19 Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent

avg: 6.86

👑 Pop Royalty: 10 (...ready for it), 9 (Scene, Viper*, Jack)

❌ Pop Flop: 4 (Billy., Julian_), 5 (Roba, lewistgreen, Chez Wombat)

Surprise, it's time... to reveal Kelly Clarkson at #19! 'Miss Independent' received an average of 6.86 and is the first song to drop out without any sub-4 scores.

'Miss Independent' was Clarkson's first release post-American Idol victory and the lead from her Thankful album. The track was shopped around, chopped and changed before landing in her hands. An early version called 'Miss Independence' was originally offered to Destiny's Child, but they turned it down. This was probably a wise move when they already had a song called 'Independent Women'!

'Miss Independent' is often compared to Christina Aguilera and with good reason - as it was then passed on to her, with the intention of being included on Stripped. Aguilera helped to re-work the song and has a writing credit, but it did not have a bridge while it was still with her. 'Miss Independent' then reached Kelly Clarkson's people and she wrote the bridge, giving her some singer-songwriter street cred after her talent show beginnings. The behind-the-scenes situation sounded messy, as the song changed hands without much transparency; Aguilera's previous involvement was kept from Clarkson until she received the linear notes for her album, plus Christina was reportedly not pleased about the situation - although later praised Kelly's talents. But both ended up having a pretty great year in the end - with 'Miss Independent' and Christina's 'Beautiful' both receiving nominations for a Best Pop Female Vocal Performance Grammy at the 2004 ceremony, eventually won by the latter.

Kelly's American Idol coronation single 'A Moment Like This' was not released in the U.K. (later becoming a #1 for Leona Lewis here instead when it was recycled for her own talent show victory) so 'Miss Independent' was her first hit on the U.K. Singles Chart, making #6. It was track #18 on Pop Princesses, sandwiched between recently departed Hilary and Sophie Ellis-Bextor.

...ready for it felt a connection with 'Miss Independent', she fell in love, awarding it a generous 10 score. Meanwhile, unless I miscalculated, Billy. and Julian_ felt most jaded about this Kelly single, giving it a score of 4.

As a huge Kelly fan, this isn’t a fave of mine! However, it’s SO good live!

I think it's enjoyable to a point, but she had so much better to come.

21 hours ago, Nina West said:

That Atomic Kitten 'Ladies Night' cover has aged like milk. They were clearly going through the motions at this point as they were repeating the same formula for the 3rd time. The lead single being a ballad or mid-tempo & then followed by a cover. 'Whole Again' their breakout hit and then followed by 'Eternal Flame' (yet another naff cover) to relaunch their debut album, it worked well for them though.

Then for the second album 'Feels So Good' - 'It's OK' - a mid-tempo track (a solid one) and then 'The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)' (one of their better covers) & album release. Again this worked out for them & plus it helped that the 'FSG' album was packed with gems.

Finally we have 'If You Come To Me' (yet another slow plodder), but felt way too safe and then the very basic 'Ladies Night', the formula was stale by this point and it didn't help that their 3rd album was very weak and unmemorable. If they did this for a 4th time, it would have seen even further diminishing returns & can see why they split up.

I know it's not the girls fault, it was down to the record label who just more 'Whole Again'.

I would disagree with the albums bit, Ladies Night for me is a great album with questionable single choices (and title). I still very regularly play Believer, Nothing In The World, I Won't Be There, Be With You, Always Be My Baby and Don't Go Breaking My Heart. Some really lovely ballad moments on there and mid-tempos.

On the other hand I feel that they got the singles spot on with Feels So Good, with the exception of the Kylie co-write title track, which should have been at least a a double a somewhere, but apart from that and Walking On The Water, the rest of the album does absolutely nothing for me.

The debut is still a great pop album, even though several of the songs on it exist in many different versions released in different territories so it's hard to keep track of what the definitive product is supposed to be.

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I agree with the sentiments about Miss Independent - serviceable debut UK single with a great vocal, but not a very wow song overall, and felt even more like a bit of a filler when we heard what was to come next. However, Beautiful Disaster and Low from that album are both great.

Miss Independent is nice enough but Kelly had so much better to come.

I've never really connected to that Kelly Clarkson single 'Miss Independent', even when it came out it kinda passed me by, I didn't start becoming a Kelly Clarkson fan until the 'Breakaway' album. As for 'MI', looking back at it, a standard early 00's pop track.

Delta's 'Born To Try', liked it at the time, but don't really listen to it anymore.

18 Lumidee - Never Leave You (Uh Oooh!)

avg: 6.96

👑 Pop Royalty: 10 (Dobbo, blacksquare, lewistgreen), 9 (leww)

❌ Pop Flop: 4 (...ready for it, Padamic_Tension, JosephStyles), 5 (Paddington James, DaTilt, Roba.)

Uh oooh... Lumidee just falls short of a 7+ average, settling for 6.96.

The American singer, raised in Spanish Harlem, released 'Never Leave You (Uh Oooh!)' as the first single from debut album, Almost Famous. A particularly notable feature of this song is the incorporation of the 'Diwali Riddim' to drive the production. This dancehall riddim, created by Steven "Lenky" Marsden, is characterised by syncopated clapping. It was a prominent part of several other noughties hits too - such as Sean Paul's 'Get Busy', Wayne Wonder's 'No Letting Go', Missy Elliott's 'Pass That Dutch' and Rihanna's 'Pon de Replay'. Lumidee's take on this hot sound reached #2 in the U.K. and was blocked by an aforementioned artist, but with a different song, as Blu Cantrell and Sean Paul's 'Breathe' dominated those summer months even more. 'Never Leave You (Uh Oooh!)' was later interpolated in Anne-Marie and Little Mix's 'Kiss My (Uh Oh)', becoming a top 10 hit all over again in 2021.

Lumidee was unlucky #13 on the Pop Princesses track list.

Some of our participants thought this summer scorcher shone brighter than the sun... such as Dobbo, blacksquare and lewistgreen, who all awarded Lumidee a 10. On the other hand, ...ready for it, Padamic_Tension and JosephStyles were happy to leave this behind after all, with a score of 4.

That rhythm was being used so much in 2003 and this track wasn’t the best use of it but it’s pretty good.

There were only two further songs that I rated a 6 and one of those was Kelly while I gave Lumidee a 7 so this is continuing to track with my own ratings pretty well!

It's funny how I still manage to remember all of the big hits that used the Diwali Riddim as distinct songs with their own merits (in fact I don't think I even realised until years later that they were all literally using the same instrumental) in contrast to, say, the new Bebe Rexha song which just feels completely pointless when 'Insomnia' already exists. Agreed Lumidee's wasn't the best song to use it but still a solid bop.

I love the Lumidee song! Although I remember when I first heard it, 'No Letting Go' has already been around for a short while and I was a bit confused why it had an identical backing track

A seminal classic!

I like the track but do prefer all of the other hits that used the Diwali Riddim that year.

17 Girls Aloud - Jump

avg: 7.09

👑 Pop Royalty: 10 (Padamic_Tension, lewistgreen, JosephStyles), 9.5 (vibe)

❌ Pop Flop: 1 (Viper*), 3 (Billy.)

Girls Aloud can jump for joy as they are the first act to achieve a 7+ average, with a 7.09 score to be exact.

'Jump (For My Love)' was originally released in 1984 by fellow girl-group The Pointer Sisters, reaching #6 in the U.K. chart. Girls Aloud's version was born after Love Actually director Richard Curtis thought it'd make a good Girls Aloud single. Ultimately, the original was used in the film instead, but this cover did make it on to the British Love Actually soundtrack. The music video is also spliced with movie clips.

This Xenomania produced iteration of 'Jump (For My Love)' proved to be a turning point for the girls. Their first three singles had a moody sound and achieved diminishing peaks. However, 'Jump' reversed these fortunes and charted at #2, only behind fellow Louis Walsh-adjacent act Westlife with their own cover, 'Mandy'. The positive reception to the more upbeat sound of 'Jump' was taken on board and Girls Aloud's second album What Will The Neighbours Say? would include fun, light-hearted singles such as 'The Show' and 'Love Machine'.

'Jump' went down a storm with the casuals when I saw Girls Aloud live a couple of years ago and is right up there as one of their most streamed on Spotify.

Padamic_Tension, lewistgreen and JosephStyles particularly come alive to 'Jump', giving it a generous 10. However, Viper* doesn't really want more, more, more and felt it worthy of a 1 score.

hmm the hate from one voter is having a huge impact

Never liked that Luminee song - R&B by numbers - one of the weaker releases on that compilation.

I do love their version of 'Jump' in all its overproduced glory.

Not a huge fan of Jump, I think I prefer the original.

It's not a song I ever play out of choice but I appreciate what it did to revive their fortunes as things so easily could have gone the way of Hear'say without a popular song to bridge the first and second albums.

I do enjoy the Girls Aloud version of “Jump” but I don’t feel I can rate it very highly when the original did all the heavy lifting.