I love Baby please don't stop, actually prefer it to anything on Life In Mono. :whistle: :heehee:

I find Baby Please Don't Stop quite mediocre. It would have been a good bside from the Free Me era, but that's it...

 

I really wish she had experimented more and done more originals in this era, because Baby Please Don't Stop sounded like she was just starting to step back into that sound and needed some more space/time to grow before finding the right body of work to release.

 

Im glad we got the other two songs left on this competition from that album though. Proper, amazing Bunton bops!!

#14 All That You'll Be

 

From album: Life in Mono

Release year: 2006

Average votes: 8,30

 

 

Life in Mono is really the Emma Bunton album that is full of 'What If's, aka songs that could have easily been singles but sadly due to the way the album flopped and was promoted, we never got to see any of these gorgeous tracks given any special treatment. All That You'll Be closes the 'standard' version of the album, and provides Emma with what is one of her best and most beloved ballads.

 

Written by Emma, Chris Porter (Sir Elton John, Take That, George Michael ) and Depeche Mode's band member Peter Goldeno (who has writen for George Michael, Depeche Mode, Seal and U2), the song was written inspired by Emma's own nephew. Hence the lyrics 'all that you'll be' talking about her nephew's future and how much she will support him.

 

It's a beautifully written track, mentioned at the time as a potential single by critics and fans alike. If All I Need To Know is the perfect album opener, opening space for Emma to explore her rich tapestry of sounds and melodies across the album, All That You'll Be is the perfect closure, bringing it all to a close in the most perfect way.

 

At the time of All I Need To Know single release, fans speculated about why she decided to release that one instead of the more radio-friendly All That You'll Be. What do you think? Would this be a better single for Valentine's Day?

 

For me, this is Emma at her ballad best. Just stunning :wub: My hope is that one day she will sing it live. We need it!

Such a shame that this beautiful closing track was somewhat lost among the cover versions tacked on to the end of the album. It gives me such classic Cilla vibes.

 

I’d have preferred this track to get the single treatment over the less-catchy AINTK, but not over the fantastic Take Me To Another Town.

Edited January 4Jan 4 by McAndrew

I love Baby please don't stop, actually prefer it to anything on Life In Mono. :whistle: :heehee:

 

I love Baby Please Don't Stop too, actually. I love the production, the chorus, Emma's vocals. I knew it didn't make a huge splash with the fanbase, but...I dunno. It clicked for me, and I do think it ranks alongside her best solo material. It's true that it could have been released at pretty much any stage of her solo career. But. I chalk that more up to this...once you get past the young pop tracks on A Girl Like Me, the best of Emma's material has a somewhat timeless feel.

 

Now, I will say I'd rank Too Many Teardrops and I Wish I Could Have Loved You More about on the same level. I like all three about equally and think all three were the right choices for singles. My general feel is Baby Please Don't Stop sounds a bit more like a lead single over Too Many Teardrops (though I wish Teardrops got a video, some TV performances and a proper push as a second single). I Wish I Could Have Loved You More is a unique thing because I do think that song commands attention from the jump and would be a unique release for Emma. I consider it among her best vocal showcases. The biggest trouble with that one is...I can't imagine Emma performing it live at all. Emma can pull off lovely live performances, but that song's vocally demanding in a way that...I just don't think she'd chance it going wrong. I also think...after that long a time away...it was best for her to be able to talk about actually writing her comeback single herself.

Edited January 4Jan 4 by Piers

I love Baby Please Don't Stop too, actually. I love the production, the chorus, Emma's vocals. I knew it didn't make a huge splash with the fanbase, but...I dunno. It clicked for me, and I do think it ranks alongside her best solo material. It's true that it could have been released at pretty much any stage of her solo career. But. I chalk that more up to this...once you get past the young pop tracks on A Girl Like Me, the best of Emma's material has a somewhat timeless feel.

 

Now, I will say I'd rank Too Many Teardrops and I Wish I Could Have Loved You More about on the same level. I like all three about equally and think all three were the right choices for singles. My general feel is Baby Please Don't Stop sounds a bit more like a lead single over Too Many Teardrops (though I wish Teardrops got a video, some TV performances and a proper push as a second single). I Wish I Could Have Loved You More is a unique thing because I do think that song commands attention from the jump and would be a unique release for Emma. I consider it among her best vocal showcases. The biggest trouble with that one is...I can't imagine Emma performing it live at all. Emma can pull off lovely live performances, but that song's vocally demanding in a way that...I just don't think she'd chance it going wrong. I also think...after that long a time away...it was best for her to be able to talk about actually writing her comeback single herself.

 

I understand where you are coming from, but Baby Please Don't Stop was too safe/expected from Emma so it was met with a shrug. As much as Too Many Teardrops would have been a challenge, at least it was more interesting as a single so it could have at least made more of a mark, in my opinion...

 

I would have LOVED IT if she had performed TMT and I Wish live on TV or in a few gigs. Now THAT would have been worthwhile as an era lol

I don't recall the fanbase mostly being meh about Baby Please Don't Stop! Maybe I missed the mood on Spice Circle but I tend to avoid that place like the plague anyway :whistle:

#13 Take My Breath Away

 

From album: A Girl Like Me

Release year: 2001

UK charts: #5

UK sales: 90,281 (as of 2020)

UK chart run: 05-14-25-38-48-51-48-45-56-Out-182-Out-101-142-Out-157-Out-193-177-Out

Average votes: 8,42

 

 

:o Well huns I did NOT expect this to be outside of the Top10 :unsure:

 

Take My Breath Away had the honour of being one of Emma's most enduring hits. Her second single from her first album promo campaign - though technically the third since What I Am was also included in it! - the single is a breezy, love-filled bop that has been a firm fan-favourite since it's release.

 

Produced by Steve Mac (Little Mix, Pink) and written by him, Emma and Wayne Hector (from Peter Andre to Westlife), the song threads on the same guiter-pop sound that Emma was aiming to establish initially with her first album. It was initially chosen to be the follow up to What Took You So Long by fans online, and some of those fans names appear on the inner sleeves of the CD single. The single mix of the song slightly differs from the album version, making it shorter and more punchy, and the single included a remix by her then collaborators Tin Tin Out, making it technically the third (and final) collaboration between them. It was also the very first single from Emma to be released both as a CD (with Close Encounter as a bside) and on DVD single, where you can see Emma introducing the tracks including the bside Invincible.

 

The video for the single was directed by Greg Masuak (Emma's long-time and regular collaborator!) and it sees Flawless Spice lounging, walking around and even riding a horse on a beach in Sardinia, Italy.

 

The single saw a huge promotional campaign by Emma, following the success of What Took You So Long. It charted at #5 in the UK and reached the top 20 in a couple of European countries, and reached #32 32 on the ARIA Singles Chart. However, it was as a bit too long of a gap between WTYSL and this release, with a whooping 5 months between releases. I know WTYSL was a huge hit and needed space, but back then singles often were released around 3-months gap, whereas this one felt too long and it barely helped the album either...

 

When Emma did her very first live solo concert in 2019, before performing the song she mentioned how she 'was aware of how this is everyone's most requested online' and the song did get a second wind again during that era. Emma also included it again in her Christmas 2022 tour but within a solo-music medley only.

 

Here's some videos of the single throughout the years, from the official video (one of the only ones available officially) to live performances:

 

:o Justice for Take My Breath Away! I definitely anticipated a Top 10 finish for it. It's such a lovely song!

I thought the same, it should have been in the top10.

Def should have been top 10 !!

 

I love it way more now than when it came out!

I never really appreciated TMBA when I was younger but I think it's an incredible song now and I can't understand why it didn't do better? Feels like it would have sold over 100k if released just a year or two earlier...

^ It's definitely a good song. I think it not doing better on the 2001 charts mostly comes down to...the total avalanche of Spice-related releases that year.

 

It's so bizarre to think...if we're measuring from October 2000 to October 2001, that's five albums by either the group or solo members...and (I think?) nine singles. And to think...there were plans for us to get more than that...if Hot and Forever kept releasing singles.

 

If you were to add up all the solo Spice sales for 2001, I'm sure you'd get a fairly respectable number...but it was inevitable that some releases would be effected at some point. They were asking so much of the group's fanbase by scheduling all their releases on top of each other. Five albums in a year? The fans were mostly very young...limited money to spend...and I'm sure they wanted to also buy records from artists who...y'know...weren't also from the Spice camp. I've always thought the solo Spice run of Take My Breath Away, Not Such An Innocent Girl, and Calling would have performed far better in a less crowded time.

 

^ It's definitely a good song. I think it not doing better on the 2001 charts mostly comes down to...the total avalanche of Spice-related releases that year.

 

It's so bizarre to think...if we're measuring from October 2000 to October 2001, that's five albums by either the group or solo members...and (I think?) nine singles. And to think...there were plans for us to get more than that...if Hot and Forever kept releasing singles.

 

If you were to add up all the solo Spice sales for 2001, I'm sure you'd get a fairly respectable number...but it was inevitable that some releases would be effected at some point. They were asking so much of the group's fanbase by scheduling all their releases on top of each other. Five albums in a year? The fans were mostly very young...limited money to spend...and I'm sure they wanted to also buy records from artists who...y'know...weren't also from the Spice camp. I've always thought the solo Spice run of Take My Breath Away, Not Such An Innocent Girl, and Calling would have performed far better in a less crowded time.

 

The oversaturation of the market with solo Spice releases was a big big issue, specially at a time when the press and industry seemingly were very much against them. Whilst they were still popular as a group, the levels of hatred against them really kicked off during this time. I think people really got tired of so much Spice in 2000, when all of them released solo material and didn't do much for the group. So the group fans got tired and they didn't quite manage to mantain the fandom to support their respective solo endeavours. It is very clear that by late Summer 2000, the UK specially was quite tired of them, and they just kept pushing their solo careers even more and neglected the main reason why people were fans of them in the first place: the group. People got bored, and that reflected on how everyone seemingly turned away after that. Post-Summer 2000, only the occasional single got some attention - What Took You So Long, Its Raining Men - but there was really no way back from that.

 

On top of that, I think the press relenteless anti-Spice campaigns really damaged them individually. That Channel 4 documentary - How Girl Power Changed Britain - really showcases this. The main press tabloid guy confirms that after Simon Fuller was fired, the press went on a campaign to destroy them. And once they neglected the group, they were alone and more easy to damage. The press onslaught on them was immense in 1999-2003, relenteless bad press, bad critics of their music, constantly portraying them as monsters. It was awful and had a huge impact on the group and the solo projects.

 

Now beyond the issues above, I would also argue that Take My Breath Away, whilst a gorgeous song, was somehow seen as a little sister to What Took You So Long. It was the only possible second single on the album but it was never meant to set the charts alight. Not that #5 was a huge flop - it really wasnt! But it was quite stark that it sold so poorly... but then again even a smash hit like WTYSL didn't particularly sell by the bucketloads either... :teresa:

Edited January 7Jan 7 by Mr.X

#12 I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

 

From album: My Happy Place

Release year: 2019

Average votes: 8,46

 

 

Emma's most loved cover of all is her version of Candie Payne's obscure and moody I Wish I Could Have Loved You More :o :wub: Originally a #84 chart 'hit' by Payne, the song was a part of her sole album of the same title. Upon Bunton's release of the My Happy Place album, it was revered by critics and fans alike as a standout song from the release.

 

Emma's take is produced by Metrophonic, and it is given a more pop-rock feel which elevates the original (as mentioned by critics at the time). It taps into similar territory that Bunton is perhaps known for within her fanbase: Moody, darker and experimental Bunton. Just like her take on Life in Mono (song) and her own So Long and No Sign of Life (all fan-favourites), I Wish threads on a sonicly expansive landscape with repetitive lyrics that show Emma looking back at a broken relationship where she decides to leave and wishes the relationship had been better.

 

Even though it was highlighted as one of the best songs on the album, it is however the least streamed song on it...

 

What do you think, is I Wish I Could Have Loved You More really Emma's best cover so far? :teresa:

Edited January 7Jan 7 by Mr.X

All That Youll Be starts incredibly well , but then goes nowhere , becomes dreary and boring and way to long!

All That Youll Be starts incredibly well , but then goes nowhere , becomes dreary and boring and way to long!

 

Just like any Mel C album to be honest :teresa:

 

But in all seriousness, I don't agree. I think it is a gorgeous and well produced track. Had it been released as a single, it would have needed a shorter radio edit but as an album track it is perfect! :wub:

Have we lost undressing you , now that is much better!!!

#12 I Wish I Could Have Loved You More

 

From album: My Happy Place

Release year: 2019

Average votes: 8,46

 

 

Emma's most loved cover of all is her version of Candie Payne's obscure and moody I Wish I Could Have Loved You More :o :wub: Originally a #84 chart 'hit' by Payne, the song was a part of her sole album of the same title. Upon Bunton's release of the My Happy Place album, it was revered by critics and fans alike as a standout song from the release.

 

Emma's take is produced by Metrophonic, and it is given a more pop-rock feel which elevates the original (as mentioned by critics at the time). It taps into similar territory that Bunton is perhaps known for within her fanbase: Moody, darker and experimental Bunton. Just like her take on Life in Mono (song) and her own So Long and No Sign of Life (all fan-favourites), I Wish threads on a sonicly expansive landscape with repetitive lyrics that show Emma looking back at a broken relationship where she decides to leave and wishes the relationship had been better.

 

Even though it was highlighted as one of the best songs on the album, it is however the least streamed song on it...

 

What do you think, is I Wish I Could Have Loved You More really Emma's best cover so far? :teresa:

 

Not the best but it's really good and different.

 

 

I wish is one of my favourite Emma Bunton recordings I utterly LOVE it! She sounds divine and the track is just lush lush lush! The whole album was worth it for that track alone to be honest, even if it is a cover!