Background and production

The album was released more than three years after the gold-selling Fires and marks a change in the musical genre for Pallot. According to her biography on her official MySpace

MySpace

Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....

 page: "The Graduate has piano-driven songs high on happy pills, woozy electronics and beefed up bass. Where guitars would once have swooned, now they swagger and there is a new-found feistiness to Pallot’s emotive vocals."

The album was self-produced and recorded in the North London studio she shares with her husband, Grammy

Grammy Award

A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...

-nominated producer Andrew Chatterley.

Pallot’s record label had originally sent her to the States to work with Linda Perry

Linda Perry

Linda Perry is an American rock musician, songwriter, and record producer. Once best known as the lead singer and primary songwriter of 4 Non Blondes, Perry has founded two record labels and has become a major songwriter and producer...

. The pair recorded two songs together before Pallot returned home. Then came sessions with Rob Davis and Rick Nowels

Rick Nowels

Richard Wright Nowels Jr. is a Grammy / Ivor Novello award-winning songwriter/producer who has worked with many of the most vibrant artists in contemporary music...

 with whom Pallot wrote 15 songs, none of which appear on The Graduate.

Pallot recalls: “I finally realised that, on my own, I was more honest and less self-conscious, and wrote my best songs.”

At the same time, Pallot returned to Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University

Birmingham City University is a British university in the city of Birmingham, England. It is the second largest of three universities in the city, the other two being the Aston University and University of Birmingham...

 to complete the English degree she had started while making Fires: “I found the routine of studying literature and writing about it cleared my head and at the same time it was a real inspiration when it came to writing lyrics. It also required a lot of discipline – something I had seldom applied to other areas of my life!”

A major shift in Pallot’s sound was down to the music she was listening to: “My tastes have definitely changed,” she says. “I’ve come to really love good pop music. Like everyone else, I was bored stiff of singer/songwriters and wanted to find something fresh. The band I became obsessed with was MGMT

MGMT

MGMT is an American alternative rock band founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. After the release of their first album, the members of their live band, Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman, joined the core band in the studio...

. I was inspired by their attitude to making music. It’s so creative. They just throw out lots of ideas, try out lots of mad sounds and have a laugh, but with the basis of really strong songs. I didn’t want to think about what would get on the radio or what’s the trendy sound right now. I just went for it and had fun.”

Singles

The lead single

Lead single

A lead single is usually the first single released by a musician or a band before the release of its home album.During the era of the grammophone record, all music arrived in the marketplace as what is now termed a single, one potential hit song backed by an additional song of generally less...

 from the album was "Real Late Starter

Real Late Starter

"Real Late Starter" is the first single from Nerina Pallot's third album, The Graduate. The single was released as a three-track digital download and as well as an exclusive 7" vinyl, only available on Nerina's website in the UK on October 19, 2009...

," released on download and limited edition 7" vinyl on September 28, 2009. The music video

Music video

A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...

 for the song was directed by Marc Klasfeld

Marc Klasfeld

Marc Klasfeld is an American music video director. He has directed over two hundred music videos for artists such as Katy Perry, Jay-Z, Kid Rock, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Nelly, Foo Fighters, Jewel, Sum 41, Avril Lavigne and many others with multiple MTV award wins and nominations...

, who previously directed Pallot's "Everybody's Gone to War

Everybody's Gone to War

"Everybody's Gone to War" is a Pop rock song written and recorded by the London-born and Jersey-raised singer-songwriter Nerina Pallot.The song, an anti-war protest, was written during the early stages of the Iraq War in 2003, and was composed on bass guitar by Pallot...

" clip in 2006. Bolstered by a TV performance on The Alan Titchmarsh Show

The Alan Titchmarsh Show

The Alan Titchmarsh Show is a British daytime TV chat show broadcast between 3 and 4pm weekdays on the ITV Network.-Format:The programme made its debut on ITV in 2007. It focused on the theme of "The Best of British" focusing on food, entertainment and celebrities in a mid-afternoon slot...

and several radio appearances, the song peaked at #29 on the UK Airplay Chart in October 2009. Despite not charting on the UK Singles Chart

UK Singles Chart

The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...

, the song peaked at #19 on the UK Indie Singles Chart.

A second download-only single, "I Don't Want To Go Out," followed on March 1, 2010. This single featured Pallot's cover of Lily Allen

Lily Allen

Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...

's "The Fear

The Fear (song)

"The Fear" is a song by British recording artist Lily Allen from her second studio album, It's Not Me, It's You. Written by Allen and Greg Kurstin, the song was released as the lead single of the album...

," and despite not charting officially, it peaked at #30 on the UK Airplay Chart in March 2010 - becoming Pallot's sixth successive UK Airplay Top 30 hit after "All Good People" (#21, Aug.2005), "Everybody's Gone to War" (#3, May 2006), "Sophia" (#12, Oct.2006), "Learning to Breathe" (#22, Jan.2007), and "Real Late Starter" (#29, Oct.2009).

Track listing

Chart performance

The Graduate debuted at #46 on the UK albums chart in its first week, but fell out of the top 100 in its second week.