Jump to content

17 years ago today, Melanie B released her second studio album, 'L.A. State of Mind'. What do you remember?


Recommended Posts

15 hours ago, Rodriguitop said:

It was independent

Well I know that, but there's plenty of artists who have released albums independently who still obtained good chart positions. I'm not saying they HAVE to as a lot of artists who release albums independently don't necessarily rely on a good chart position, but their albums would surely have charted higher than #453. Mel B must have done barely any promo or had any support at the time. 

Link to comment

This is the honest truth. Mel B was and still is my favourite Spice Girl and i loved her debut album Hot. i only found out about this album 2 years later in 2007 when i stumbled across Today online. i bought the album and was disappointed. Hot was a really cool rnb album which imo deserved to do a lot better  than #28 in the UK chart , really loved the edginess and coolness of the album. LA S.O.M is just cheesy and the songs were ok but just bleugh. i think because Hot didnt do that well, she tried a more mature easy going sound which tbh was crap. Hot deserved a hell of a lot more success

 

On 6/28/2022 at 7:18 PM, Isla said:

Well I know that, but there's plenty of artists who have released albums independently who still obtained good chart positions. I'm not saying they HAVE to as a lot of artists who release albums independently don't necessarily rely on a good chart position, but their albums would surely have charted higher than #453. Mel B must have done barely any promo or had any support at the time. 

she did some major UK  TV appearances. she did GMTV, Lorraine, Richard and Judy. but i remember her saying she didnt want to shout about it and wanted the music to speak for itself, which to me is another way of saying no one else is backing the album and im not getting much publicity  on it. also, she signed with Virgin Records to release her first album Hot [same record label she was with with the spice girls] but they dropped her in 2001 because Hot underperformed. then probably no other record label wanted to take a chance on her because chances were a 2nd album would not do any better

i heard there were 2 reasons why Hot didnt do as well as it should. 1 was because it is a more grown up album,theres even a song on it called Pack your **** which she says the F word as well as s**t and a lot of SGs fans were still young. i was only 9 and my mum and dad bought me it [well 'santa' did lol] and i still listen to the album now as i still love it, and i cant believe i was listening to it at 9 years old. theres a song on the album called Feel Me Now which is basically about s**. and considering she must have known 90% of the people that would probably be interested in the album would be SG fans, she really took a risk of it flopping. Melanie C who has had a successful solo career has said that the vast majority of her fans were spice girls fans so you could see why Mel B's album flopped. and 2. the timing of the album was a factor.she released it a month before SG last album Forever and at the time of the release of Hot, SGs first singles in 2 years Holler/Let Love Lead The Way were released at the same time, and people and fans were more interested than the SG's new music than Mel B's

Also as well, she had a no1 in 1998 'i want you back' with Missy Elliot then didnt release Hot until 2000 because she had a baby. i think maybe if she released it not long after IWYB it may have done better

so yeh, Hot underperforming, not releasing another album in 5 years, signing to a small independent label, minimum promo and the album being bleugh was all reasons why it bombed in the charts         

  • Love 3
  • Like 2
Link to comment
On 6/27/2022 at 9:09 PM, Isla said:

Okay I've never heard this album and probably never will (sorry, not a Mel B fan dd) but #453 on the UK albums chart?? How many copies did it sell to chart that low?

according to wiki 'The album did not reach the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart, but according to the Official Charts Company, it ranked 453 in sales in its first week with only 670 copies sold. In its second week, the album dropped down to number 1581. Overall, the album sold less than 1500 copies.

for someone who is from the biggest girlgroup worldwide, thats embarrassing

  • Love 1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
35 minutes ago, jonloch1 said:

according to wiki 'The album did not reach the top 100 of the UK Albums Chart, but according to the Official Charts Company, it ranked 453 in sales in its first week with only 670 copies sold. In its second week, the album dropped down to number 1581. Overall, the album sold less than 1500 copies.

for someone who is from the biggest girlgroup worldwide, thats embarrassing

I actually looked the album up on Wikipedia after reading this thread... I'm surprised the UK Albums Chart could go as low as 1581. But yeah, either way it sold VERY few copies.

So she did do some promo but nothing major, Top Of the Pops and CD:UK were still on at the time and she could have performed on either. But I guess she did say she wanted to 'let the music speak for itself'.... on the album's Wikipedia page it said Mel B recorded it in her kitchen, so it can't sound very good. She can't have had a great budget.

Yeah Hot flopping was because it was released a month before Spice Girls released Forever... I think the fans would have been more invested in a new Spice Girls album than a Mel B one. Maybe if she released it in 1999 it would have done better. She had a number one hit and I think her cover of Word Up did well too. 

Edited by Isla
  • Love 1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
1 hour ago, Isla said:

I actually looked the album up on Wikipedia after reading this thread... I'm surprised the UK Albums Chart could go as low as 1581. But yeah, either way it sold VERY few copies.

So she did do some promo but nothing major, Top Of the Pops and CD:UK were still on at the time and she could have performed on either. But I guess she did say she wanted to 'let the music speak for itself'.... on the album's Wikipedia page it said Mel B recorded it in her kitchen, so it can't sound very good. She can't have had a great budget.

Yeah Hot flopping was because it was released a month before Spice Girls released Forever... I think the fans would have been more invested in a new Spice Girls album than a Mel B one. Maybe if she released it in 1999 it would have done better. She had a number one hit and I think her cover of Word Up did well too. 

TBH Ive heard the album and it sounds fine and you wouldnt have known it wasnt recorded in a recording studio. so its not that, its just cheesy and sounded dated even when it was released in 2005. thats why it flopped

its a shame Hot flopped because i love that album, such a cool album. Her singles Tell Me and Feels  So Good did well and went top 5 so bit surprising the album missed the top 20. yeh i think maybe if she released it in 1999 soon after i want you back went to no1 it would've done better. but i remember i read i think Tell Me got critised because it was slating her ex and father of her daughter who was only a baby at the time. then i definitely read she did a music video after the album was released for a song on the album called  'Lullaby' which was about her daughter Phoenix who was like 2 years old at the time and she was in the music video, and i read she was criticised for that because people were saying she was using her daughter to boost her sales 

  • Love 1
  • Like 2
Link to comment

i just remembered as well, she did a reality show with her now ex husband in 2010 called Its a Scary World and she was in the recording studio supposedly working on her 3rd album and she filmed herself recording a song called Lip Lock which she got Ludacris to feature on. and even then i thought how is she getting to record another album when her last one bombed, although Lip Lock did sound like a cool song. nothing became of it. she then released a song 'for once in my life' in 2013 which i thought was a great song and it went to #2 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs and #30 on the UK Indie Chart so it did alright. but again nothing came after that  

  • Love 1
  • Like 1
Link to comment
3 hours ago, jonloch1 said:

This is the honest truth. Mel B was and still is my favourite Spice Girl and i loved her debut album Hot. i only found out about this album 2 years later in 2007 when i stumbled across Today online. i bought the album and was disappointed. Hot was a really cool rnb album which imo deserved to do a lot better  than #28 in the UK chart , really loved the edginess and coolness of the album. LA S.O.M is just cheesy and the songs were ok but just bleugh. i think because Hot didnt do that well, she tried a more mature easy going sound which tbh was crap. Hot deserved a hell of a lot more success

 

she did some major UK  TV appearances. she did GMTV, Lorraine, Richard and Judy. but i remember her saying she didnt want to shout about it and wanted the music to speak for itself, which to me is another way of saying no one else is backing the album and im not getting much publicity  on it. also, she signed with Virgin Records to release her first album Hot [same record label she was with with the spice girls] but they dropped her in 2001 because Hot underperformed. then probably no other record label wanted to take a chance on her because chances were a 2nd album would not do any better

i heard there were 2 reasons why Hot didnt do as well as it should. 1 was because it is a more grown up album,theres even a song on it called Pack your **** which she says the F word as well as s**t and a lot of SGs fans were still young. i was only 9 and my mum and dad bought me it [well 'santa' did lol] and i still listen to the album now as i still love it, and i cant believe i was listening to it at 9 years old. theres a song on the album called Feel Me Now which is basically about s**. and considering she must have known 90% of the people that would probably be interested in the album would be SG fans, she really took a risk of it flopping. Melanie C who has had a successful solo career has said that the vastt majority of her fans were spice girls fans so you could see why Mel B's album flopped. and 2. the timing of the album was a factor.she released it a month before SG last album Forever and at the time of the release of Hot, SGs first singles in 2 years Holler/Let Love Lead The Way were released at the same time, and people and fans were more interested than the SG's new music than Mel B's

Also as well, she had a no1 in 1998 'i want you back' with Missy Elliot then didnt release Hot until 2000 because she had a baby. i think maybe if she released it not long after IWYB it may have done better

so yeh, Hot underperforming, not releasing another album in 5 years, signing to a small independent label, minimum promo and the album being bleugh was all reasons why it bombed in the charts         

Hot Is an amazing album

  • Love 1
Link to comment
39 minutes ago, jonloch1 said:

TBH Ive heard the album and it sounds fine and you wouldnt have known it wasnt recorded in a recording studio. so its not that, its just cheesy and sounded dated even when it was released in 2005. thats why it flopped

its a shame Hot flopped because i love that album, such a cool album. Her singles Tell Me and Feels  So Good did well and went top 5 so bit surprising the album missed the top 20. yeh i think maybe if she released it in 1999 soon after i want you back went to no1 it would've done better. but i remember i read i think Tell Me got critised because it was slating her ex and father of her daughter who was only a baby at the time. then i definitely read she did a music video after the album was released for a song on the album called  'Lullaby' which was about her daughter Phoenix who was like 2 years old at the time and she was in the music video, and i read she was criticised for that because people were saying she was using her daughter to boost her sales 

Oh interesting. It does seem she didn’t have a successful solo career compared to the other Spice Girls. Although she still got a number one hit out of it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
17 minutes ago, Rodriguitop said:

Yeah and there was way too much going on around it. Mel B was blamed for Geri leaving

Yeh. even the album cover shes under a shower head in just her bra and knickers and on the back shes in her bra and knickers  which gave it away that it was more risque than spice girls music. come to think of it i dont know why my mum and dad bought me it, it was so obvious it wasnt suitable for a 9 year old lol. but that wouldnt have done it any favours either because it would have stopped parents buying it for the young SG fan kids

Hot (Mel B album) - Wikipedia   melanie b | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs | Tumgir

  • Love 1
Link to comment

Leave a comment!

Not so fast! Did you know you can post now and register later? If you are already a member of Exhale, sign in here and start posting!
If you are not logged in, your post will need to be manually approved by an Exhale moderator before it's visible to everyone.

Guest
Tap to reply!

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...

We noticed you're using an ad blocker  :ehum_britney_um_unsure_confused_what:

Thanks for visiting Exhale! Your support is greatly appreciated 💜  

Exhale survives through advertising revenue. Please, disable your ad block extension to help us and continue browsing Exhale. 🙏

I've disabled ad block