12/11/2023 0 Comments Atomic kitten eternal flammeIf anything, it seemed to intensify, even after they split. The backlash to her relationship with Ritchie Neville never really went away. Though it’s debatable whether it would’ve made a difference because Billie Piper wasn’t really being judged by the quality of her music anymore. Yet, there’s a bizarre charm about the whole thing that somehow works, though Innocent Records allegedly – and very sensibly – planned to remix the track before release. It sounds like a mid-tempo that’s been sped up so that it’s off-beat with scratchy production added for effect and a rap verse ( “Yeah, that’s right, she’s got the real tight ditty, if you’re getting down, I got the keys to your city”) which samples one of Billie Piper’s own songs ( Girlfriend). Her take on The Tide Is High was certainly…something and probably has to be heard to be believed. However, after being subjected to death threats – resulting in a high-profile court case – Billie Piper walked away from the music industry, and all remaining plans for the album were shelved. She recorded the song for her Walk Of Life album, and it was poised to be the single that would (hopefully) turn things around for her after the title track peaked at #25. There were plans to release You Are as the final single from the album, but conflicting promotional commitments meant a decision was made to preserve the group’s success until they were ready to launch their second album.First in line was Billie Piper. This capped a remarkable turnaround for Atomic Kitten and deftly proved it to be no fluke. Right Now also topped the UK chart a fortnight later following its re-release. It also reached the top 20 throughout Europe, where they’d had a minimal presence before Whole Again. Eternal Flame sold 446,000 copies and remains the group’s third biggest hit overall. That’s higher than any weekly sale achieved by Whole Again and finishing ahead of Bootylicious by Destiny’s Child felt symbolic of just how big Atomic Kitten were by this point (though they had the advantage of this being a brand new single, as opposed to Destiny’s Child whose Survivor album had spent the best part of three months in the top ten, including four weeks at #1). Whatever criticisms were aimed at Eternal Flame, the track more than justified its existence, selling 141,994 copies to debut at #1. Indeed, that same situation had emerged within the Bangles and ultimately led to an acrimonious split shortly after Eternal Flame. The dynamic within Atomic Kitten was not supposed to be one lead vocalist and the rest of the group confined to the background. Ironically, the album version is arguably the better – or at least less disagreeable – of the two because it sticks much closer to the original as a genuinely rousing, lighters-in-the-air ballad that showcases Natasha Hamilton as a terrific singer and perhaps that was the concern. There’s no apparent reason why this should be the case, so it came across as a bit of an inexcusable cash-grab where the only likely outcome is frustration from Atomic Kitten’s newly buoyant fanbase that they were being sold an out-of-date product (this has since been amended on streaming platforms). Eternal Flame preceded the re-release of Right Now by several weeks, yet the mix included on some early pressings of the UK album (and all international editions) is entirely different. The most objectionable aspect of this single is not that it exists but that it commits a cardinal pop music sin.
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