ThePensmith

Exactly this 👆 All Saints are in fact a perfect model for such a setup for an older act with a more established niche fanbase, where they can release new music and continue to trade on the groundswell of support and praise they continue to receive for their earlier imperial phase material, whether that's their own tours or supporting Take That or Westlife as they have done. JLS probably don't realise this yet - and if Marvin's comments above about aiming for number one are true then, whilst admirable, are unrealistic and so I suspect they don't - but unfortunately because of how youth centric mainstream media like radio and Spotify etc remains these days you have to approach and work with what outlets are available to you in the right way. They've got some things right so far; great first single and instant grat track, Radio 2 playlist, a few TV performances and interviews - but that's it. Just some things. Steps on the other hand are again a perfect example of how to maximise what audience and goodwill you have with new material whilst maintaining the audience that grew up with you.

Agree with everything you've said Jay. It's disappointing and saddening and I can only hope that this doesn't turn into another Caroline Flack situation.

I don't wish to get too despondent and dramatic - we do after all live in a current climate where, up until less than 24 hours ago, Jesy Nelson looked like she still had a bankable solo career. Nothing is a certainty. But all the factors highlighted above aren't really screaming success at the moment. As I said I hope I'm proved wrong because based on the two songs so far it sounds like an album I will love every second of. I'm surprised as has been said above that they've not yet leapt on the CD single bandwagon - hell even The Wanted got there before them on that one. That said it's only just starting to get playlisted so that could yet be up their sleeve. But that said, I feel like what good will and momentum was around when they first announced this tour over 18 months ago literally fell away as the pandemic raged on.

Didn't think we were getting anything from them this side of Christmas but very exciting all the same, I loved their last album :)

Basically their promoter changed it last week so now it's a photo in front of them whilst they're stood on stage and submitting a question for a Q&A that may or may not get answered. They've said it was out of their hands but considering what approaches McFly and Steps have taken with Meet and Greets on their tours which have either just ended or are about to start it's not the best. Most people have either got a refund at point of sale under grounds of the date already moving twice (as I indeed did) or are just accepting less than what they paid for. I must admit I am not feeling that confident of the album doing as well as I thought it would now. That we are still getting one is enough for me, anything else is a bonus as far as I'm concerned. Just hope it does relatively well enough to justify another tour next year but I don't feel optimistic of even that happening at this stage.

This is having terrible "eyes through cracks of fingers" memories of when Jo O'Meara was on Celebrity Big Brother. As an S Club fan that was galling to view the ugly behaviour of Jo and see the subsequent fallout. As a Little Mix fan, and especially like many believing that she'd left to put her mental health and wellbeing first, seeing Jesy engage in this sort of unsavoury behaviour is deeply disappointing. Whoever is in charge of her PR and management at the moment needs to do some monumental damage control and she needs to promptly disappear and do some serious thinking about what she's doing.

Now B-listed at Radio 2. The performance they filmed at the O2 a while ago was the acoustic video of the single which is now in the ether, as they say: fyu_mU64Q3c Those harmonies though. Absolutely gutted I'm missing out on this tour now :(

I've had my refund back from See Tickets this morning. Not been this gutted about having to cancel a show since I missed seeing Pharrell Williams in 2014 because of tonsillitis. But fundamentally I wasn't gonna get what I paid for and I didn't want my experience meeting them ruined. I just hope against hope that the album does well enough now that they can tour again either next year or 2023. Seriously, f*** COVID, and f*** this year :(

"Day One" is wicked, love the old school disco feel of it! In slightly less better news a shitstorm of epic proportions has kicked off on Twitter this morning for those who've booked Meet and Greet for their tour. Basically it's still going ahead but because of restrictions / no restrictions / whatever the halfway house set up is because of the Government's incompetency now, the Meet and Greet is them on the stage with your photo taken with them stood away from the stage, almost as if you are stood in front of a National Trust portrait. Oh and a fan Q&A thing but no guarantee the question you submit will actually get answered. I get that this isn't their fault and their hands are probably tied because of a lack of clear directions from higher up as to what is / isn't going ahead, nor is their situation unique as I know Steps for instance have said M&Gs on their tour will be socially distanced. But make it make sense if you're allowing full capacity in an arena and only people who are double jabbed / proof of negative PCR test but not allowing a Meet and Greet to be actually, y'know, what it says on the tin? McFly from what I read still managed to find a way to make theirs work on their tour which finished last week. I've decided to cut my losses and request a refund, I could do it anyway cause it was already rescheduled but there's no point if it's not as advertised. I get that people are still being cautious at this time and rightly so, I'm double jabbed and I'm still wearing my mask in all places I need to. But when if ever are experiences like going to gigs or Meet and Greets ever going to be able to be fully enjoyed again?

"Day One" is released as an Instant Grat this Friday:

One non-obvious one that does immediately spring to mind for me is Babes in the Wood. It was an ITV sitcom in the late 90s - only ran for a few series but it had Denise Van Outen, Samantha Womack (nee Janus) and the bloke off Brush Strokes / the Flash adverts in the 90s who I can never remember the name of. Canned laughter and really bad jokes about sex / lesbians that probably wouldn't get made today. Also I've never personally got what the appeal is with The Inbetweeners or The Office.

Lisa McGee has confirmed Series 3 is finally incoming almost two years later but that it will be the last: Kind of anticipated it would be the last series but hopefully they'll send it off in style.

Got my pre-order from HMV in the mail today, been listening to it this evening. Really lovely album this; the light and shade to it, and actually hearing her talk about how she fell out of love with performing and releasing music but clearly finding it again. For me it's her best album since "Counting Down The Days". My favourite tracks on first listens are "Invisible Things" and "Nothing Missing", "Maybe It's Great" has a real "Left of the Middle" era energy to it as well.

It fills me up with such warmth to see them back in the top 10 and top 20 this week. Still love both songs a week on and I look forward to the album being released ☺️

They're no fools, and I think they're aware of how the charts work today and what to realistically expect. I wasn't expecting a massive first week because I'm aware that's not how things work nowadays. It's not like 2011 where everything is so focused on a massive first week and going straight in at number one. Unless you are a certain band of artist (Ed Sheeran, Adele, Drake) that is true for virtually everyone these days. Most if not all songs in the charts now tend to not peak until some weeks - sometimes months - into their run. You also factor in that it's been 8 years since their last new stuff it's going to be a gradual thing, and all being dads with families and commitments around those to balance now I imagine that probably suits them better anyway. And as Jay has said there is nothing to suggest support won't grow in the coming weeks with the video out there now, radio getting more on board and the build up to the tour starting next month. But speaking of the video: really clever! It reminds me a bit of Red Hot Chili Peppers' video for "Dani California" with the different looks and eras. I love the Jackson 5 style one best, I bet they had a laugh doing that 😂

Well Frankie spoke to Mollie on the first episode of her "Open Mind" podcast. There was one Rochelle did where she talked about it as well, I forget for the life of me which one. But I do remember her saying she was told to lose weight when she joined by someone in their team during their first year.

Having listened to certain members on assorted podcasts talking about their time in the band and their "first manager" (i.e. Jayne Collins) over the last year I can't say I'm surprised! I think as well The Sats always got such a rawer deal than most pop groups, let alone girl groups. It always felt like the done thing (not from these quarters, mind) to knock them at every opportunity.

I'd personally love it to happen; more so in light of the sad news we've been dealt this week from the Girls Aloud camp. Equally if they're not all in that place yet, there's no point forcing it. There's nothing worse than when bands come back and you can tell they're not really feeling it.

Video landing tomorrow evening at 5:45pm: NKmKPQWIKeM

I do agree that by the time they got to their last album they had lost their way massively compared to the first two albums. Being signed to Scooter Braun probably didn't help, too many cooks etc. I regret being quite so harsh on them at that time (I dragged them at nearly every opportunity), they've clearly all grown up a little since those days. It wasn't their fault their A&R had no clue and they ended up with the songs they did on "Word of Mouth".

I listened to this on Monday whilst working from home and bawled my eyes out. Out of all the media tributes that have done the rounds this was the most thoughtful and well put together. Lovely to hear Brian and Miranda speaking as well.

NTAs tomorrow, they're also doing This Morning on Friday. They've got interviews across the Global stations (Capital, Heart) and they've done both the breakfast shows on those.

It is lovely as well that they're doing it following Tom's diagnosis for his brain tumour, when he announced this concert on his socials a few weeks ago I had a feeling there'd be a reunion in the pipeline. Gives him something to look forward to and feel positive about, and in a week where we've lost Sarah Harding to such a cruel and preventable disease it makes you realise what's important. Also "All Time Low" and "Glad You Came" were both bangers 👍

I was waiting to vote until I saw what the midweeks were on this. About what I expected for a first week. I think it's obvious even with this week being as busy as it was (ABBA, Little Mix, Drake) that by definition, they are viewed as a "heritage act", much as I loathe that term, so realistically it wouldn't be like the old days where they released and went straight in at number one after a solid six weeks or sometimes two months of build up and promo because of how things work now. That said, it's not even been out for a week and there's no video or other promo apart from the NTAs tomorrow yet, so there's nothing to say it could still move into the top 40 in the coming weeks. Radio 2 and the Global stations have all played it and they've done interviews on Capital and Heart which would suggest they'll playlist it. It is a good song though, classically what you would expect from them and it's an earworm as well.

They're back and are performing at the concert Tom's organising at the Royal Albert Hall to raise money for Stand Up to Cancer and the National Brain Appeal. This was on the email I got just now: