Obviously, the finale of the ZZZ Factor reminded me of some of the other bright young hopefuls that stood on that stage and got recording contracts. Kelly Clarkson and William Young seem to have established careers from it. G4 are a solid touring and album act. I'm still hopeful that Shayne Ward will be given something better than his debut album. But someone who really should have been releasing a greatest hits this year was Gareth Gates. A string of 7 top five hits and suddenly he is unceremoniously dropped? I still don't get it – I mean he'd even got rid of the spiky hair, buffed up and got somewhere bordering semi-hot. The first album spawned hit after hit (Unchained Melody, the pure pop of Anyone Of Us, Suspicious Minds and What My Heart Wants To Say) and it seemed that Gareth might surpass Will as the hitmaker from Pop Idol. It was the marketing of the crucial second album that took a hit. It started off extremely well with a jaunty remake of Spirit In The Sky, complete with The Kumars, a rather jolly video and some excessively gay backing dancers. Six months later in September 2003 (soon to feature in my perfect months of pop retrospecticus) he released the excellent Sunshine, a song with summer fun baked right into the title and a more sophisticated take on pop than anything his debut album offered up. Yet because it "only" made number 3, rumblings had already started that Gareth's time had passed. The double album Go Your Own Way made 11 in a busy festive period and Simon Cowell was on record everywhere saying that the next single needed to be a hit for Gareth. Eek! I mean, where's the confidence? Where's the love? An epic sweeping ballad, Say It Isn't So ,peaked at number four in the rush up to Christmas and it seemed that the revelations that Gareth had lied about an incident with Jordan (who then went on to detail how his willy had fallen out of her 'bucket' several times – seriously that's meant to make HIM look bad?!) had unfairly taken their toll as promotion of the sophomore effort ceased. Which is such a shame. Say was a great single that showcased Gareth's increasingly mature vocal and there were plenty of other gems to be found on the album. It was rumoured that a third release was to be All Cried Out (which Totally Boyband fans may remember was touted as the single for them) which I don't think was a great choice. I would have gone with a remix of Foolish, written by Tyler James then the strange but compulsively addictive MJ-esque Skeletons, complete with a tongue in cheek video about the Jordan saga…Then kicked off a third album with a great upbeat single for Christmas 2004. But it was not to be. Time will tell if Gareth's documentary will provide him with the comeback he deserves – I still think my idea of a duet with Eton Road on the Tommy Page track would be a corker ;)
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LINK: Buy Gareth's Go Your Own Way
MP3: Gareth Gates – Skeletons
MP3: Gareth Gates – Say It Isn't So
