Here's a 'Forever' cover design I've made using the diamond logo from the 'Greatest Hits' era and the 'Goodbye' shoot.

 

https://imgur.com/a/sfE7Xz0

 

Sorry still can't work out how to post images on here. If anyone wants to re-post it to help me out, please do.

 

I think the design could work using other photoshoots from 1999-2000 too.

 

Aw thank you Spice Girls Net :heart:

 

Hadn't realised it would appear so big :lol:

That artwork looks amazing! :wub: The original logo is a nice touch. They all look so photogenic in the Goodbye artwork.

Goodbye photoshoot was so gorgeous and stunning

Oh that is stunning! I like both the SPICE logo and the Forever one :wub:

 

Amazing to see how much that sign could have been improved with a bit of colour on it. Someone shared one in red the other day and it just elevated the cover a lot.

Goodbye was their best cover, it is such a beautiful picture. They all look so natural.

I am listening now and to be fair this album does not have one bad song it. But I have always loved it !!

 

My Ranking

1. Goodbye

2. Holler

3. Tell Me Why

4. Let Love The The Way

5. If You Wanna Have Some Fun (1st time dogging this song)

6. Get Down With Me

7. Right Back At Ya

8. Wasting My Time

9. Weekend Love

10. Oxygen

10. Time Goes By

 

This would have been a steady seller like NS if they released further singles.

 

I agree that it would have sold a lot better had they kept promoting it and releasing further singles, could see it easily achieving double platinum over a years promotion.

It's definitely a shame that they gave up on it pretty much 2 weeks after its release lol. Considering the lack of singles and the very quick burst of promotion, I think it did well to get close to 300,000. It was kind of crazy that they didn't do some promo at Christmas time to encourage it to sell. They really just let it die.

 

I wonder what Virgin Records thought about Forever being almost immediately abandoned? The promo CD singles implied that Virgin had future releases in mind.

It's the biggest shame in their career, imo.

 

They had a great album on their hands but their minds were elsewhere. It is what it is, but ultimately a couple more singles and them behaving like they actually wanted to be there, would have helped.

In term of contract, it's weird that Virgin let them abandonned the project so quickly.

That cover is stunning !!

In term of contract, it's weird that Virgin let them abandonned the project so quickly.

 

They were probably only obliged to release it which they did.

 

Further promotion was likely expected but not required.

 

Didn't they sign a new 3 album deal after Geri? Girls Aloud also signed a new 3 album deal after their last studio album.

 

Obviously these deals have a get out clause or else aren't required to be fulfilled.

^ For some reason, I was under the impression they were under a five album deal from the get-go. I'm not sure where I heard that now. So. Take that with a grain of salt.

 

But if my understanding of such things is correct, the contract wouldn't so much require them to release all the albums...as much as it prevents them to release music under another label until the contract is met.

 

And, yes...I agree with schizo_spice's take, the single releases probably weren't required under the contract. I'm not sure labels *expect* their artists to spend ages recording an album only to immediately lose interest and abandon it two weeks after release.

 

Anyway. I would be curious what the Virgin top brass made of all this. They'd just paid for some of the top producers in the world to do the album...top directors to handle the videos...a top photographer to do the album art (not saying he did a good job, just saying he was high profile) and the group just dumps it? Virgin had some big names at the time...but my guess would be the girls, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey would have been considered their biggest acts as of 2000. The label couldn't have been happy.

^ For some reason, I was under the impression they were under a five album deal from the get-go. I'm not sure where I heard that now. So. Take that with a grain of salt.

 

But if my understanding of such things is correct, the contract wouldn't so much require them to release all the albums...as much as it prevents them to release music under another label until the contract is met.

 

And, yes...I agree with schizo_spice's take, the single releases probably weren't required under the contract. I'm not sure labels *expect* their artists to spend ages recording an album only to immediately lose interest and abandon it two weeks after release.

 

Anyway. I would be curious what the Virgin top brass made of all this. They'd just paid for some of the top producers in the world to do the album...top directors to handle the videos...a top photographer to do the album art (not saying he did a good job, just saying he was high profile) and the group just dumps it? Virgin had some big names at the time...but my guess would be the girls, Janet Jackson, and Mariah Carey would have been considered their biggest acts as of 2000. The label couldn't have been happy.

 

I think the 5-album deal was confirmed right? I never heard of a new deal after Geri left, thought it probably made sense I guess. A lot of artists also re-negotiate their deals after some success (look at Cardi B who is currently doing that), so maybe they went through a process of renegotiation in some form too.

 

Certainly the quantity of singles, I believe, is dependent on an album's success or the success of the previous single. I remember reading that Emma's lable would be interested in a single after Crickets if Crickets would sell more than 35,000 copies (so it could recuperate its costs).

 

After Forever floped (to their standards), it was probably a mutual decision by them and the lable to pull a plug on it, as they probably lost confidence that spending more money on new singles, videos, promo would'nt be worth it and further cement the group as flops. Plus, it was clear that teh group itself was done by then, so them dropping it all was probably for the best of everyone (apart from the fans obvs)...

I guess they let them abandon forever because they made them millions before hand !

To be totally honest, though, Virgin does share in *some* of the blame.

 

If I remember correctly, the Holler video debuted in America about two weeks AFTER the album had already crashed and burned on the chart. The album's poor showing gave MTV/VH1/radio no incentive to even give the song/video a fighting chance. How many people at Virgin had to be asleep behind the wheel to let THAT happen?

 

Though. Of course. It is more the girls' fault. They spent all this money, time, and resources developing an album targeted at the American market...and then just dumped it in the US...with no video proceeding it...without a single performance...without so much as a single appearance from the full group even speaking about it. Holler wasn't actually even released as a physical single in America...an odd move considering Spice Up Your Life, Too Much, Stop, and Goodbye managed to climb into the top 20 because of physical single sales.

 

Anyway. It's all 20 years ago now. But. Totally honest. I'm hard pressed to think of another act on their level in the 20 years since who dropped the ball *this much* on an album release.

You are very right. The way they released in America was WILD. They literally just dumped it and Emma and Victoria showed up for a couple of interviews and that was IT.

 

A supposedly America-focused album didnt get a proper seen to there at all. It's funny to think that it actually reached #39 which considering the dedication from the group in that country (and pretty much everywhere else in the world), it's probably an excellent result.

 

I still think that the whole Forever was the biggest faux pas of their career. Bigger than firing Fuller back in 1997, as it literally killed them as a group. A shame, because the album deserved better.

No sane artist gives up on an album that a record label are willing to put more promo, singles and effort into. It just shows how too big egos and too big for their boots the girls had become.

 

I mean if BMG paid for a video and new single release from My happy place Emma wouldn't be turning it down now.

 

I believe Geri gave up on Scream too, maybe this just shows the huge success and sales they got from the start made them not have a very good outlook on releasing music unless it was selling a zillion copies.

 

A supposedly America-focused album didnt get a proper seen to there at all. It's funny to think that it actually reached #39 which considering the dedication from the group in that country (and pretty much everywhere else in the world), it's probably an excellent result.

 

That may be true. It's rough, though...because they were the top selling act in America in 1997...and their first two albums sold well all through 1998 and even into 1999. It's hard to even imagine this sort of drop in modern terms. Could we even picture, say, Billie Eilish (who just had a big year) having her next album arrive at #39 on the chart? And even that's not a totally accurate comparison as Eilish doesn't have the level of cultural impact the Spices did in the 90s...

 

Those Emma/Victoria appearances were a somewhat bizarre thing too. They had very few appearances they could make in such a short time...so they end up on The Daily Show? An American political talk show? It...wasn't exactly the crowd that was going to buy a Spice Girls album. It didn't exactly help that Victoria told host Jon Stewart he wasn't funny...and the conversation devolved into a debate as to what is and isn't comedy.

 

Anyway. I think we could all write a book on all the ways Forever went sideways. But. One more thing I wanted to bring up...

 

Did anyone else find the album booklet with lyrics super weird? It was, like...stapled together...but you didn't flip through it like a little book. You had to turn it to where it was...up and down. That's how my copy was, anyway. I haven't gone through it in ages...but I seem to remember Emma and Victoria looking...sunburned...or something...