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> Spice Girls Solo Singles Rate: RESULTS, Edited the results + full results revealed
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-Jay-
post Nov 4 2017, 04:00 PM
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I enjoy Timbaland's production in Mel's version, it has a dark/eerie sound. The original video disturbed me somewhat at the age of 11! (The CGI one, not the video linked above). Very Scary :') Overall it's an interesting entry in the solo Spice discography!

Artistically speaking (as far as you can be artistic with a cover version) I think it's way superior to Little Mix's version.
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Lukuzz
post Nov 4 2017, 10:36 PM
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Melt is one of my fave solo spice girl singles, so underrated, it’s stunning
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Nina West
post Nov 5 2017, 12:02 AM
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Thank you guys for all your comments so far, they have been very supportive and I would just like to say thank you. Plus I'm you all liked my commentaries, especially coming from Jay whose write ups on the Spice Girl Group rate were excellent and really helped to inspire me on when writing my commentaries for their solo releases.

Also I have edited my previous post, by including the CGI video for Mel B's 'Word Up', instead of that horrible embarrassing Austin Powers one and WTF was up with Mel B's outfit, just looked ridiculous and find that she was trying way too hard to be edgy, but ended up being silly. I have also edited my write up for it slightly, totally forgot about the chart error, so thanks for pointing that out. In all honesty I did actually like her cover version back in 1999 and even bought the CD single, because that's how much of a massive Spice Girls fan back in the day. However by the next month I just kinda went off it and hadn't listened to it in years, up until I started this rate.

I know my write ups for some of Mel B's singles were a bit harsh, but I just found the new direction she went in for the 2nd album was totally wrong for her, she doesn't have the right vocals too pull of that kind of sound, plus 'L.A. State Of Mind' was dreadful and it was definitely the worst Solo Spice album in my humble opinion.

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Nina West
post Nov 5 2017, 04:47 AM
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Why I played the game and paid the price













In this batch it's just Melanie C & Geri (and Emma sort of loses 1) that lose a few more songs, 3 & 2 respectively. Bringing Mel's total of 5 lost so far, but still has 14 left in the running so don't think she's in any danger yet. Geri now loses 4 of her 11 solo singles so far. Emma & Victoria sees all of their solo releases make the top 40 here, which is pretty good going especially for Posh who has only 5 songs in this countdown, which is by far the least amount of any Spice Girl solo releases.




#45. Geri Halliwell - Desire [5.314]


Highest Scores: 9: (Maurice, Jade), 8.5/8: (Lukuzz, Jay, Schizo Spice), Lowest Scores: 0: (Jonjo, engineer)


At #45 is Geri Halliwell's final UK top 40 hit to date 'Desire', released in May 2005 as the 2nd and final single from her 3rd album 'Passion' and peaked at #22 becoming her lowest peaking single to date, as well as being her first to miss the top 20 entirely and would therefore halt any chance of success for the then upcoming album and hindered any hopes for further releases.

I think the 6 month gap between releases didn't help matters as the music scene can be a very fickle place and if you turn your back for even a moment, then you're forgotten about and just end up lost in the crowd. However this decision was made due to the label 'Innocent/EMI' not being satisfied with the album in it's original form and therefore many of the tracks got canned and EMI changed the focus of the album by replacing some of the dance songs with ballads, jazz-pop & electro pop tracks, along it's original title 'Disco Sister', (a terrible title, glad it got changed). I can see why they would do this, to help improve the overall quality, but it would be something that would cost her dearly. Already it had been 4 years since her last album and being out of the spotlight for so long wasn't a wise choice for her career as the music scene had long since moved on which would become a struggle for Geri to keep up with the times, which is something she couldn't manage sadly and this sound wasn't the in thing anymore.

'Desire' was one of the new songs recorded for the album with Geri attempting electro-pop for the first and last time in her career. Where she attempts to channell seductive & cooing with tweaked vocals that comes across more as desperate and unconvincing more than sexy and sultry that definitely veering into more of a camp area. In all honesty this simply just doesn't suit her vocal range at all and could have done with a lot more polish and refinement, especially in it's awful production which just drags the whole thing down. No wonder this failed to take off, marking a limp end to her once promising solo career.

The album would end up suffering an even worse fate by limping into the charts at #41, lasting only 1 week before dropping out of existence, along with mediocre reviews and lack of interest, the planned tour would also be scrapped as well as all promotion for the project quickly ending shortly after, along the next planned single the far superior 'Love Never Loved Me' to being a classic that never was. Maybe if this was released 5 years previous then maybe it would have stood a chance, but even by 2005 this was born out it's time.




#44. Melanie C - This Time [5.5]


Highest Scores: 10: (LazySpice88), 7.5/7: (SamJudd, iiiiiii, mutucan, Jade), Lowest Scores: 3: (Hide&Seek, THEO, Supercell)


At #44 is Melanie C with 'This Time', released in October 2007 as the 4th and final international single from her 4th studio album also titled 'This Time'. In the UK it's release was perhaps overshadowed by the Spice Girls reuniting for their world tour in Los Angeles in that same week resulting in a UK peak of #94 becoming the lowest charting single of her career by that point. Despite being re-recorded especially for it's release.

The original video shoot for this song was cancelled due to the death of the director and long-time friend Tim Royes, so a new video was filmed by his friend and actor Adrian Moat as a tribute to the late director. You can really tell that Melanie means every word she sings on this song, with her strong and distinctive vocals that really shines along with the beautiful melody that really suits her well and gives you further proof that she was the best vocalist in the Spice Girls. While this may not change your perception of life or even be remembered as one of her all-time greats, it's still a well crafted pop song that's really worth checking out of you're a fan.

By the year 2007 Melanie C was the only member of the group to still be releasing music, and while she hasn't found any real success since the year 2000 and getting dropped by Virgin Records, she kept going, even going as far to form her own record label just to keep releasing new material for the simple fact that she loves doing it , and it is nice to see at least one member of the Spice Girls still bothering with music.




#43. Geri Halliwell - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster [5.648]


Highest Scores: 9: (Schizo Spice), 8.5/8: (HarryApa, Jack), Lowest Scores: 2: (JB2o20, engineer, Supercell)


At #43 is the first top 10 hit to drop here with Geri Halliwell - 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster', released in July 2001 as the 2nd single from her 2nd album of the same name and sees her for the first time going for a more rock/pop sound which samples Apollo 440's song 'Stop The Rock'. She co-wrote this with Rick Nowels on the day of her first recovery meeting for bulimia and was inspired by her listening to Led Zeppelin the previous as encouraged by close friend Robbie Williams.

It received a positive reception by critics who complimented her new style and peaked at #8 on the UK charts, making this her 6th top 10 hit in a row, but her first single to miss the top 2, despite a lot of promotion with appearances on 'TOTP' & 'Party In The Park' etc, as well as constant media coverage the single couldn't climb any higher and ended up dropping down the charts pretty fast and did very little to help sales of the album which received negative reviews and wasn't as successful as her debut album which I will talk more about later on.

I would definitely say that this is an interesting sound for her and one that she pulls off somewhat quite well and quite fun and camp, however it's the production that really suffers here, which to me feels like it's a tad over produced making the whole thing sound way too all over the place, and therefore lacking that special something her previous songs had up to this point. Geri does try her best on this though with her loud and brash vocals and really tries and let loose, but it just feels like there's something missing and not quite there yet. While this was an interesting experiment for her, it perhaps would have been better suited staying on the album instead.




#42. Melanie C - Yeh Yeh Yeh [5.703]


Highest Scores: 10: (Michael Andrew), 9: (Lukuzz, Schizo Spice), Lowest Scores: 0: (Supercell)


At #42 we have the other half of Melanie C's double a-side release 'Yeh, Yeh, Yeh', which like I already said was released alongside 'Melt' for reasons explained in my previous post so go read that because I'm not repeating myself. This was due to be released on it's own in September 2003 but got pushed back due to her injury. Unlike the other song this was given an international release as the album's 3rd and final single, but like it's performance in the UK it didn't fare any better worldwide either.

I don't know if it would have made any difference chart wise if this was released in September as originally planned, but I doubt the 5 month gap between singles helped any matters however and when this first aired I do remember it getting quite a bit of airplay on TV stations, but when it ended up getting pushed back, I didn't really see or hear much of it and became rather quickly forgotten before it even had a chance. What I do remember however is that none of the releases seemed to help with sales of the album as it seemed to have vanished from the charts almost completely by this point and she didn't seem to receive much support from Virgin Records either, which was a shame given how much success she had with her debut and it's singles. With her follow up she couldn't manage that same feat & really struggled overall.

The song itself is definitely far better than 'Melt', it has that fun pop/rock party vibe that's definitely slickly produced as well as being a standout moment on the album where it comes as the final track which definitely ends the album on a somewhat high note, and I could hear a little hint of a disco somewhere in there also, maybe that's just me. While I wouldn't call the song great or anything, it's good and very decent, nothing more nothing less. If this couldn't help flagging album sales, then honestly nothing could.




#41. Melanie C - I Know Him So Well (Ft Emma Bunton) [5.74]


Highest Scores: 9: (missingyou, engineer), 8: (Lukuzz, Maurice, letloverule), Lowest Scores: 0: (Hide&Seek, Supercell)


At #41 is the first collaboration to feature in this count down with Melanie C & former bandmate the ever lovely Emma Bunton with 'I Know Him So Well' which was released as the lead single from Mel's 6th album 'Stages' in November 2012. It was also her first covers album consisting of musical theatre inspired songs, Which also makes this her first not feature any writing credits whatsoever.

As everyone on Buzzjack may or may not know that this was written Tim Rice and Benny & Bjorn from ABBA for the musical Chess and made famous by Elaine Paige & Barbra Dickinson back in 1984 and has been covered many times throughout the years by the likes of Steps, Susan Boyle & Whitney Houston. But it's original that's the most well loved and well known. Melanie and Emma does do a very nice if not somewhat unimaginative version of this, which doesn't really stray too far away from it's original form or break new ground, it just kinda coasts along all breezy and light, which often makes me wonder of what was the point of doing this in the first place and you can say the same thing about the album of covers itself which judging by it's tracklist and what I've heard from it is very paint by numbers.

If this had been released back in the late 90's or even very early 00's, then it would have probably smashed and been much talked about, but by 2013 it seems that both artists days of chart dominance are long behind them and even the small amount of hype that this did manage to generate could only manage a measly low #153 chart peak, a far cry from the days of constant #1's they had both enjoyed in a time when pop music was great and was allowed to be fun.

Although I will say this, it's nice to see Emma Bunton singing again, it's been a hell of a long time since we've heard anything from her wonderful if not short but sweet discography. I'm not saying that I hate this song or anything, to be honest I'm actually surprised it's got this high, especially over some of the more well known songs in their solo back catalogue. Like I said it's nice enough, I just don't really feel anything towards it and forgot it even existed until I started doing this rate, it's always nice to have a look back once in while and re-discover something you forgot even existed.




This post has been edited by SamJudd: Mar 21 2020, 07:38 PM
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vibe
post Nov 5 2017, 08:16 AM
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Yeh Yeh Yeh is far too low !! It's so good especially live !

I personally wish that Melanie and Emma choose another song to cover for the album . I think they do a descent job but the song has been covered to death !
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Lukuzz
post Nov 5 2017, 09:55 AM
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Love Yeh Yeh Yeh and Desire, both great songs. Thought Desire might have been too 40. Scream if You Wanna Go Faster never really clicked with me, IMO her 2nd album was her worst
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post Nov 5 2017, 11:14 AM
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I really feel for Yeh, yeh, yeh it should have been a bigger hit. It has a great video and it's a catchy song. I do wonder how it would have fared had it been released 5 months earlier as intended and Melanie had been able to do a proper promo trail. I kind of think it wouldn't have gone top 10 on the basis that On the horizon only managed #14 and Here it comes again #7 and while I like YYY I think the other two songs are superior or more radio friendly.

The Reason era is quite sad for Melanie really as she did deserve more success singles wise. HICA, OTH and YYY are all strong songs and I do wonder how they would have sold/charted had they been released in 2001/2002 rather than leaving it so long between albums. In hindsight the Reason era wasn't the right follow up to Northen Star and really she should have come back with an album like The Sea, could you imagine how TAI, Stupid Game, Burn, Weak or a remix of Drown would have fared in 2001 as apposed to 2011...

Geri also made a colossal mistake saving the album so long after the released of Ride It. Really she should have released 'Disco Sister Music' on the back of Ride it, which was actually quite a success when compared to other solo Spice singles of the previous couple of years and the ones to come over the next year. She might have managed another top 10/20 album at the time, Emma was at #7 the year before on the back of a #7 hit (and a #5 and #6) and Melanie C at #24 on the back of a #10 the year after so somewhere in between might have been likely when you consider the #4 hit and the free-fall of album/singles from this point onwards. Love never loved me was ready and waiting to be the next single to help push the album and it's sales and that was her best chance of a big hit from that era. Wasn't Feel the fear also lined up as the potential CIN single that year, it's a shame that didn't materialise as they would probably have given that album another top 10 single and boosted it's profile. Desire#s #22 position and the long time since her last top 5 basically killed any chance Passion had of charting higher.


This post has been edited by Spiceboy: Nov 5 2017, 11:24 AM
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schizo_spice
post Nov 5 2017, 11:32 AM
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I don't think it was entirely Geri's choice though EMI/Innocent wanted her to go back and record more songs which she ended up doing with Korpi & Blackcell (Desire and Surrender Your Groove were two if the results)

Geri knows now that not releasing Love Never Loved Me next was a mistake and has said it more than once. I think Mel C, Geri and Mel B all releasing new albums within 2-3 months of each other in mid 2005 was solo overload. Rumours were also flying at the time of the group doing Live 8 so they were all very overexposed.
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spiceboy
post Nov 5 2017, 04:45 PM
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Oh yeah I wasn't necessarily saying it was Geri's fault I know the record company were very much pressing her for some difference in direction. In some ways I am glad as I love Desire think it is a great song, but it others I just think it's a real shame the opportunity to have a decent charting album was completely missed. Who knows though, the album may have charted even worse due to the high sales of that time of year like Emma's Life In Mono did (despite having quite nice sales).
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Jade
post Nov 5 2017, 10:36 PM
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[/late] but yes I have the unpopular opinion of quite liking the Little Mix version of 'Word Up!' laugh.gif I think the really fun video for it (starring none other than Melanie C of course *.*) really elevates my enjoyment though.

'Desire' is soooo underrated sad.gif it's my second favourite Geri single only behind 'Mi Chico Latino'. I suppose I am a bit of a sucker for electropop. Shoutout to Maurice for also giving it a 9 *.* 'Scream If You Wanna Go Faster' is another good'un from Geri as well. Not really that fussed about any of these Melanie C dropouts.
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Nina West
post Nov 6 2017, 04:06 AM
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Sometimes I don't know who to be...













The first selection of the top 40 to drop is Melanie C who loses yet another 3 songs, making her grand total of 8 lost so far, but still manages 11 solo releases left in the running. Victoria Beckham finally loses a song making her the 4th Spice Girl to lose at least a song in this countdown, which means that Emma Bunton is still the only member to have all her songs still left in the game, but for how long...




#40. Melanie C - First Day Of My Life [5.846]


Highest Scores: 8.5/8: (SamJudd, vibe, SpiceBoy, HarryApa, Maurice), 7.5/7: (Lukuzz, missingyou, Jay, jonjo, mutucan, engineer, letloverule), Lowest Scores: 1: (iiiiiii. Hide&Seek)


At #40 is one of the requested Mel C tracks to feature in this rundown 'First Day Of My Life', which was released in September 2005 in a few select countries in Europe as the 3rd and final single from her 3rd album 'Beautiful Intentions', then later got a wider release internationally due to it's massive success and therefore becoming one of her biggest worldwide hits. But strangely enough it never got a UK release, despite it's success.

Written by Guy Chambers & Enrique Iglesias and had originally been recorded by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, with lyrics in Italian for his self titled 2004 album and was even released as a single in that same year. The song wasn't originally included on the original release of Melanie's album, but was included on a re-release in European countries only, but never ended up on the UK version. I think it's safe to say that the song ended up saving her career, because she had failed to manage a big worldwide hit since 2000, since her debut album, and none of the singles from 'Reason' managed to make much of an impact, but this did manage to turn things around for her by topping the charts in Germany, Spain & Swiss and becoming so popular in Germany that it ended up being nominated for ECHO award for single of the year Spain & Switzerland, earning gold & platinum discs in those countries also, as well as hitting #2 in Austria and top 10/20 peaks in Sweden, Denmark & Norway. She even recorded a version of the song in French to promote it and the album there where it managed moderate success by reaching the top 30.

Honestly I don't know why this wasn't given a chance for the UK market, which at one point was where she had the most success. It could have easily became a hit for her back then and could have maybe renewed interest in flagging album sales, hell she managed a top 10 hit with the lead single there, and this could have maybe followed suit if given half the chance. But we will never know if that would have happened would we. It has a decent melody and a great hook and beautiful strings played throughout to give it that extra kick and to top it all off Melanie's vocals sound really fantastic on here where she definitely soars wonderfully over the solid production, making this a definite standout in her career.

This would be the point in her career where she would find greater success in Europe with further releases, as it would seem that her days of chart dominance in the UK had well and truly waned and would retreat to countries like Germany to find more support




#39. Victoria Beckham - A Mind Of It's Own [5.87]


Highest Scores: 10: (Euphorique, LazySpice88), 9.5/9: (Lukuzz, Hide&Seek), Lowest Scores: 0: (Mr.X, Michael Andrew, Supercell)


At #39 we lose the first of Victoria Beckham's singles 'A Mind Of It's Own', released in February 2002 as the 2nd and final single from her self-titled debut album 'Victoria Beckham' and peaked at #6 on the UK charts, which not only matches the peak of the previous single, but also becoming her 3rd top 10 hit. This also came as a surprise to many people at the time who'd expected this to continue the downward trend of singles with this expected to peak a lot lower like say bottom end of the top 20, but to me this peak came as a nice surprise and well earned.

This does mark quite a stark contrast compared with the lead single, as this has a more soft and lighter sound, giving it a more summery feel thanks to some tinkling acoustic guitars, while not being a million miles different it does however have that similar part spoken word intro and Victoria's vocals do sound really good on this, sounding sweet and joyful which matches the tone to the song beautifully. While she may not be known for her vocal strength, she does however add a touch of glamour and poise to her solo efforts with this being one of her prime examples, which makes the end result a very good effort and great 2nd single choice from an otherwise uneven album.

Despite the relative success of the song, there would be no more singles released from this album, although some light promotion did begin for 'I Wish', which never materialized, and very little helped the sales of the album which ended up costing £5 Million to make and only selling a modest 50,000 copies, so that was probably why everything basically stopped after single #2.




#38. Melanie C - If That Were Me [5.944]


Highest Scores: 10: (engineer), 9: (Lukuzz), Lowest Scores: 2: (missingyou)


At #38 we have Melanie C with 'If That Were Me' which was released in November 2000 as the 5th and final single from her debut album 'Northern Star' and peaked at #18 on the UK charts becoming her first to miss the top 5, with all proceeds going to the 'Kandu Arts' charity. The song's lyrics address the issue of homelessness and became heavily criticism from the media and music critics for certain lyrics in the song namely the "I couldn't live without my phone/And you don't have a home" line which was downright panned, with the Guardian dubbing it an ode to a tramp and others selecting it as the worst song lyric ever and was even compared to Phil Collins hit 'Another Day In Paradise' which was also similarly panned.

Okay I do agree that the lyric was rather stupid and personally I think that line should have been scrapped entirely, but other than that the song is a really beautiful ballad, with brilliant gentle acoustic guitars that opens the track which brings a certain sadness to an otherwise quite mellow song. The mixture of soft-rock, acoustic & pop/rock all blend together really beautifully, thanks to it's fantastic production by Rick Nowels, who both together delivered something really wonderful that's tinged with sadness and haunting. And I do commend her for at least trying to tackle a serious issue, even if she doesn't offer much insight on the subject.

While I do like this track, I however always found it a bit of an odd choice for a single release, especially when there's tracks like 'Go', 'Suddenly Monday' & 'Feel The Sun', which were all a lot more commercially appealing and would have probably fared much better chart wise than 'If That Were Me' did, and plus they were all positively received more than said song was, but obviously Mel wanted to release a song that meant something to her as well as being a lot more serious in tone. But following on from 2 #1 smash hits, I don't think that it was the wise choice.




#37. Melanie C - Goin' Down [6.018]


Highest Scores: 10: (LazySpice88), 9: (breezyspice, Jade), Lowest Scores: -1/0: (Hide&Seek, Jonjo)


At #37 is another 'Northern Star' era single for Mel C, 'Goin' Down', which was released in September 1999 as the lead single from her debut album and gained a very mixed reception due to her total change in sound, but nonetheless it still managed to reach #4 on the UK charts, becoming her first solo top 5 hit.

Wow talk about making a statement, she definitely sheds her sporty spice image with this hard introduction to the new Melanie C, chopping her long brown locks for a short blonde spiky rock chick look with a song to match, with it's alternative/grunge sound, laced with messy guitars, and angry delivery of it's sexually suggestive meets defiant lyrics, that definitely has a hint of The Cardigans thrown into the mix. She definitely carves a strong identity from her days as a Spice Girl, and even pulls it off successfully, if perhaps a little too well as when I first heard this on the radio I literally had no idea who it was and was even more shocked and surprised when I later realized who it was, while yes it's very different, but that's not always a good thing, especially when you kick start your solo career with something that's so polarizing and out there.

The song doesn't entirely represent the album as it's only a glimpse of what's to come with such a diverse range of styles of which she actually manages to pull of rather well thanks to her strong vocal delivery and charisma with such an interesting collection of songs, later singles would give you better sense of what kind of sound she was going for by basically throwing everything into the mix, where at the time she was probably testing the waters and see what would stick and for her efforts she brought us something well and truly special and would probably rank it as the greatest Spice Girl solo album to date.

Releasing something like 'Goin' Down' was a very risky move that did somewhat pay-off, yeah it did reach a high chart position but soon dropped down the charts rather quickly which was perhaps due to the hype winding down rather quickly and seeing the song for what it is...a hot mess, not something that people can fully connect to and could run the danger of alienating fans who are not interested in this kind of sound because she started out down the pop route and changing gears too quickly doesn't always work and can't guarantee to win you the kind of fan base that this genre has, as pop is pretty much hated on the grungy rock scene and they would scoff their nose at a former Spice Girl trying too hard to be different.

But luckily that didn't end being the case with Melanie C, as despite a slow start to sales with the album, further releases brought new light to it and that was when it found the audience and respect that it deserved and would be the start off the most successful era of her career.




This post has been edited by SamJudd: Mar 14 2020, 05:53 PM
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McAndrew
post Nov 6 2017, 08:00 PM
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'Goin Down' has been knocked out so early! But it was a definitely an odd choice for lead single.

'Never Be The Same Again' would've obviously been a more successful solo debut. But I always thought 'Ga Ga' would've worked too. Melanie could've had her pop-rock reinvention, whilst also debuting a much catchier, radio-friendly sound.

The other three to go are cheese central. I'm so glad 'First Day of My Life' happened for Melanie. It probably saved her career. But I don't think it would've fared quite as well in the UK.

Still yet to lose anything I couldn't live without kink.gif


This post has been edited by Michael Andrew: Nov 28 2017, 11:35 PM
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Jade
post Nov 7 2017, 10:58 PM
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Goin' Down seems quite underrated! It is definitely a strange choice for a lead single but it really stands out in a good way in her discography for me.
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Liam.k.
post Nov 7 2017, 11:17 PM
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'Half of Me' rightly last. Just terrible, somehow made even worse with that god-awful video.

There's more deserving songs to place as second worst than Mel C's cover of 'I Want Candy', but it's still incredibly throwaway and pointless so no real loss.

No losses at all so far, although all of Victoria's singles would be out by now if I had my way.

EDIT: Actually, 'Yeh Yeh Yeh' is stuck in my head now after relistening to it. Should have been higher.
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Nina West
post Nov 8 2017, 02:25 AM
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Girls are on the town tonight
















In this next selection Melanie C loses another single, while Emma Bunton, after remaining safe up until this point loses 3 of her solo singles.




#36. Melanie C - Here It Comes Again [6.111]


Highest Scores: 9.5/9: (Jay, mutucan), 8.5/8: (Lukuzz, Jade), Lowest Scores: 2: (engineer)


At #36 is Melanie C's 'Here It Comes Again' which was released in February 2003 as the lead single from her 2nd album 'Reason', as well as being her first release in 3 years following her battles with depression, bulimia weight issues and mental health problems, and after fighting those demons she was finally ready to come back into the limelight with a new lease on life. The single managed to peak at #7 on the UK charts, despite an initial midweek position of #4, it however slid down to it's said peak position when the official charts was announced.

While I am happy that she managed to fight her demons and come back fighting, the music scene like I already said is a fickle place and too much time spent away can cost any artist dearly and sadly Melanie fell victim to this as to put it simply the world moved on and during her time away there were more than enough fame hungry singers that were more than ready to take her place and the fact that the sales climate was terrible back then didn't help matters either. Most people downloaded their music instead of buying the good old traditional CD singles and they were not yet added to single sales and so no matter what position you'd get to in the charts, the amount would be rather low. As the case with Mel C who only managed to shift 19,000 copies in the first week and end up with overall sales of just 40,000, which isn't terrible, but not that great either especially for an artist who had 2 #1 hits in the past.

The song itself however is rather decent with it's live arrangement and organic sounds that sees her step into a more mature direction, showing that she's in a happier and more positive place in her life. This also marked a change in sound for her, after combining different genres for her last solo effort, this time she knew where she wanted to go and that was into a more pop/rock direction, which is something that really suits her voice. Her label however wanted her to do something that was like 'Northern Star', but Melanie had other ideas and got her way and did this, showing that she still had GIRL POWER.

But in the long run 'Reason' didn't match the commercial performance of her debut and the Spice Girls solo careers were starting to wear thin by this point due to over-saturation in the music market and as a result Melanie C would end up getting dropped by 'Virgin Records' as further releases sold lower and lower and album sales still floundered, which made her the final solo spice to be dropped. Personally another reason for this is that I think there was a definite lack of support as they weren't keen on her new direction and just seemed to couldn't wait and see things fall apart at the seams and well there you have it, the music industry is a ruthless place and while you may think you have the upper hand, really you haven't as the label can tank you project if and when they feel like, marking a bitter end to a promising career.




#35. Emma Bunton - We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight [6.222]


Highest Scores: 10: (Lukuzz), 9.5/9: (Hide&Seek, engineer), Lowest Scores: -1/0: (Spiceboy, Supercell)


At #35 we finally lose the first Emma Bunton single, 'We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight', released in December 2001 as the 4th and final single from her debut album 'A Girl Like Me' and peaked at #20 on the UK charts, becoming her first to miss the top 10. Heavily remixed from it's original album form and given a slight Latin-tinged feel, along with a sexy music video that was a far cry from the sweet girl next door image of her previous singles and just reeks of desperation on the label's front in order to try and boost album sales.

This sounded a million times better in it's original album form instead of being turned into a generic piece of dance pop. I think the notion here was that sexiness sells, but here it really doesn't as even judging by it's awful music video Emma looks bored and unconvincing, as if she's being forced down this route. It was as if she knew that this pointless little tactic wasn't going to work and why ruin a perfectly good album track that's all about having a fun night out with the girls and water it down until it becomes soulless. I think at the time people found this sudden change in direction quite jarring and while it did mange to keep the album around for a little longer, it still wasn't enough for the label and she was soon axed by the label.

I never understood that decision personally sure the album wasn't a huge seller in the UK, but it did manage about a million worldwide and scored 3 top 5 singles, so what the hell happened. Maybe it was her decision to not record her follow up album in demo form, which was something she felt that they had lost faith in her and went their separate ways and later she would sign a new deal and score even bigger success with her follow up album which was where she had found her sound.

Of note both 'High On Love' & 'A World Without You' were being lined up as the next single, but were scrapped after the previous single's underperformance and the latter track would just be used as a promo release only along with the title track.




#34. Emma Bunton - Downtown [6.24]


Highest Scores: 10: (SamJudd), 8.5/8: (engineer, Maurice, LazySpice88), Lowest Scores: 3: (Hide&Seek, Supercell)


At #34 we have Emma Bunton's version of 'Downtown' which was released in November 2006 as the lead single from her 3rd studio album 'Life In Mono', as well as being chosen as the official 'Children In Need' single for that year. Originally sung by Petula Clark back in 1964 and remixed in 1988 and hit the top 10 twice hitting #2 and #10 respectively. Emma Bunton's version reached #3 on the UK charts becoming her second highest charting single and final top 10 hit of her career. Emma have always liked the song and was keen to put her own stamp on it and her admiration for Petula Clark was evident on her last album 'Free Me' two years before.

However the single would come with some controversy, firstly by the original artist Petula Clark herself who said that she had no prior knowledge of Bunton's remake of the song and panned her version saying that it was an outright copy and pointless. The video also drew a negative reception for evidently skewing the phrase "go downtown" into a sexual term, which Emma herself would deny. Now I actually really like her spin on this song, okay it doesn't really stray away from the original but it is for a good cause and she does do a bang up job on it, further showing why this style of music really suits her and while it may not be her best single, but the songs uplifting nature and just a really good fun pop song that Emma does do justice.

Of note sadly this would be the last time any of the Spice Girls would trouble the top 10 as this was the last hurrah for any of their solo careers which by this point only Melanie C and Emma would be still going, but for Emma this would be her last album to date as she would lose interest in the music scene the following year and focus more on family life. Dannii Minogue was supposed to do the official Children In Need song for this year with her version of 'He's The Greatest Dancer' to coincide with her appearance on Strictly Come Dancing, but she would turn that down for a judging position on X Factor, and so the single would end up being scrapped and not released in the UK.




#33. Emma Bunton - Crickets Sing For Anamaria [6.277]


Highest Scores: 10: (Mr.X, Hide&Seek), 9: (Michael Andrew, Liam), Lowest Scores: 1: (SpiceBoy, Supercell)


At #33 is the third Emma Bunton song in a row to drop with her interesting take on 'Crickets Sing For Anamaria', which was released in May 2004 as the 4th and final single from her 2nd album 'Free Me' and peaked at #15 on the UK charts. The song was originally sung by Brazilian singer Marcos Valle, and sung in his language as 'Os Grilos', then later translated into English.

Definitely an inspired choice of a cover and an even odder choice to release it as a single, yeah sure it's fun track about crickets of all things and it has a great summery feel to it and Emma does do it justice with musical nods to it's origins as does it's video where Emma looks freaking beautiful in the green dress. But pushing it as a single is well a little too out there for the general public to get on board with and while it's bossa nova styles works wonders on the album it comes from, but for the mainstream audience it may be a little too much for them to handle, especially coming off the back off 3 successful top 10 hits. Maybe in my opinion something else should have maybe been released first like 'Tomorrow' or 'Breathing', either one of these could have maintained it's top 10 streak, then maybe release this in the late summer like August or something, a time of month that will really get you in the mood for this.

This would be her 2nd single to miss the top 10, with it's top 15 peak and like I said maybe it was a little too bold to make this work as a single, but nonetheless it's still a catchy, frothy piece of stylish pop that really stands out amongst the crowd and really it deserved better than it did, but being released in a very low sales climate of 2004, it was probably way ahead of it's time and maybe people weren't ready for this kind of sound.




This post has been edited by SamJudd: Mar 14 2020, 05:56 PM
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Lukuzz
post Nov 8 2017, 06:00 AM
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How on earth did Downtown and Crickets get higher than We’re Not Gonna Sleep tonight. I love that song, my fave Emma single, so underrated!
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vibe
post Nov 8 2017, 01:25 PM
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HICA IS better then all of the singles out in the batch.

Crickets is by far the worst Bunton track , very surprised its not her first out.

Melanie C has never suffered with Bulimia.

Dannii Minogue's 'Hes the greatest dancer' was never a planned CIN single. It was supposed to feature in an advert with a famous comedian to promote a new phone (it was somthing along those lines anyways).
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McAndrew
post Nov 8 2017, 02:23 PM
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Imagine if Emma had released 'Breathing' instead of 'Crickets'! It would surely have had a gorgeous video.

I seem to remember 'Tomorrow' being a b-side on the 'Free Me' single, which was a waste. But I was grateful because I didn't enjoy the uncharacteristically raspy vocal in the 'Free Me' chorus.

All of that said, 'Crickets' is good campy fun. Perfect for most fans, if not the general public.


This post has been edited by Michael Andrew: Nov 8 2017, 05:54 PM
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spiceboy
post Nov 8 2017, 11:27 PM
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A Girl Like Me no way sold 2 million copies worldwide. Schizophonic sold about 2 million copies and charted higher and sold more than A Girl Like Me everywhere...

Never knew High on love was planned as a single, it's probably my third favourite song on the album after WTYSL and WIA.

So sad how Melanie C had such a fall from grace with this era.
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Nina West
post Nov 9 2017, 12:22 AM
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QUOTE(Spiceboy @ Nov 8 2017, 11:27 PM) *
A Girl Like Me no way sold 2 million copies worldwide. Schizophonic sold about 2 million copies and charted higher and sold more than A Girl Like Me everywhere...

Never knew High on love was planned as a single, it's probably my third favourite song on the album after WTYSL and WIA.

So sad how Melanie C had such a fall from grace with this era.




You were right about Emma 'AGLM' WW sales, I got the wrong info so I've edited my post and I think that it was closer to 1 Million worldwide.



Also a quick reminder of how many singles each of the girls got left in the running =


Mel B = 4/7
Melanie C = 10/19
Geri Halliwell = 7/11
Emma Bunton = 7/10
Victoria Beckham = 4/5



There will be 3 dropping in the next batch, 1 from Mel B, 1 Mel C & 1 Geri, any guesses as to what they will be.


This post has been edited by SamJudd: Nov 9 2017, 12:31 AM
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