I know ITTY and NBTSA are her big hits but I wish she would show the rest of the album more love in terms of performances and setlists ect.

 

Tbf northern star always gets performed too, and she has done be the one, going down, suddenly Monday and if that were me on several tours, there is only so many songs she can do really.

why and go have made lots of set lists too!

 

the only songs that have been not played in years are closer and feel the sun!

why and go have made lots of set lists too!

 

the only songs that have been not played in years are closer and feel the sun!

 

 

Both songs that truly deserve to be :wub:

Feel The Sun and the original/album version of I Turn To You are her best tracks ever, and I would love it if she ever plays them live again! now THAT is a Mel C concert I would go to!!

Both songs that truly deserve to be :wub:

 

 

i agree i love them both!

 

FTS is a very tough vocal though even back then she struggled with this one

I Turn To You album and single version are both great tracks.

23 years ago:

 

@1595173249977094168

 

Can't Stop the Pop has written a great piece about it:

 

@1595001643766005760

Edited November 25, 20222 yr by Voodoo

I made a revisited version of Northern Star as a bonus CD.

 

01. I Turn To You [Damian LeGassick Radio Mix]

02. I Wonder What I Would Be Like [Alternative Mix]

03. Northern Star [Full Version]

04. Happy Without You

05. I Won't Leave You Alone

06. Closer [uS Promo CDR]

07. Sunddenly Monday [Rough Mix]

08. I Didn't Hear You Leave

09. Show Me The Way

10. You Taught Me

11. If That Were Me [Acoustic version]

12. Feel The Sun [us Promo CD-R]

Was the success of 'Northern Star' (single) seen as a miraculous turnaround in fortunes at the time after 'Goin' Down' didn't exactly perform well commercially and critically?

Was the success of 'Northern Star' (single) seen as a miraculous turnaround in fortunes at the time after 'Goin' Down' didn't exactly perform well commercially and critically?

 

I don't remember thinking Northern Star was particularly big at the time, it just felt like another small top 10 hit ala Going Down. Clearly it performed a lot better sales wise in the long run as it is up there with I want you back and What I am (which makes it's chart position a little sad considering those two were #1 and #2).

 

I suppose it was a steady upwards track for her as the following two singles were obviously huge and the album imploded afterwards.

 

 

Should have been the debut single !!

Goin’ Down was so alienating to me at the time, but a few years later I came around to having appreciation for it! Love it or hate it, it was an incredibly bold choice.

 

I guess it was kind of a “this is either the first single or it won’t be a single at all” choice. She certainly got attention for it… and #4 wasn’t a disaster, but it did plummet down the chart and then the album only did okay (entering at #10), so it does make you wonder if a different first single would have got her solo career off to a better start. Like, would Northern Star as the first single have made the album enter Top 5? Would Never Be the Same Again still have got to #1 as the first single? We’ll never know!

Northern Star was an incredible single, one of her best still today (my fav single from her, for sure!). It did help to balance things out after Going Down was such a strident single. IMO she should have lead with something else other than GD. I guess she/Virgin expected Goin Down to be kind of a statement-single and it just didn't work at all imo... Her 'rock' persona never quite flourished because it never quite felt authentic to me.

 

Northen Star is gorgeous and deserved more success (certainly more success than lesser songs like Never Be The Same Again and I Turn To You (single mix) imo)...

Edited April 6, 20232 yr by Mr.X

I actually love 'Goin' Down', I still listen to it every now and then. I can see why she wasn't taken very seriously with it though.

I remember she was everywhere with Goin' Down and her new look on TV. It was a great promotion for her.

I love goin down !! especially LIVE !!

 

 

I could say Goin Down wasn't right for the first single because it's not indicative of the whole album...but then, really, no one song on Norther Star is indicative of the whole album. I've always liked Goin Down. Liked it then. Like it now. But I wouldn't have released it as a single. To me, it's one of the songs on the album (like Why, Suddenly Monday, and Be The One) that are really effective at setting a mood and showing another side of Mel's character...but they're best as album tracks.

 

What should she have led with? If it hadn't already appeared on the Big Daddy soundtrack, Gaga probably would have been my choice. Radio friendly...but also establishes Mel as an artist separate from the Spice Girls. It's a less dynamic statement than Goin Down...but I also think it's the better, more substantial song. But then, the fans had known the song for months because of the Big Daddy soundtrack...and I get the importance of releasing something fresh. I think Go! also had more commercial potential than Goin Down.

 

Also. People seem to rarely talk about this song...but in some alternate universe where the slickly produced, Bend It Like Beckham soundtrack cut of Independence Day already existed in 1999...I think that would have been a pretty perfect debut single. The version we DID have in 1999 might not have made that big of a splash...but my feeling was always that Bend It Like Beckham version had hit written all over it.

 

 

I guess it was kind of a “this is either the first single or it won’t be a single at all” choice.

 

This is pretty much it... Goin' Down was either going to be the first single and chart respectably off that. Had they released it later, it would've completely bombed and probably de-railed the entire campaign.

 

They also clearly knew it was a risk - Northern Star was released two months later, so they clearly had it in the pipeline, ready to go. Worth remembering it was a December single, so it probably sold more to chart at #4.

 

Looking back now ITWM really bombed. I know the album had sold well by then but #18 was very very low. I always thought Be the one would have been the perfect final single.

Looking back now ITWM really bombed. I know the album had sold well by then but #18 was very very low. I always thought Be the one would have been the perfect final single.

 

 

Not really because it sold very well for a #18 hit back them with over 60k sales, plus it kept Northern Star in the charts so some of it's sales went towards the album instead which is the entire aim of a single really.

 

I thought a Feel the sun Hex Hector remix / New song double a-side should have closed it personally considering we were on the firth single by this point might as well go for broke if they wanted a high charting single.