Overpowered

Overpowered is the second solo studio album by Irish singer and songwriter Róisín Murphy. It was released on 15 October 2007 by EMI Records. Receiving widespread critical acclaim, the album was more commercially successful than its predecessor, Ruby Blue (2005), debuting at number 20 on the UK Albums Chart with 9,656 copies sold in its first week. Overpowered was shortlisted for the 2007 Choice Music Prize in Murphy's native Ireland. As of May 2015, the album had sold 65,532 copies in the United Kingdom.
Background and recording
In 2006, while promoting her band Moloko's greatest hits album, Catalogue, Murphy announced that she was recording a new solo album to be released in 2007. After signing to EMI in May 2006, Murphy set out to produce a pop album with a heavy disco influence. With a bigger budget behind her than with her last record company, the independent Echo Records, Murphy recorded around 30 songs for the album with various producers and writers in Miami, London and Barcelona, commenting that each of the producers aided the pop influence of the album, as they all wanted to write "the single". She later noted, "It's the first time I've worked with multiple writers. I needed to keep in mind a clear idea what kind of record I wanted to make. There was no experiment about it".
Murphy collaborated with Scottish electronic musician Calvin Harris on the songs "Off & On" and "Don't Let It Go to Your Head Boy", which did not make the cut for Overpowered. During an interview with Popjustice, Harris called Murphy "a bit mental" for not including the songs on the album, while accusing her of "cost me all sorts of money" during recording. Murphy and Harris have since resolved their differences, and the song "Off & On" was ultimately recorded by English pop singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor for her 2011 album Make a Scene.
Art direction
The artwork for Overpowered and its accompanying single releases was conceptualised by Scott King (who also directed the music videos for "Overpowered" and "Let Me Know"), and the cover images were photographed by Jonathan de Villiers. The artwork places Murphy wearing extraordinary outfits in everyday surroundings, presenting her as a "street diva" and a constant performer. Murphy wears outfits by Gareth Pugh, Givenchy and Viktor & Rolf in the artwork.
The design inside the booklet for Overpowered features a cryptic assemblage (resembling a flowchart but lacking directional indications found in such) made up of boxes containing statements and quotes, as well as apparent excerpts from the written treatment for the "Let Me Know" music video and assorted photographs. Among the known quotations are: "Writing about music is like dancing about architecture" (Laurie Anderson) and "I got signed to EMI because I reminded them of Robbie Williams" (Murphy). According to Murphy, the photography for the album and single sleeves cost £125,000.