Sideout

I’m not surprised Spotify is just a major gatekeeper. I find it hard to believe there’s no payola involved with these major playlists. You look at some of them and have to wonder.

With how well the album sold in its first week, I’m surprised UMG isn’t willing to get her on a main Spotify playlist. I’m sure Drum Machine would do well.

Attitude

For me the highlights are One Track Mind Drum Machine Pressure Til It Breaks Flick of the Wrist The rest of the album is hit and miss. I would keep Sweat, Cashmere and Emotional Memory since they are decent. The rest should have been replaced with better songs. She needed 4 more amazing songs to really elevate the album into something special. As the album stands it’s just an average dance pop album.

This is a good possibility. Maybe they worked on it again in 1998 in Nashville when they wrote and recorded Goodbye.

More than likely it is from the Spiceworld sessions. I trust the date on the CD more than Melanie’s memory. They probably never 100% finished the song since they already had Too Much and Viva Forever. They wouldn’t need 3 ballads on the album. The AI version with the other group’s vocals definitely elevate the song.

The fact that Say You’ll Be There (Spice World Movie Version), Who Do You Think You Are (Morales Club Mix Edit), Tell Me Why (Thunderpuss Edit) and If You Wanna Have Some Fun (Radio Edit) have not been commercially released yet is mind boggling. They are just sitting in the archives collecting dust. Releasing simple things like this would go a long way with fans. Apparently Mel C told a fan recently Can’t Stay Tonight might appear in finished form at some point. If the song was completed with the other girls vocals then why wasn’t it released on Spiceworld 25? Hearing things like this drives me absolutely crazy.

I agree. If they don’t want to release a stand alone rarities album, a 2nd disc of “hidden gems” from an updated/deluxe version of the greatest hits would be the way to go. They could include 3 or 4 unreleased tracks for the die hard fans and some alternative versions of the hits for casual fans. Wannabe (Absolute Demo) Say You’ll Be There (Spice World Movie Version) Who Do You Think You Are (Morales Club Mix Edit) Step To Me Spice Up Your Life (Morales Radio Remix) Holler (Lostboy Remix) Tell Me Why (Thunderpuss Edit) If You Wanna Have Some Fun (Radio Edit) W.O.M.A.N. Go Go Go Overnight Spice Is Back Something like this would be such a nice treat for the fans.

Sweat would have been good as the lead launch single for the album. Perfect single to kick off the summer. Attitude, Undefeated Champion and Good For Nothing should have been cut from the album. They are all unoriginal, corny soccer mom songs that bring the overall album down. With these songs gone, the album would be a much stronger 10 track album. My other 2 favorite songs on the album would be Flick of the Wrist and Til It Breaks. Overall, I’m happy Melanie seems to have a good team in place. Her profile is much higher now than it was 5 years ago. She has been working her butt off. I’m happy her hard work is paying off and the album is going to chart in the top 5 with over 11,000 sales.

Drum Machine, Pressure and One Track Mind are the clear standouts for me. I was expecting more songs on the album to be like Pressure. It’s the only song on the album that feels like Melanie is combining her DJ and pop career. I love how it’s over 4 minutes. It really lets the song breathe and takes you on a journey. Drum Machine should have been the first single. It has an edge to it that Sweat doesn’t. Sweat is a decent song but it’s a little corny. One Track Mind is probably my favorite on the album. Melanie is at her best when she does moody, atmospheric songs. Think Closer, Feel The Sun, Home, Wonderland, You’ll Get Yours, Enemy, Blame, etc. I wish there was a few more songs like One Track Mind on the album.

Yeah her team definitely needs to work on getting her songs on more playlists. Sweat only has 2.6 million streams in 6 months. With the amount of promo she did for Sweat (the song) its streaming numbers are low.

On first listen this album is kind of dull in terms of lyrics. The production is not nearly as experimental as I thought it would be. Most of the song structures sound the same. I’ll give the album a few more listens before I rank the album. I don’t see this album becoming one of my favorites.

Yeah….her streams are pretty bad. I’m surprised Universal Music doesn’t have her new music on workout playlists. Melanie’s first week sales for her last album was 7,200. We’ll see if she has been able to grow her fan base in the last 5 years.

Let’s hope so because it’s not translating into streams.

Yikes! Another mediocre dance track with fridge magnet lyrics.