#44 A Girl Like Me

 

From album: A Girl Like Me

Release year: 2001

Average votes: 6,11

 

 

So... we know that Buntons' fans are often critical and indifferent to her various covers. But there is another pattern here that is starting to emerge as we go more and more up the charts: the fans arent particularly fond of her bubble-gum pop songs either. Most of them are from the A Girl Like Me era and most of them are out already, with the album track A Girl Like Me perhaps being the most clear representation of this.

 

Whilst it gives its parent album its title, and it sits at the very centre of the album, A Girl Like Me does indeed stand out as the most bubble gum main pop track of her career. In an album full of different genres, from pop to folk, to r'n'b, AGLM kind of sticks out as an out of place type of affair here. Together with the bsides of the era, it is noticeable that at least for a while they were trying to market her as a straight up pop girl but didn't quite get to that, as the album has more 'grown up' type of music than this.

 

After AGLM, Emma kind of toned down the bubble gum pop, and instead set her sights into a more grown up, more polished and interesting kind of pop music. Probably because the bubble-gum pop didn't work at all (thank f***!).

 

 

Ooooh I rated this one a lot lower than the average. Easily the weakest song on the album for me

For me, the production on this song sounded quite dated and lazy even at the time. Could’ve been made in 1994.

 

I got the feeling they included it for the title. But it doesn’t really deserve it’s the title track status.

I really quite like AGLM song it's one of the more bearable album tracks on that album :lol: I'd probs say it's my 3rd fave album track after High on love and a world without you.

Personally I never been a fan of it, specially as I always thought it was too 'on the nose' cringe. That sound effect when she is meant to sing 'can't f*** with a girl like me' is too distracting to be taken lightheartedly lol

 

It was very clear to me that the straight up pop sound of the era didn't work and it was mostly discarded, thankfully! Outside of the Spice Girls, Emma always faired better whenever she did good, experimental pop music.

#43 Takin' It Easy

 

From single: I'll Be There

Release year: 2004

Average votes: 6,34

 

 

Another b-side that is NOT ON STREAMING :cry:

 

This breezy, pop-fun track is part of the second of I'll Be There two CD release. It is long overshaddowed by the other b-side in this release, So Long but it is nonetheless liked by a lot of people. Funnily, it got scores as high as 8 and as low as 3. It was produced by Tim Lever and Mike Percy, of Dead or Alive fame (wild that they went on to produce such pop-focused sound!)

 

#42 Sunshine on a Rainy Day

 

From album: A Girl Like Me

Release year: 2001

Average votes: 6,50

 

 

A Girl Like Me's second cover and second collaboration with Tin Tin Out leaves the competition. This one however had Tin Tin Out on solely producer role rather than as a feature. At one point, this was actually rumoured to be planned as a single, but gladly it wasn't as it is not the most inspired of versions either. Still, Bunton did perform it live a couple of times during the album's promotion as you can see below.

 

 

 

#41 We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (Album version)

 

From album: A Girl Like Me

Release Year: 2001

Average votes: 6,60

 

It looks like the fans prefer the album version of WNGST :o Frankly this is a surprise for me, as I always thought the single version was prefered by the fandom. Yet here we are... Not only it is not a fan favourite as a whole, but it was drastically changed for the single release which went on to flop. The album version is a latin-flavoured track that sits really well within the album's guitar-pop soundscape. Produced by Rhett Lawrence, who was popular with the solo Spices in early 2000s, having worked with Mel C and Victoria as well on their Virgin solo areas.

 

Should Emma have kept its original sound for its single release? Or should she had gone with another AGLM track?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Overall Rate Results so far:

 

41. We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (album version)

42. Sunshine on a Rainy Day

43. Takin' It Easy

44. A Girl Like Me

45. Por Favor

46. Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps

47. So Nice (Summer Samba)

48. We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (single mix)

48. Been There, Done That

50. Santa Baby

51. Emotion

52. Coming Home For Christmas

53. Come Away With Me (featuring Josh Kumra)

54. Spell it OUT

55. Free Up Your Mind

56. Don't Tell Me You Love Me Anymore

57. She Was a Friend of Mine

58. I Know Him So Well

59. Invincible

60. Close Encounter

61. I Don't Know (Emma features on Damage's single)

62. Let Your Baby Show You How to Move

63. Here Comes The Sun

64. Merry Go-Round

65. 2 Become 1 (featuring Robbie Williams)

66. Sometimes (Chicken Shed charity album, 2002)

67. Greatest Day (England's 2014 Official World Cup Song, also including Melanie C)

Edited November 21, 2024Nov 21 by Mr.X

The album version of WNGST is a little better. But even that has a bare vocal arrangement that needs filling out with some harmonies.

 

If the single had to fall in that slot, I’d have gone double a side with Better Be Careful and A World Without You.

 

It’s a shame Emma couldn’t have released High On Love as a summer single too tbh.

Yeah I really wish she had gone for A World Without You, maybe with single mix, for the Christmas season. It didn't need to be released during Christmas week, but beforehand so it captured the mood of the season...

 

It was such a career-killer move, I am not sure why Emma or Virgin thought it was a good idea at all..

I reckon that strategy would’ve scored her a respectable hit.

It's honestly one of the worse Christmas releases ever, so drab and it goes nowhere! :lol:

 

Wash your MOOF out, it's nice!

 

~

 

Will never quite understand the fanbase's overall dislike of 'We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (single version)' - for me it's a nice enough bop!! Should be well within her Top 40. :arrr:

Wash your MOOF out, it's nice!

 

~

 

Will never quite understand the fanbase's overall dislike of 'We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (single version)' - for me it's a nice enough bop!! Should be well within her Top 40. :arrr:

 

 

It's rubbish, I almost took it off my Xmas playlist last year, and skipped it several times when it did come on. :lol:

 

I think WNGST is just in general not great, maybe it gets a harsher rep from me since it was selected as a single and killed the AGLM era stone dead, but I never really liked it from first listen tbh.

WNGST sounds *a bit* like a Spice Girls b-side. It’s kind of awkward that it’s about the girls having her back, but Spice Girls had obviously disintegrated at this point. The temu spice girls backing dancers (soldiering through without much choreography) don’t help on that score either.

 

So for me, the campaign *slightly* undermined Emma as a solo artist.

 

Edit: *Realised I sounded a bit too strong in those opinions there.

Edited November 25, 2024Nov 25 by McAndrew

Wash your MOOF out, it's nice!

 

~

 

Will never quite understand the fanbase's overall dislike of 'We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (single version)' - for me it's a nice enough bop!! Should be well within her Top 40. :arrr:

 

I’m the same , before coming on here I never realised how much dislike there was for We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight (single version).

#40 Better Be Careful

 

From album: A Girl Like Me

Release year: 2001

Average votes: 6,61

 

 

Just making the Top40, is another A Girl Like Me album track that threads the guitar-pop that Emma was going for with half of that album. It is seen as one of the better album tracks in general, but it often gets quite forgotten. The song was produced by Biff Stannard and Julian Gallagher, and co-written with Ash Howes, Martin Harrington and Emma.

 

Some fans have said they could have seen it as a single back in 2001 instead of We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight. What do you think, would it have maybe turned the albums' future for the better?

 

#39 Midnights & Martinis

From single: All I Need To Know

Release year: 2007

Average votes: 6,65

 

 

With a breezy, sunny and cock-tails-by-the-beach type of production that reminds us of the heights of Free Me sound, Midnights & Martini's is one of the Bunton's favourite b-sides. It's an innofensive track, with muted production but it is nonetheless fun and sexy.

 

It is not available to stream either, sadly...

 

#38 Maybe (Latino Mix)

 

From single: Crickets Sing for AnaMaria (CD1)

Release year: 2004

Average votes: 6,69

 

 

When Bunton decided to release Crickets Sing for AnaMaria as a single, she went in on the bossa-nova/brazilian sounds vibe of the whole release. Not only where the b-sides to that single straight up covers of bossa nova classics, but Emma decided also to give her most recent hit, the iconic Maybe, a bossa-nova rework to fit the whole project.

 

Remixed by its original producer, Yak Bondi, it exists alsmot in polar opposite of the brash and sleek original Maybe, almost like a whole new song, with more breathy-vocals from Emma and a summer-chill-trippy approach. Hence why it was included in the list of songs for this MegaRate as one of the few mixes to be included.

 

It is also this rate's most accomplished remix :teresa:

 

What do you think? Does Maybe (Latino Mix) deserve to be above some of the Bunton's singles and album tracks???

I’m always championing Better Be Careful. The instrumental has real punch and the mowtown sound compliments Emma’s tone perfectly. Serving me pure Diana Ross. Love it.

Edited November 25, 2024Nov 25 by McAndrew

Better Be Careful deserved more here! Definitely a highlight track from A Girl Like Me.

I don't know... It is a fun track but I find it a bit meh... maybe with a cute single mix it could have been a minor-hit on the level of Take My Breath Away. Certainly it would have been a better fit than We're Not Gonna Sleep Tonight thats for sure...

#37 Eso Beso

 

From single: Crickets Sing for AnaMaria (CD2)

Release year: 2004

Average votes: 6,73

 

 

Originally sang by Paul Anka, this fun, bossa-nova cover of the 1962 original is a perfect part of the whole brazilian-inspired release of Crickets Sing for AnaMaria. It is generally liked and one of Bunton's most celebrated b-sides, with its Maybe-like punch and sass.

 

#36 You're All I Need To Get By (featuring Jade Jones)

 

From album: My Happy Place

Release year: 2019

Average votes: 6,76

 

 

When Emma decided to get back in the studio to record a new album of mainly covers, she enlisted her then husband-to-be Jade Jones to support her with it. Not only Jade did the vocal arrangements across the album, but he also jumped in to record this iconic Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell number, making it the second time on record that the two sang together.

 

The song is cute but it flopped into oblivion when it failed to chart at all at the time, the streams are quite low (it is the third least streamed track on the album) and the video while cute barely did anything to help it. Released just after the release of the album, the song didn't receive much support as attention moved to the Spice Girls Stadium tour. At the time of its release, Emma was already deep in rehearsals for the Spice Girls tour, so promotion was quite stiffled for it with only a couple of interviews (mostly by Emma herself) and one live performance (at the time). It didn't do much for the album either as it was already out of the chart by the time of its release.

 

Still, they sound lovely in it and very much in love. You can hear it in their voices and in their videos and performances that their romance was very much alive after so many years. Good for them! They have since performed it at Emma's Albert Hall show and then during her Christmas tour as you can see below. They sound gorgeous! It was from here that Emma was trying to establish herself as a UK 'family pop star' type of branding, where her family was right front and centre in her campaigns as well, although sadly that didn't really work either...

 

 

#35 Something Tells Me (Something's Gonna Happen Tonight)

 

From album: Life in Mono

Release year: 2006

Average votes: 6,80

 

 

Another three covers in a row :cheeseblock:

 

Used as a promo-song during the release of the Life in Mono album campaign, this was a very obvious cover for Emma to do as her voice really suits the song to a T. Coming off the back of the success of Downtown, it didn't do much for the album either as it stalled at #65 in the lead up to the Christmas charts... The use of this track as promo seemed odd as she had much better and original songs on the album. But Simon and the label clearly wanted to appeal to the older mums and grannies to buy the CD for their Christmas presents, so this cover of the iconic Cilla Black hit kind of made sense...

 

But it made the album sound like it was a covers album rather than a new album with mostly original material :blink:

 

Still, we can at least enjoy this promo TV spot for the album, where she sings it near some curtains and then Emma's legs and face in the album cover move creepily while looking at the camera :teresa:

 

No wonder the album flopped :teresa:

 

Edited November 26, 2024Nov 26 by Mr.X

So far, only Free Me has had no album tracks out of the race B-) And if you don't count the final 'delux version' covers at the end, all of Life in Mono tracks are also still in the race as well!

Life In Mono actually charted at #65 not 60! She had quite decent sales for that position too around 13k, would challenge for #1 nowadays :lol:

 

 

By contrast the year before Melanie C got to #24 on 9k sales with Beautiful Intentions and Geri got to #41 on 5.5k sales with Passion. The year after Melanie C got to #57 on 4.5k sales with This Time. Emma chose a tough time to release.

Edited November 26, 2024Nov 26 by spiceboy