With the news that Amelia Lily’s album is no longer available for pre-orders (and the fact that it now lacks a release date on Amazon), it’s rapidly becoming less and less likely that what may have been one of the best pop albums of the year will ever see the light of day. It’s a great injustice, considering the high quality of the album tracks we’ve heard so far. However, this isn’t the first time a great pop artist has been dealt an unfortunate blow by the Music Gods, rendering them helpless as they slide towards the Bargain Bins – let’s take a look at a few of pop’s most shameful flops…
Holly Valance – State Of Mind
After a pleasant but unexciting debut album, Holly Valance really stepped up her game with her sophomore effort. This was one of the first albums to properly experiment with the electropop sound at a time when it wasn’t so overused, and to this day it still sounds incredibly fresh and modern. Let’s be honest though – after being released in the heavily populated fourth quarter of 2003, and with Holly having built her pop career solely around her nudity in the ‘Kiss Kiss’ video, perhaps this wasn’t a surprising flop. Still, the fact that it charted at #60 is still pretty bleak.
The 411 – Between The Sheets
It all started off so well for this now long forgotten four-piece, with their first two singles entering the top five. It wouldn’t last – following an underperforming third single, the album limped in at #46. However, Between The Sheets proved to have a surprising amount of depth to it, featuring lyrics about domestic abuse, drug use, and homelessness. Sure, some of them sounded rather patronising and badly thought out, but The 411 were a band with a huge amount of potential to them if they could deliver something as strong as this on a first attempt.
Rachel Stevens – Come & Get It
An unlikely source for a masterpiece considering how unremarkable S Club 7’s album tracks were, but Come & Get It is a remarkable album in many ways. With production from the likes of Richard X and Xenomania, it’s filled with cutting edge songs that show pop music at its finest. It’s only real fault is the fact that Rachel herself often lacks a personality, but even this can’t be blamed for the charting position of #28. Although critically acclaimed, Rachel has failed to release any follow-up material.
Jamelia – Walk With Me
Following the overwhelming success of the Thank You era, Jamelia seemed poised to emerge as one of the UK’s leading female artists, meaning that although Walk With Me is technically the most successful album on this list (it charted at #20 and has sold over 100,000 copies), it remains an underperformer. It isn’t the most coherently put together album, but does contain tracks such as the formidable Beware Of The Dog and the charmingly elegant Something About You, both of which still sound flipping brilliant. It showed that Jamelia wasn’t afraid to take risks, which makes it a shame that she’s now had to make a career out of appearing on panel shows.
Siobhan Donaghy – Ghosts
Commercial expectations probably weren’t huge for this album considering her debut solo attempt failed to crack the top 100, but seeing Ghosts limp in at #92 was still a great shame, if only because it’s one of the best albums of recent years. A look at what might have become of the Sugababes, the album often feels very vulnerable and understated, whilst also been capable of providing epic production on top of Siobhan’s ethereal vocals.
Ashlee Simpson – Bittersweet World
Having built up a music career based mostly on embarrassing herself, Ashlee Simpson’s third album being a great triumph came as a pretty huge shock. Produced by Timbaland at a time when his sound wasn’t so tired and lazy, this felt like an album that would have performed much better for someone with a more credibility to their name than the least popular Simpson sibling. Slick and edgy in all the right places, Ashlee actually has some of Timbaland’s best work to her name here.
Mini Viva
Poor Mini Viva flopped so badly that their album was cancelled before it even saw the light of day. Releasing some of Xenomania’s best work while Girls Aloud were on hiatus, it was shaping up to be a fantastic piece of work. Tragically for them, and us, bad label decisions in terms of release dates messed things up and Britt and Frankee were left as one-hit wonders. Both initially kick started solo careers, but neither seems to have done anything noteworthy.
Gabriella Cilmi – Ten
Gabriella’s second album only charting at #28 has to be one of the most surprising flops of all. Ten moved her into the territory of Dallas Austin production and an abandonment of the now tried retro/soul sound of her debut; the styles of the huge On A Mission (one of those tracks that screams ’10 weeks at #1’ but somehow only becomes a minor hit) is a testament to this. The rest of the album is also packed with pop classic that are forever doomed to remain unheard by the majority.
Nicola Roberts – Cinderella’s Eyes
No one was expecting Nicola Roberts to reach the heights of bandmate Cheryl Cole’s solo career, but it’s still a shame that the best solo material produced to date by a Girls Aloud member performed as badly as it did in the charts. This is a hugely personal album for Nicola, discussing in detail her struggles in the band over the years, whilst also slipping in quirky lyrics and an epic production. Satisfying from beginning to end, it’s reminiscent of Roisin Murphy and Gwen Stefani, and means that the prospect of a second album from Nicola is the most exciting possible prospect in a world where Girls Aloud have now split for good.
Aiden Grimshaw – Misty Eye
He may have only finished in ninth place on the series, but this is by far one of the strongest albums released by an X Factor alumni. The show always seemed to struggle to know what to do with him, but Misty Eye really does display his many talents. The songwriting is solid, and it’s definitely the most interesting and daring album released by a former contestant. Its success was minor, and especially disappointing when comparing the chart success of others from the same series.