Victoria Beckham - Open Your Eyes (2003)

On 14 August 2000 Victoria Beckham released her first solo single, 'Out Of Your Mind', in collaboration with Dane Bowers and Truesteppers, and this coincided with the release of 'Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)' by Spiller featuring Sophie Ellis-Bextor, resulting in a chart battle dubbed 'Posh vs. Posher' by the tabloids. Before the single's release, she made her public solo debut at London's Hyde Park on 8 July 2000 at a concert to raise money for the Prince's Trust charity, singing 'Out Of Your Mind' to a 100,000-strong audience. She then signed a recording contract with her group label Virgin Records, and her next single, 'Not Such An Innocent Girl', was released on 17 September 2001. Again, she faced competition in another hugely hyped chart battle, this time with Kylie Minogue's single 'Can't Get You Out Of My Head', but despite a huge promotional campaign, Kylie outsold her by eight to one, and her single could only reach number 6. Beckham's eponymous debut album was released on 1 October 2001, and although it reached Number 10 in the UK album chart, it reputedly cost £5 million to produce but only sold a modest 50,000 copies. The second and final single to be released from the album was 'A Mind Of Its Own', and although it reached number 6 in the UK chart and sold 56,500 copies, rumours were spreading that she was to be dropped by her label for not charting in the Top Three. A third single, a remix of 'I Wish' featuring Robbie Craig, was promoted but never materialised, as following the announcement of Beckham's second pregnancy, the single was shelved. She was reportedly dropped by Virgin Records along with fellow Spice Girls Emma Bunton and Melanie B, although this was denied by her publicist, who explained that the Virgin deal had just come to a natural end for both parties. In 2002, Beckham signed a contract with Telstar Records and 19 Management worth £1.5 million, and in 2003 she began recording an electropop-influenced album, 'Open Your Eyes', and chose 'Let Your Head Go' as the first single. After the album was finalized, many of the songs leaked onto the internet and so she decided to return to the studio to record new material, wanting a more urban sound, and choosing to work with producer Damon Dash on more R&B and hip hop influenced songs. 'Open Your Eyes' was therefore put on the back-burner while the new material was recorded, and has still to make an appearance, so here it is in the first of two posts which will let you make up your own mind as to whether you prefer the electropop of 'Open Your Eyes', or the later R&B/hip-hop tracks.

Track listing

01 Let Your Head Go 
02 Open Your Eyes
03 Be With You
04 Full Stop (feat. Nas)
05 Generate The Flow 
06 The Hustla
07 25 Minutes 
08 Me Without You 
09 Should've Known Better
10 I'd Give It All Away 
11 Gone (Bittersweet)
12 Can't Get Enough Of You DJ 
13 Right Back To You
14 Every Little Thing