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Edited March 28, 20196 yr by myxxd

I have a feeling this won’t do as well as hello my love. It’s more the run of the mill from Westlife, whereas hello my love was a bit different and more upbeat.

9 year old me would be absolutely seething that I've converted into a Westlife fan of sorts, but it's with good reason. The success of 'Hello My Love' has genuinely been one of my favourite things in pop this year, because it was well deserved.

 

I agree with you Jonjo that much underestimation has been made of what they've achieved in just the last few months. There are several acts from the same time - some of whom have also been treading the comeback path - who'd cut off their right arm to have the level of relative success they've had in a market so far removed from the one they debuted in.

 

'Better Man' is probably closer to what most would expect of a Westlife single, yet at the same time it's like an old single of theirs - 'Fool Again' and 'My Love' in particular I'm looking at here - reimagined for 2019, in a good way. I'll be here for the album based on what we've heard so far!

Edited March 29, 20196 yr by ThePensmith

It is amazing that you're comparing Cheryl to Westlife. Cheryl is nothing in the world of music. We're talking about act with 7 UK no.1 albums, 14 no.1 singles and above them are just

 

Robbie Williams, Coldplay and Take That in 21st century in terms of selling albums. Cheryl entire catalog was less than half of one ordinary Westlife album. Westlife had the power to

 

beat Oasis, U2 and The Beatles in battle of the bands despite campaign against them all over the UK. So please compare Cheryl to the likes of Tulisa or Rita Ora.

Cheryl was a valid comparison to make, in terms of the charts. It's not a music/talent comparison. She was a successful artist when the chart was based 100% on sales, and then she took a long period away from releasing music (4 years) - returning to a chart that is dominated by streaming. That's the same situation as Westlife making their comeback. It's a totally different era!

 

A #13 peak & 9 weeks Top 40 in the singles chart in 2019, for a "legacy artist" like Westlife, is way above the expectations of people who avidly follow the UK charts. Hello My Love managed to do quite well on streaming, which is ultimately what helped it stick around. Cheryl didn't adapt to streaming as well as Westlife did.

 

Westlife's prior achievements doesn't mean that they'll be able to replicate that same success in the singles chart nowadays, success for them in 2019 has to be redefined. Hello My Love was successful and can be considered a hit.

 

Westlife fans may need to adjust their expectations for the albums chart too. They likely won't replicate their glory days in terms of sales, because sales are relatively so much worse now than they were in the 2000s. If their album goes Platinum (300,000+ sales) it could be considered a great success, even though that would actually make it one of their worst selling.[/color]

Yeah, the song has massively outdone expectations. Westlife getting a hit as big as this in 2019 is not something people would have expected.

Already Number 1 on the tunes of i

Wow! How long did 'Hello My Love' take to get iTunes Number 1?

#1 in itunes in Ireland and UK and a few others :P

 

Jay, you're the shining star in this forum and I have a lot of respect for you because you know the game. Cheryl was not the best and most talented singer in Girls Aloud. Nadine

 

was by far the most talented and Cheryl was no.3 or 4. I think The Flood and Fight for This Life were very good pop songs, though the latter beat Westlife's brilliant cover of What

 

About Now purely because there was a love rat (Ashley Cole, her husband back then) and the whole nation had sympathy for her.

 

 

Yes, she has 5 Uk no.1 singles and 2 no.1 albums which is quite remarkable given the fact that she really can't sing live properly.

 

You know that for her comeback single she even couldn't pretend to singing live and it was all miming. She is not the kind of act to be compared to Westlife because even with

 

pure sales the success of the lads were pretty unmatched before Take That reuniting.

 

 

I'm a massive fan of Oasis, so lets clear the air and you know that it is almost impossible to beat them in album chart when they release something like Greatest Hits in Stop the

 

Clocks but Westlife did it. I'm not

 

sure even Take That would came victorious on that special week with battles of three legendary bands and one band they called this or that but Westlife did it. Because of this and

 

many things you can't compare Westlife to Cheryl. Cheryl can't release a proper album with almost 2 million copies of sales, Let alone two or three and you know how many of

 

Westlife's albums passed 1 million mark. If Cheryl had the ability to doing this she could do that in non-streaming era but she could not. I want to tell you something, it is no-brainer

 

that electronic music or electronic-influence music doing incredibly well in the chart nowadays but still you have Liam Gallagher with his traditional fans that make his first solo album

 

one of the best selling albums of last year because it has so much quality and the quality of songs were brilliant and you have his brother (who I love the most) with two great albums

 

and successful chart run and third album which was heavily changed towards electronic music and many fans didn't like it, me included. So there is a question: do you want to

 

change your inner ability and change your face to be like other people? I'm sick of American music because it is overloaded by crap hip-hop and electronic tracks. All the songs looks the

 

same. You can't distinct the acts. Do you want this or to be stick to your guns and evolving your music? I think drastic changes leading to what we saw in Noel's third album

 

because he was not himself anymore. In case of Westlife if you (or any user here) want ultra-modern songs and drastic changes I think it leads to tragedy unless you're John Lennon.

 

I think Hello My Love was a good song but my main problem with this song is lack of depth and it is way cheesy. It's not good for comeback single. Rule the World and The Flood by

 

Take That or Incomplete by BSB are great kinda songs for comeback. I don't care about chart position but when you listen to them you want them more and more but in case of Hello

 

My Love when you're down and are another moody person and want to start your day with another chilling pop song in this era it is good but not for me than one or two listen and

 

because of this I think it lacks the depth and you don't want to give it a chance anymore. Noel Gallagher is my favorite musician because he is a genius but falls in trap that for so

 

long tried to avoid it: to please other people, to gain more audience and look at the outcome of his band's third album. It is complete failure. Need one more example? Taylor Swift.

 

She was a queen of Nashville and rightly so but in strategic decision she decided to Shake It Off and left country for pop.Sure it brings her more money, more audience and stadium

 

tours, those big stadiums which were field every night and she couldn't become this big with country because many people in the world don't like this genre or never know what this

 

whole genre is all about but the result showed itself in Grammy 2019. She produced her worst ever album (except Delicate and End Game I can not even listen to other songs and

 

I was her fan since day one) and the conclusion of this post: The album of the year, the most important prize in music won by great Kacey Musgraves who stick with her formula and

 

that's all I'm talking about: FORGET WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT YOU, DO YOUR JOB. Kacey is the queen of music now because she produced a great, great album

 

without even one filler and all songs were exceptional. So if members here worrying about public opinion about Better Man it's their problem. Remember Westlife recorded one of

 

the best albums they ever made in Where We Are, read what critics said. The Guardian and BBC were so unfair that even one of their writers said I did not listen to full album and

 

without any shame rate it 1 or 1.5 out of 5. So you want to please critics or public? they will forever saying they're bunch of guys singing boring stuff while Where We Are was just

 

amazing and for me by far better than Take That's Progress (without that propaganda).

 

My advice for Westlife supporter here: don't take your time read people saying what about their album or singles. Just enjoy the music like Kacey did it and outclassed

 

Taylor and she is erased in music map after that.

 

I agree that gone those days with 1 million copies or more unless you're Adele or Ed. But I'm sure Westlife will have a huge first week sales for their album and if their label doing

 

some promotion from November up to Christmas it has all the potential to pass half million mark. For Better Man it was wise to be in one show on Saturday night and not Friday. So

 

after that other people will decide to buy it or give it a chance. I've listen to this song like 100 times and for their first single I just give it a mere 20 times listen up to know. I like

 

this song because it is connected to me and that's all I'm looking for.

Edited March 29, 20196 yr by Navid

Wow! How long did 'Hello My Love' take to get iTunes Number 1?

 

a few hours i remember.... but the competition then was higher, with ava max...

Better Man

 

iTunes:

#1 United Kingdom

#1 Cambodia

#1 Ireland

#1 Vietnam

#2 Indonesia

#3 Philippines

#3 Sweden

#5 Denmark

#7 Philippines

#7 Vietnam

#8 Hong Kong

#8 Singapore

#11 Malaysia

#10 Fiji

#17 Hong Kong

#17 Sweden

#20 Ireland

#22 Singapore

#29 Netherlands

#30 Indonesia

#33 Switzerland

#38 United Kingdom

#38 Greece

#39 Greece

#50 Germany

#56 Taiwan

#61 Austria

#66 New Zealand

#66 Thailand

#67 Australia

#75 Belgium

#88 South Africa

#60 Spain

#144 Turkey

#153 France

#41 Norway

#191 Germany

Edited March 29, 20196 yr by myxxd

Better Man

 

iTunes:

#1 United Kingdom

#1 Cambodia

#1 Ireland

#1 Vietnam

#2 Indonesia

#3 Philippines

#3 Sweden

#5 Denmark

#7 Philippines

#7 Vietnam

#8 Hong Kong

#8 Singapore

#11 Malaysia

#10 Fiji

#17 Hong Kong

#17 Sweden

#20 Ireland

#22 Singapore

#29 Netherlands

#30 Indonesia

#33 Switzerland

#38 United Kingdom

#38 Greece

#39 Greece

#50 Germany

#56 Taiwan

#61 Austria

#66 New Zealand

#66 Thailand

#67 Australia

#75 Belgium

#88 South Africa

#60 Spain

#144 Turkey

#153 France

#41 Norway

#191 Germany

 

didnt reach hello my love standards....

 

Ed supporting Westlife:

 

@1111561876754833408

 

 

Edited March 29, 20196 yr by zeze88

New Information to come out of the @westlifemusic Radio 2 interview:

 

- 9 songs have now been recorded for the new album

- As well as working with Ed Sheeran they have also been working with James Bay

- They have a working title for the album but will not share it yet

Let us all be reminded that two versions of the song is released at the same time, this time

 

#3 Romania

#6 Hong Kong

#6 Singapore

#17 New Zealand

#28 Netherlands

#34 UK orchestral

I just can't at the suggestion that Westlife's music has depth. :lol:

 

In the end, I found 'Hello My Love' to be surprisingly good for them (a couple of dodgy lyrics aside). This however is kinda back to what I don't like about them, but at least it's not a toe-curlingly bad cover version like they're renowned for so small mercies I guess.

Offiicial

 

Thank you there is a story in the video. I was worried at first when I saw a pic they were only filming in a studio. the Westlife keychange still gets me up to this day and age and the more I listen to the chorus, the more it gets emotional. The sappiest band is back!

 

#1 Sweden

#2 Macau

#4 Denmark

#5 Philippines orchestral

#7 Malaysia

#12 Sweden

#35 Switzerland

#38 Thailand

JAY A SHINING STAR ?!?!?!?

#2 Philippines

#3 Denmark

#5 Hong Kong

#10 New Zealand

#10 Norway

#11 Hong Kong orchestral

#16 Ireland orchestral

#16 Netherlands

#28 Spain

#32 United Kingdom orchestral

#42 Germany

#49 Taiwan

#50 Austria

#61 Australia

#66 Belgium

#68 New Zealand orchestral

#75 Netherlands orchestral

#146 Mexico

#158 Spain orchestral

#180 Germany orchestral