Right Place Right Time (album)

Murs began writing and recording his third studio album in March 2012, in both the United Kingdom and the United States. He initially began writing with Claude Kelly and Steve Robson, with whom he had also worked with on his previous hits "Please Don't Let Me Go" and "Dance with Me Tonight", and later collaborated with writers Ed Drewett and Wayne Hector, as well as working with Steve Kipner, Andrew Frampton, Lucas Secon and production teams, Future Cut and TMS.[1]

The artwork for the album was confirmed on 28 September 2012,[2] whilst the track listing was revealed on 1 October.[3]

The album was released in a variety of different formats. The two most prominent ones were the standard, 12 track edition of the album and the deluxe edition of the album, containing a red font for the logo rather than the standard edition's black on the artwork, a second disc of four bonus tracks and live recordings of "Troublemaker" and "Army of Two", and a 20-page booklet. On both the iTunes editions of the album, the pre-order only exclusive track "Just for Tonight" was featured, whilst the deluxe edition also carried live performance videos of 'Troublemaker' and 'Army of Two' along with a two part, track by track video documentary with Murs on the making of the album. Amazon.co.uk offered two free downloads of the Wideboys club mix of "Troublemaker" and the Thomas Gandey (aka 'Cagedbaby') remix of Right Place Right Time for a limited time. Play.com sold signed copies of the standard edition of the album, and Sainsbury's sold the standard edition with an exclusive slipcase, both for a limited time. Murs' official webstore also sold a limited 'super deluxe' boxset version, containing the two disc deluxe edition of the album, a large fold out poster, and a personalised lyric book (featuring exclusive pictures and hand written thoughts from Murs about the songs) housed in a collectible presentation box with the 'OM' trilby hat logo that appears on much of his official merchandise. The standard 12 track edition was also available to buy as a personalised album on the website MixPixie, with the option to incorporate a customised message and photo onto the artwork.

The album will serve as Murs' first North American release, being released in the country through Sony Music Entertainment on 16 April 2013. His first North American release was originally due to be an alternative edition of his second album, In Case You Didn't Know in September 2012, but the release was cancelled, and replaced with Right Place Right Time. The American edition will be a mixture of seven tracks from the album, along with "Heart Skips a Beat" (featuring Chiddy Bang in place of Rizzle Kicks), "Dance with Me Tonight" and "Oh My Goodness" from In Case You Didn't Know. It was initially due for release in the U.S. on 4 December 2012,[4][5] but it was pushed back first to 9 April, and then one week later, to its final release date of 16 April.[6]

In September 2013 Murs confirmed on his Twitter account that he would release a special edition of Right Place Right Time on 25 November 2013. On 7 October the artwork for the album was released with extra tracks and it was also revealed to contain a DVD of the tour.

As with his previous two albums, Murs stated that he wanted to evolve his sound again, this time taking on a more funk-led influence from artists such as Jamiroquai and Maroon 5: "I hate saying the music is more 'mature', because I haven’t changed. But I feel my songwriting is stronger and I knew where I wanted to go as an artist with this album. I’ve tried to make some songs anthemic, and I hope it will open me up to a wider audience. I don’t want to do the same style on every album. I’d always said I want to do a Motown album, but after a couple of songs I’ll go 'Let’s change it up'." Of the album's title, he added: "Right Place Right Time as a title sums up my career to this point. I’ve worked hard in everything I’ve done, doing what's felt right, and everything has fit into place. It's the sentiment for this album – a body of work of great pop songs. And I’ve gone in a different place again this time."[7]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
BBC Music
Digital Spy
Time Out
The Guardian
The Independent
USA Today

Right Place Right Time received "generally favourable" reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 61, based on 4 reviews.[17] John Aizlewood of BBC Music said: "With everything going his way, this is probably exactly how he thought being a pop star would turn out. Only the truly flint-hearted could not wish him well."[18] It received a 3/5 stars review from Digital Spy's Lewis Corner, who said: "It may not be a big departure from his previous efforts, but when you're on to a good thing, why change the pace?"[19]

Danielle Goldstein from Time Out magazine gave Right Place Right Time 3/5 stars: "This isn’t groundbreaking stuff, but it’s heartfelt and fun and by no means a shameful addition to your record collection."[20] Hermione Hoby of The Guardian gave Right Place Right Time a 3/5 rating: "Murs is one of this country's biggest pop stars, with two platinum-selling albums under his belt since doing X Factor time in 2009. This third album makes his success a mite more palatable - there's less of the pop-ska pabulum and more Will Young-style balladeering, mixed in with up-tempo, perky numbers, such as "What a Buzz" – an enthusiastic account of a date, which sounds like a parody of his own hapless-chappy every-bloke persona. The lyric "got ketchup on my trousers and my cheeks are going red" is enough to prompt corresponding blushes of embarrassment in the listener."[21]

In a slightly negative review, Andy Gill from The Independent gave the album two stars, saying "Olly Murs claims to want to grow musically with each album, but any perceived development here beyond last year's In Case You Didn't Know is minutely incremental rather than an ambitious overhaul of his approach."[22] At the USA Today, Elysa Gardner found that "The mostly upbeat, mostly formulaic songs on this X Factor alum's American debut reveal a fluid, serviceable voice but little personality. A few bouncy tracks will grab you right away, but they don't hold on for long."[23]

In the United Kingdom, Right Place Right Time debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart, with sales of 127,000 copies sold in its first week giving Murs' second number-one album in the UK in two years.[24] In the same week, the album's lead single "Troublemaker" remained atop the UK Singles Chart for a second consecutive week.[24] Consequently, Murs became the fourth artist after Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams and One Direction to achieve a chart double.[24] It also gave him the fastest selling album of 2012 by a male solo artist in the UK charts, until Bruno Mars's Unorthodox Jukebox sold 136,000 copies two weeks later, knocking him off the top spot.[24][25] By the end of the year, the album had sold 570,000 copies in the UK alone, becoming the seventh biggest selling album of 2012 in the UK.[26] In February 2013, the album was certified 2× Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry for shipments of over 600,000.[27] With 623,000 copies sold in 2013, it was also the fifth best-selling album in the UK. As of November 2016, the album has sold 1.34 million copies in the United Kingdom.[28]

In Australia, the album debuted at number 87 due to the success of "Troublemaker".[29] Following his performance at the 2013 Logie Awards, the album jumped from number 72 to a new peak of 27.[30] The US version of the album debuted and peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200 Albums in April 2013.

Standard version

• Jewel case packaging
• Standard 12 tracks

Deluxe version

• Digipak packaging
• Standard 12 tracks (disc one)
• Six additional bonus tracks (disc two)

Right Place Right Time (Special Edition)
Studio album (reissue) by Olly Murs
Released	25 November 2013 (2013-11-25)
Recorded	2012–13
Label	Epic Syco
Producer	Ed Drewett Steve Kipner Lucas Secon Andrew Frampton Future Cut Wayne Hector TMS Claude Kelly Steve Robson
Olly Murs chronology
Right Place Right Time (2012) Right Place Right Time (Special Edition) (2013) Never Been Better (2014)
Singles from Right Place Right Time Special Edition
"Hand on Heart" Released: 24 November 2013

Right Place Right Time (Special Edition) is a reissue of the album. It was released on 25 November 2013, through Epic Records and Syco Music. Right Place Right Time (Special Edition) features seven new tracks and a DVD, Olly Murs: Live at the O2 Arena.