25 years, wow!

I have a soft spot for What Took You So Long.

I didn’t know she filmed the video close to where the Say You’ll Be There video was shot.

15 minutes ago, -Jay- said:

Feeling truly OLD!!

But BLESSED that you got to witness this classic being born and performed a few times??????

I remember at the time thinking it was peculiar how it spent two weeks at #1 and then had a big drop to #8, that must surely be quite an anomaly in that era?

It was an unusual chart run! I'd say from the sales it managed, it was kind of lucky that there wasn't any bigger competition during its first two weeks at #1. At another time of the year perhaps this would have been more of a 2-4-8 type of hit, than a 1-1-8?

76,317 - #1 [08/04/2001]

64,818 - #1 [15/04/2001]

31,000 - #8 [22/04/2001]

Also by the by, Janet Jackson so should've got that number one in Emma's second week and she was cruelly robbed.

It’s a shame that the era started well but then failed to maintain its success.

It’s true that the album, although I’ve listened to it for years, was disappointing. The choice of singles wasn’t ideal either. I think Emma along Mel B were the ones with the least commercial judgment when it came to album campaigns, except for Free Me, but Simon was behind that.

In any case, to this day I still listen to this song frequently, along with Holler.

8 hours ago, -Jay- said:

It was an unusual chart run! I'd say from the sales it managed, it was kind of lucky that there wasn't any bigger competition during its first two weeks at #1. At another time of the year perhaps this would have been more of a 2-4-8 type of hit, than a 1-1-8?

76,317 - #1 [08/04/2001]

64,818 - #1 [15/04/2001]

31,000 - #8 [22/04/2001]

I find this and also I Want You Back to be so surprisingly low on sales, specially when both seemed like massive hits. Hell, I think What Took You So Long was the bigger overall hit as it was everywhere and you couldnt escape it. It still plays on European radios quite a bit nowadays.

I wonder why?... it seems really unfair for it to not even have crossed the 300,000 copies mark in the UK considering how massive it felt like it was

It'll definitely be over 300,000, it was on 295k in January 2021! I'd estimate it to be around 335,000 by now. Still pretty slow progress in regards to going gold though. 😔

10 hours ago, -Jay- said:

It was an unusual chart run! I'd say from the sales it managed, it was kind of lucky that there wasn't any bigger competition during its first two weeks at #1. At another time of the year perhaps this would have been more of a 2-4-8 type of hit, than a 1-1-8?

76,317 - #1 [08/04/2001]

64,818 - #1 [15/04/2001]

31,000 - #8 [22/04/2001]

It’s impressive that it managed a second week at #1. It looks like the sales didn’t drop too much.

12 hours ago, -Jay- said:

It was an unusual chart run! I'd say from the sales it managed, it was kind of lucky that there wasn't any bigger competition during its first two weeks at #1. At another time of the year perhaps this would have been more of a 2-4-8 type of hit, than a 1-1-8?

76,317 - #1 [08/04/2001]

64,818 - #1 [15/04/2001]

31,000 - #8 [22/04/2001]

The big drop in that 3rd week was due to the 5 new entries in the top 10.

Just for fun here's the sales for that week of the top 10 from 22/04/01.

1. (NE) - Destiny's Child - Survivor [104,062]

2. (NE) - Ronan Keating - Lovin' Each Day [74,500]

3. (NE) - O-Town - Liquid Dreams - [48,000]

4. (NE) - Missy Elliot - Get Ur Freak On - [47,000]

5. (02) - Shaggy - It Wasn't Me - [38,000]

6. (04) - Gabrielle - Out of Reach - [36,000]

7. (NE) - Madonna - What It Feels Like For A Girl - [31,000]

8. (01) - Emma Bunton - What Took You So Long - [31,000]

9. (06) - Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood - [31,000]

10. (03) - Janet Jackson - All For You - [25,000]

7 hours ago, Nina West said:

The big drop in that 3rd week was due to the 5 new entries in the top 10.

Just for fun here's the sales for that week of the top 10 from 22/04/01.

1. (NE) - Destiny's Child - Survivor [104,062]

2. (NE) - Ronan Keating - Lovin' Each Day [74,500]

3. (NE) - O-Town - Liquid Dreams - [48,000]

4. (NE) - Missy Elliot - Get Ur Freak On - [47,000]

5. (02) - Shaggy - It Wasn't Me - [38,000]

6. (04) - Gabrielle - Out of Reach - [36,000]

7. (NE) - Madonna - What It Feels Like For A Girl - [31,000]

8. (01) - Emma Bunton - What Took You So Long - [31,000]

9. (06) - Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood - [31,000]

10. (03) - Janet Jackson - All For You - [25,000]

Good to know that at least Holler/ LLLTW sold more than Survivor lol

Anyway, I was happy to finally score a number one after being beating out by certain ex-bandmate. And she’s the first to score two weeks on top too! Not everyone has that.

8 hours ago, Nina West said:

The big drop in that 3rd week was due to the 5 new entries in the top 10.

Just for fun here's the sales for that week of the top 10 from 22/04/01.

1. (NE) - Destiny's Child - Survivor [104,062]

2. (NE) - Ronan Keating - Lovin' Each Day [74,500]

3. (NE) - O-Town - Liquid Dreams - [48,000]

4. (NE) - Missy Elliot - Get Ur Freak On - [47,000]

5. (02) - Shaggy - It Wasn't Me - [38,000]

6. (04) - Gabrielle - Out of Reach - [36,000]

7. (NE) - Madonna - What It Feels Like For A Girl - [31,000]

8. (01) - Emma Bunton - What Took You So Long - [31,000]

9. (06) - Gorillaz - Clint Eastwood - [31,000]

10. (03) - Janet Jackson - All For You - [25,000]

That’s a fairly decent top 10.

Biff just posted a video about recording What Took You So Long? with Emma.

I love these tidbits of information about their process and wish the girls would themselves do more of those too:

https://www.instagram.com/reels/DWpBZT9jkF-/

For the 25th Anniversary of A Girl Like Me, Emma has apparently hired a proper design team to create what is perhaps the most comprehensive and interesting instagram post she has ever done lol

Hope that, if she went to all this effort, that hopefully she has an actual team behind her now

https://www.instagram.com/p/DXLu8s8DNeb/

I still can’t believe it’s already been 25 years since Emma’s first solo album came out. I remember going to the store with my parents to buy it like it was yesterday.

Looking back, it’s honestly such a solid pop album really fresh and full of great moments. I’ve always thought What Took You So Long was an amazing pop song, seriously underrated. Over time, I’ve also come to appreciate Take My Breath Away a lot more I didn’t fully get it at first, but it really grew on me. And I’ve always loved We’re Not Gonna Sleep Tonight, it’s such a great final single. Overall, I feel like the album never got the recognition it deserved. It’s nice to see that Emma herself still acknowledges it today and talks about it with real affection.

PS : A Girl Like Me should have been a single

Edited April 16Apr 16 by ByJonah

On 27/03/2026 at 22:25, Mr.X said:

Some interesting tid bits from it:

Emma says High On Love has a 'bit of Sade in it' and Im actually laughing.... where? lol it is further away from Sade as you can be lol

Take My Breath Away was the first solo track she wrote for the album, and you can tell she just loves it.

I will never understand why they released the remixed version of We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight... for Christmas!! What a mess...

and yes, A World Without You should have been the Christmas single and followed by Better Be Careful in the Spring alongside a small tour.

Naughy Emma. It could have been a great era indeed.

I also wonder when the tracks she did with Darkchild and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis will leak 😜

I have to say I do agree with this singles run, WNGST was such a bad choice tbh after two solid first singles, however if TMBA couldn’t chart higher than #5 I’m not sure anything else would have done as that and WTYSL were the obvious hits on the album - they made the right choice releasing these first.

The album overall was such a disappointment to me. I think the biggest disappointment of all the debut solo albums tbh, it just plods a bit, at least Mel B was a bit more daring with Hot (even though that was a let down too).

Say what you will about Geri and Melanie C’s lyrics (which we can agree to disagree on) but they both hit it out of the park with their debuts in ways the other three sadly failed to do. Emma made up for it with Free Me though which is incredible and Mel B’s second album is so uncommercial and raw that I actually love it too. I wish we could have heard Victorias original second album.

Whew gone off topic apologies!

Edited April 18Apr 18 by Spiceboy

5 hours ago, Spiceboy said:

I have to say I do agree with this singles run, WNGST was such a bad choice tbh after two solid first singles, however if TMBA couldn’t chart higher than #5 I’m not sure anything else would have done as that and WTYSL were the obvious hits on the album - they made the right choice releasing these first.

The album overall was such a disappointment to me. I think the biggest disappointment of all the debut solo albums tbh, it just plods a bit, at least Mel B was a bit more daring with Hot (even though that was a let down too).

Say what you will about Geri and Melanie C’s lyrics (which we can agree to disagree on) but they both hit it out of the park with their debuts in ways the other three sadly failed to do. Emma made up for it with Free Me though which is incredible and Mel B’s second album is so uncommercial and raw that I actually love it too. I wish we could have heard Victorias original second album.

Whew gone off topic apologies!

I think A Girl Like Me has tood the test of time better than Schizo, personally....

And VB's album is quite excellent. I think it is my second fav solo debut album after NS.

7 hours ago, Mr.X said:

I think A Girl Like Me has tood the test of time better than Schizo, personally....

And VB's album is quite excellent. I think it is my second fav solo debut album after NS.

Not a chance, I listened to Schizo the other day and yes it’s very much of it’s time but it’s a cracking album which flows so well and is actually quite versatile in style with elements of Latin, Jazz, guitar contemporary, and pure pop. It’s also pure Geri it’s an album with her personality (at the time) infused throughout. A Girl Like me is just a bit meh, boring spice. 🤷‍♂️

After years of rating Free Me as the second best solo album I think I’ve changed my mind and rate Schizo second best now.

VB has just never clicked with me, I’ve tried it several times and it’s ok a few great tracks but something is just missing from it and I don’t know what?

Edited April 19Apr 19 by Spiceboy

49 minutes ago, Spiceboy said:

Not a chance, I listened to Schizo the other day and yes it’s very much of it’s time but it’s a cracking album which flows so well and is actually quite versatile in style with elements of Latin, Jazz, guitar contemporary, and pure pop. It’s also pure Geri it’s an album with her personality (at the time) infused throughout. A Girl Like me is just a bit meh, boring spice. 🤷‍♂️

After years of rating Free Me as the second best solo album I think I’ve changed my mind and rate Schizo second best now.

VB has just never clicked with me, I’ve tried it several times and it’s ok a few great tracks but something is just missing from it and I don’t know what?

Gosh I find Schizo so embarassingly cheap pop...... like she went to poundland to produce her own version of the Spice album and it came out really poorly done. It's terrible and it never clicked with me. The only good song I find in it is Someone's Watching Over Me but her vocal is so ghastly on it... it should have been given to someone else to sing it.

The main issues with ANY of their solo albums though, is how they don't sound very well produced probably apart from VB, FM and NS. The production on those sound high quality!

The other main issue with ANY of their solo albums? The lack of the presence of the other 4 Spice Girls on them...