Samantha Mumba - Gotta Tell You

It was just something in your EYES, that made me REALISE...

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VoR

VoR

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Yes it's VoR's bi-monthly Samantha Mumba nostalgia topic :disco:

God what an absolute MAX TRACK this is. At the peak of (the b-list of) its genre alongside Always Come Back To Your Love IMO.

I still vividly remember the agony when I was listening to the UK Top 40 on Radio 1 and Eminem beat her to #1. :(

 
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I was always sceptical if it was her on chorus. Probably Christina Milian I imagine.
 
Nah it was her. She was a notable LIVE VOXALIST in the days when that was very rare for TOTP :disco:




She could've been the new Toni Braxton with those gravelly tones.
 
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(TBH I'm not sure how live that actually is, but at least she bothered with an as-live pre-record)
 
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Superbly crafted pop song, these days it's just missing that little bit extra. This was mid-week #1 wasn't it. I was gutted too when she didn't make it on the sunday.

She had some good singles to follow but never quite topped this.
 
Absolutely adore this; this is my kind of pop song! The desperate, yearning lyrics make it an attractive cousin of "...Baby One More Time', and the Mumbai-on-the-run video was a great accompaniment to the song. I was gutted too when it got beaten by that bozo, but felt slightly consoled a few weeks later when I was in the forest in Sweden listening to the BBC World Service (our only form of media contact back then - Christ how times have changed! :sup: ) and it actually moved UP the charts from like 17-14, and it all felt very exciting.
 
I always used headphones back then and the weird sound you hear around 1:13 always annoyed me. I always thought it was my mum calling me of I wasn't really paying attention.
 
I even remember her Boxtalk, which was so funny with her being really bitchy about how hairy her body double was for the action shots, and getting all excited to be sitting in Dublin Point Theatre ("LOLLY played her a few weeks ago!") :D
 
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I also remember the joy when this started to make waves in America. At the time it was rare for any British or Irish popstars to get a hit single on Billboard.

I really love her vocals in this too. They are kind of lazy and tender, which suit the song perfectly.
 
She's currently #8 on iTunes here with a new song 'Somebody Like Me' from TV show 'The Hit'. Don't know if it's getting a UK release yet.
 
Kevin said:
I always used headphones back then and the weird sound you hear around 1:13 always annoyed me. I always thought it was my mum calling me of I wasn't really paying attention.
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That's so weird :D I always used to think my mum was shouting me when I'd be listening to this in my bedroom and she never was!

The video was never off any of the channels back then, talk about blanket promotion. Shame she didn't actually live up to the 'Black Britney' tag.
 
Maximal at the time. Its appeal has dimmed slightly, but it is far and away her best song, and is certainly much better than the awfully-overrated Always Come Back To Love.
 
I was never all that keen and I don't really know why because it SHOULD have been right up my street. In hindsight I think it's easily one of the best pretenders to the Cheiron Studios crown, but at the time I guess I just didn't see the point in settling for second best when there were a wealth of 10/10 alternatives around.

It goes without saying that I truly think 'Always Come Back To Your Love' is an incredible pop song.
 
Slave said:
I was never all that keen and I don't really know why because it SHOULD have been right up my street. In hindsight I think it's easily one of the best pretenders to the Cheiron Studios crown, but at the time I guess I just didn't see the point in settling for second best when there were a wealth of 10/10 alternatives around.
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Like '...Baby One More Time', you mean? :eyes:
 
The One is everything

The guitar breakdown/middle-eight is wonderful
 
I probably prefer the absolute joy of "Always Come Back to Your Love" but this is the better crafted, more accomplished pop sound of the two. If that makes sense.
 
God wasn't she just DRIPPING with star quality?

The SHAMELESS switching from terrified and mumbly live verses and blatantly mimed chorus and ad-libs in this performance is QUITE SOMETHING.




"Do you feel it too?"

*audience remains completely silent*
 
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I'm not able to watch youtube clips, but there is something about how crap and dramatic her walk onto the shoddy dancefloor to do something urgent to mark the middle-8 or whatever is just my kind of delusion of grandeur whilst in the club.

Edit: I'm still barking on about the re-make, not Come On Over.
 
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Is anyone willing to defend her shelved Woman album?

I don't hate "I'm Right Here", personally. But it isn't very good, comparatively, is it?
 
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VoR said:
Nah it was her. She was a notable LIVE VOXALIST in the days when that was very rare for TOTP :disco:

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/QQ1_LtdLrzg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

She could've been the new Toni Braxton with those gravelly tones.
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That is TERRIBLE!
 
VoR said:
God wasn't she just DRIPPING with star quality?

The SHAMELESS switching from terrified and mumbly live verses and blatantly mimed chorus and ad-libs in this performance is QUITE SOMETHING.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zC2_eU6zDcI" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

"Do you feel it too?"

*audience remains completely silent*
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I don't think she's lipping the ad-libs. It's just her lower register in the verses is terrible; her head voice for the belted ad-libs is fine.
 
Trust me Louf, I'm no Voxpert but I know the studio version of that record like the back of my pale scouse hand, and she is MIMING HER FLAT LITTLE ARSE OFF aside from the two verses.
 
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Always Come Back To Your Love is objectively a good song, but the reed-thin vocals render it unlistenable!
 
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I've just given her singles a spin, and only this and Baby Come On Over (This Is Our Night) still stand up. The amazingly early 2000s dance breakdown in the latter is wonderful :D
 
I like how the Baby Come Over video is a prime example of somebody getting a sniff of US success and the label going MENTAL. HOW ridiculously expensive is that video compared to all her others? :D

The comedown between that and Lately with her miming in a darkened room in a cheap crooked wig says it all.


 
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Regarding I'm Right Here and perhaps the video for Baby Come On Over - Louis Walsh managed Samantha and when she got a "#1 in America" (did this really happen?) with Gotta Tell You, he "let the Americans take over" and they "took this really special talent" and "made her sound like everyone else". This was apparently why she never got to release her second album.
 
I thought it had charted high but definitely not at #1. I suppose books written by producers/managers are obviously always going to be skewed.
 
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