#soon! Part Un - The 60s-00s Girl Band Debut Breakthrough Rate

londonrain

Staff member
The En Vogue song is great... when that 1 minute long intro finally ends.
Well, it’s basically an interlude of them covering Who’s Lovin’ You which then segues into the actual song. It makes sense for the album, but it sounds like exactly the sort of thing you’d cut for a single edit, instead of what they actually did, which was to keep the whole intro and then cut a minute from the rest of the song. I’ve never understood that decision.
 
Well, it’s basically an interlude of them covering Who’s Lovin’ You which then segues into the actual song. It makes sense for the album, but it sounds like exactly the sort of thing you’d cut for a single edit, instead of what they actually did, which was to keep the whole intro and then cut a minute from the rest of the song. I’ve never understood that decision.

The idea I get is it's there to showcase their vocals, to get people going "wow, these girls can sing!", to make them stand out since it was their debut single.
 
He/Him
Who leaves us today??? Which not-so-fresh faces are no longer in??

























ff68fdb3b78e4e3f8e530e610ad41c2f.jpg

#44

Bardot – Poison

Average Score: 6.627
Highest Score: 9.5 x 1 (@Conan)
Lowest Score: 3 x 1 (@Baby Clyde)​

Finally an elimination @soratami can get behind! With this we say goodbye to PJSC, PJOP & PJ00 royalty - Bardot! They feature a heap in song contests here so you could say they have even more of a PJ following (ironic or not) than mega-popular SWV who we just discussed with the previous elimination! Bardot did a magnificent job getting this far actually as for most of the voting they lingered in the bottom 5 spots, until a few of you starting throwing more generous points at Poison. As an Australian, I (& I'd assume @Untouchable Ace) have patriotic pride about it but Poison isn’t really the band’s strongest moment.

Poison certainly has a great beat and very engaging instrumental during the verses but the chorus really lets it down. The girls showcase their vocals and looks wonderfully. All of them looking like sultry sirens, living up to beauty icon Brigitte Bardot who they owe the band name to, but the whole affair is very soulless. The instrumental has all the early noughties clichés (the same way Show Stopper had the late noughties clichés) and the build up never lives up to what it could be.

Many know Bardot were the first season winners of Popstars, a competitive reality TV show which looked at producing a five piece girl band, and screened to high ratings and much media attention on Channel 7 in Australia. The initial 5 piece had a different band member in Chantelle Barry (instead of Tiffani Wood) who was quickly replaced when it was discovered she ‘accidentally’ kept Sophie Monk’s allowance for herself during the show's filming. All this 'luckily' happened while they were still able to include Tiffani seamlessly into the festivities and they debuted with their first single as the five piece we know them as today!

Bardot are to this day still one of the best selling Australian girl bands (not that there are many), in their heyday (year 2000) they were the most commercially successful Australian act on our local chart and in New Zealand, also meeting success around Asia. Bardot did try to release Poison in the UK too but with Hear'Say having a stronghold of that 'made for TV' market, their efforts only resulted in a #45 placement on the UK Charts. Katie Underwood was the first to leave for a solo career and although the girls soldiered on for another year as a four piece, releasing bops like ASAP & I Need Somebody (both competed in PJ Song Contests) they disbanded shortly after. These Days (kiiii), the only member who is truly in the public eye is of course Sophie Monk, who was our Bachelorette just last year & the Australian Celebrity Apprentice Winner the year before.

Glad to have been able to give you a bit of history on our main proper girl band here (The Veronicas were more autonomous from the get-go so their write-up probably won't have too many scandals attached, or will it? I also can't imagine any of you are really wanting the dirt on Peaches, or do you?) With Poison and Bardot gone, it stands as no surprise we are left with Girls Aloud as the only ‘made for TV’ girl group still in the race. What did PopJustice have to say about the Australian Spice Girls?

Zar-Unity (7) actually has it very right, as the girls only got more autonomy with their second (and final) album - Pretty nice, sleek pop, but somehow it doesn't feel like a real band effort. Tech: 4 Taste: 3 = 7 points. Kermit_The_Frog (4) needs one of us to dig up some past PJ contest rounds for him! - I know of Bardot, yet think I’ve avoided ever hearing anything by them. This won’t be causing me to investigate further, apologies to all stans.

ComeOnGloria (6) is still content being our rate’s @Mina – Meh. Saviodxl (6.9) is secretly Australian - It's pretty early 00s basic actually, but I suppose it did well more because of the hype of the TV show than the song itself. Filippa (6) has been defending the girls against Soratami so now we know her score too! - Nice song, nice girls.

Trouble In Paradise (7) says dated! - Definitely has a dated feeling and the lyrics aren't comically bad but aren't all that special either. Nonetheless, it's a fun little throwback bop. Empty Shoebox (8) gives a generous score considering the comment? - I had never heard of this group before we started doing this. Unsurprisingly really, seeing as their success seems to have been confined to Oceania. It's not bad, but it very much sounds like a product of the times. What I'm trying to say is that it doesn't sound distinctive enough for me to want to research their other output.

Sprockrooster (5) mocks Spotify - The irony of having so many old songs, yet this one isn't on spotify. Baby Clyde (3) gives new meaning to harsh - (Barrel scraping) DominoDancing (4) clocks the soullessness - Ugh, mediocrity. "Don't you treat me bad/Don't you make me sad" - FIRST CLASS SONGWRITING! Iheartpoptarts (5) prefers others - They had some amazing moments, but this isn’t one of them for me. Ufint (7) draws an odd comparison - They ain’t TLC, but I remember liking this a lot back in the day. Unnameable (6) ends us with – pleasant enough​




 
Last edited:
He/Him
Bardot’s best songs (IMO) are These Days and ASAP, both of which would have got higher scores from me.

Poison is good but not exceptional.

I can’t say I’ve ever bothered with the rest.
I Need Somebody is okay too. Anything from the first album other than These Days are very 'Of Their Time'. I Never Should'Ve Let You go was okay too. Let's not talk the lyrics though! They have always served 'English Second Language' even though English is the first language of Australia (outside of Aboriginal dialects - which I assume none of these girls speak)...
 
Top