Nosey

It looks very promising. You never can tell what it'll be like with Damon, but I really respect that about him.

They are a very bland band if you listen to too many songs in a row, but that track is a classic and brings back happy memories of slightly drunken festival singalongs. :D

We know that BMG Taiwan has already expressed an interest to distribute Gareth's new album there. No-one is claiming that platinum or gold sales are the same in each country, but the point of them varying from country to country is that these are the values that equate to a level of popularity and profit making for those countries. But as it's been asked, and it's one of the countries where we have rough figures - Gareth sold over 200k in Taiwan. It might seem small-fry compared to what can be sold in the UK, but on his last visit, he was told he was the most successful Western artist they'd ever had. It was in a local equivalent of the Financial Times that BMG Taiwan turned their fortunes around from being in the red, to having their most profitable year eve - and they attributed that to Gareth's album. BMG UK probably only saw a fraction of that money, because it's 19 who hold the licence to the music. Do you think on American, Japanese and German music sites there are people bitching about artists who are successful in the UK, constantly implying it's all a joke because sales are so much lower? The UK is only the fourth biggest music market in the world. Other big markets are Spain and France, with the whole SE Asian region growing significantly. The sense of achievement in these other countries isn't just about sales figures or making profits. As Gareth came from Pop Idol and many of his UK detractors have insisted he only made it in the UK because of all the hype of the show, then having significant commercial and critical success in countries that didn't watch Pop Idol, is incredibly satisfying. I know how excited Will's fans were when Light My Fire was a hit for him in Italy, even though sales there aren't paticularly high. Marquerite, based on your posts I can only assume that you consider commercial success the most important thing in a musical career, but Gareth has been involved in music, working hard learning instruments and singing since he was a child. He didn't do that for commercial gain, so just because it's alien to you, doesn't mean Gareth might not have prized releasing music he loves above doing what he's told by a major label.

If an artist has a diverse output, then even the most ardent fans won't like everything they've done, and Kylie is the classic example of that too. With respect to Gareth's sales, I think it's worth remembering that even if Gareth's album underperformed in the UK, it still got to number one and achieved multi-platinum status in some countries, including Taiwan, which gives context to this recent posts by a Taiwanese fan on Gareth's official website on the subject.

It seems to be the one most people claim as their favourite, including those who aren't particular fans, which bodes well for the future as it was his favourite single too. As hasso says, unfortunately Mr Cowell saw differently, so he wasn't allowed to release the other tracks from his album in that ilk to back it up.

Thanks for posting that Preston. Roll on January. :cheer: Us fans have definitely waited patiently, but we also understand he has been working on other things that are important to him, especially reading some of the reports. In particular, I loved this extract posted on the Irish McGuire site. I also know that no matter how important the McGuire stuff is for Gareth, his passion for music has always shone through, and I too loved his own choices of music for the last album, including all the stuff he wrote himself. I know those were the tracks that got the lions share of the good reviews, so I am very hopeful for the future.

Good grief. The song is dreadful. The first time I heard it I didn't know whether or not I should be shocked that someone had released a song with such dreadful lyrics, or because it was such a terrible song altogether. The lyrics are very to the point talking about sex, but it's an incredibly unsexy song. Teenage boys might buy it for a laugh, but it's just like a bad spoof song. I still half expect Ali G to be behind the project.

Simon Fuller made a decision to give Pop Idol a rest before running it again in the UK as he didn't want the public to get bored, and to give the talent pool a chance to replenish itself. Even though most people seem to agree that it needs a rest between series, ITV didn't want to go for a year without a certain ratings winner with fantastic phone-line revenue, and a certain Simon Cowell had no qualms whatsoever of taking advantage of the gap. Going back to the World Cup analogy. People get so excited about it because it's only on once every four years. People need the chance to build up some anticipation between shows, but personally, each of these shows has become less and less interesting. It's less and less about having open, televised auditions to give everyone and not just those with uncles in the business a chance. Now it's more and more about making a reality tv show that pulls out all the stops to get the big ratings, and doesn't care about the longer term effects on the people involved. I remember the first Pop Idol and Nicky Chapman explaining that when the final 5 went to the film premiere of Black Hawk Down it was the first chance the press had to get any kind of proper access to them, and even then it was restricted. This was so that they didn't peak too soon, and I'm sure helped to keep them all interesting beyond the end of the series. On X Factor, the individual judges are so obsessed with winning, and the producers are so obsessed with ratings that they have all their contestants doing the full promotional circuit week in and week out.

I bought her record. :(

Traditionally a lot of people would just listen to the charts on the same radio station they listen to all week, so this may just be a sign that Radio 1 is doing better overall, but I also think that people who really are interested in what's selling want to listen to a chart that is based on what is actually selling!

Shakira's sales holding on strong. When are we going to have a number one that sells above 40k again? Just over 30k seems to be standard number one sales at the minute.

Professionally is a key word there. So they may have done charity gigs.

That's because the download was available within a couple of hours of the final credits of X Factor rolling and before the single was available in a physical format. I'm surprised how well Sandi is still doing on physicals. Downloads make the charts fairer overall, but I do feel sorry for the people that are suffering big chart drops as a result.

That's a bit snobbish isn't it? What do you have against the Asians? It's better than flopping across Asia surely? It's a substantial market and the biggest artists in the world are 'big in Asia' too. Do you say that just because Gareth made it big in Asia and Will didn't? Who knows if Shayne will make it in Asia or Austalia or any of these other countries he's due to promote in? It will be interesting to see how he fares in markets where the record buying population didn't see him on tv each week.

Fave: Rihanna, Gnarls Worst: Rooster

Nor me, but in these days with no CD:UK or TOTP Saturday, it's easy for releases to go under the radar unless they've had BBC support.

I think she'll get top 5, hopefully top 3. Number 1 would be amazing, especially as Aly says, Misteeq couldn't quite manage it. She was on Popworld yesterday and gave a great performance. She's not the best vocalist in the world from a singing point of view, but she is very distinctive and her style and charisma more than make up for it.

It seems a bit premature if they've already distributed the album. I hope fans can get hold of it one way or another. ;)

I can't see the BBC giving anyone else the chance to use the name, but with a bit of luck that letter will cause the BBC some embarassment and encourage them to do something in the future with chart music and TOTP.

From where I'm sitting it looks as if you are the one leaping to make judgements without any understanding. The point is that branding groups like S Club and Steps as cr*p is boring and about as uncreative as you can be when it comes to being seen as defiant or whatever it was her marketing team were thinking at the time. Your statement was that anyone who doesn't agree that Lily was right about S Club and Steps don't think for themselves. You said S Club and Steps fans are all sheep who just like what they are told to like. That can't be any worse than hating who you are told to hate? By all means, dislike S Club and Steps, but to refuse to acknowledge that anyone might genuinely like them for what they did, and not because they were told to like them, is the best example of someone not stopping to think I've seen on this site for some time. :wacko:

Christina Aguilera - Ain't No Other Man Jessica Simpson - A Public Affair Janet Jackson - Together Again 3LW - No More Red Hot Chili Peppers - Under The Bridge Chocolate Puma - Always And Forever Madonna - La Isla Bonita Keane - Somewhere Only We Know Stacie Orrico - Stuck JoJo - Leave Mariah Carey - Always Be My Baby Sugababes - Run For Cover Pink - Most Girls Fatboy Slim - Right Here Right Now Christina Milian - Say I Shakira - Whenever Wherever Nelly Furtado - Maneater Sean Paul - Gimme The Light Rihanna - Unfaithful Armand Van Helden - My My My '06 Dannii Minogue - All I Wanna Do Kelly Clarkson - Miss Independent Chicane - Stoned In Love Snow Patrol - Run Beyonce - Work It Out Oakenfold - Faster Kill Pussycat Robbie Williams - Angels George Michael - Freedom Bob Sinclar - World Hold On Liberty X - Just A Little Bit Kelis - Caught Out There Busta Rhymes - What's It Gonna Be Muse - Bliss

I'm looking forward to seeing Alesha. I love the single.

Would you prefer it if we just nodded and agreed with you and Lily? I was never fussed about Steps. I enjoyed them for what they were, but I didn't find them very exciting. S Club on the other hand were far more interesting. I know they weren't everyone's cup of tea, and I never got round to buying any of their albums, but some of their singles were great songs, as well as great pop songs. People might not like that they were put together and promoted themselves and their music via a tv series, and the brains behind the outfit may never have appeared on screen, but it's a hell of a lot more original than slagging off pop acts that were mainly aimed at kids. I really liked Lily when I first heard her music a few months ago, and I got her album sampler and loved it, but now she's showing herself to be arrogant and unoriginal in a really unpleasant way. Rachel Stevens is boring in interviews, but at least there is an honesty about her. If Lily really did have guts she'd slag off someone who is currently successful, and on the same label as she is. Better still, slag off someone who is really fashionable to like, one of Jo Wiley's favourites. Everything else screams publicity stunt.

The PCD single is on the album. Lily is getting loads of hype and all the 'cool people' are raving about her, so it's going to be the cool thing to own one of her singles. On the other hand, it might work against her for the single. I've heard a lot of album tracks now, both on the radio and through searching them out on the net, so I know I want the album, therefore won't bother to get the single.

That was stupid. I forgot she was out so soon, lol. Whichever case, it looks like a good strong run for the ladies.