March 2, 20232 yr Author 2004 13/22: Girls Aloud - The Show (1 week at No.1) eGUIE844hxk Girls Aloud were in an interesting position as they moved onto their second album. Their first had spawned four top three hits (including Jump from the re-release), but wasn't a mega success in itself. I wondered if it would be a Hear'Say situation for the second album, but in fact they accelerated at this point with their first truly excellent album, What Will The Neighbours Say - which deservedly went double platinum in the UK. They could have opted for a safe lead single but Girls Aloud didn't usually play it safe, and The Show was a natural evolution of the Xenomania sounds on their first album like No Good Advice but adopting a more electro pop style and implementing the unusual song structures they became well known for. The song begins with a section that would also serve as the outro, with the first chorus not coming in until 1:15 through the song - you just can't imagine this sort of thing happening with major pop acts in the streaming era where 'don't bore us get to the chorus' is real and long intros are commercial poison for playlists. A real barnstormer of a song with a great, fun video set in a salon, The Show may not be seen as one of Girls Aloud's bigger classics but it successfully laid the foundations for the rest of their career.
March 2, 20232 yr I missed Somersault, but the album is on my huge pile of unplayed CD's waiting for retirement and some spare time.. The Show is a goodie. Ruslana a good Euro-winner.
March 2, 20232 yr 'As The Rush Comes' and 'The Show' are massive highlights since I last commented :wub: Sarah's middle 8 is such a moment in the latter!
March 2, 20232 yr 2004 13/22: Girls Aloud - The Show (1 week at No.1) eGUIE844hxk Girls Aloud were in an interesting position as they moved onto their second album. Their first had spawned four top three hits (including Jump from the re-release), but wasn't a mega success in itself. I wondered if it would be a Hear'Say situation for the second album, but in fact they accelerated at this point with their first truly excellent album, What Will The Neighbours Say - which deservedly went double platinum in the UK. They could have opted for a safe lead single but Girls Aloud didn't usually play it safe, and The Show was a natural evolution of the Xenomania sounds on their first album like No Good Advice but adopting a more electro pop style and implementing the unusual song structures they became well known for. The song begins with a section that would also serve as the outro, with the first chorus not coming in until 1:15 through the song - you just can't imagine this sort of thing happening with major pop acts in the streaming era where 'don't bore us get to the chorus' is real and long intros are commercial poison for playlists. A real barnstormer of a song with a great, fun video set in a salon, The Show may not be seen as one of Girls Aloud's bigger classics but it successfully laid the foundations for the rest of their career. Legends :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart:
March 2, 20232 yr 'As The Rush Comes' is one I don't recall much of amazingly. Sounding good though and seems to have a lot of obvious love on here lol. 'The Show' is a decent effort from GA and 'Ladies Night' is alright but nothing special. Not really heard any of the others that you posted. Will have to check them.
March 2, 20232 yr Oh had missed As The Rush Comes but yeah on exactly the same page - loved it at the time and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t huge.
March 3, 20232 yr So happy to see The Corrs love continue. Hopefully one or more of Long Night, Goodbye and Hideaway made it to #1 for you.
March 5, 20232 yr Author I love The Show - felt it deserved more of a chart run It really did, such a fantastic track. Somersault - what a tune! :wub: another personal chart number 1 we share. Yay! It was so slept on at the time, an absolute beauty <3 I missed Somersault, but the album is on my huge pile of unplayed CD's waiting for retirement and some spare time.. The Show is a goodie. Ruslana a good Euro-winner. It's definitely a great album, I have a pile like that eek, and it's getting bigger. 'As The Rush Comes' and 'The Show' are massive highlights since I last commented :wub: Sarah's middle 8 is such a moment in the latter! Yes <3 The Show is such a great track all round. Legends :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :heart: :wub: More to come from them later... 'As The Rush Comes' is one I don't recall much of amazingly. Sounding good though and seems to have a lot of obvious love on here lol. 'The Show' is a decent effort from GA and 'Ladies Night' is alright but nothing special. Not really heard any of the others that you posted. Will have to check them. Yeah I really wish it was played more still, it came at the tale end of the trance years but deserved to be a top 10 hit. Oops yeah, Ladies Night isn't one I'm so big on these days really. Oh had missed As The Rush Comes but yeah on exactly the same page - loved it at the time and couldn’t understand why it wasn’t huge. Completely agree! So happy to see The Corrs love continue. Hopefully one or more of Long Night, Goodbye and Hideaway made it to #1 for you. One of them did! The other two went top five.
March 5, 20232 yr Author 2004 14/22: Shapeshifters - Lola’s Theme (5 weeks at No.1) kIC0aQ56ASE Every year there are at least two UK No.1s that also top my chart, and here is the first of two from 2004. The first time I heard Lola's Theme by Shapeshifters I thought to myself 'wow, this sounds like a future classic', even though it would have fit in better with the likes of Spiller and Modjo four years earlier. Built around a disco sample, as many of the best house songs are, and with the brilliant Cookie on vocals, I was really hoping this would top the UK chart but Rachel Stevens' Some Girls was released on the same week, and as the Sport Relief single I was sure that would get it. Sadly for her, dreams of (a solo) No.1 last forever, and Lola's Theme grabbed it. It was a far bigger hit for me than it was in the UK even, spending five weeks at No.1 over the summer.
March 5, 20232 yr Author 2004 15/22: Natasha Bedingfield - These Words (4 weeks at No.1) ckASgCkPsEM Lola's Theme was knocked off the perch by another long runner, and indeed another UK No.1. I wasn't particularly into Natasha's debut single...Single, and felt she was riding on the coattails of her brother to get a hit, but she very quickly came into her own and second single These Words won me over immediately. One of those great pop songs about the art of writing a pop song, the colourful video and lyrics are very unique - even the way she pronounces hyperbole, and the chorus is so catchy it could hardly miss, and it didn't - becoming her only UK No.1 and setting her up for a No.1 album, which funnily enough ended up being one of my favourite of all-time. Edited March 5, 20232 yr by gooddelta
March 5, 20232 yr Author 2004 16/22: Natasha Bedingfield - Unwritten (2 weeks at #1) cFFBSSntZgs Upon buying Natasha's album, she quite quickly knocked herself off the No.1 spot with uplifting second single Unwritten, which had yet to be confirmed as a single at that point, but I loved it so much as an album track that it reached the top via that route. Just as catchy as These Words, but with more motivational self-care lyrics (these type of songs were all the rage in the 00s), a slower pace, a beautiful bridge leading to a power pop chorus and a gospel choir. In the UK it ended up being a decent sized No.6 hit for her but it's in the US where it really caught fire after it was used as the theme song to The Hills, going top five and even managing an end of year top 10 placing (in 2006). Sadly her US success meant she all but abandoned the UK market, basically signalling a big downturn in her career here. This would also be her second and final No.1 for me, but what a pair of genius pop songs they were in that glorious late summer/autumn of 2004.
March 5, 20232 yr For some reason I wasn't into either of Natasha's first few singles and found them annoying tbh oops but I guess 'Unwritten' would be the better of these two for me. She's not too far from me either. West Sussex area at least lol. 'Lola's Theme' however :wub: now we're talking. A big dance tune that was!
March 6, 20232 yr Author For some reason I wasn't into either of Natasha's first few singles and found them annoying tbh oops but I guess 'Unwritten' would be the better of these two for me. She's not too far from me either. West Sussex area at least lol. 'Lola's Theme' however :wub: now we're talking. A big dance tune that was! Yeah that's fair, I know a lot of people thought the same. I Wanna Have Your Babies was certainly pretty annoying as a lead in 2007 :lol: I didn't realised she lived in Sussex :o
March 6, 20232 yr 'Lola’s Theme' is so euphoric :wub: I'd say it's the first song I gravitate to whenever the weather is really nice here :lol:
March 6, 20232 yr Author 2004 17/22: Mousse T feat Emma Lanford - Is It ‘Cos I’m Cool (1 week at No.1) U7Wc8kJaPiI A bit of an unexpected comeback in late 2004 was German DJ Mousse T, reuniting with Emma Lanford, who had been one half of Hot 'N' Juicy who featured on the iconic Horny in 1998. A driving guitar and drum led dance track with a great soulful vocal from Emma and a retro 70s vibe both to the music video and the Brady Bunch-esque guitar breakdown, it was a deserved third top 10 hit for Mousse T when it peaked at No.9 here. It also featured on an advert iirc for Asda George clothing and still pops up from time to time on ads. The duo returned wih Right About Now a few months later but that only got to No.28 in the UK, and No.3 for me.
March 6, 20232 yr Author 2004 18/22: Lucie Silvas - What You’re Made Of (3 weeks at No.1) rnuInke7TZA Lucie Silvas was one of those singer-songwriters that the industry had been trying to push for years and years, but who took years to break through, her first 'hit', It's Too Late reaching No.62 in 2000, while she also co-wrote hits for other artists, including Jumpin' by Liberty X in 2003. Dare I say it, but had the female piano ballad market been reopened in the UK by Delta Goodrem, meaning TV and radio were more willing to give Lucie a chance this time around? It helps also that the pop landscape had changed vastly since 2000 and singer-songwriters were doing much better again as pure pop had faded away. Either way, what a storming song to break through with - What You're Made Of could very much have been on Innocent Eyes or even Christina Aguilera's Stripped, but this song is just as good as anything on those albums with a beautiful piano, dramatic strings and Lucie's soaring vocal. I saw her live a couple of years later and maintain to this day that she's one of the best live singers I've ever heard - she deserved so much more. As it was, this track peaked at a very respectable No.7 in the UK (follow-up Breathe In even went one place better), and had three weeks at the top for me.
March 6, 20232 yr Author 2004 19/22: The Corrs - Long Night (1 week at No.1) UdArTxp34mA It made sense for the third single from Borrowed Heaven, released in the middle of winter ballad season, to be Long Night, even though I think I'd have preferred several other choices. Quite an epic, dramatic track, particularly in the second half, with some lovely backing vocals and violin action from Sharon as always, it was a bit of a slow burner for me, eventually reaching the top for a week after a meandering run lower down. Sadly it got lost in the Christmas rush and ended up peaking at No.31 as the final single from the album (sort of - Goodbye eventually became a single in 2006 in a new remix).
March 6, 20232 yr Author 2004 20/22: Delta Goodrem - Out Of The Blue (4 weeks at No.1) YkTfHRAn408 12 months since her last single, and clearly following a very difficult period where Delta had battled cancer, I waited with huge anticipation and interest to see what Delta would return with. Out Of The Blue was surprisingly a very positive, hopeful love song in the Olivia Newton-John mould, noticeably more mature than her previous singles but with the same big singalong chorus and a few nods to what she had been through 'A new beginning, a new chapter of my life'. My favourite part of the song is the second verse, which has some lovely chord progressions that build back into the chorus, which swells and swells into a slightly different melody before a trimphant outro. I was very happy with this as a comeback single and it spent a month at the top of my chart - the first time my favourite solo artist (Delta) had knocked my favourite group (Corrs) from the top. I would say the single was not massively representative of the album, which was understandably a much darker affair, and releasing shortly before Christmas probably wasn't a great idea either, this single topping out at No.9 and the album reaching only No.25 in a packed market. Not that any of this halted my looning over it, as you will see...
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