A Joyful Noise is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Gossip, released on May 11, 2012, by Columbia Records. The album was produced by Xenomania founder Brian Higgins.
A Joyful Noise received generally mixed reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 60, based on 24 reviews, which indicates "mixed or average reviews". Andy Gill of The Independent gave the album four out of five stars, writing that "the involvement of Brian Higgins on A Joyful Noise enables the group to break new ground with confidence". The Guardians Caroline Sullivan gave the album three out of five stars and stated that "it's Girls Aloud producer Higgins to the rescue, with a sound influenced by Abba and Madonna. Having said that, GossipâÂÂespecially Beth Ditto, in waspishly fine voice hereâÂÂseem very much at home with it." However, Priya Elan of NME felt that "[g]ood moments are squandered by unsatisfying choruses and/or weak lyrics." The Independent on Sundays Simon Price expressed that after a few years of career, Ditto "already feels like a footnote", adding that the band pairing up with Higgins "should be a stroke of genius, but Higgins has caught Ditto & co at a point where they appear to have disastrously lost their fire."
A Joyful Noise debuted at number 100 on the Billboard 200, selling 5,000 copies in its first week. In Europe, the album debuted at number 47 on the UK Albums Chart with first-week sales of 2,822 copies, while reaching number one in Switzerland, number two in Germany, number three in France, number four in Austria and number eight in Belgium.
Credits adapted from the liner notes of A Joyful Noise.