "Uptight Downtown", currently No. 29 on the Dance/Electronic chart.
Another difference between the releases: This is the first time La Roux -- given name Elly Jackson -- recorded as a solo act. 2009's La Roux album featured producer Ben Langmaid.
As the new album title suggests, the split between Jackson and Langmaid was not pretty.
"I felt that the artist that I'd decided to be, Ben didn't agree with," Jackson told The Guardian. "On the first record we would talk a lot and it became very emotional. One of [Langmaid's] biggest roles was [being that person] I could go and talk to about lots of very personal stuff at length and then write about. But for want of a better way of saying it, I didn't need that any more. I felt I could do that with a number of people."
Since the de-collaboration, Langmaid has spoken out on Twitter about the situation, and has especially chastised his replacement writer, Ian Sherwin.
"That guys [sic] an idiot," Langmaid said on Twitter. "He's the reason I left."
But while Langmaid and Jackson were a great musical combination -- "Bulletproof" and "In For The Kill" were both Dance/Electronic No. 1s -- Sherwin and Jackson are off to a good start with their first No. 1 album, and have already doubled La Roux's previous weekly sales record of 6,000.
As previously reported, La Roux is set to hit the road this fall. Check out the international tour dates below:
08/16: Piestany, SK @ Grape Festival
08/17: Budapest, HU @ Sziget Festival
08/24: Paris, FR @ Rock en Seine
09/18: Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
09/19: Seattle, WA @ The Showbox at The Market
09/20: Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
09/22: Oakland, CA @ Fox Theatre
09/23: Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre
09/26: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Venue
09/27: Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre
09/29: Minneapolis, MN @ First Avenue
10/1: Chicago, IL @ Concord Music Hall
10/2: Detroit, MI @ St Andrews Hall
10/4: New York, NY @ Terminal 5
11/5: Glasgow, UK @ O2 ABC
11/7: Leeds, UK @ Metropolitan University
11/8: Birmingham, UK @ The Institure
11/10: Bristol, UK @ O2 Academy
11/14: Norwich, UK @ UEA
11/15: Oxford, UK @ O2 Academy
11/16: Manchester, UK @ Ritz
11/19: Belfast, IE @ Limelight
11/20: Dublin, IE @ Academy
11/28: Nantes, FR @ Stereolux
12/1: Lille, FR @ Le Splendid
12/3: Brussels, BE @ Botanique
12/4: Berlin, DE @ Berghain/Panorama Bar
12/5: Cologne, DE @ Burgerhaus Stollwerck
12/7: Frankfurt, DE @ Gibson
12/8: Hamburg, DE @ Mojo Club
12/10: Amsterdam, NL @ Paradiso
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