It was a nice album back then, now it aged badly imo.

Also she should have chosen a fourth single.

Eeh, I don't think there's any real hit on there if we're being quite frank here. It's... eerr, not the worst, but more middle-of-the-road that she started with Reason.

 

I was surprised she didn't even try with First Day of My Life in the UK though. Maybe radio pluggers had an adverse reaction to it, but on the other hand I doubt they had a better reaction to Better Alone.

Beautiful Intentions was a good album, the main problem is the very cheap production...

LPOM shouted hit to me especially after NBS reached the top 10!

 

Choosing BA was a terrible idea and she did it twice :(

‘Better Alone’ was a bit too much of a downer (especially after the cynical edge of Next Best Superstar). I’d have liked to see ‘Last Night on Earth’ as the second single - to remind us that Melanie C is a fun artist.

 

Also ‘Don’t Need This’ would’ve sounded great on radio. To me, it has a bit of P!nk’s ‘Try This’ sound. Admittedly, a much more budget production though.

Beautiful Intentions was a good album, the main problem is the very cheap production...

There's nothing "cheap" about the production. The album was produced by Greg Haver, who has also worked with respectable bands such as the Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals and Bullet for my Valentine.

I don’t get the cheap production comments people make either tbh.

 

Last night on earth was screaming for release for me.

I loved this album upon release but it's aged terribly. The production sounds incredibly dated now and the lyrical content is hard to wade through these days. Next best superstar is still a great song and up there with her best.

 

I've always hated the front cover, she looks terrible. FDOML you can see why it was a hit, very anthemic and a big sing along chorus. Better alone as a single still baffles me, it's possibly Mel's most boring song ever.

 

This is still exactly my opinion on it now.

There's nothing "cheap" about the production. The album was produced by Greg Haver, who has also worked with respectable bands such as the Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia, Super Furry Animals and Bullet for my Valentine.

 

Yes it was produced by Greg, but maybe on the cheap... It just sounds so dated and flat...

She should have released these 4 songs as singles. It would have been perfect

Edited April 12, 20232 yr by isanka

Yes it was produced by Greg, but maybe on the cheap... It just sounds so dated and flat...

The album was recorded 19 years ago. Rock has gone out of fashion since then.

18 years! :drama: It's been a long time since I gave the album a full play, but I was pretty obsessed with it throughout 2005 and 2006. I agree there were missed single opportunities - Last Night on Earth would have shown a more fun side to the album.

 

I feel like Better Alone is a good song but not a good single. Considering that she opted against selling the physicals in stores like HMV, which at the time made it chart ineligible in the UK... a decision we assumed was made so she saved herself a flop chart position... it will always seem curious to me that she then gave it another try in Europe, even with a brand new music video, just to be met with fairly meh chart positions that did nothing to ride the wave of First Day of My Life.

 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. :teresa:

18 years! :drama: It's been a long time since I gave the album a full play, but I was pretty obsessed with it throughout 2005 and 2006. I agree there were missed single opportunities - Last Night on Earth would have shown a more fun side to the album.

 

I feel like Better Alone is a good song but not a good single. Considering that she opted against selling the physicals in stores like HMV, which at the time made it chart ineligible in the UK... a decision we assumed was made so she saved herself a flop chart position... it will always seem curious to me that she then gave it another try in Europe, even with a brand new music video, just to be met with fairly meh chart positions that did nothing to ride the wave of First Day of My Life.

 

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. :teresa:

 

Yep, never understood the strategy. Better Alone is a great album track, but terrible single choice. To do it twice was just :blink: She should have followed NBS with a more upbeat song. I never liked LNE that much but I could see it gaining some success and keeping the album a bit alive at least.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

 

I did understand the logic of wanting to follow the huge success of FDOML with another ballad. It's not like she had other radio-friendly ballads on the album to choose from. Maybe You'll Get Yours?

Better Alone killed the moment. It was no good as a single for the summer.

And It was a bad choice after FDOML.

I don't think there really would have been much of a "moment" after the album's release, I mean it was impressive that she got 'Next Best Superstar' into the top 10 independently but I can't imagine she'd have got another single in the top 40 with a full release of it, or helped the album sell much more than 10 extra copies.

I mean, I'd still at least try First Day of My Life in the UK - I know part of it's success in Germany was that it was tied to a tv show, but it charted well beyond that in a bunch of countries. Maybe she didn't want to commit to a UK re-release, still, it's probably one of the few "missed" opportunities in Mel's career.

I mean, I'd still at least try First Day of My Life in the UK - I know part of it's success in Germany was that it was tied to a tv show, but it charted well beyond that in a bunch of countries. Maybe she didn't want to commit to a UK re-release, still, it's probably one of the few "missed" opportunities in Mel's career.

 

It was not her decision. Warner thought the song was not radio friendly for UK market.

Melanie said this during the live chat on youtube.

Definitely a cohesive record in terms of style -- just as cohesive as This Time, really. Next Best Superstar was a good way to kick it off and I was shocked that it charted as high as it did in the UK given the anti-Spice movement. It got a wee bit of play on radio here in Canada, but I think her pushing Better Alone twice was ... a choice. I can understand why she did it though; it perfectly aligned with the general public's anti-Spice movement so in my opinion, it was a "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em" decision. Only it backfired because the fans were mostly spillover fans from the SGs, and given the fact that Melanie's attitude towards the SGs was consistently rotted during interviews during this era, it didn't help matters.

 

Last Night On Earth was a missed opportunity; it's stadium ready, loud and has a positive energy.

It was not her decision. Warner thought the song was not radio friendly for UK market.

Melanie said this during the live chat on youtube.

Warner had nothing to do with this decision. She was affiliated with Warner Music Germany only.