Mr.X

lol I was going to say that it is because quality won, and that is true in the sense of Free Me, but then Downtown is included so I wont say anthing else on the matter :teresa:

Emma's Free Me and Downtown have both been included in the new Now Millenium editions :wub: I know it is minor, but over the past week or so, three old/new releases is nice after so many years of complete draught lol

'Downtown' the single has been released as part of the Now Millenium 2006-2007 :o You can download it here: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/now-millen...2007/1747936582

'Free Me' the song has been released as part of the Now Millenium 2002-2003 edition :wub: You can download the song here: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/now-millen...2003/1704614431

Emma is such a gay icon :teresa:

Oh I agree totally! She needs a better music-focused team that can help her achieve this

Seems like some of your wishes have been granted Jay :wub: What I Am EP with full remixes are out now on all platforms: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/what-i-am-...nton/1750875051

A new EP of What I Am was released on streaming/digital release which includes all remixes and the b-side Weird (Save Yourself). I believe this is the first time we have them all in one place and some of those mixes and the bside have never been on streaming or sale: iTunes: https://music.apple.com/gb/album/what-i-am-...nton/1750875051 Juno Download: https://www.junodownload.com/products/tin-t...-am/6671049-02/ Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/es/album/what-i-am-...nton/1750875051 Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/intl-pt/album/4acE...h637OaUcUSzRBis Will yo ubuy it and get Bunton up the charts again??? :wub: MAYBE THIS TIME IT HAS A CHANCE OF GOING #1??? :funky: :cheer:

Well... we are half way through the year, so may as well update the original predictions right? SPICE GIRLS After what seemed like a promising start with release of the very prestigious stamps, the British Music Experience exhibition and the expectation of a documentary including all 5 of them, it seems like we are back to quase 0 after Mel B and Geri have seemingly fallen through AGAIN. We had a sliver of hope when all 5 turned up to Victoria's birthday celebrations and surprised us all with a now infamous picture - the first since 2018 - and a couple of low-quality phone videos being posted on instagram of them singing bits of Stop and Mama. Then, a news report about them potentially having booked a Stadium in Australia was posted online, and few Aussie news agencies and newspapers took it up. But then Mel B went on stage in Manchester during a talk and pretty much admitted that she and Geri are not in good terms right now. She seemed to confirm that there were no plans either. In her Rosie Frost campaign Gerita has also pretty much dismissed any Spice-related project as she is focused on her childish books, leaving us all in cold water AGAIN. And sadly, David Beckham just last week poored cold water in any rumours and it looks like it is all back to 0 again. The expectation as far as we know now, is that not even the documentary is going to be released since no-one has heard anything about it since last year... MELANIE C Plenty of one-off gigs here and there and a DJ tour in Australia. Is still recording and some fans mentioned she said to them that album probably next year instead of this year Performed again at Glastonbury, this time as a guest of Orbital EMMA BUNTON We had heard NOTHING about Emma's music or any projects outside of Kit & Kin but then Spring came and BOOM! A surprise vinyl release for A Girl Like Me which sold out its initial run. AND apparently she has been recording with an orchestra in Budapest, Hungary, with an accompagnying video seemingly being shot by the same director who did Too Much video. Whilst we've had no word from Emma or official sources, a couple of pictures have surfaced with her and orchestra members, as well as a picture with her and the video director. Emma is wearing a red dress and Fans speculate that she might be preparing to release a Christmas album later this year. After her previous Christmas-related initiativies flopped, I wonder how this wil go? A full orchestra is attached to this, so might be a bit of budget thrown her way. We might indeed have a new Bunton era approaching, at least. For me, in the absense of any interest in music or touring from the group, this is the best news so far (even though I am only slightly interested, more amused than anything, at her doing a Christmas era.... jesus f***ing christ....) MEL B Apart from a re-release of her book Brutally Honest, it seems like Mel is in a bit of a career stagnation. Her show Masked Singer Australia has been cancelled, and as far as we know she only has GoggleBox booked in coming up. GERITA She's gearing up to a new Rosie Fro---Honestly who f***ing cares? She's doing crap children's books, she's gone all Tory-Fascist party support and landed gentry brown nosing, and because of this we're not getting a Spice reunion this year or probably anytime soon.... That's all folks B-)

Said AnaMaria after her mother came, and her daddy came, and then her brother came, and everyone else came to ruin her shag :P

Damn, when you lay it down like this, they are very careless with their own music, for sure. I think the group itself has most of its releases online right?

I think Breathing needed to be released for sure, but after Free Me (the single) and I'll Be There both being mid-tempo, it would have been quite hard to justify another mid-tempo/ballad. She definitely needed an uptempo post-album release, and Crickets was the left-field choice to give the public another sense of more pace to the album. Maybe she should have released Breathing/No Sign of Life instead of I'll Be There as the album launch instead?

Wasn't Emma also with Polydor at some point or did I get that wrong? I seem to remember it was a 3-way deal with 19, Universal and Polydor... Even if 19 dropped the ball, Emma was still pretty close to Simon Fuller even post her Life in Mono era and change of management team, so I dont get why she cant just get them to do something. Even if 19 doesnt do anything music related... Another question would be about the Spice Girls themselves and Simon Fuller/19... Are they still connected somehow? I seem to remember Biff and others alluding at them having new management during 2021 campaigns for Spice25, so I wonder if they left Simon again? IN which case, maybe Simon is pissed off and doesnt want anything to do with any of them and thus, wont move a needle to help Emma with his old company's rights papers over her songs? This is just speculation of course. It does seem rather odd the whole thing... Emma really should kick up a fuss on this. I do agree on your point about Emma but I do think she is very creative, just that she needs the team to sort things out for her, and when things fall through, she isn't necessarily someone to go after that herself. It really seems like we are on the verge of another Christmas era, which could get her on the touring/performing/releasing circuit again. A shame that her best albums wont benefit from that at all...

I agree that Emma didn't (and probably still doesnt) have the best business-mind when it comes to releasing her music which is why clear mistakes such as letting 19 rot with her masters/rights is such a big dent in her music career or ability to have much of a streaming/release presence. She has never been the 'independent' spirit like Mel C. I would say tho that after Mel C she is clealy the most music-minded though, releasing 4 albums and has performed live when given the option. I think it is more of a case of her feeling unsure about going out on her own and needing a team to support her, whereas Mel C has always been driven. Yes, the Christmas tour came perhaps 20 years too late and it should have been a solo-music focused tour, but at least she has been trying, which is more than you can say about any of the others. She went ahead with that tour dispite low ticket sales too. I also have the feeling that Emma would have been perfectly content to just be a Spice Girl full time rather than a solo star, and there is nothing wrong with that. I always felt she was kind of 'ok maybe I should do that too' when the others wanted to branch out into solo careers, whereas she would be just happy in a group setting. But I do wish she was more focused on protecting her legacy too, for sure.

The UK rights are with Universal, which is why the album is on streaming for UK streaming services. The international rights seem to be with 19 Records which no longer exist. For any release to be worth doing for Universal, they need to sort out the international rights of the album. Emma needs to f***ing buy those Free Me masters and make a deal with Universal directly rather than waiting for Simon Fuller to do anything about it cos that man is a wasteman when it comes to their solo careers' or musical legacy. He really messed up Emma's solo career post-Free Me release. As soon as that album was released, 19 Records just messed up everything, damn... He really closed the record lable and burned it all, apparently... What I don't get is why does Will Young have access to his music released under 19 Records, and even Victoria seemingly owning her masters from her 19 Records time (which is enough for her to prevent their release on streaming), and Emma doesn't. A f***ing mess.

By the time the album was released, they had technically released 3 singles... Crickets was the only post-album single. It was a bit of a wild strategy to be honest at the time (even though artists later started to do this tactic in the streaming era). When the album was released, Emma went on holiday for 3 weeks (LOL) and then set her sights on a shoddy European promo campaign rather than further establishing the album at home. I think there were reports back then that the record lable would have funded a new single if Crickets had sold more but that didnt happen in the end, sadly. There were rumours of a No Sign of LIfe/Breathing release, but had that happened, she would have had technically half of the album released as singles. Not bad, but certainly would have felt slightly too much, specially as two of the album tracks had also been included as bsides in the Free Me single CD anyway. I would have loved it though. I thin kthe NSOL and Breathing double single would have happened and probably done better than Crickets with the general public.

Yeah it was clearly a very cheap production, the original vinyl was already quite badly done anyway. If I remember correctly, it was also quite a late addition to the campaign, so probably that made it even more rushed :mellow:

Look, Im excited for a new era by Emma, but I would be lying if I said that Im excited for it to be Christmas themed... But whatever comes, let her be happy and successful in her endeavours, since the group is tied to a bed post by Gerita in the meantime.

Because it is :lol:

Not just new music but filming with an orchestra??? IN BUDAPEST?? :cheer: Hello budget!! This is interesting and problably the most exciting thing coming from Bunton since 2019!!

Think it was the very first confirmation that Victoria was not going to be performing with them anymore, though somehow still attached to the group as a brand. It was awkward as hell though, and the Viva Forever documentary also made it look like the 4 girls where going to be *the* group moving forward, as towards the end you could mainly see images/clips of the 4 of them. This ambiguity was very awkward back then, though in the long run it might have worked well in their favour as it is clear they are all friends and part of the group, just not a 5-some when performing. The GP and the press have come to accept it. But back in 2012, it killed the musical for sure as there was so much focus on them being separated whilst the music was showing a united front. The least she could have done was to arrive with the girls and pose, then join her family. The way it was conducted, it was definitely wrong on her part!

Yep, the solos killed the group <_< I often resent the solo projects for this specific reason

Very true, all of those are the 'singles which got away' from each era and all of them would have done well, imo

Yeah I never understood either, but maybe because Nevr Give Up is Geri-heavy on the chorus? They could have just recorded a couple of things, it would have taken half a day lol and they were already recording whilst in america anyway... A single mix for the song would have done wonders at the end of the summer and celebrate their stadium dates and end of what is still the biggest girlband tour ever to this day. It would have helped cement the four-piece even more, as tell the world they didnt really need Geri to carry on. Instead, they started to look into solo projects. Like, I love me some I Want You Back and When You're Gone (sometimes lol) but these two shouldnt have taken precedent to a Never Give Up single release. For me, this and how they (didnt) promote Forever, were the biggest misteps in their careers.

Damn.. they really should have released Never Give Up On The Good Times, it would have added much needed energy boost to their releases back then. WILD that since Stop, we only had ONE uptempo - Holler - and four ballads... They have the best ballads from a major pop group, not even just girlband-wise. But they are better known for their uptempos.