ThePensmith

So this is interesting: Una is performing solo doing Saturdays songs at Mighty Hoopla next summer. However, according to a post on Popjustice, it seems we were agonisingly closer to a full five piece reunion next year than anyone realised. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that the stickler to this almost happening was Rochelle. She's been giving Melanie C c. 2003 - 2007 energy quite vocally for the last few years, on Steven Bartlett's podcast most notably. But her not turning up to even a meeting just to chat about even a future possibility, regardless of it was next year or after that feels a bit... final? I appreciate that people have different agendas and lives. I fully appreciate that she wants to pursue being a #bossmum and influencer. When I went and saw Marvin do his Noughties Baby day party in the autumn, the visible bristle from Roch when "What About Us" came on in the set (she was on a balcony above the dancefloor) was tangible, even though everyone - myself included - was looking up in her direction singing it back word for word with nothing but love. I still keep hope that we'll get even just one more tour for old times sake - which quite frankly, I am more than happy with - and their albums on vinyl one day. I get that they wouldn't want to pursue new material like say, Steps or All Saints have (I say them because Fascination Management also did their comebacks). But after this year especially, when yet another pop band of their era has now permanently lost a member under tragic circumstances (One Direction), I - touching wood and hoping it doesn't come to that - worry that the time will come when all five are ready, and then something happens and it will be too late. Life isn't promised to any of us.

This year according to my stats it's been Christmas Wrapping by Spice Girls

Yes I remember that one well. What probably rubbed salt in the wounds even more on that was that "Don't Speak" returned to the top 75 that same week (I wanna say because someone performed it on the live shows that week, either Ella Henderson or James Arthur?) It did prove however that No Doubt were, where the majority of the UK was concerned at least, less of a big deal than Gwen Stefani was but even her moment as a solo artist in a commercial sense had passed by that point.

I'm very much the same as you Jay - next weekend is when my decs will come down, and I still have the Christmas music on at the moment.

Good question. Definitely a few charts from 1999 and 2000 I'd like to relive afresh again (although Mixcloud has dutifully seen to that in recent years, I love having an old chart on whilst working or pottering about). The specific ones I'd like to hear again that stand clear in my mind certainly in terms of action: - Battle of the Solo Spices (Geri Halliwell vs. Emma Bunton), November 1999 - True Steppers vs Spiller, August 2000 - Westlife vs Bob the Builder, Christmas 2000 (was so funny seeing their run of number ones get broken after how cocky they'd gotten about it) - Girls Aloud vs One True Voice, Christmas 2002 - Gary Jules vs The Darkness, Christmas 2003 Those are the main ones for me, can't think of any more recent than that with the same degree of excitement around them.

I think one that could absolutely qualify for this thread - and actually represented the nadir of the "finding the next Spice Girls" craze that briefly existed at the turn of the millennium - would be Girl Thing. Everyone's quite well aware of how they were formed from Simon Cowell's saltiness / hubris at missing out on signing the Spice Girls. And their first single "Last One Standing" had such a high degree of conceit around it to the extent they again, had millions flung at their launch; front cover of Smash Hits before they'd had a single out, showcase at the Eiffel Tower in Paris, on every TV show imaginable prior to release. First single that was basically "Copy my homework but change a few words" of "Wannabe" in both video and song. And then so hyped up as a number one that they actually pre-recorded their congratulatory interview with Mark Goodier for Radio 1 celebrating their number one. It then went to #8 instead, the second single "Girls On Top" missed the top 20 and then "Pure & Simple" from their cancelled album got given to Hear'Say. People say it was Hear'Say that killed off that four year period of bubblegum pop the Spice Girls started. It was actually Simon Cowell with Girl Thing that did it in if you want my opinion.

Quite a good year overall for me I'd say this year: - Melanie C - Sporty's 50 Birthday Show (KOKO, London, 12th January) - Ladyhawke (Lafayette, London, 19th February) - Niall Horan - The Show Live on Tour (Wembley Arena, London, 1st March) - Nerina Pallot - Fires 20th Anniversary Show (London Palladium, 13th April) - The Feeling - Greatest Hits Tour (Cambridge Junction, 14th May) - Girls Aloud - The Girls Aloud Show (Cardiff Arena, 27th May / O2 Arena, London, 26th June) - Blue - Foodies Festival Chelmsford (Hylands Park, 23rd June) - JLS - Summer Hits Tour (Dreamland Margate, 6th July) - Flackstock 2024 (Olly Murs, Shaznay Lewis, Chesney Hawkes, Diana Vickers, Rebecca Ferguson, Carol Decker - Englefield House, Reading, 22nd July) - Texas (with support from KT Tunstall, O2 Arena, London, 5th September) - Marvin Humes Noughties Baby Day Party (HERE at Outernet, London, 28th September) - McFly - 21st Birthday Show (O2 Arena, London, 10th October) - Aston Merrygold - HousePartyLoveTour (O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire, London, 18th October) - Will Young - Light It Up Tour (Chelmsford Theatre, 13th November) - The Corrs - Talk On Corners Tour (with support from Natalie Imbruglia, O2 Arena, London, 20th November) - Nerina Pallot: I Digress (Marylebone Theatre, London, 2nd December) - Lightning Seeds - 35 Years Greatest Hits Tour (Kentish Town Forum, London, 13th December) Next year so far is looking quite promising: - Craig David - Commitment Tour (with support from Lemar, O2 Arena, London, 20th February 2025) - Rizzle Kicks (Kentish Town Forum, London, 22nd March 2025) - Sugababes (O2 Arena, London, 10th April 2025) - Gabrielle (with support from Tunde Baiyewu from Lighthouse Family, O2 Arena, London, 18th April 2025) - Olly Murs - 15 Years of Hits Tour (with support from Blue and Lemar (Chelmsford only), Cardiff Arena - 12th May 2025, O2 Arena, London, 25th May 2025 and Chelmsford City Racecourse - 6th July 2025) - Kylie Minogue - Tension Tour (O2 Arena, London, 26th May 2025) - KT Tunstall - Eye To The Telescope 20th Anniversary Show (Royal Albert Hall, London, 23rd June 2025) - Flackstock 2025 (Crystal Palace Bowl, London, lineup TBA, 8th August 2025)

I was gonna say I remember the hype around it. Truth was though it was a cacophonus mess and realistically, the Christmas number one was Westlife's to lose that year, even with the strong sales of that God awful Cliff Richard track (I especially have bad memories of the latter because our crone of a headteacher forced it to be played in assemblies leading up to Christmas that year. Much to the chagrin of me and one of my best mates who were Music Prefects at that time). I mean a lot of the records I listed in my original post were flops of that December 1999 chart week, no question. Thunderbugs absolutely were a flop given the hype, development of over 18 months and money they'd had thrown at them by their label. The video alone for "It's About Time You Were Mine" cost about £100k to make! Lou Bega was coming off the back of one of the top 5 biggest selling singles and number ones of the year (even if it was just "Mambo No. 5" with a slightly different melody), so more was expected of him. Even Eiffel 65 managed another top 3 hit! As for Enrique, I think the problem was that "Bailamos" was a fantastic single but everything else on that first English language album of his was just a derivative of it. Not to mention that the whole Latino flavoured sound largely sold more in the lighter, warmer months - the first release of Santana and Rob Thomas' "Smooth" is a great case in point actually. Missed the top 40 altogether - in fact barely made the top 75 - in October 1999, but then the reissue came out in the following spring 2000 and it was a much bigger hit.

I definitely think - or at least hope - that Jade will absolutely smash it with her album next year. She deserves to with all the major pop girl energy she's been serving us!

Jon was on the first of several Celebrity Mastermind episodes tonight playing for British Heart Foundation. His specialist subject was the sitcom Nighty Night! 4-2qUsBBIp4

Beautiful performance on Strictly on Christmas Day ☺️🎄❄️✨️ I definitely think this being released under 19 is a precursor to more music coming in 2025 - at least I hope it is!

I don't think any of the songs featured in it have charted yet, but I do wonder if Robbie Williams will get a second wind similar to how Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Natasha Bedingfield did at the start of this year with his new Better Man biopic now out in cinemas. It's had really good reviews already and I'm planning on seeing it myself come January. There is one song off it out already called "Forbidden Road", although a lot of people who've seen the film have said "She's The One" and "Rock DJ" feature in two key scenes so they might be more likely to see a return?

I mean there's loads of examples I can think of, but the one that always stands out in my mind is one chart week in December 1999 when CD singles were at their height still. Mainly because the release schedule on that week was so intensely rammed with new releases. There's been a lot of debate online about it since, maybe because it was the last week before the Christmas chart week that year, maybe because of the whole worries about the Millennium bug thing which had everyone running scared (which ultimately proved unfounded), but many of the acts in question had had either number ones or top 10s with their previous releases and badly underperformed: - B*Witched feat. Ladysmith Black Mambazo, "I Shall Be There", #13 (previous single, "Jesse Hold On", #4) - Tom Jones and Cerys Matthews, "Baby It's Cold Outside", #17 (previous single, "Burning Down The House" with the Cardigans, #7) - TLC, "Dear Lie", #32 (previous single, "Unpretty", #6) - Thunderbugs, "It's About Time You Were Mine", #43 (previous single, "Friends Forever", #5) - Enrique Iglesias, "Rhythm Divine", #45 (previous single, "Bailamos", #4) - Bryan Adams, "The Best of Me", #47 (previous single, "Cloud Number 9", #6) - Lou Bega, "I Got A Girl", #55 (previous single, "Mambo No. 5", #1) - Lenny Kravitz, "Black Velveteen", #83 (previous single, "Fly Away", #1) It then basically served as a cautionary tale about timing the release of your single in the middle of the Christmas rush as it was back then. In the case of bands like Thunderbugs, who had had millions poured into their launch with their first single, it marked the moment that Epic Records dropped them and didn't even release their debut album here (except on MiniDisc. It did get a release on CD in Europe, however. I have a copy and it's a good album, just poorly timed). B*Witched were already on a bit of a come down after the performance of "Jesse Hold On" following four number ones but "I Shall Be There" missing the top 10 and then "Jump Down" their next single also missing the top 10 sent them into a tailspin they never recovered from that led to them being dropped and splitting. Enrique Iglesias flopping meant his next US single, "Be With You", which was number one in the States, was passed on for release entirely in the UK. It wasn't until "Hero" that he got another shot (aside from his Whitney Houston duet). Most of the others on that list however, survived - Bryan Adams' next single with Chicane was a number one ("Don't Give Up"), likewise Tom Jones had more hits in the year that followed that went top 10 off his Reload album that sold by the truckload (and "Baby It's Cold Outside" still gets played on what's left of the music channels every Christmas, even if it gives me the major ick).

Annoyingly can't link to the post as it's sponsored, but spotted on my social feeds this morning that Sonia Clarke - aka DJ and singer Sonique - is announcing something very soon for 2025 to mark the fact that it will be the 25th anniversary of her breakthrough hit "It Feels So Good". The story behind this one was fascinating - first released in 1998 when it only made the top 30, a subsequent lift in its success with DJs in America led to it being re-released here in May 2000, where it stayed at number one for three weeks, one of only two records to do that in the whole of the year. Her other two big top 10 hits of that year were "Sky" (#2 in September) and her cover of Nina Simone's "I Put A Spell On You" (#8 in December):

Well. Have to say. Best Strictly final ever for me. Didn't care much for Tasha, but JB, Chris and Sarah were definitely everyone I wanted in until the end and they were. Chris very deserving winner, I called it right at the launch show that he'd surprise people and be in it until the end. I thought his Waltz and Couples Choice were brilliant!

I foresee a couple of things happening, namely: 1) Wham being number one on Friday. It's all but a foregone conclusion. 2) A change in rules happening after this year. I know I've said it every year for the last five or six years, but it does feel like this will be the year to prompt change for next year. Most likely, I foresee OCC allowing Christmas songs released inside the last three years to chart, and a situation where either they are A) yeeted to perma-ACR with a much reduced sales to stream ratio unless they are specifically requested for a reset to SCR by the label or B) all Christmas songs over 3 years old have their own separate chart. They are no fools and are well aware that the Christmas chart is one of the strongest marketing tools at its disposal still, and the one that Joe Public still largely pays attention to and talks about and remembers. To make it matter again, and to reverse years of negative feeling about what happens from November onwards because of DSP monopoly and passive sheep streaming, they will need to take action.

You're quite right Jay, they're well established enough now that their label has a got more realistic view of who's investing in these reissues we've had so far. Record labels have their idiotic moments true, but there is still common sense at play. I think it was middle of January this year we got the announcement about What Will The Neighbours Say so I fully expect we'll get it around then if they're going for a March release with Chemistry.

#4 in my top artists on Spotify Wrapped. "Natural" was at #14 and "Two In A Million (Boyfriends and Birthdays Version)" was at #22.

Top Artist of the Year on my Spotify Wrapped too - Wake Me Up was my most played of theirs (#28 overall. My post played was Billie Piper, "Honey To The Bee"!)

If I'm a betting man I'd say they're probably saving it for next Christmas more than likely after the Chemistry 20th anniversary release. If memory serves me correctly, something similar happened with All Saints' first album and The Corrs' Talk On Corners appearing on vinyl, they were both initially on the release list for National Album Day last year but then were removed and have both come out this year instead. Nothing to panic about just yet anyway.

Murs has dropped a small screen recording on his Insta Stories today of him typing out an iPhone note saying the following: "ALBUM 8 : 2025 😜" I do wonder if he'll go for Q1 or Q2 this time to release?

Yeah Wretch is a good shout. To that end as well, Tinchy Stryder and Chipmunk probably also fit under this; massive success and number ones left right and centre in 2009. Both then returned with follow ups either 2010 or 2011 but bar Chipmunk ("Champion" with Chris Brown) neither had hits or success to the same scale as previously. I actually saw Tinchy just last year supporting JLS. He was awesome!

Yeah didn't expect it would chart on the main one. It did however reach the following positions: #34: Official Album Sales Chart / Official Physical Albums Chart #71: Official Album Downloads Chart #5: Official Record Store Chart #11: Official Independent Albums Chart She is also confirmed to be supporting Texas at some of their summer shows next year!

Tony Mortimer performed Stay Another Day at Magic Radio's Christmas Live event last weekend with Blue: The Nordoff Robbins Christmas concert he is performing the song at a week on Tuesday will also be the last time he ever performs the song in public according to this new interview with NME: https://www.nme.com/features/music-intervie...nd-blur-3815842

I was gonna say I doubt very highly given Ronan's feelings on the matter that he's been quite vocal about in recent years, I don't get a feeling like they'd do anything again. That said, this year is now 30 years - to this very week in fact - since "Love Me For A Reason" came out and next year is the 30th anniversary of "Said & Done", their first album, so who knows? After how he came across in the Boybands Forever documentary, I'm fully anticipating Louis Walsh to be a bit of a wazzock again, but then that's not unexpected.