| Ten Crowns |
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| Released | 2 May 2025 (2025-05-02) |
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| Studio | Maze (Atlanta)[1] |
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| Length | 36:20 |
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| Label | Crown |
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| Producer | Dave Audé |
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- "Don't Cha Know"
Released: 18 February 2025
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| The Crown Jewels |
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| Released | 12 December 2025 (2025-12-12) |
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| Genre |
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| Label | Crown |
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Ten Crowns is the third studio album by English singer Andy Bell.[2] It was released on 2 May 2025, by Crown Recordings, in CD, LP, cassette and digital formats.[4] On 12 December 2025, a limited-edition deluxe CD box set titled The Crown Jewels was released, comprising an expanded edition of the album, a disc of remixes by various artists, a disc of extended versions mixed by Dave Audé, and a disc of live recordings; the release was limited to 4,000 copies.[5][6]
Background
Noted as a dance album with elements of Eurodisco and gospel music,[2][3] Ten Crowns is the first album by Bell in fifteen years, since Non-Stop.[2] Featuring ten songs with a total runtime of approximately thirty-six minutes, it was produced by Grammy-winning musician Dave Audé and recorded in a studio in Nashville.[2][3] The lead single of the album, "Don't Cha Know", was released on 18 February 2025.[7]
Reception
Ten Crowns received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 71, based on four reviews.[8]
Marcy Donelson of AllMusic remarked, "Often earnest, anguished, and euphoric, Ten Crowns delivers the catharsis while keeping it real."[2] MusicOMH gave the album a rating of three stars, stating "Yet while this never quite touches the highs that Erasure can produce, there's enough moments on Ten Crowns to convince that Bell and Aude make a good partnership for when Vince Clarke wants a rest."[3] Spill assigned the album a rating of four and a half out of five and described it as "a well produced, beautiful album" and "a brilliant accomplishment for Bell and Audé."[9] David Pollock of Record Collector rated the album three stars and stated, "Yet there are interesting things going on between the lyrical lines here, as love, sex, religious salvation and sin clash on "Dance for Mercy", "Dawn of Heaven's Gate" and the pop-orchestral "Thank You"."[4] The Quietus wrote, "Bell has made an album that gently expands the palette of what he's known for, but also allows him to shine as himself rather than as one half of pop's greatest odd couple."[10]
Track listing
All lyrics are written by Andrew Ivan Bell, except "Heart's a Liar" (written with Deborah Harry); all music is composed by Bell and David P. Audé, except "Heart's a Liar" (composed with Harry, Luciana Caporaso, and Nick Clow) and "Put Your Empathy on Ice" (composed with Sisely Treasure).
Ten Crowns – Standard edition| Title |
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| 1. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar" | 3:26 |
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| 2. | "Lies So Deep" (featuring Sarah Potenza) | 3:36 |
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| 3. | "Heart's a Liar" (featuring Debbie Harry) | 3:30 |
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| 4. | "For Today" | 3:11 |
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| 5. | "Dance for Mercy" | 3:59 |
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| 6. | "Don't Cha Know" | 3:35 |
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| 7. | "Dawn of Heaven's Gate" | 3:56 |
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| 8. | "Godspell" | 3:22 |
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| 9. | "Put Your Empathy on Ice" | 4:26 |
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| 10. | "Thank You" | 3:18 |
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| Total length: | 36:23 |
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Ten Crowns – Expanded edition| Title |
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| 11. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar" (extended) | 4:44 |
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| 12. | "Don't Cha Know" (extended) | 4:43 |
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| 13. | "Dance for Mercy" (extended) | 5:00 |
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| 14. | "Heart's a Liar" (extended; featuring Debbie Harry) | 4:59 |
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| Total length: | 55:51 |
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Ten Crowns – 2CD deluxe edition| Title |
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| 11. | "Ten Crowns" (Dave Audé continuous DJ mix) | 37:20 |
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| Total length: | 73:43 |
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The Crown Jewels
On 12 December 2025, Bell released a limited-edition deluxe CD box set titled The Crown Jewels, expanding upon Ten Crowns. The set was limited to 4,000 copies and includes four compact discs featuring an expanded version of the album, remixes by various artists, extended versions mixed by Dave Audé, and live recordings of material from the album, as well as a booklet containing additional photos and brand new sleeve notes.[5][6] A business-card size piece of card was included with the wording "ANDY BELL // THE CROWN JEWELS // You are the proud owner of limited edition number xxxx".
Box set contents
CD1 – Ten Crowns (Deluxe Expanded Edition)
Ten Crowns – Deluxe expanded edition| Title |
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| 1. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar" | 3:27 |
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| 2. | "Lies So Deep" (featuring Sarah Potenza) | 3:37 |
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| 3. | "Heart’s a Liar" (featuring Debbie Harry) | 3:30 |
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| 4. | "For Today" | 3:11 |
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| 5. | "Dance for Mercy" | 3:59 |
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| 6. | "Don't Cha Know" | 3:35 |
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| 7. | "Dawn of Heaven’s Gate" | 3:56 |
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| 8. | "Godspell" | 3:23 |
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| 9. | "Put Your Empathy on Ice" | 4:27 |
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| 10. | "Thank You" | 3:19 |
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| 11. | "Runaway" | 4:25 |
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| 12. | "The Calming" (featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor) | 3:25 |
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| 13. | "Xanadu" | 3:53 |
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| 14. | "The Chance Won’t Come Again" (featuring Tim Rice-Oxley) | 3:35 |
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| Total length: | 51:33 |
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CD2 – Ten Crowns (Remixes)
Ten Crowns – Remixes| Title | Remixed By |
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| 1. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar (Dave Audé Remix)" | Dave Audé | 4:23 |
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| 2. | "Lies So Deep (James Hurr Remix)" (featuring Sarah Potenza) | James Hurr | 3:24 |
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| 3. | "Heart’s a Liar (Dave Audé Disco Remix)" (featuring Debbie Harry) | Dave Audé | 5:31 |
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| 4. | "For Today (KNIGHTS Remix)" | KNIGHT$ | 3:52 |
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| 5. | "Dance for Mercy (Vince Clarke Remix)" | Vince Clarke | 4:21 |
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| 6. | "Don't Cha Know (Hifi Sean Cosmic Disco Remix)" | Hifi Sean | 2:57 |
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| 7. | "Dawn of Heaven’s Gate (Cosmic Gate Remix)" | Cosmic Gate | 4:13 |
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| 8. | "Godspell (Heavy Halo Remix)" | Heavy Halo | 3:23 |
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| 9. | "Put Your Empathy on Ice (Shiny Toy Guns Remix)" | Shiny Toy Guns | 4:28 |
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| 10. | "Thank You (Luke Million Remix)" | Luke Million | 4:22 |
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| Total length: | 40:54 |
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CD3 – Ten Crowns (Extended Versions)
Note: all tracks are extended mixes of the original album by Dave Audé
Ten Crowns – Extended versions| Title |
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| 1. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar (Extended)" | 4:45 |
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| 2. | "Lies So Deep (Extended)" (featuring Sarah Potenza) | 4:18 |
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| 3. | "Heart’s a Liar (Extended)" (featuring Debbie Harry) | 4:59 |
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| 4. | "For Today (Extended)" | 4:03 |
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| 5. | "Dance for Mercy (Extended)" | 5:00 |
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| 6. | "Don't Cha Know (Extended)" | 4:43 |
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| 7. | "Dawn of Heaven’s Gate (Extended)" | 5:20 |
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| 8. | "Godspell (Extended)" | 4:16 |
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| 9. | "Put Your Empathy on Ice (Extended)" | 5:29 |
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| 10. | "Thank You (Extended)" | 4:30 |
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| Total length: | 47:23 |
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CD4 – Ten Crowns (Live)
Ten Crowns – Live| Title |
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| 1. | "Breaking Thru the Interstellar (Live)" | 4:23 |
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| 2. | "Don’t Cha Know (Live)" | 4:18 |
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| 3. | "Heart’s a Liar (Live)" | 3:59 |
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| 4. | "Godspell (Live)" | 3:32 |
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| 5. | "Xanadu (Live)" | 3:59 |
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| 6. | "For Today (Live)" | 3:31 |
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| 7. | "Dance for Mercy (Live)" | 4:02 |
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| 8. | "Put Your Empathy on Ice (Live)" | 4:41 |
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| 9. | "Thank You (Live)" | 3:53 |
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| Total length: | 36:18 |
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Personnel
Credits adapted from the album's liner notes[1] and Tidal.[11]
- Andy Bell – lead vocals, backing vocals
- Dave Audé – production (all tracks), mixing (track 10)
- Stefan Tanner – mastering
- Samuel Wills – mixing (tracks 1, 3, 5)
- Loren Moore – mixing (tracks 2, 4, 6–9)
- Devonne Fowlkes – backing vocals (tracks 1, 3, 10)
- Harmonie Hall – backing vocals (tracks 1, 10)
- Joshua Lutz – guitars (tracks 1, 2)
- Sarah Potenza – featured vocals (track 2)
- Vince Clarke – additional synthesizers, sounds, guitars (track 2)
- Debbie Harry – featured vocals (tracks 3, 14)
- Kiley Phillips – backing vocals (track 3)
- Luciana Caporaso – backing vocals (track 3)
- Billy Mohler – bass guitar (track 3)
- Jerry Fuentes – guitars (track 3)
- Dave Audé – backing vocals (track 5)
- Tomas – backing vocals (track 7)
- Sisely Treasure – backing vocals (track 9)
- Paul A. Taylor – art direction, design
- Louise Hendy – design
- Sean Black – photography
References
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| Co-writers / Co-producers | |
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| Related articles | |
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