Rachel Stevens – So Good [Polydor – 9872236]
You can’t deny it, S Club 7 were a force to be reckoned with in regards to pop acts from the turn of the millennium. Every single person born in the early 90s in the UK knows the band and their most popular hits and most of them will tell you why – birthday parties. Their catchy, simple, upbeat songs were popular choices to play on the boombox to let a room full of 7 year olds run around like mad. But maybe they had some foresight in them too, to see that bands like themselves were soon for the chopping board and were about to be denounced of their Top 40 throne in favour of more glamourous R&B, hip-hop and electronic acts.
From their disbandment, many members went on to try and start solo careers – one of the most notable ones, or ones that I could think of without using Google to aid me, is Rachel Stevens. Maybe her success sticks out for two reasons; firstly she was my first memorable celebrity crush, secondly her more popular solo track “I Said Never Again (But Here We Are)” features on a NOW compilation which I used to listen to while playing Forza Motorsport as a kid.
Like my previous review this is another track that I do not recall at all, instead I recall the previous more successful hit. Once again, there is nothing wrong with this track – its that electro-pop blend that was ever so popular at the time, trying to bridge the gap between pop and electronic club music. The thing is these tracks never have any major faults, the performer usually has enough money following the disbandment of their more popular act to afford high quality musicians and songwriters to make them cookie-cutter pop songs. The issue is that they are usually not alone, and have to compete with other cookie-cutter productions, and because of this many tracks like this which could have been rather successful hits end up missing the mark, and hitting Woolworth’s bargain bin within a fortnight of being released.
The second track, the defacto-remix of the title track, does not stray far from the original hit and simply ups the tempo and throws in a few extra effects. Throwaway track that adds little to no value to the release. The same goes for the third track, an unreleased track that was cut from the album “Come And Get It”.
Sadly for Rachel she went the same way so many popular names in British pop music go – into television. She has appeared on a dancing show, a few singing shows and to top it all off her song was used in an advert to sell sofas. She and the other original band members (to which none of them saw much success outside of S Club) are planning a reunion tour to replenish their bank accounts and tug at the nostalgic heart strings of the British public.