The Boxer (album)

The Boxer is the debut solo album by Kele Okereke, the lead singer of British indie rock band Bloc Party. Okereke released the album under the professional name of Kele on 21 June 2010.^[1]

The Boxer
Studio album by Kele
Released	21 June 2010
Recorded	2009–2010 (Royan Castle, New York)
Genre	Electronic alternative dance electro house breakbeat
Length	46:34
Label	Wichita Shock
Producer	XXXChange
Kele chronology
Intimacy (2008) The Boxer (2010) The Hunter (2011)
Singles from The Boxer
"Tenderoni" Released: 14 June 2010 "Everything You Wanted" Released: 16 August 2010 "On the Lam" Released: 25 October 2010

Release

As promotion, he uploaded the songs "Rise" and "Walk Tall" to his personal website on 13 May. The first single from The Boxer was "Tenderoni", released on 14 June, and the second, "Everything You Wanted", on 16 August.^[1] The album's third single "On the Lam" was released on 25 October.

The album was released by Wichita Recordings worldwide, except for the US and Canada (Glassnote Records), Australia (a co-release with Shock Records and Co-Op) and Japan (a co-release with Hostess Entertainment). Vinyl copies of the album were released by Wichita and Polydor.

The digital and Japanese versions of the album included bonus tracks and remixes in addition to the standard 10 tracks.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[2]
The A.V. Club	(B+)[3]
Clash	(8/10)[4]
Drowned in Sound	(5/10)[5]
The Guardian	[6]
Los Angeles Times	[7]
MusicOMH	[8]
NME	(7/10)[9]
Pitchfork	(5.1/10)[10]
Slant	[11]
Spin	[12]

The Boxer received generally favourable reviews from critics, currently holding an aggregate score of 70 on Metacritic.

It received very positive reviews from Allmusic (4/5), Clash (8/10), MusicOMH (4.5/5) and The A.V. Club (B+).

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Walk Tall"	3:45
2.	"On the Lam"	3:33
3.	"Tenderoni"	4:30
4.	"The Other Side"	3:52
5.	"Everything You Wanted"	3:49
6.	"The New Rules"	3:55
7.	"Unholy Thoughts"	2:55
8.	"Rise"	5:11
9.	"All the Things I Could Never Say"	5:32
10.	"Yesterday's Gone"	4:07

Digital bonus track

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Meet in the Middle"	5:25

Japanese bonus tracks^[13]

No.	Title	Length
11.	"Tenderoni" (Larry Tee and Beckwith remix)	6:38
12.	"Tenderoni" (XXXChange dub)	6:07
13.	"Tenderoni" (Kris Menace remix)	6:00

Personnel

Credits adapted from Discogs.^[14]

Kele Okereke – lead vocals, songwriting, art direction Additional musicians Jodie Scantlebury – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9) Bobbie Gordon – backing vocals (tracks 2, 4, 8 and 9) Production XXXChange – production, audio mixing (tracks 1, 2, 4, 6, 9 and 10), recording (at Royan Castle, New York) Chris Coady – mixing (track 3) Phillipe Zdar – mixing (tracks 5, 7 and 8) Ben Jackson – recording (at EMI Studios, London) Scott McCormick – recording (at EMI Studios, London) Mike Marsh – mastering (at The Exchange, London)

Design Sarah Piantadosi – photography Richard Robinson – design Nova Dando – art direction Publishing Wichita Recordings – publishing Shock Records – publishing (in Australia, with Wichita Recordings and Co-Op) Glassnote Records – publishing (in the US and Canada) Hostess Entertainment – publishing (in Japan, with Wichita Recordings) Polydor Records – publishing (vinyl, with Wichita Recordings)

Release history

Region	Release date	Format	Label
Australia	18 June 2010	CD digital download	Wichita Shock
UK	21 June 2010		Wichita
		Vinyl	Wichita Polydor
North America	22 June 2010	CD digital download	Glassnote
Japan[15]	23 June 2010		Hostess Wichita

Charts

Album Chart (2010) Peak Position Australian Albums Chart[16] 35 Austrian Albums Chart[17] 71 Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[18] 41 Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[19] 89 French Albums Chart[20] 178 Swiss Albums Chart[21] 98 Irish Albums Chart[22] 41 UK Albums Chart[23] 20 UK Dance Chart[24] 2

Singles Song Chart positions UK [25] UK Dance [26] AUS [27] AUT BEL (FLA) [28] BEL (WAL) [29] "Tenderoni" 31 6 63 58 4 14 "Everything You Wanted" 93 17 — — — — "On the Lam" — — — — — —