Hear'Say Over Troubled Waters **Updated** (Hear'Say in general)

Name: stoffy

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Product:	Hear'Say in general
Date:	16/07/01 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: at least everyone knows who they are now...

Disadvantages: media backlash

Fast-forward to 2005. ITV37, the new digital entertainment channel, is showing 'After They Were Famous #42. Sandwiched nicely in between Denise Van Outen and Ross Kemp, is Myleene Klass: 'We had it all... but then it all just slipped through our fingers...'.

Having only been together 6 months, and with all their releases having gone to #1, it's probably a bit premature to signal the beginnning of the end, let alone the end of the end. However, there is beginning to be a worrying trend in the media to stab them in the back which may cause them to crash and burn quicker than those photos of Suzanne took to appear in the tabloids.

The tabloids have already had a field day when 'Show Me The Way To Your Love' sold 'only' a tenth of the first-week sales of 'Pure and Simple', and considered it to be a flop. Bearing in mind 'Pure...' sold almost 600,000 copies in 7 days, it probably would have been a bit much to expect the same, especially when most fans already have the album. There were also excited squeals as Myleene and Kym apparently had a fight (because no-one who ever spends that much time together has a disagreement from time to time...). With growing speculation about Noel's sexuality, which has been all but uncovered by one tabloid, it seems as though everyone is out to get them.

As pop acts go, they are relatively good singers, and Myleene is obviously a talented all round musician. Their formulaicness almost seemed acceptable at the time, because everyone had seen how they were put together, and the genuine despair of other wannabe Popstars as they failed to get through the rounds. We felt sorry for those who didn't make it (except Darius) and pleased for the chirpy fivesome who did.

Now, they've made it, we don't like them anymore. They're vulnerability has been replaced by a 'superstar' persona, and they've filled up one too many a colum
n inch. Everyone wants the next big thing, rather than sticking with the current one.

It's a bit unfair to start turning on them, but that's the way the pop cookie crumbles. The backlash is bound to get worse, and as the Spice Girls have found, its only a matter of time before the fans start to as well. It's not their fault, and there's probably no way they are able to avoid it. Instead, its just natural progression - the higher you climb, the further you fall.

I hope they can prove everyone wrong and maintain to be successful. However, it will probably only take one non-#1 for the record company to start getting nervous about what 'the kids' want, and think of another act to promote instead. Only time will tell...

**Update**

Well, poor old Kym has left the band, and been replaced by ex-Boom! reject Johnny. Things really have gone down for the band since their spectacular launch onto the music scene. Their last album was far too rushed, and suffered from a lack of a strong first song.

The album only managed to peak at #20 - a dramatic, if not so unexpected, reversal of fortunes. Perhaps they should have released a few more stronger singles before they released an album, their fanbase who had deserted them may have come back.

The decision today of replacing the outspoken Kym (who seemed to be very half-hearted towards the end) with a man is interesting. Obviously trying to remarket them to teenage girls and gay men, Johnny looks a bit out of place amongst the already Motley crew that is Hear'Say.

You do have to wonder if the audition process was all a cheap publicity scam, considering that the new boy was presumably already known to the record label. It is hard to believe that their record label would have allowed Myleene et al to have had a free hand in finding a new band member anyhow. Also, how on earth could they have made such an important decision in such a
short space of time?

Hear'Say will presumably rush out a single as quick as they can to take advantage of their new-found publicity. Another album (their third in about a year!) is also likely to follow, as they will presumably write off the flop that was 'Everybody' (Going to a bargain bin near you!). I doubt if they'll still be around by the end of the year, as I still think that they're flogging a dead and burnt-out horse.

My last thoughts? Continue to set your videos for Myleene's return in 2005....

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