Mr.X

Well, I think the general dissapointment is warranted. Most of the General Public and average fan wants a tour or new album, and everyone jumped on the idea that the pre-announcement post was driving us towards a tour or new music - including the press across the world (I mean, it was mainstream news even here in Portugal, on the main news show in the evening LOL! It was everywhere). I think most people were expecting something new and fresh, not just a re-harsh of the same music yet again. This is clearly a collectors' release and that is fine. So many artists do it and overall I think the collectors of Spice items seem happy (from what I have seen) as the CD specifically is quite all encompassing and something that collectors have been asking for a long time. But this just shows that people are READY for a new album and a tour. Its' too obvious and that is what the GP and the press jumped on. Ultimately, they can keep throwing nostalgia releases to their core fans of around 8,000 people on Spice Circle, but it wont go much further than that. It's just sad because clearly the interest is there for a proper reunion. The generations that grew up with them are up for spending money on tickets and albums. They just want something new. Hell, even hard-core fans cough cough are not necessarily interested in this release and feel somewhat cheated because the hype was for a proper reunion. Yet again, they messed up. They went on to focus on pointless lattes' adverts and tv shows and small venues solo shows, whereas they could be easily selling out stadiums the world over and making new music as a group. They have only themselves to blame lol

Neither seem to be selling particularly well, so I could see it being reduced later on. The prices are too high... I know it is a lot of music, specially the CD version but damn it is not easy in this economy to justify those prices.

Also, did anyone catch this?.... (all Im going to say is that I am glad that Geri is back doing some sort of Spice-related activity at least... just why this?...)

Yeah they have been using that in the announcement both in colour and in b&w (I prefer colour!) It is from the Rankin photoshoot. Would work really well as the main banner for the Spice Girls forum on Buzzjack, just saying....

This has inspired me to e-mail Simon Fuller and Emma Bunton AGAIN to pressure them to finally get the The British Recording Academy to certify Free Me (the album) 15x Platinum and Maybe 12x Platinum. I don't know why they keep not wanting to embarrass Adele with these sales, but alas. It is time Bunton gets the recognition she deserves! This e-mail is going to bang!

Wow those are great sales estimates thank you Jay and Spiceboy for sharing Incredible to think they have probably SEVEN million sellers. Quite the feat... just shows why they continue to make so much money from their music lol Stop, WDYTYA and Goodbye being million sellers is RIGHT!! It is true popjustice being served. Viva Forever got some boosts lately so Id hope it is a bit higher and near that million as well. I mean, 8 x million sellers is incredible!

Update the damn Wannabe sales + certifications @-Jay-

@-Jay- I did NOT come back from my hiatus and updated my thread, only to discover that you havent put your ass into gear and update the first post with the new GH and Sweat updated chart runs, sales AND certifications , did I???!!!

can you share the link? yeah, screw their official store. It never has any proper discounts and the shipping is outrageous

Interesting thank you Jay for the insights! Hopefully next year's GH celebrations will boost its sales even more 🤩 It should be well over 1million by now anyway. I see that Spice is also still in print (both as standard and Spice25 as well as vinyls), and I hope that gets a new certification soon as well, since it's been selling better since it was put out there again since 2021...

I go away for the summer and both Wannabe and Greatest Hits get new certifications??!! Very pleased for them. Here's hoping the current 30th celebrations will boost those up as well. Next year will be the Greatest Hits' 20th anniversary so I could see it getting a new repackaging to celebrate. Maybe they will throw us another bone or two and put Never Give Up On The Good Times, If You Wanna Have Some Fun and Step To Me on there too (and remove Voodoo lol)... Joking. They will definitely just re-issue the same old vinyl with a new sticker and a coloured vinyl like they did for Forever 😅

Updated with the The Singles Collections demos, in their respective era and by release date. I think there might be a couple of other inclusions on this list to come from that release but I will do that eventually lol Are there any recently found out songs that I am missing? Maybe some Mel C ones? I have been mostly away from the internet and haven't followed their latest releases much at all...

It is appaling how they treat their 'vaults' tracks... at least Feed Your Love seemed like it was worked on before release. From what I read yesterday, the Do You Think About Me demo is not a YouTube rip but actually from its original masterdemo tape, but there is existing software to polish cassette-rips, and seemingly they didn't waste time or money on it at all.... same approach they had with the Spiceworld25 live tracks, sadly... Judging from the individual girls not even posting or sharing anything yesterday about it, it looks like this was simply a record-label thing without the girls involvement, which honestly tracks.... YET AGAIN... Late last night I impulse bought both the CD and Vinyl versions but this morning I cancelled the order, as I simply don't want to spend money on another cash grab. Will wait for later on to see if the CD edition gets reduced but otherwise, my money will be safe!

Gosh, I have been away fro a while and came back to socials and first thing I see is this and actually I am pleasantly surprised (for once lol). The release is quite expansive and comprehensive for a Singles Collection Box Sext, and you can buy it in various formats - CD, Vinyl and Digital. Having Do You Think About Me and the unheard Mama demo are bonuses woth having, as well as the Goodbye Orchestral, and having Tell Me Why is a super nice surprise. Actually when it comes to their 'Collections' releases, they have always included Tell Me Why (a remix was part of the Greatest Hits digital version, which is probably the most love they ever show to Forever outside the singles lol). Having it on a CD, Vinyl and Digital release with all the excellent remixes is f***ing nice, finally! And I love that we have all these demos now from the Spice album, with the only one missing being Naked. I would hope one day they would release demos from Spiceworld and Forever too! Madness they haven't yet done any demos from those albums... I wonder why? I think the main interesting one is the CD or the Digital, which have all the tracks. The Vinyl lacks the incentive of having all the tracks. Two tracks per vinyl isn't worth £200 (sorry!). I think I will look into a local record shop to buy the CD boxset and leave it at that. Might purchase some of the digital tracks later down the line. The main criticisms are the design - why are they using the same company that did the campains for Charli XCX and Madonna but the most they come up with is this black & white branding? Awful... I don't think it matters too much on the box sets themselves but the merchandise looks terrible... It could have been a much more interesting campaign. Madonna's was full of Pink and Yellow, Charli's ofcourse was that specific shade of Green. All of these colours were so impactful and properly representative of their branding. But the Spice Girls have black&white?? please... And yes I would have loved a couple more unheard demos. They obviously love Do You Think About Me, since it was even sang on TV in 1996 ahead of Wannabe's release and was considered for the album, which means they got the rights to it back then. I wonder why they didn't use any of the other - more interesting, more 'spice' - tracks from that era?... Do You Think About Me makes it the very first release of the Spice Girls, under their own branding and in one of their personal releases, to not be written by them! Madness!! On this I blame Mel C. She is so adamant about what songs she considers 'worthy' of us hearing. She is totally against WOMAN (she said 'over my dead body' only this year!) and also she hates We're Gonna Make It Happen. My God, lady, give it up... DYTAM is probably one of thier least interesting unreleased tracks, boring as hell, so of course Mel C loves it. She talks a bit talk about legacy but then does shit like this (and I wont even go into her solo career cos my god the amount of derivative material she has put out lol).... My only - and last - complain is that none of the girls promoted this today. None. Only the group's social media. Anyway, overall I think this is a positive and worthy release, the first in a long time lol I am going to log off today again and will eventually enjoy the CD box set when it is released. I hope you all enjoy it too!!

Chris confirmed on Spice Circle that the album was re-printed in 2021 and it is being sold exclusively through HMV... nothing is different on these editions just the same, but new copies. How odd... And certainly doesn't seem to be selling any copies based on Music Week's article a few weeks ago lol

Seems like Sweat is finally being sold in Portugal, with the imusic online store and wook selling it. Expensive though! I still don't find it in any other platform in the country though, strangely. FNAC is the main retailer and it doesnt have it. https://imusic.pt/artist/Melanie+C https://www.wook.pt/musica/sweat-vinil-melanie-c/32739717 Maybe they did ultimately mainly distributed it in Europe's main markets and the UK, to get those chart positions and now are distributing the left over stock to other places...

My understandng is that she/her lable wanted to go with the narrative of her being missunderstood and this album was to prove her right, tapping into Brand Beckham and her the 'least talented' Spice. NSAIG - while terrible as a first single, it was an attempt at creating a narrative around her image and branding, like she is not the person she is portraied to be. It didn't work at all lol It works as an album opener, but not as a first single. AMOIO - the 'big pop chorus' was promoted as her proving she could 'really sing' but the song isn't strong enough for that, specifically since half of it are spoken-verses lol I.O.U. - was used in the promotion and was mixed by Spike Stent which indicating it was to be a single. This was a direct 'lets tap into Brand Beckham' type of move because there is no way the song was strong enough to be a single, let alone with her strained vocals on it... It was stupid. She had the hits on the album that could prove she was a great popstar but didn't used them at all.

That's an interesting take, actually, and I think it kind of makes sense. VB was totally into the r'n'b sounds and I bet she was one of the driving forces in going more into that lane for Forever.

YO @-Jay- time to update the OP with the second week total sales from SWEAT hun (and while you are at it just put Emma's Life in Mono as Double Platinum with 899,999 sales and a chart run of 65 - x - 1 - 1 - 1- 1 -1 -1 -1 - 1- 1- 1 1- -1 1- 1-1 -1 -1 -69 cos you forgot to update that as well since 2016 ok?

So far seems like Midnight Fantasy and Like That lead the charge, followed by I Wish. Honestly I would have loved that singles run! Let her do A Mind of Its Own or IOU after those 3 absolute BOPS. I think it would have been a much - MUCH - better campaign. I think overall Victoria has impecable taste and talent but I don't understand those f***ing singles choices. It was the end of her career as soon as she picked those two lol She should have led with Like That to showcase that r'n'b vibe she was trying to do and it was the best song to lead with, followed by Midnight Fantasy to throw in a bigger shade of pop and then I Wish to follow on with the pop-r'n'b sound.

Yeah it does. I have clicked on the 'not interested' on a couple of those videos but they keep presenting them to me lol That and Dr Spice videos which I watched once and never again lol

Oh I could hear Emma on Like That, it would fit well on her r'nb leaning sounds of AGLM. I think the Janet inspired comment came off the back that Emma also worked with Darkchil and Jam&Lewis for her solo album, before they moved direction to be more pop-guitar type of album... I would LOVE to hear what she made with them!

Oofff nowadays, no. But back then? For sure... Record labels would invest quite a lot if they expected the artists to be big. NSAIG video was super expensive, let alone the extensive massive campaign around it. She was coming off the biggest band the UK had seen since the Beatles and she was Miss Beckham too, most famous woman in the UK! Also, remember their solo contracts were signed before Forever era was a flop, while they were still the biggest girlband in the world. So they probably were expecting her to sell big when they signed her... She worked with a lot of producers and writers who were also very expensive. The 5million is also including Victoria's own advance payments which they would hope to recover from the sales. Thats the total budget of the project. They would need to make £5million in sales/revenue to them start making a profit, from which VB and her team and lable would all profit from. I remember at the time VB said she made £400,000 in advance payments to make Forever. That was before any other expenditure like producers, writers, studio time, promotion, etc was considered. Puts things into perspective hey? So yeah...

I've been quite good this year, actually. I think I am developing into a 'I will only buy music-related items and only if I find it exciting' type of fan. I got a group coin (because that's iconic) but wont bother with the individual ones. I also bough Hot Vinyl because it will certainly be the last ever vinyl from Mel B lol But the sound quality is awful... I also bought the Wannabe Tiny Vinyls only because of how cute and novelty they are. Eventually, I will but a Sweat Vinyl but I will wait for it to be discounted or after she releases her promised Delux, I will see how it all plays out. So far, I don't find the album exciting enough to spend €30+shipping on it (sorry Mel!). If it was available in Portugal, I most probably would have bought it by now... I don't care for the Only Murders in the Building show, or the podcasts or reality TV. It's all not my cup of tea, so havent bothered. Emma's podcast often comes up on my YouTube page and I have watched clips but blargh... It is sooooo boring my god. It seems to be doing well though, so good for them.

It is quite odd. I have seen that it is available in some stores as some fans on Spice Circle encountered them already but you can't buy it online... they did stipulate they would be on sale from the 8th of July so maybe you can order them from then on?... It's all gone quiet though. Ive realised that I don't care enough about these to purchase them. I have the LEGO's and that's enough for me. I don't much know what the point of the Funko's are other than as ornaments and I don't do that with pop culture items. Originally I thought about buying a couple but I most probably wont bother.