Julian_

“Fill Me In” about right - think the other two would be a bit higher for me, especially “Music” which I think would be Top 10. That riff is still so distinctive and it’s effortlessly original.

Already a surprising number of issues with the entries haha - great to have such rapid interest though! 😉

Welcome to the latest edition of the 21st Century Throwback forum song contest: I present you with Bop Idol 4! This is my first time hosting anything of this kind, so please bear with me if there are any mishaps! Thanks to my fellow mods for their help already, including the excellent picture above provided by Scene. And as I not so subtly hinted last week, the theme is TV Talent Shows. As this forum very much covers the the age of the talent show, from “Popstars” in 2001 to the final X Factor series in 2018, plus given the name of the contest, I thought this would be a fitting theme. Of course these shows have had quite a lot to answer for musically over the years, but also have given us some very successful acts commercially and even critically. The aim of this contest is to discover some of the lesser known gems that have been released thanks to these shows. So the idea is to enter a song whose lead artist rose to fame via a talent show. It doesn’t have to have been a single, and it can be of any genre. The artist and the show they appeared on can be from any country. The rules: 1) The artist must have appeared on a prime time TV talent show - though it doesn’t have to have been a UK one 2) The artist should owe their career to the talent show - so it shouldn’t be someone like Tyler James or Esmée Denters who had hits and later appeared on “The Voice UK” 3) The artist doesn’t have to have done well on the talent show, but must have featured prominently enough for it to have kickstarted their recording career - for example the Cheeky Girls would be a valid artist choice 4) The artist can be a group, but if so the whole group or at least the lead singer should have appeared on the talent show 5) The song must have been released between 1 January 2000 and 31 December 2019, and should be from after they appeared on the show 6) The song must not have been a UK Top 40 hit, and anything else deemed too well known could be vetoed As usual this is an anonymous song contest, so please do not reveal or hint at your entry. You have until 23:59 GMT on Sunday 29th June 2025 to submit your entry. Please submit your entry using this Google Form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfNwedHP-5u610l0uaw9HQlGwDKbl1CCq31jcUgitqNXSTA4Q/viewform If it isn’t obvious which talent show the artist appeared on, please give details on the form. Do message me if you have any questions, or wish to discuss a particular entry will be accepted: Entrants (23): Julian_ Scene Roba. gooddelta Addy CowTzy jimwatts Herbs uhsting AllStarBySmashMouth Tafty Dobbo Mangø vibe awardinary King Rollo Chez Wombat Cody Piastri Calum Brer dandy* ChrisJK Jade

“Pink + White” and “Keeping Your Head Up” jump out as tracks I’d have expected to score more. Will be interesting to eventually know how many 0 pointers there are.

Welcome to the 3rd thread in this series! As the 1st thread which started from the birth of the charts in 1952 is currently stalled at 1972, I think we need a fresh thread for these ‘80s reviews. Many thanks to @jimwatts for offering to host a series of Synctube listen-throughs alongside my reviews, which should help keep me on schedule! As the Synctube sessions will typically cover around 45 hits I will divide each session into 3 groups of roughly 15. I hope to then review all 3 groups during the week following the session in which each hit was played, so that should be convenient for those both joining the sessions and following this thread. The idea is also that this can replace the session follow up polls and be the place to discuss what we’ve heard. I will score each hit and give a very brief commentary. I will aim to keep the average score in the 5-6 region and use the full range so: 7-10 great 4-6 decent 1-3 not for me Each day I’ll post a video of my track of the day plus any runners up that I give a 9. Only my very favourite hits of the year (3 maximum) will score a 10. I will review double or multiple A sides and EPs as 1, so effectively giving an average score. I also plan to review each song only once meaning that a remix of a previous hit won't be reviewed unless it's a completely different song. I plan to listen to any songs I'm not familiar with half a dozen times or so, though where a single has multiple versions I only plan to listen to 1 (probably the radio or main single version if it's clear what that is). I hope to avoid too much genre bias and give everything a fair hearing. Note that I'm not a music journalist or critic or historian on any level, but just a chart geek with a slightly bonkers compulsion to do this! I’ll be reviewing everything solely on musical merit, so there could be some cases where rather unsavoury artists receive good scores, and of course that won’t indicate support for any of their non musical actions. Comments will always be welcome, even if you strongly disagree with my ratings. And don't worry if you dip in and dip out of following the thread - occasional comments are good too!

As is often the case there’s an end of term feeling with this last group and a rather low average score: fortunately we have an excellent Christmas #1 plus a few other highlights. 9 Girls Aloud Sound Of The Underground 945th #1: 1st hit for the "Popstars: The Rivals" winning girl group and a wonderfully produced, exceptional pop song 8 Death In Vegas Featuring Liam Gallagher Scorpio Rising Last hit for them and I'm very impressed by the variety: this could easily pass for an Oasis track but it's really rousing 7 Love Inc {CA} You're A Superstar 1st hit for this Canadian group with a re-release of a 1998 single: an uplifting and different sounding pop dance track 7 David Gray The Other Side The lead from "A New Day At Midnight": I enjoy this a lot but it is similar to "Sail Away" and the album had stronger 6 The Rolling Stones Don't Stop Released with the "Forty Licks" compilation and their 1st hit for a while, this is nothing surprising but a feel good track 6 Bon Jovi Misunderstood "I-I-I-I-I": again this is quite a standard Bon Jovi track with big in your face vocals, but I think it has a sweet charm to it 5 Avril Lavigne Sk8er Boi I see the genre defining merits of this to a point, but find it musically a little basic and lyrically banal: she'll do better 5 Pink Family Portrait Thematically I think this is a strong 4th single and she sells it well, but it's a slightly plodding track that lacks sparkle 4 Holly Valance Naughty Girl This has almost sickly sweet production and couldn't be much more different from the gritty "Down Boy": it's alright 4 Ja Rule Featuring Bobby Brown Thug Lovin' This interpolates "Knocks Me Off My Feet" by Stevie Wonder: it's fine but as a star collaboration it's very unremarkable 3 One True Voice Sacred Trust/After You're Gone The "Popstars" boyband: the 2nd side is a turgid Boys II Men style ballad; "Sacred Trust" is better but both are dated 3 Blue Featuring Elton John Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word 944th #1: I do like the original song a lot but this doesn't do anything with it other than pass the vocal lines around 3 Russell Watson Nothing Sacred - A Song For Kirsty A charity single for a children's hospice: it's his usual slightly turgid slow power ballad style but not an unpleasant listen 2 S Club Juniors Puppy Love/Sleigh Ride "Sleigh Ride" is a great song but this version brings nothing new to it; the other side has always been slightly cloying 2 Pascal Featuring Karen Parry I Think We're Alone Now Originally a '60s track but the best known Tiffany version has plenty of '80s charm, whereas this is a very cheap version 2 Gareth Gates What My Heart Wants To Say Also the album title and I'm not sure if the words not coming is an allusion to his stammer: anyway it's a very dull track 1 Declan Featuring Young Voices Choir Tell Me Why Only hit for this child star performed with a world record size choir : I really dislike the "Heal The World" style song

1 Sombr 2 Sophie And The Giants 3 Jade

“Same Old Brand New Year” is a really good bit of pop. “Spinning Around” and “Beautiful Day” are both very nice but lacking a little oomph for me.

Not much to add on those 3: we’re into the good but not all time classic zone.

Britney about right The “more than a whiff of naff to it” one too high

“Day & Night” is decent but nothing original. I do think that’s too low for Chicane although I agree he has better tracks. The vocoder immediately made Bryan more interesting.

I find that Mariah performance quite affected and I don’t think she improves the track - OK it makes a change not just having Westlife on a track of theirs I suppose. I really like the instrumental sections in “Go Let It Out” where they pivot towards a Beatles-esque psychedelic sound. Overall I prefer the follow up singles from that album though.

I do think “Who” will make Week 25 but probably not 26.

“Fool Again” is very formulaic - slightly better than the others I guess. “American Pie” is so sanitised with its straight rhythms: takes the dynamic storytelling of the song and makes it boring.

Spice Girls meh Geri rubbish The Black Legend is a really interesting one off; the tinny bassline being the best part

No “Shake It To The Max (FLY)” is surprising, but maybe it will be in the full certifications.

A1 and Westlife - garbage Bob is the best out so far: one of the best children’s TV themes and worked as a single

I really dislike both those covers - doesn’t help that I’m very fond of the original ABBA song whereas I know a lot of people see it as one of their weaker hits.

Well you’ll have plenty of time as I’m travelling back to 1980 next!

Fair for Five. Oxide And Neutrino are a bit low for me and that’s one that’s grown on me over the years. The sample is a terrible idea on the face of it but in the end they produced something quite interesting. It’s still not something I’d choose to listen to, and I think their subsequent hits were better.

Cool thread but yes I think I’m claiming it as one of ours haha. Please could a pre 2000 mod move it?

We’ve already worked out that 1980 will take 7 weeks, so allowing for breaks here and there it could take 1.5-2 years to cover the ‘80s.

Would be great if “Love Me Not” could have a turn, but it will surely be “Manchild” going back by default instead as it’s still way ahead. Of course “Ordinary” going to ACR still hangs in the balance.

She begged me for a second bite at the cherry after finishing 3rd

Yay for another good bunch! I went for J-Lo and Fat Joe. I’m not sure what the latter brings to the song but it’s quite funny when he tries to sing along with her!