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I thought it was enough and no more explanation was needed. Anyway I know albums are different than singles but by uploading those two videos I just wanted to show how someone as great as Noel Gallagher thinking about top 40 and how internet ruining music... About albums, their last album, the farewell one debuted at no.4 by the way. It was their last album, the last. Where We Are debuted at no.2 and Gravity debuted at no.3, no difference. I explained if fans deciding to buy physical copies of singles or albums from old school acts even streaming can't stop them. Liam Gallagher was just one example and it was released in this climate. If there was not something like "Ticket bundle" I think Westlife's new record would probably ended up at no.3 to 5.

I thought it was enough and no more explanation was needed. Anyway I know albums are different than singles but by uploading those two videos I just wanted to show how someone as great as Noel Gallagher thinking about top 40 and how internet ruining music... About albums, their last album, the farewell one debuted at no.4 by the way. It was their last album, the last. Where We Are debuted at no.2 and Gravity debuted at no.3, no difference. I explained if fans deciding to buy physical copies of singles or albums from old school acts even streaming can't stop them. Liam Gallagher was just one example and it was released in this climate. If there was not something like "Ticket bundle" I think Westlife's new record would probably ended up at no.3 to 5.

Of all those copies that Liam Gallagher's solo album sold in first week, almost 87% were physical. So he did'n need streaming to help him grab no.1. The same here could applied to Westlife. When you see there is no genuine love from public to streaming Better Man go and buy this single. You don't need anything else. I think Westlife have those 64k devoted fans to buying the single and sending it to no.1 but they don't doing their homework. So from another continent I should stream, stream and stream in whatever platform to somehow helping the lads. But I think it is just wasting time. So from now on releasing more HML kinda songs, not for yourself but for joy of non-Westlifer. I really can't understand how on earth fans here expect their favorite band doing something for other people but not for themselves. As I said even if Westlife release a duet with Dr.Dre there will be no respect from public or critics. In other word: SSDD (by media).

www.vimeo.com/328734211 www.vimeo.com/328735077

Sick of all these streaming, streaming, streaming importance. Just decided to upload two videos from one legend in this game, maybe you're interested in listening to what he'd said and then judge yourself about Top 40 or whatever crap that represent music in today's market. Of course many will disagree (but hey, at least enjoy some good music in between!): Not comparing Westlife to Oasis because it is just insane and Oasis were in the league of their own but there are facts which Noel Talked about them in these clips. And ... Better Man (No.26, 15,224 sales) is the second single from Westlife’s upcoming reunion album, following Hello My Love, which reached No.13 in January, and their 29th chart hit in all. It debuts at No.1 on the physical singles chart (1,247 CD sales), and at No.3 on the paid-for download chart (7,424 sales), but is let down by streaming, in which list it fails to make the Top 100. Wished all those 25 songs above Westlife were better or at least in same level of quality but most of them are not listenable even for 1 minute.

On those days that you said I wasn't alive I was a huge Oasis fan when no one in my country knew who they are. Please don't prejudge and the amount of propaganda for 1D was 10 times bigger than Spice Girls. Both of them were average at best, though at least Spice Girls have couple of great hits. personally I love Viva Forever very much. Their other so called hits were just for teens but the thing about Westlife that stroke me first was the amount of great songs on their debut album and then with others. Name one band which have song like "Soledad" which not make the cut to be released as a single. The song was so good that even Mike Tyson once said I love it despite his love for hip-hop. EVERY track in each Westlife's album has the potential to be single. "When a Woman Loves a Man" is one of the greatest songs dedicated to women all over the world. Because of this I love Westlife. Because they have magic touch with their songs. You can't name many Shane, Mark or Bryan (back then) with this quality of voice. Even when they released uptempo songs like When You're Looking Like That they would outclass any band. Take "Imaginary Diva" for example, they can sing in EVERY Genre. Garth Brooks (the biggest country male solo artist ever for me) said that the cover of "The Dance" by Westlife was as good as his original version or even better and you know that this song is one of top 5 country songs ever. World of Our Own, Hit You With a Real Thing, Talk Me Down, What About Know and the list can goes on and on. They can sing every song, that's the reason why I love them and don't get me wrong. I listened to Oasis songs and then switched back to Westlife. So I'm not your another teenage fan. I wrote one year before this edition of Grammy (for one site that I'm working for as a music journalist) that Kacey Musgraves will win album of the year and she won it and remember that many album released after that but I knew that no one has the ability to top this one. My advice for you is not judging anyone before know him/her in person. That's it for you, no matter Better Man ended up at no.100 or whatever, I think it is the best song released during this two or three weeks and don't presume everyone who loves Westlife is a teenager.

I don't mean every show. I said at least another two promotions would not their hurt Universal. Remember those days when those stupid propaganda machines had 1D week for their albums and in case of singles every move of them covered in annoying way. I told myself please stop it, I don't want to know how many times Zayn gets out of his house just to bold his name or what is Harry into. They created the greatest propaganda machine for 1D, never seen before and will never ever. They released ballads, some as Westlife but they were called "best group ever" which is downright insult to The Beatles, Pink Floyd and all those great rock bands. Many, many times I read they're better than Beatles in very serious UK newspapers which is shame. Comparing them to 90's bands is shameful as well. For me the order is this: BSB, Westlife and then Take That. BSB were always 5-10 years ahead of their time and remember that they introduced pop/rock tunes after reuniting 14 years ago. Anyway when devoted fans don't doing what fans supposed to do which is buying Westlife's singles I constantly asking myself who bought those tickets for their concerts in London, Manchester, Newcastle, Sheffield, Leeds, Birmingham, Liverpool and Nottingham? I can't call themselves devoted fans with unconditional love. Louis Capaldi sold 22k with streams and whatever and I think the no.1 this week will be in the region of 65-70k. So if half of all those UK fans bought Westlife's physical or digital version of Better Man and without even 1 stream it would be no.1. This hurts me. Of course some will say they will buy albums but if you're as devoted to going to their concerts you know in advance that Westlife have 14 UK no.1 and needs their fans and they're not there. So solve this problem for me if you can. I think all of you get my point.

"I'm a guy in my mid 40's,I didn't buy any of their albums but they had a lot of good songs,a lot of blokes probably wouldn't like to admit that though." It's a comment from one guy in a web page of a big tabloid newspaper. The amount of Stupidity is just off the charts. It's like talking about devils of this world. Many people keep saying that they are really love this song but kept it secret and trying hard to be not vocal about it because their friends would probably mock them. One user here said don't push for classic ballads and in next comment can't help but to confess this song is better than HML. My problem with some members here (as they have same problem with me) is releasing songs just for the love of non-fans. Sorry but they don't like Westlife, kill yourself, release masterpiece and they don't change their opinions. Westlife were around for more than 14 years and they had more than enough time to get the attention of others but they weren't successful because many people fears of mockery! They released great album in Where We Are and the reaction was same. I think many of you here wanting to please others and my advice for you? don't waste your time because it is not worth it. Better Man is way better than Hello My Love which was desperate attempt to gain more attention. It is still working but mark my word, it will be forget as soon as next crap hip-hop or dance track become available. If you want to know why Better Man can't maintain it's position in itunes chart or Amazon or whatever charts out there it is because one simple thing: PROMOTION. You saw one performance in JR resulted in better chart position but you should continue it with two or three more appearances. Releasing single after single just for sake of it is like committing suicide. It just take your time to shoot video and stuff and I'm sure many people don't know they released a single this week. They are not fans, so where should they get the news? JR helps but it is NOT ENOUGH. It drive me insane that their label doesn't push for two or three more promotions for them in other shows. They were there before reuniting but all promotions for new album limited to one stop in one talk show. It won't help and that's the real reason for failure of any release. For last words I want to say take your decision: remains Westlife fan or spread negativity. The results of propaganda showed it in case of 1D: they released many ballads and all of them were successful but when you have no propaganda the result is here to see. So in this case you don't need streaming, you don't need anything. I don't know why all Westlife's concerts in UK became sold-out. I'm sure Westlife have more than like 60+k devoted fans in England. All they need to do is buying one copy of the single in whatever format and then even streaming could not stop them. So you expect unconditional love and not temporary one. It is a should/have to case if you're big fan but when your devoted fans stop buying your single you can not call them die-hard. So why those concerts sold-out within minutes? it's something wrong here or I can't understand. Those fans are devoted enough to buy their singles. At least 60k of them is enough to make any of Westlife's single no.1. So it seems many of their fans just streaming and not buying their singles. That's it for now and once again: Better Man is way better than Hello My Love which was just made for one quick listening and that's it. You can be music lover and listen to Green Day's song called Boulevard of Broken Dreams and keep listening to it and then back to mellow pop in Better Man and still loves it despite sheer difference in two genres but the messages of both songs are tangible or you can create playlist after playlist for another electronic, hip-hop or whatever crap that makes top 40 and also Billboard hot 100 the most annoying charts in music, the choose is yours but by no means Better Man and classic westlife ballads are failure regardless of their chart positions.

Jay, you're the shining star in this forum and I have a lot of respect for you because you know the game. Cheryl was not the best and most talented singer in Girls Aloud. Nadine was by far the most talented and Cheryl was no.3 or 4. I think The Flood and Fight for This Life were very good pop songs, though the latter beat Westlife's brilliant cover of What About Now purely because there was a love rat (Ashley Cole, her husband back then) and the whole nation had sympathy for her. Yes, she has 5 Uk no.1 singles and 2 no.1 albums which is quite remarkable given the fact that she really can't sing live properly. You know that for her comeback single she even couldn't pretend to singing live and it was all miming. She is not the kind of act to be compared to Westlife because even with pure sales the success of the lads were pretty unmatched before Take That reuniting. I'm a massive fan of Oasis, so lets clear the air and you know that it is almost impossible to beat them in album chart when they release something like Greatest Hits in Stop the Clocks but Westlife did it. I'm not sure even Take That would came victorious on that special week with battles of three legendary bands and one band they called this or that but Westlife did it. Because of this and many things you can't compare Westlife to Cheryl. Cheryl can't release a proper album with almost 2 million copies of sales, Let alone two or three and you know how many of Westlife's albums passed 1 million mark. If Cheryl had the ability to doing this she could do that in non-streaming era but she could not. I want to tell you something, it is no-brainer that electronic music or electronic-influence music doing incredibly well in the chart nowadays but still you have Liam Gallagher with his traditional fans that make his first solo album one of the best selling albums of last year because it has so much quality and the quality of songs were brilliant and you have his brother (who I love the most) with two great albums and successful chart run and third album which was heavily changed towards electronic music and many fans didn't like it, me included. So there is a question: do you want to change your inner ability and change your face to be like other people? I'm sick of American music because it is overloaded by crap hip-hop and electronic tracks. All the songs looks the same. You can't distinct the acts. Do you want this or to be stick to your guns and evolving your music? I think drastic changes leading to what we saw in Noel's third album because he was not himself anymore. In case of Westlife if you (or any user here) want ultra-modern songs and drastic changes I think it leads to tragedy unless you're John Lennon. I think Hello My Love was a good song but my main problem with this song is lack of depth and it is way cheesy. It's not good for comeback single. Rule the World and The Flood by Take That or Incomplete by BSB are great kinda songs for comeback. I don't care about chart position but when you listen to them you want them more and more but in case of Hello My Love when you're down and are another moody person and want to start your day with another chilling pop song in this era it is good but not for me than one or two listen and because of this I think it lacks the depth and you don't want to give it a chance anymore. Noel Gallagher is my favorite musician because he is a genius but falls in trap that for so long tried to avoid it: to please other people, to gain more audience and look at the outcome of his band's third album. It is complete failure. Need one more example? Taylor Swift. She was a queen of Nashville and rightly so but in strategic decision she decided to Shake It Off and left country for pop.Sure it brings her more money, more audience and stadium tours, those big stadiums which were field every night and she couldn't become this big with country because many people in the world don't like this genre or never know what this whole genre is all about but the result showed itself in Grammy 2019. She produced her worst ever album (except Delicate and End Game I can not even listen to other songs and I was her fan since day one) and the conclusion of this post: The album of the year, the most important prize in music won by great Kacey Musgraves who stick with her formula and that's all I'm talking about: FORGET WHAT OTHER PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT YOU, DO YOUR JOB. Kacey is the queen of music now because she produced a great, great album without even one filler and all songs were exceptional. So if members here worrying about public opinion about Better Man it's their problem. Remember Westlife recorded one of the best albums they ever made in Where We Are, read what critics said. The Guardian and BBC were so unfair that even one of their writers said I did not listen to full album and without any shame rate it 1 or 1.5 out of 5. So you want to please critics or public? they will forever saying they're bunch of guys singing boring stuff while Where We Are was just amazing and for me by far better than Take That's Progress (without that propaganda). My advice for Westlife supporter here: don't take your time read people saying what about their album or singles. Just enjoy the music like Kacey did it and outclassed Taylor and she is erased in music map after that. I agree that gone those days with 1 million copies or more unless you're Adele or Ed. But I'm sure Westlife will have a huge first week sales for their album and if their label doing some promotion from November up to Christmas it has all the potential to pass half million mark. For Better Man it was wise to be in one show on Saturday night and not Friday. So after that other people will decide to buy it or give it a chance. I've listen to this song like 100 times and for their first single I just give it a mere 20 times listen up to know. I like this song because it is connected to me and that's all I'm looking for.

It is amazing that you're comparing Cheryl to Westlife. Cheryl is nothing in the world of music. We're talking about act with 7 UK no.1 albums, 14 no.1 singles and above them are just Robbie Williams, Coldplay and Take That in 21st century in terms of selling albums. Cheryl entire catalog was less than half of one ordinary Westlife album. Westlife had the power to beat Oasis, U2 and The Beatles in battle of the bands despite campaign against them all over the UK. So please compare Cheryl to the likes of Tulisa or Rita Ora.

I can't understand some members here fearing that non-Westlifers would probably not like it. So what? if you're so anxious about public backlash you could easily choose Calvin Harris as your favorite musician. If he release anything even less than 10 seconds it would be on top of the charts. So why you call yourself fan in first place? Hello My Loved released and it was your typical "modern" song and you're bragging about it like the song was top 5 for 10 weeks. I'm so sick of it. You can be a fan of Grande or Drake of this world and I bet that you won't be disappointed because every songs of them would be mega-hit. Better Man is not a masterpiece but it's exactly the kind of song that made me fan of the lads. I really like this song and I'm sure it will be in top 5-8 next Friday. It reminds me a lot about their earliest releases from first album which they love the most among all their albums. They said many times that the first album is their favorite so please stop it. HML was your modern song and it spent many weeks at wrong ends of top 40 as a so called "comeback single".

C'mon Bjork. It is not electronic but we're not some teenage fans waiting for a casual comment. HML is by no means an electronic music but has some elements of it. Is it that hard? There are many instruments in any studio and many producers who bring their A-games plan. It's not 80's anymore. There are up to eight people working on one track for normal artists and you can see their names by quick search. EVERY ONE OF THEM BRING HIS/HER KINDA MUSIC TO STUDIO. During the process of recording an album or even one track there are so many different instruments which were non-existence 30 years ago. Many of them have overlapping effects and you can hear it on the outcome of the song. So it is big war of words in grammy to put one album in Americana or country, one track in pop or rock and the lack of unity in academy members is insane and many of them are indecisive of the correction of their vote in this specific matter, same here with HML. It is not electronic but not pure pop. Let's put it this way: it's cross-genre track with 80-85% of pop and 20-15% of light electronic music. It is not House, it is not pure electronic but it is not pure pop either and like Zeze I'm looking forward to their performance of the song tonight. Just praying that their label won't release second single in the middle of the week, that's it.

It is not but has some similarities technically. Of course EDM is more than electronic music and it is kinda house music which was the heart and soul of 80's music. If you want to know how hard it is to put one song in specific genre you should dig-deep into grammys. The process of putting songs in a specific genre nowadays is very hard, believe me. I have a friend in this industry keep telling me that each year there are some hard battles between academy members to putting some songs in genres. One said it is pop, another said it is electronic and the other one said it is rock. So it is war of words each year and you can't say who will win the battle and only secret committee members have the authorities beyond any regulation to say the last word. So in biggest showcase in music industry and between so many experts you can't find one voice and magine we're not experts and keep saying EDM, not EDM. Of course it is not EDM but you would laughing out so loud if I say which tracks selected in which genres in last two editions of grammy. It's so difficult because of using many instruments. So hands down and long live WESTLIFE!!!

But BSB sold 236k of their new album and went straight to no.1 in billboard chart dear Charis. Also they were nominated at the Grammy for their first single off their new album which is amazing achievement for a pop band 26 years into this game. Their 2 previous albums were disaster in terms of selling and chart run but the strategy which implemented by a lot of US acts guarantee them top spot. It's called "Ticket Bundle" and works by including a free copy of any act latest album with the purchase of either a single ticket or pair to that specific act's upcoming tour. Because of that I'm sure Westlife's first week sales of their new album will be HUGE and that Netflix/HBO documentary along with other promotions a will be catalyst, no doubt about that and don't get me wrong. My only complain and upset here is the chance for them to grabbing UK no.1 single with their comeback single which was wasted by lack of promotion and so forth.

Of course it is not. You should searching for Calvin Harris and David Guetta in this case. It's not Pet Shop Boys either. Myxxd Said it is and edm track and I think HML has some elements of electronic music and you can't deny it. It's a very tiny margin between pop songs and some electronic stuff nowadays. You should create another genre for it as vague as "Britpop" which was stupid genre created during battles between Oasis and Blur. You know better than me that Oasis were Rock band and you can't attach pop to something as edgy as Champagne Supernova or Some Might Say among others. It was a war between different political discourses back then ended up in creating Britpop genre.

By naming "Change Your Mind" I meant catchy dear myxxd. It's not edm as your rightly mentioned.

Tracking this thread from first post up to now and as I had long discussion with my dear friend and one of the user here (Zeze) I want to say my opinion about Hello My Love and the right approach towards releasing next singles. I will transcribe my chats with Zeze right here and sorry for the length of my post and want to know your feedback: "It is very good that they have a good chart run but it is in wrong end of top 40 for acts that come back after 8 years. Three weeks in top 10, 5 weeks in top 20 and two weeks or more in top 30 would have been very good but peaking at no.13 and celebrating being in between no.19 to 35 is not success for me. I told you I didn't like the song after first listen because I set the bar so high after 8 years. Then I told you the song has grown on me but after 4 days I could not stand the song again and you can't believe but after first week of release I listened to whole song just 2 or 3 times untill today. I certainly not kidding you because for me the song lacks DEPTH. You told me it is catchy, yes, it is but I can name you more catchier songs than this one from their first album up to last. Change Your Mind, wasn't that catchy? I think it was way better than Hello My Love so what the hell to recruit Ed and Steve? They're two great jewels in this market and can produce instant hit. For me Hello my Love is by no mean a hit, it is just mediocre, that's my humble opinion. Their labels' strategy was wrong and sucked. What the hell in rushing releasing the song? It cost them dearly and 5.1k copies from overjoyed Westlife's fans counted towards first week which was mere 15 hours. So is it great to be no.2 in Scotland or no.101 in UK? Those copies would make them no.8 if the song released on Friday. What's the point to be no.1 in itunes chart in 15 countries and then falling back to earth three days later? Is it achievement or what? They were no.1 in UK untill Saturday night (streaming included). So what the hell was releasing the song on Thursday? I told you before and will tell you forever, If they were 1D or Little Mix or whatever act with three or four UK no.1 it was okay just to show up and have top 20 hit but when you have 14 UK no.1 and there are two legends of this game in Elvis and The Beatles above you, every single is important. Coupled it with comeback single after eight years in hiatus and there would be insane to not arranging two or three top, top performance from Friday onward in huge shows in itv or BBC. Was it that tough? GN was very good cuz there are so many people watching this show but only one promotion? So what the hell to releasing single? Just Releasing single for the sake of it is not STATE OF THE ART. Then came National TV awards, that was more than good but 3 weeks after releasing single? It just helped the song (as I told you) to remain in top 40 more weeks and ACR implemented three or four weeks later as we are in this phase this week. I mean either don't release a single or do it properly. It was golden, golden opportunity wasted and I'm fearing for their next single. If they perform it on Sunday and then instantly release it on Monday we lose three golden days. Please note that being ballad is not disadvantage and you can see how UK no.1 single keep selling because it is beautiful. All of Me by John Legend kept ruling because it connected to people's heart and soul as Perfect by Ed did. Why Beautiful In White and I'll See You Again have so many views in Youtube without people knowing who the artist is? Because it connects. The only thing that record label done and it was good was releasing two other version of the song and it helped stream-wise. When you're coming back after 8 years and you have two top, top producers and writers you should be above your normal level and not even releasing song that has no quality. I told you million times that the benchmark here is Backstreet Boys. After GH album and Drowning single which was brilliant (but still pure pop) and all the problems with A.J addiction one day (without knowing anything about their comeback) I listened to one US music radio station and it hit me hard. I thought to myself I listened to this act before but still couldn't remember (During A.J, first verse), it was so radical, sooooooooooo radical change in this song and after Nick said Incomplete I understood they are BSB and I was a massive fan. This is a comeback single, this is a comeback album with songs like I Still and I Just Want You To Know (do me a favor my dear Zeljka, if you have time, today or any given day, listen to Never Gone album and after 14 years you can still think it is modern and something not done by any pop band), because they understood pure pop don't working anymore. Simon understood it late but still convinced our lads to recording What About Now and if it wasn't for Cheryl's Fight for This Love (because she was national treasure back then cuz her famous husband, footballer, cheated on her) that would be easily no.1 and everyone compare Hello My Love chart run to WAN. Do you know the reason? Because of that DEPTH I told you earlier. Even today I can listen to What About Know 1000 times a day and still wanting more, this is depth, this is what you're see in Lana's work (remember Adele once told how I feel like I want to fly every time I hear Salvatore) and there are many songs in Lana catalog with that depth. You should have vision, see something that others can't see. You saw it in the work of BSB's brilliant comeback album, Take That's brilliant comeback single, Patience and The Flood, and Westlife's What About Now. They were called cover band, didn't they? But the reaction from people was insane because WAN was brilliant and connected to people because it was so unorthodox by Westlife's standard. That's my point. Being catchy doesn't make song special and Westlife have way better and catchier tunes in their repertoire."