ThePensmith

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.

Teaser trailer for Boyzone's forthcoming Sky One documentary entitled "No Matter What" (after their biggest hit of course) has been released today:

Just thinking today about this because I realised that Björk's "It's Oh So Quiet" isn't on her Greatest Hits album. Similarly, there is no sign of "Shiny Happy People" on REM's best of album. These are a couple of other examples I thought of where the artist either disliked their own song at first and grew to love it (grudgingly or otherwise), or subsequently disowned it and dropped it from their live sets etc in later years... - Girls Aloud "Love Machine". Quite well documented that they didn't like this at first, thinking they were going to be a laughing stock and calling a meeting with their label bosses at Polydor to tell them it was the wrong choice and that people would say they sounded like Busted or McFly(?). Of course it went onto be one of their biggest hits and they grew to love it. - Daniel Bedingfield "If You're Not The One". By some distance, other than "Gotta Get Thru This", his biggest hit, but he said at the time that he didn't want to release it or even have it on the album: "Commercialism, sappy lyrics and meek tunes are the things I hate most in the universe, but I’m not sure even Bob Dylan could get record company interest without hooks these days."

Never say never! I would like to hope it's mainly original material this time.

Dreams of number one last forever: Rachel's third single and the official single for Sport Relief 2004 is reissued in a new digital EP today, including the first time to digital platforms for the brilliant Richard X Extended Mix and the B-side "Spin That Bottle":

I was gonna say, Chris Herbert (Five) and Daniel Glatman (Blue) came off the best I think. Relative to some of the other managers, they were both roughly the same age as their bands, and they had a greater degree of self reflection. I'll be honest, when I'd seen Chris on a few videos of both Hear'Say and Girl Thing - both of whom he managed afterwards - my opinion wasn't so great, and I got why the Spice Girls left him for Simon Fuller. But actually, his self reflection, him saying "I worked with the knowledge I had at the time which maybe wasn't the best" and being able to take ownership for some of what happened with Five actually did turn me back around to him more. I find that more admirable than Simon Cowell, who just came out with his stock "You have no private life, if you don't want it be an accountant" comment, I especially felt that was an illustration of his true colours. And also, proves to a degree how hollow his tribute to Liam Payne was when he passed away. Because those boys really didn't have the welfare they needed around them. I just hope sincerely that any new boybands or girl groups coming through are better protected and looked after mentally as well as physically. And yeah I imagine that's probably who they'll go for with the girl groups.

I loved this letter. So eloquently written and articulated, it shows firstly how much Robbie has grown and become his own man and how he wishes love even to those who he didn't have the best experience with. More than can be said for Nigel Martin-Smith, whose line of defence in that first episode was basically "I made him famous, so I refuse to acknowledge that I could have handled it a bit better with the gift of hindsight because I'm too het up about what people think of me". It certainly shows who the - pardon the pun - better man is here.

The idea of Waiting Game on top of Shoulda Thought Of That not being on streaming is too terrible to comprehend! And that's before the idea of no single mix of Funky Dory either...

At The O2 tomorrow night so been playing my Corrs playlist on Spotify all day. Borrowed Heaven really was a slept on album I feel, so many missed single opportunities, specifically "Hideaway" and "Humdrum".

Apparently "Some Girls" is next but according to Pop Music Activism, nothing has been said about either "Funky Dory" or "I Said Never Again" from Universal so I'm a little worried TBH...

There is apparently talk - although mere speculation at this point - that the production company who did this documentary will be doing one for the girls. Can see that working, particularly if they followed this sort of structure suggested.

Watched the first two episodes last night. Was unsure what to expect, particularly as regards to Five and 911 as they had both done The Big Reunion which kind of covered a lot of the same ground subject wise, and - to a lesser extent - Take That, whose own story, particularly Robbie's with his Netflix documentary last year, is quite well documented. Framing their contributions against those of their managers, but also others - Jayne Middlemiss, Andi Peters etc - was really a stroke of genius. What I actually came away feeling from watching it was empathy and anger. It speaks volumes that some certain people (unsurprisingly) hold little or no accountability for their behaviour and actions - Nigel Martin-Smith for one, Simon Cowell for another, Tom Watkins and that absolute bellend from News of the World they had on whose name I didn't catch but who were merciless as regards to East 17. Seeing Scott and Sean from Five get visibly upset recounting about their experiences makes you realise just how traumatised they still are by what they went through at such young ages. Even sadder that in the time since these interviews were filmed, what's happened inside the last month has happened with Liam Payne. Feel for Damage in a lot of ways as well, and the systemic racism they faced being told they couldn't be put on the cover of Smash Hits unless it was done in a very "safe" and "approved" way.

Downloaded my copy today. Such a beautiful new version, looking forward to seeing the new edit of the video this evening as well.

Small question... I'm just listening to an old Radio 1 interview with Keisha and Heidi from around August 2004. They mentioned in it how they'd recorded a song for the soundtrack of the second Bridget Jones film The Edge of Reason. Obviously it looks like it never got used, but do we know what the song was or why it didn't go ahead? (I'm assuming because Mutya was pregnant?)

Incidentally, I went back and dug out James Masterton's commentary from when Band Aid 20 hit number one. Unsurprisingly, much of the criticism he levied then will almost certainly apply to this new one: https://chart-watch.uk//archives/2004/week-...h-2004-band-aid As he mentions here, the 1984 version was a real lightning in a bottle moment, it was when a record like this had the power to corral for a greater cause and when buying singles still mattered. Nevermind 40 years on, not just the world, but the music industry is in a totally different space now to what it was in 2004 or even 2014. And audiences are - I would like to hope - that bit smarter. I'm quite frankly surprised this has even been greenlit given the 2014 version went down like a cup of cold sick critically and beyond its week one performance. The fact it is for charity does not preclude it from carrying an air of being generally unnecessary.