Ellie Goulding - You Changed Everything (2010)

Elena Jane Goulding was born on 30 December 1986 in Hereford, and was brought up in the small village of Lyonshall, in Herefordshire. She began playing the clarinet at age nine and learning guitar at age 14, and a year later she was writing songs. After enrolling on a degree in Drama and Theatre Studies at the University of Kent and remaining until her final year, she met Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager, and introduced her to the producer Starsmith, who would become her chief collaborator. She signed to Polydor Records in July 2009, although her debut single, 'Under The Sheets', was released through the independent label Neon Gold Records, appearing digitally in the United Kingdom on 15 November 2009. Before the release of her debut album, she won the BBC Sound of 2010 poll, which showcases the music industry's top choices for rising stars, and she also won the Critics' Choice Award at the 2010 Brit Awards, making her only the second artist to win both in the same year. Her songs from this time were recorded by artists such as Gabriella Cilmi, Diana Vickers, and German singer Lena, and she was featured on rapper Tinie Tempah's single 'Wonderman' in 2010. Her debut album 'Lights' was released in March 2010, reaching No. 1 on the UK Albums Chart, spawning three Top 30 singles, and in November 2010, it was re-released as 'Bright Lights', with six new tracks added. It was originally announced that the lead single from 'Bright Lights' would be a new edit of the title track, with a release scheduled for 1 November 2010, but this plan was ultimately scrapped when her cover of Elton John's 'Your Song' was released in conjunction with the John Lewis Christmas advert in the UK in 2010, reaching No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart. As she had been writing songs for some years before recording her first album, it's no surprise that there were a number of demo's and out-takes from the sessions, and so here is another album's worth of music from 2010, showing just how prolific she was even in the early days of her career. 

Track listing

01 You Changed Everything 
02 Four Love Songs
03 Slow Down
04 Who'd Want To Find Love
05 We Were Friends
06 Are You Happy Now  
07 Too Much Love
08 Fly
09 It Must Be Me
10 Emergency 
11 Not Following You
12 You & Me
13 Nobody's Crying 

Fifth Harmony - High Five (2014)

Following up the success of their debut EP 'Better Together', Fifth Harmony headlined the MTV Artists To Watch concert in January 2014, an annual concert which showcases breakout artists that will be promoted by MTV during the year, and not long afterwards they announced that recording had begun for their full-length debut album with record producers Julian Bunetta, Daylight, Joe London and multi-instrumentalist songwriter Ricky Reed. It was intended to have a more mature sound than 'Better Together', and the lead single 'Boss' appeared in July 7, 2014, peaking at number 43 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with first-week sales of 75,000. A second single, the Meghan Trainor-penned 'Sledgehammer', was released in October, and became their first top 40 entry on the Billboard Hot 100, but their record company seemed unable to capitalise on this success, and moved the release date of their album back from 16 December 2014 to 27 January 2015. 'Reflection' was ultimately released on 03 February 2015, and entered the Billboard 200 at number five, eventually being certified Gold by the RIAA in February 2016, and several critics did note the group's experimentation with grungy hip-hop and retro R&B that was previously not heard on their extended play. The third single from the album, 'Worth It', featuring American rapper Kid Ink, and was the group's most successful single at the time, reaching number 12 on the Billboard Hot 100, and earning them a triple platinum certification. The album was supported by the group's first major headlining tour, visiting 63 cities in North America and 6 cities in Europe in 2015, and later that year they released 'I'm In Love With A Monster', which was featured in both the trailer for, and subsequent movie of, 'Hotel Transylvania 2'. They ended the year by winning the Group of the Year award at Billboard Women in Music 2015 ceremony, honouring the industry's most influential women. Much like their sessions for the 'Better Together' EP, the group recorded much more material than was needed for 'Reflection', and so we are able to compile a companion album from the left-overs, now cryptically titled 'H5' by 5H. One final addition is a commercial that the group recorded in 2014 for the women's clothing line Candies, which was a specially written song for the ad, and it was so good that I've extended it by repeating the first verse to make it a more acceptable length of two and a half minutes. 

Track listing

01 No Catching Feelings
02 Tellin' Me
03 No Filter
04 High Five
05 Goodbye
06 Change The Bad Boy
07 The Way You Look At Her
08 Sensitive
09 You Gave Me Love

10 Rock Your Candies
11 Too Much
12 Over

Bonnie McKee - Femme Fatale (2010)

In 2010 Britney Spears management approached Bonnie McKee to write some songs for Spears' new album, to be called 'Femme Fatale'. One of the first songs that she wrote was 'Hold It Against Me', and originally longtime collaborator Max Martin and executive producer Dr. Luke originally wanted to give the track to Katy Perry, but they later decided that it wasn't the right fit for her. They continued to work on the song, and Luke commented that before giving the song to Spears he wanted to make sure it sounded different from his previous recordings, and when it was eventually released as a single in 2010 it make the Billboard Top Ten. McKee carried on writing songs for the project, coming up with about twenty tracks, for which she recorded demos and then pitched them to Luke and Martin. In the end five of her compositions were chosen to be included on the record, being the afore-mentioned 'Hold It Against Me', 'Inside Out', 'How I Roll', 'Seal It With A Kiss', and 'Gasoline', and the rest of them were consigned to the vaults. All of the songs were written with Spears in mind, and so they all have a Britney vibe running through them, and it's a shame that they haven't been heard since they were demoed, so here is Bonnie McKee's very own 'Femme Fatale' album, made up of the tracks that Spears' producers rejected.

Track listing

01 Terminate 'Em
02 Catch Me If You Can
03 Battle Royale
04 Earthquake
05 License To Love
06 Risky Business
07 Lie Detector
08 Femme Fatale
09 I Dare You (feat. Ina Wroldsen)
10 U Won
11 Psycho
12 Kiss Kiss
13 RIP
14 The Rules Of Attraction

Dina Carroll - Dina Carroll (1999)

Geraldine Carroll was born on 21 August 1968 in Newmarket, England to a Scottish mother and an American father, and started singing at age of five, where, despite the lack of formal vocal coaching, she won a local talent competition in 1981, at the age of thirteen. By sixteen she was signed to Morgan Khan's London-based StreetSounds record label, which was primarily a compilations company known for its electro music albums. She moved to West London and recorded two singles in 1985 for the company's StreetWave dance music singles label, with 'Set It Off' and 'One Nation' being credited to a non-existent group called Masquerade. After six unproductive months, she left StreetSounds/StreetWave, with Khan going on to use the Masquerade name again for further singles, while Carroll secured a recording contract with Jive Records/Zomba and released a number of singles in 1989 and 1990. After a short time at Jive, Carroll was spotted by Dennis Ingoldsby, one half of newly-founded First Avenue Management, who were already managing a dance production duo called Quartz. Quartz were made up of Ronnie Herel and Dave Rawlings, and so Carroll was brought in to provide vocals for the duo on their cover of Carole King's 'It's Too Late', which topped the dance charts and reached No. 8 in the UK Singles Chart in early 1991, and which was followed by the number 39 hit 'Naked Love (Just Say You Want Me)'. 

After these two singles with Quartz, First Avenue decided to relaunch Carroll as a solo artist, and she was signed to A&M Records by managing director Howard Berman. Her first solo single was 'Ain't No Man', released in June 1992, and which reached number 16 in the UK chart, and to capitalise on its success Carroll and her co-writer Nigel Lowis worked on future singles together, as well as recording songs for her debut album. The album 'So Close' was released in March 1993 and entered the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart, generating further hit singles with 'This Time' and 'Express'. One of the tracks on the album, 'Don't Be a Stranger', was a cover version of a song originally recorded by Chyna, and a new version was recorded for the single release, with the London Session Orchestra providing strings for a new backing track. This completely transformed the song, and when it was released, it became Carroll's biggest chart hit, reaching No. 3 and spending many weeks inside the top 10. She was named Best Female Artist at the BRIT Awards in February 1994, but then took a break from her recording and touring obligations, stating that she felt "burned out", although 'So Close' kept her name in the public eye by remaining in the UK Top Ten for most of 1994, and by being short-listed for the Mercury Music Prize. 

Rumours of new songs started to surface in the summer of 1995, but instead of releasing them, she found herself in the midst of contractual problems. Howard Berman, who had originally signed her to A&M, had moved to Mercury Records, but there were problems in convincing them to move Carroll with him. Eventually, Mercury agreed but it was not until May 1996 that the release of a new single was confirmed, with 'Escaping', a song written by Barry Blue, finally appearing in September, almost three years after her last record. The song entered the chart at No. 3, and a new album, 'Only Human', followed in October, debuting at No. 2 on the album charts. During the recording of 'Only Human', Carroll discovered that she had developed otosclerosis, a hereditary bone disease which affected her ears, but she postponed treatment until after all her recording duties had been fulfilled, and then had an operation to replace a whole eardrum, from which she made a reasonable recovery, despite some inevitable permanent hearing loss. She was nominated for "Best British Female Artist" in the 1997 BRIT Awards, but then went into artistic hibernation for a year, returning to the drawing board in 1998 for her third album. For this, she went to Los Angeles to work with producer Rhett Lawrence, and although the original collaboration was intended only for three tracks, they ended up recording a full album in Rhett's home studio, and the lead single 'One, Two, Three' was released in October 1998. 

The new album, 'Dina Carroll', was originally planned for release at the end of 1998, but it was postponed as Carroll was not totally happy with some of the mixes on the album. Instead, her record company decided to relaunch her as a dance diva, and a new up-tempo track 'Without Love' was chosen to be the next single, with a host of remixes to suit all sections of the club scene. A follow-up single, 'Say You Love Me', was scheduled for release in November 1999, and the remixed version of the album was planned to follow two weeks later, but Mercury suspended the release of the single, and both the single and the album were shelved. In 2000, First Avenue Management entered into a crisis phase when most of their artists were dropped by their labels, and along with Eternal, Louise, Dana Dawson, Kele Le Roc, Honeyz, Kéllé Bryan, and Michelle Gayle, Carroll left First Avenue at the end of 2000. Due to these issues with the record label and her management company, the 'Dina Carroll' album remains unreleased, and although Carroll issued a new single in 2001, followed by a greatest hits compilation, this was effectively the end of her recording career. It was an ignominious end for the double BRIT-nominated singer, and so to try and make up for it, here is that shelved third album for you to enjoy.

Track listing

01 Without Love 
02 Say You Love Me  
03 One, Two, Three  
04 Straight To My Soul 
05 Son Of A Preacher Man  
06 Good To Me  
07 Let It Go  
08 On And On  
09 I'll Be There for You  
10 Livin' For The Weekend  
11 Love Of My Life

12 Almaz

Fifth Harmony - Better Together (2013)

In 2012, Ally Brooke, Camila Cabello, Normani Kordei, Dinah Jane and Lauren Jauregui auditioned as solo contestants on the second season of the American TV series The X Factor, and although the latter four failed to progress in the "Teens" category, and Brooke didn't make the "Young Adults" category, they were later brought back and put together to form a five-piece girl group, thus qualifying for the "Groups" category. Initially, the group's name was Lylas (an acronym for Love You Like a Sister), but another group called The Lylas claimed that the show stole their name, so the girls changed their name to 1432 (a colloquial term for I Love You Too). Lead judge Simon Cowell was critical of the new name, and he suggested that the group be renamed again, so after winning a place in the top 12 contestants, a new name was chosen by a public vote, with Fifth Harmony winning out. In the semi-finals stage of the show, the group performed Ellie Goulding's 'Anything Could Happen', and the following night's public vote results advanced the group to the final three, along with Tate Stevens and Carly Rose Sonenclar, but after the first round of the finals they did not receive enough votes from the public to reach the Top Two. About a month after The X Factor season finale in January 2013, Fifth Harmony was officially signed by their mentor Simon Cowell to his record label, Syco Music, and they started recording covers of songs which were uploaded to YouTube, with three of them receiving public praise from the original artists, including Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and Mikky Ekko. Their debut single 'Miss Movin' On' was released in July 2013, as the lead from their debut EP 'Better Together', and it peaked on the Billboard Hot 100 at number 76, with the EP following in October and reaching Number 6 on the Billboard 200. An acoustic version and two Spanish versions of the EP, 'Juntos' and 'Juntos Acoustic', were released in November, and the latter two records peaked at number 2 and 12 respectively on the Billboard Top Latin Albums chart. After recording a dozen or so songs for the EP, a number of them were discarded when the final five were chosen to be released, but luckily they have since surfaced online, and if they are slotted back into the running order of the EP you end up with an excellent album, which could have preceded their official debut 'Reflection' the following year. So that's what I've done, and with a revamped version of the EP cover, here is what could have been Fifth Harmony's first full length introduction to the general public who had voted for them on the X Factor. 

Track listing

01 Me & My Girls

02 Better Together
03 No Boys Allowed
04 Try Everything
05 Young & Beautiful
06 Leave My Heart Out Of This
07 Don't Wanna Dance Alone
08 Better Days
09 Miss Movin' On
10 Who Are You
11 Drown On Solid Ground
12 Anything Could Happen
13 One Wish

Avril Lavigne - Never Let Go (2001)

This collection, also known as 'Let Go: B-Sides', is a promotional album by Canadian singer-songwriter Avril Lavigne, which was intended to be distributed before her debut studio album 'Let Go' was issued by Arista Records in 2002. The compilation contains demos and original tracks that were written and produced in 2001, under the management of Nettwerk in Los Angeles, along with her post manager Clifford Fabri, the production team the Matrix, and songwriter Cliff Magness. It was Arista's idea to send her to Terry McBride, CEO of Nettwerk, in an attempt to fit her image and attitude with her voice, and although she would release 'Let Go' through Arista, she continued with Nettwerk for her management. Some songs were eventually released by Arista, but they differ from these versions, with the demo of 'I Don't Give' being an explicit version in which Lavigne sings "I don't give a damn/I don't give a shit", whereas the clean version, in which she sings "I don't give it up/I don't give a damn", appeared as a b-side on some formats of Lavigne's debut single 'Complicated', as well as on the 'American Wedding' soundtrack. 'Why' also appears as a b-side on some formats of 'Complicated', along with 'I Don't Give', and is also included as the only studio track on a live album that comes with the DVD 'Avril Lavigne: My World'. 'Get Over It' is included as a b-side for some releases of Lavigne's second single 'Sk8er Boi', where she sings 'Don't turn around, I'm sick and I'm tired of your face', whereas here she sings 'Don't turn around, or you will get punched in the face' in the this version. Lavigne recorded two songs called 'Take Me Away', and the one on this album is completely different to the one on her 2004 album 'Under My Skin'. 'Falling Into History' was covered by Brie Larson in 2005, while 'Falling Down' is featured on the soundtrack for the 2002 film 'Sweet Home Alabama'. A different version of 'Things I'll Never Say' made the tracklist of the final 'Let Go' album, although despite the record being named after the song, 'Let Go' itself was not included on the album. It doesn't seem that this CD was ever intended to be released to the public, but was a way for Arista to gauge their reaction to her music before committing to an album. It seems to have worked, with 'Let Go', and particularly the 'Sk8er Boi' single, being the start of a significant career for the singer, so here are those early demos now retitled and housed in new artwork.  

Track listing

01 I Don't Give (demo version)
02 Why
03 Get Over It (demo version)
04 Take Me Away
05 Headset
06 Falling Into History
07 Falling Down
08 Tomorrow You Didn't
09 Things I'll Never Say (demo version)
10 All You Will Never Know
11 Once And For Real
12 Make Up
13 Not The Only One
14 Stay (Be The One)
15 Move Your Little Self On
16 You Never Satisfy Me
17 Let Go

Amelia Lily - Be A Fighter (2013)

Amelia Lily Oliver was born on 16 October 1994, and began her musical career as a secondary school pupil by posting videos of herself singing on YouTube, with her cover of Adele's 'Someone Like You' garnering over 1 million views. From the age of 13, she began writing songs with her guitar, aspiring to be a country singer, and in 2011 she auditioned for the eighth series of TV talent show The X Factor in Liverpool, in front of judges Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Kelly Rowland and Tulisa, singing Erma Franklin's 'Piece Of My Heart', and winning praise from all four judges. She progressed through to bootcamp and then to judges' houses, but she was the first to be eliminated from the show on 9 October by her mentor, as there was no public vote in the inaugural live show. Prior to the sixth live show of the series, it was announced that Frankie Cocozza was to be removed from the show after breaking competition rules, and that the public would be given the chance to reinstate a contestant eliminated during the first live show, and Lily was voted back into the competition after winning 48.8% of the vote. She progressed through the rounds to reach a place in the show's final at Wembley Arena by finishing third on the semi-final public vote, and finished the competition in third place with 26.5% of the public vote. 

After she embarked on the X Factor tour 2012, it was announced that she'd signed a £500,000 record deal with Sony subsidiary Xenomania, and in September 2012 she released her debut single 'You Bring Me Joy', which charted at number two in the UK. Subsequent singles 'Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)' and 'Party Over' only reached numbers 11 and 40 respectively, but despite that her debut album was planned to be released on 29 April 2013, and was to be titled 'Be A Fighter'. In July 2013 she announced that the album's release had been postponed to record new material, as she wanted it to be "perfect", and later that year it appeared on online retailers with a new release date of 4 February 2014, but it was subsequently taken down. In 2013 she was the support act for Girls Aloud, and also main support for Olly Murs at the INTRO Festival, while in July 2014 she announced the release of a new single titled 'California' with Warner Music, due for release in September. In November 2014, it was announced that Lily would be replacing Marcus Collins in the UK tour of 'Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat', and in May 2015 the London Evening Standard announced that she would be taking on the role of Whatsername when Green Day's 'American Idiot' came to London. In 2017 she competed in the twentieth series of Celebrity Big Brother, leaving the house on Day 25 as the runner up behind Sarah Harding, but all this stage and TV activity seemed to have over-shadowed her musical career, and as nothing had been heard about it since 2013, I think that we can safely say that 'Be A Fighter' has been abandoned. Various tracks from the album have leaked over the years, and so an approximation of it can be pieced together to see what this elusive debut record could have sounded like.   

Track listing

01 You Bring Me Joy
02 Party Over
03 The Hills
04 Shut Up (And Give Me Whatever You Got)
05 Walk In My Shoes
06 Just Can't Take The Rumours
07 Promises
08 Be A Fighter
09 Over And Out
10 Heartbeat
11 Blue
12 Truth Or Dare

13 Look Who's Laughing Now

Victoria Beckham - Come Together (2004)

Following the cancellation of her electropop album 'Open Your Eyes', Victoria Beckham teamed up with producer Damon Dash to record some songs with a more urban feel, and a Dash-produced track 'It's That Simple' featuring M.O.P. premiered on radio stations in July 2003 as a promotional single, generating mixed reviews. As she was still unsure of her new direction, her first single for her new label Telstar was a double A-side, featuring 'Let Your Head Go' from the abandoned 'Open Your Eyes' album, and 'This Groove' from the new sessions with Damon Dash. It was released in the UK on 29 December 2003, with heavy promotion and many TV appearances across the Christmas period, and with the video being directed by Andy Hylton, it all resulted in a number three chart single in the UK. The idea behind releasing the double A-side was to gauge the public's reaction to the two different styles of music, and if 'Let Your Head Go' was more successful, she would release the 'Open Your Eyes' album, but if 'This Groove' was better rated then she would release the R&B album 'Come Together'. Outside of the UK, Dash had plans for her in the US, including a potential release of 'This Groove', and he was sure that she'd be successful because R&B was in vogue, and her music style was similar to Jennifer Lopez. However, in April 2004 Telstar announced bankruptcy, and both albums were cancelled, leaving Beckham thoroughly exasperated at all the wasted time in studio, so she gave up music to focus on her fashion career. In this post we have the cancelled 'Come Together' album, and so we can now be the judges of which is the better style, much as the public was asked to do when the double A-side was released in 2003. 

Track listing

01 This Groove

02 Jealous Ones

03 Me And You This Time

04 That Dude (feat. Old Dirty Bastard)

05 Freedom

06 Resentment (Elvis Song)

07 He's My Lover

08 I'll Take You There

09 Valentine

10 Spell On Me

11 This Groove (Part 2)

12 So Cold

13 Come Together

14 DAT Simple (feat. M.O.P.)

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 

Go-Go's - This Time (1988)

Go-Go's were formed in Los Angeles in 1978, consisting initially of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, background vocals), Margot Olavarria (bass), and Elissa Bello (drums), and they were originally a punk band, with their roots in the L.A. punk community. They began playing gigs at punk venues such as The Masque and the Whisky a Go Go in Los Angeles, and in 1978 Charlotte Caffey was added on lead guitar, keyboards, and background vocals. The next year Gina Schock replaced Bello on drums, and with these line-up changes, the group began moving towards their more-familiar power pop sound. During late 1979, they recorded a five-song demo at Gold Star Studios in Los Angeles, and in 1980, they supported the British ska revival groups Madness and The Specials in both Los Angeles and England. They subsequently spent half of 1980 touring England, earning a sizable following, and they released the demo version of 'We Got The Beat' on Stiff Records, which became a minor UK hit. In December 1980, original bassist Olavarria fell ill and was replaced by Kathy Valentine, who had played guitar in bands such as Girlschool and the Textones, but who had never previously played bass guitar. Go-Go's signed to I.R.S. Records in April 1981, and that year's debut album 'Beauty And The Beat' was a surprise hit, topping the U.S. charts for six weeks in 1982, and eventually receiving a double platinum certification. 

The follow-up album, 'Vacation', received mixed reviews and sold less than 'Beauty And The Beat', but was still certified gold in the U.S., and spawned another Top 10 U.S. hit with the title track. In 1984, the group returned with the Martin Rushent-produced 'Talk Show', and despite the album tracks 'Head Over Heels' and 'Turn To You' both being Top 40 hits in the U.S., the album sold less than the previous two, not reaching the U.S top 10 and not receiving any certification. Personality conflicts and creative differences within the group were also taking a toll, as were drug addiction problems for some band members, and Wiedlin announced her departure in October 1984. The band sought a replacement, selecting Paula Jean Brown (of Giant Sand) as their new bass guitarist, with Valentine moving to rhythm guitar. This line-up debuted at the 1985 Rock in Rio festival, playing two shows, but Carlisle and Caffey soon realized their hearts were no longer in the group and decided to disband Go-Go's in May 1985. After the split all of the members embarked on solo careers, with Carlisle's debut solo studio album 'Belinda' being released in 1986 on I.R.S. Records, including the hit singles 'Mad About You', a cover of Freda Payne's 'Band Of Gold', and the Charlotte Caffey-penned 'I Feel The Magic'. The musical style of 1987's 'Heaven On Earth' eschewed the 1960's-influenced pop of her debut studio effort in favour of slickly produced 1980's power pop, more in line with the music produced by her former band. 

As Weidlin was the first to leave the group, her debut solo album was was the first to gain a release, coming out in 1985, followed by 'Fur' in 1988, which included her Top Ten hit single 'Rush Hour'. Caffey remained friends with fellow band member Belinda Carlisle after the initial breakup of the Go-Go's, and wrote songs for Carlisle's solo albums, while from 1988 until 1992 she led her own band, The Graces, with Meredith Brooks and Gia Ciambotti, releasing the album 'Perfect View' in 1989. In 1987, Schock and Vance DeGeneres formed the band House of Schock, who released their eponymous debut album in 1988, but Valentine felt that her identity had become absorbed into being a Go-Go, and struggled to find a direction after the split. Returning to her rock roots, she formed the World's Cutest Killers, featuring former Girlschool guitarist Kelly Johnson, and although the group attracted the attention of producer Mike Chapman, and recorded some demos, they were eventually scrapped and the band split up. So we can see that by 1988/1989 four of the five members of the band had released albums of self-penned music, with Carlisle's including five songs written by Caffey, who also provided backing vocals, and so by taking the most Go-Go's sounding tracks from each of their records we can imagine what a fourth Go-Go's album could have sounded like if they'd stayed together just a few years longer.  

Track listing

01 Fear No Love (Caffey)
03 Should I Let You In? (Carlisle)
03 Just To Dream (Schock)
04 Lover's Night (Wiedlin)
05 Nobody Owns Me (Carlisle)
06 Lay Down Your Arms (Caffey)
07 Give! (Wiedlin)
08 We Can Change (Carlisle)
09 Walk In My Sleep (Schock)
10 Rush Hour (Wiedlin)
11 Love Never Dies (Carlisle)
12 This Time (Schock)
13 Out In The Fields (Caffey)

All four tracks from Belinda Carlisle's album were written by Charlotte Caffey, while The Graces' 'Out In The Fields' was co-written with Carlisle. 

Jessi Malay - Here I Am (2007)

Jessi Malay was born Jessica Allison Megan Fried-Watters on 25 July 1986 in Glendale, California, and she began dancing at the age of two, taking lessons in ballet, jazz, tap, and hip-hop. At the age of eight she started singing, joining a professional performing group, and she began touring Disney World, The Big Red Boat, and the Bahamas. In 2001 she joined a girl group, No Secrets, singing lead vocals alongside Angel Faith, and Fried (as she was then known) sang the lead vocal on about half the songs on the group's self-titled debut album from 2002. The other members were Erin Tanner, Carly Lewis, and Jade Ryusaki, and their first single, 'That's What Girls Do', was very popular and was also used in 'The Powerpuff Girls Movie'. In 2003 the group recorded a cover of Atomic Kitten's hit single 'Whole Again' without Angel, who had left the group to pursue a solo career, and in early 2004, the remaining four members of No Secrets recorded 'Once Upon A Dream' for the DVD release of Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty' and 'Disneymania 2'. They parted ways in 2005, and Jessica changed her stage name to Jessi Malay and signed with Reprise/Warner Bros. Records, releasing a number of songs with them, including a duet with Trey Songz. The majority of the tracks were written and produced by song-writing/production team TOJ (Andy Goldmark and Bruce Roberts), who have worked with artists such as Cher, Whitney Houston, 'N Sync, Donna Summer, and Elton John. Her first single was 'Gimme', featuring Lil Scrappy, which was released in the clubs in August 2006, and it was followed by 'Booty Bangs', featuring Yung Joc, in 2007. Once nearly all of the tracks were finalized for her self-titled debut album, she went on a mini-tour promoting her third single 'Cinematic', but while on the tour she injured her knee, which needed surgery, and as a result of this the album was cancelled, so Malay went back to school to finish her studies at UCLA. After finishing these she returned to music, co-founding and signing with Wolfiskin Productions, and recording new songs for her comeback. However, that had to be put on hold when she was cast as a co-host for the first season of Fox's TV show, 'Dish Nation' on the L.A station, filming a total of 26 episodes. In July 2011 she released her new single 'Like You', and carried on issuing singles over the next five years, but she never got around to making another album, and so this is the only long-player under her own name. I've titled it after one of the songs which seemed to sum it up perfectly. 

 
Track listing

01 Here I Am
02 Gimme
03 Topsy Turvy
04 Hpnotiq
05 King
06 Fetish
07 Booty Bangs
08 Last Night On Earth
09 Draw The Line
10 Beg
11 Cinematic
12 On You
13 The Edge

Marion Ravn - Nevermore (2010)

Marion Elise Ravn (also known as Marion Raven) was born on 25 May 1984 in Lørenskog, Norway, and enjoyed singing from a young age, sometimes writing lyrics for the songs she sang. She joined the gospel choir in a local church at the age of 5, and by the time she was eight she was taking piano lessons. In 1995, Raven's father arranged for her to make a demo in a studio in Oslo, together with her childhood friend, Marit Larsen, and as a result the duo got a record deal with EMI Norway and formed the group M2M. A year later they produced a children's album titled 'Marit And Marion Sing Well-Known Children Songs' for which they were nominated for the Norwegian Grammy, Spellemannprisen, the following year. In 1998, M2M started recording pop demos in English, collaborating with many songwriters from around the world, and the released their multi-platinum debut album, 'Shades Of Purple', on the Atlantic label in 2000. Their second album, 'The Big Room', which was recorded in a studio in Bearsville in Woodstock, New York, was released in 2002, and after world tours to promote the album ended, M2M joined Jewel on her This Way world tour as an opening act, but they lost that gig when they disbanded in September 2002. Raven was offered a recording contract with Atlantic Records, and set about recording her debut album, working with Swedish songwriters/producers Max Martin and Rami, as well as Canadian singer-songwriter Chantal Kreviazuk and her husband Raine Maida. Initially the record company was not confident in her switch to a more rock image and a darker, more personal style of song-writing, and she had to fight to record her kind of music, which was rock with a pop element. 

The resulting 14-track 'Here I Am' saw her transformation from the candy-pop music of M2M to a more angsty, rock-oriented singer, and was released in Scandinavia, Japan, Latin America and Southeast Asia. It spawned three singles, 'End Of Me', 'Here I Am', and 'Break You', which was her top-selling single internationally. In early 2006, it was announced that Raven had quit her contract with Atlantic Records due to 'artistic differences', and she signed to indie label Eleven Seven Music, which was created by her management 10th Street Entertainment. In 2006 Raven performed a duet with Meat Loaf on the song 'It's All Coming Back To Me Now', released as the lead single from his tenth studio album 'Bat Out Of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose', and it peaked at No. 1 in Norway and reached the top ten in Germany and the United Kingdom. Raven later confirmed that her new album would contain new and old tracks from her Norwegian debut, and 'Set Me Free' appeared in March 2007, after which she toured around The Netherlands, Germany and the UK to help promote it. In 2008 she made a cameo appearance in the music video for the song 'Saints Of Los Angeles' by American heavy metal band Mötley Crüe, and in 2010 she became a panellist judge on the Norwegian version of the talent show The X Factor, and later on Norwegian Idol. Her third studio album 'Nevermore' was recorded in 2009 and was planned for a 2010 release, but due to internal issues with her record label Eleven Seven Music, it was never released. It dropped two singles 'Flesh And Bone' and 'Found Someone', exclusively released in Scandinavia, but the album has remained particularly elusive until I finally managed to locate a copy recently. Various reasons have emerged as being responsible for the album's cancellation, but the most pertinent was probably the dissolution of her label’s publishing arm while she was finishing work on the record, and what was originally supposed to be a temporary delay started to become longer, until it eventually killed the album completely. Having been searching for this record for over a year, I was thrilled to finally be able to hear it, and it certainly doesn't disappoint. 

Track listing 

01 Flesh & Bone 
02 Heartless  
03 Nevermore  
04 Rosemarie  
05 Found Someone 

06 Blackbird

07 Backstabbing Bitch  
08 Miss You Blind  
09 Vital Signs 
10 Up To No Good  
11 After You  
12 We Are Dead  
13 Surrender  
14 Drive  

Mya - Liberation (2007)

'Liberation' was intended to be the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Mya Harrison, and would have been her debut release with her then new record label Universal Motown, following her departure from Interscope in 2005 after the mediocre commercial success of her previous effort 'Moodring' in 2003. Before leaving, she had begun work on an album for Interscope called 'Control Freak', which was set for a summer 2005 release, with production by a host of other producers. In search of a new vibe for the album after the change of label, she drew inspiration by leaving Los Angeles and moving back to Washington, D.C., where she bought a house and enlisted her brother to build a recording studio, where she began experimenting, laying down rudimentary tracks and learning how to engineer. Pushed by her newfound abilities in mixing and production, she intensified work on the re-worked 'Control Freak' album, with most of it eventually being completed in a stretch of only three months. When complete, she submitted the album, now titled 'Liberation', to her new label, with production on the record being handled by Scott Storch and J.R. Rotem with additional contributions from Bryan Michael Cox, Kwame, Carvin & Ivan, longtime contributor Tricky Stewart, and it also featured guest appearances by Snoop Dogg, Charlie Baltimore and Lil Wayne. Two singles were extracted from it, the Storch collaboration 'Lock U Down' and R&B ballad 'Ridin'', but neither song made an impact on radio or in the charts, and so a proposed third single 'Walka Not A Talka' was cancelled, and due to the industry's budget cuts, the album suffered numerous delays and pushbacks. However, while delaying the album's release yet again, Universal Motown accidentally leaked it in Japan, and so they had no choice but to release it as a digital download only in Japan in October 2007. This digital release was the only thing that Mya ever issued on Universal Motown, leaving the label in 2008, and although 'Liberation' was never released officially, Mya did heavily promote the album at the time. She has said that she "felt as though 'Liberation' was her best project to date, and she wanted it released in the US, but things happen, so maybe it wasn't meant to be ...", and the digital version did garner some mixed reviews from the music press, and so it's certainly worth a listen to hear Mya "break out and swagger into an intriguing new role", as suggested in a review in Vibe magazine. 

Track listing

01 Liberation (Intro)
02 I Am (feat. Charli Baltimore)
03 Walka Not A Talka (feat. Snoop Dogg)
04 Still A Woman
05 No Touchin'
06 Lock U Down (feat. Lil Wayne)
07 Lights Go Off
08 Ridin'
09 Switch It Up
10 Give A Chick A Hand
11 All In the Name Of Love
12 Life's Too Short
13 Nothin' at All

Girls Can't Catch - Unconditional (2010)

Girls Can't Catch were put together by their label, Polydor, who scouted for members to be in a new girl band. One founding member of the group, Phoebe Brown, was previously in a girl group called Hope, which rose to fame on The X Factor, making it into the live shows, but they were the seventh act to be eliminated. Jess Stickley was scouted from the Motorokr competition, in which she travelled to New York with a group of other finalists to record with huge names in the industry. The final member was Daizy Agnew of MTV's Urban Base, who was voted winner of the original Hugo Urban Rules in 2006, hosted by Trevor Nelson.  Agnew went on to write and release music with AudioFreaks and Dave Doyle, the musical directors behind the hit TV show 'The Big Reunion', and she wrote a top 5 dance hit 'Pennys Falling' with Silverland. In 2018, Agnew became a judge on the hit BBC one Saturday night entertainment show 'All Together Now', hosted by funny man Rob Beckett alongside Geri Halliwell and a panel of industry experts. The band's Soft Cell inspired debut single, 'Keep Your Head Up', was released in August 2009 and entered the UK Singles Chart at number 26, and they performed at the iTunes Festival, previewing their second single, 'Echo'. In November 2009, they were the opening act in the UK for the Jonas Brothers on the European leg of their sold-out world tour. The girls recorded their debut album in 2009 and 2010, and in March 2010, they headlined National Student Pride in Brighton, but before their album could be released it was reported in July 2010 that the band had been dropped by their record label. The following day, they announced on their website that they had disbanded. Their unreleased album was leaked at the time of the split, and it included 'Turn Me Up', a song co-written by Shaznay Lewis, and 'Alone', co-written by Pixie Lott, as well as covers of Sarah Connor's 'You're The Kinda Man' and Santigold's 'L.E.S. Artistes'. In June 2014, to mark the fifth anniversary of the 'Keep Your Head Up' video release, the girls reunited for a final interview with Adam Iqbal, in which they revealed that there were no plans for a Girls Can't Catch reunion and that it was very unlikely that there ever would be. That would seem to be the final word on their album ever seeing the light of day, and so if you are curious as to what this Girls Aloud-lite band could have produced then give it a listen here.

Track listing

01 Happy Alone
02 Echo
03 Turn Me Up
04 L.E.S. Artistes
05 Keep Your Head Up
06 Unconditional
07 Mind It
08 You're The Kinda Man
09 Alone
10 Discover Me
11 Live My Way
12 Another Day
13 Hearts & Flowers

Brooke Hogan - This Voice (2004)

Brooke Ellen Bollea was born on 5 May 1988, and is better known by her stage name Brooke Hogan, being the daughter of professional wrestler Hulk Hogan. She took an early interest in music, beginning work on her first studio album in 2002, and in an attempt to promote her music career, Hogan and her father appeared in a one-hour special on VH1. The special proved to be a ratings success, leading to her and her family starring in the reality television series 'Hogan Knows Best' from 2005 to 2007. She was signed to Trans Continental Records in 2002, and some music was produced with LFO member Rich Cronin's assistance, with the album's lead single, 'Everything To Me', getting a released in July 2004. The song appeared at number one on the Hot 100 Singles Sales chart in the United States, and number 97 on the Billboard Hot 100, and to promote the album, Hogan toured throughout 2004 and 2005, first with Hilary Duff on her Most Wanted Tour of the US, and then with the Backstreet Boys on their Up Close & Personal Tour. 'This Voice' was slated for a September 2004 release date, but for unknown reasons it was cancelled, although it did later leak onto the internet. Hogan did eventually release an album in 2006, with the recording of 'Undiscovered' being chronicled in 'Hogan Knows Best', with a then teenage Brooke struggling with her overprotective father while recording her debut record. 'This Voice' is a perfectly fine pop album of the period, and once again it's a mystery why it was cancelled, so give it a listen and see what you think.  

Track listing 

01 Everything To Me 
02 I Believe
03 Extraordinary Day 
04 Why 
05 The Only One 
06 Casualty
07 Never Let You Down 
08 Caught
09 Don't Stop This Now 
10 I Want You
11 Uh Oh (Lately)
12 You
13 Love You Both

Black Buddafly - Black Buddafly (2007)

Black Buddafly are an R&B duo comprising Aminata "Amina" Schmahl, and her twin sister Safietou "Jazz" Schmahl, both born in 1983 to a German mother and a Senegalese father. There are two other sisters and a brother in the family, and together with older sister Sophie, the three girls put the band together in Los Angeles, but launched their career in Germany under the name of Choyce. The twin sisters were still in their teens when Choyce signed a contract with Germany's RCA, and while touring in 2004 they changed their name to Black Buddafly. Around this time they met and impressed Russell Simmons, who signed them to his RSMG label, and they began work on their debut album. Their first Def Jam single, 'Rock-A-Bye', was released in 2005, and a year later, the label released the 'Bad Girl' single featuring rapper Fabolous, after which the departure of Sophie reduced the band to a duo, although this new line-up would not get around to releasing any new material. A mixtape compilation 'Worst Of.... Black Buddafly: The Forgotten MP3s' arrived in 2011, and in 2013 Amina left the group and joined the cast of VH1's television series 'Love and Hip-Hop', before launching a solo career. The Def Jam album was therefore consigned to the vaults, never to be heard, but copies have leaked, and so here is the lost 2007 debut album from Black Buddafly, which is completely new material, and does not feature any of the songs from the 'Worst Of...' mixtape. 

Track listing

01 First Date
02 For The DJ's
03 Badd Girl
04 Ridin' Clean (feat. Chamilionaire)
05 Sexy Back
06 Sugar Buddy
07 Sheets & Pillows
08 Rock-A-Bye
09 Half As Good (feat. Trae)
10 Tonight
11 Make A Change
12 If I Ever
13 Just Good
14 Ohh Boy
15 Anything At All
16 Lucky Night
17 Freestyle (Outro)

Ariana Grande - This One's For You (2019)

Ariana Grande-Butera was born on 26 June 1993, and began her music career at age 15 in the 2008 Broadway musical '13'. She rose to fame for playing Cat Valentine in the Nickelodeon television series 'Victorious' between 2010 and 2013, and then 'Sam & Cat' for the next two years. She signed with Republic Records in 2011 after label executives viewed YouTube videos of her covering songs, and her 1950's doo-wop-influenced pop and R&B debut album, 'Yours Truly', was released in 2013, topping the US Billboard 200, while it's lead single 'The Way' reached the top ten of the US Billboard Hot 100. She continued to explore pop and R&B on her second studio album, 'My Everything' in 2014, experimenting with EDM, and achieving global success with its singles 'Problem', 'Break Free' and 'Bang Bang'. Two years later, 'Dangerous Woman' became her first of four consecutive number-one albums in the UK. Personal struggles influenced her trap-infused fourth and fifth studio albums, 'Sweetener' in 2018, and 'Thank U, Next' in 2019, both of which were critical and commercial successes, with 'Sweetener' winning the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album, and 'Thank U, Next' breaking the record for the largest streaming week for a pop album. The singles 'Thank U, Next', '7 Rings', and 'Break Up With Your Girlfriend, I'm Bored' made her the first solo artist to hold the top three spots on the Hot 100 simultaneously, and the first woman to succeed herself at the top of the UK Singles Chart. During the recording sessions for her albums, some songs were recorded but left off the finished record, and she also joined up with Mac Miller, Bia, and Ed Sheeran to record songs which remain unreleased, and so by collecting those offcuts and collaborations we have enough unheard and rare material to make up an enjoyable album from the singer. 

  
Track listing

01 Baby Love (Intro) (out-take from 'Dangerous Woman' 2016)
02 Boyfriend Material (out-take from 'Yours Truly' 2013)
03 Pink Champagne (out-take from 'Yours Truly' 2013)
04 Don't Be Gone Too Long (feat. Chris Brown) (from 'X' by Chris Brown 2014)
05 Stick Around (feat. Graham Phillips) (out-take from 'Yours Truly' 2013)
06 Talk To Me (feat. Mac Miller) (unreleased 2016) 
07 Knew Better Part 2 (out-take from 'Yours Truly' 2013)
08 Nobody Does It Better (out-take from 'Yours Truly' 2013)
09 This One's For You (feat. Davis Guetta) (demo 2016)
10 No Love For The Lonely (feat. Ed Sheeran) (unreleased 2019)
11 On Top Of Everything (out-take from 'Sweetener' 2018)
12 Ridiculous (out-take from 'My Everything' 2014)
13 Esta Noche (feat. Bia) (unreleased 2016)

Clea - Identity Crisis (2004)

Clea are an English girl group whose members met on the television show 'Popstars: The Rivals' in 2002, and after they were voted off the series, Chloe Morgan , Lynsey Brown, Emma Beard and Aimee Kearsley decided to form a band, naming them selves 'Clea' after the first letter of each member's name. They initially had a management contract with Upside Management, and a recording contract with Warner offshoot 1967 Records, and their first single, 'Download It', was released in 2003, entering the UK Singles Chart at number 21. After spending the remainder of the year playing small concerts in the United Kingdom, the band released their second single in February 2004, with 'Stuck In The Middle' reaching number 23 in the UK Singles Chart. After completing work on their debut album, Morgan left the group in May to pursue a solo career, and 'Identity Crisis' was released in Russia, Eastern Europe, and certain countries in Asia, as the group had seen some moderate success in these regions, but due to their lack of success around the rest of the world, they were dropped from 1967 Records in late 2004. They continued to be managed by Upside Management, releasing music independently through a specially-created label, and in September 2005 they collaborated with production group Da Playaz to release a single, 'We Don't Have To Take Our Clothes Off', which was a dance remake of the Narada Michael Walden song originally made famous by Jermaine Stewart. This single reached number 35 on the UK chart, and was followed in June 2006 by 'Lucky Like That', which reached number 55. 'Trinity', Clea's second album (but first UK release) was issued on 3 July 2006 on Upside Records, after which Brown left the band in November. They then released the double a-side single, 'Stuck In The Middle'/'I Surrender', in Europe, and toured Asia and Scandinavia in 2007, and they also signed to EMI China, touring there on several occasions. 'Identity Crisis' deserved a wider release than it received, as it's a pretty good album in a Girls Aloud vein, and so here it is for your enjoyment. 

Track listing

01 Stuck In The Middle  
02 The Lie  
03 Butterflies And Rainbows  
04 First Love  
05 Identity Crisis  
06 One More Try 
07 Sprung  
08 Crush  
09 A Guy Like You  
10 Download It 
11 Mind Games  
12 Pretty Little Bad Girl

Honeyz - Harmony (2001)

In 1997, Mercury Records cultivated the UK girl group Essence, made up of Heavenli Abdi and Celena Cherry, with the duo being hailed as an R&B alternative to the Spice Girls, and intended as a direct rival to American girl group Destiny's Child. While Cherry admitted that Essence was "an OK name, but it wasn't really hitting it", it was changed to Honeyz after a chance remark overheard outside the Subterranea nightclub, and in 1998, Naima Belkhiati joined the line-up and the group, when they were officially named as Honeyz. Their debut single, 'Finally Found' was released in August 1998 and peaked at number four in the UK Singles Chart, and remains their biggest hit, introducing the trio to the British public and going on to sell more than 350,000 copies. The follow-up, 'End Of The Line', notched up similar sales figures, peaking at number five, and their debut album 'Wonder No.8' went gold in the UK with sales of over 200,000 copies. Aside from their success in the United Kingdom, they also found fame in the Netherlands, Italy, and Australia, while in the US they signed to Def Jam/Island. Between the video shoot for the group's third single 'Love Of A Lifetime' and their second promotional trip to Australia in March 1999, Abdi decided to quit the group for personal reasons, citing creative differences with Cherry, homesickness, unhappiness with touring internationally, and wanting to start a solo career and spend more time with her boyfriend. As a result of Abdi's sudden departure, the group lost their US deal with Def Jam, but her departure did open up an opportunity for former Solid HarmoniE vocalist Mariama Goodman to join, and the new line-up continued promotion for 'Love Of A Lifetime', which reached number 9 in the UK charts. October 1999 saw the release of their fourth single, 'Never Let You Down', a new track recorded for inclusion on a repackaged version of 'Wonder No.8', and the first single to feature Goodman's vocals, and it entered the UK Singles Chart at number 7, giving the group their fourth consecutive top 10 hit. 

They picked up nominations for 'Best Newcomer' and 'Best R&B Act' categories at the 1999 MOBO awards, and performed their next single 'Won't Take It Lying Down' at the ceremony, with the February 2000 release giving them their last top 10 hit. By summer 2000, they had recorded 'Not Even Gonna Trip' as the first single to be taken from a planned forthcoming album, and it was also the chosen single from the 'Nutty Professor II: The Klumps' original soundtrack. It was during the run-up to the single release in August that Goodman announced her departure from Honeyz, due to constant clashing with Belkhiati. Cherry and Belkhiati were faced with an uncertain future, and their management took the decision to bring Abdi back into the group, against the wishes of the other two members of the group. Abdi's vocals were recorded for the new single, and her return was announced, but when 'Not Even Gonna Trip' was released it failed to reach the top 20. They continued to work on their second album, 'Harmony', and almost a year after Abdi's return, they released a new single 'I Don't Know', but with minimal exposure and promotion, it didn't even chart as high as their previous one, stalling at number 28. The 'Talk To The Hand' single came out in late 2001, but as a result of strained relations between Abdi and Cherry, Mercury decided to simply drop the group, cancelling the release of 'Harmony' as a result. Following this setback, and a departure from their management, the group decided to go their separate ways in 2003. Promo copies of the record had been sent out before its cancellation, and so we can hear the result of their hard work over those two years, and it actually contains vocals from both Goodman and Abdi, despite them having never been in the band at the same time, as Goodman left in the middle of the recording sessions and Abdi re-joined immediately afterwards. 

Track listing

1 Talk To The Hand 
2 I Don't Know  
3 Just As I Am  
4 More Than One Night 
5 Avalanche 
6 Best Man 
7 This Is Not A Game  
8 Do You Wish It Were Yesterday 
9 No 
10 Just A Little To The Left  
11 I Need You Now
12 Senorita Bonita 
13 When The Show's Over  
14 Love Is Strange
15 Get Down Tonight  
16 Do You Wanna Go Home With A Honey  
17 Not Even Gonna Trip 

Kim Petras - Problématique (2022)

Kim Petras was born on 27 August 1992 in Cologne, Germany, and in 2006, when aged just 13 years old, she appeared on a German television current-affairs show in which she discussed her medical gender transition. In November 2008, Petras announced that gender-confirmation surgery had been completed, and it was claimed that she was the youngest person in the world to have had that surgery at the time. Her music career began immediately afterwards, releasing a string of singles under Joyce Records, with 'Fade Away' appearing in 2008, and 'Last Forever', 'Die For You' and 'Boomerang' all coming out in 2009, while her debut extended play, 'One Piece Of Tape' followed two years later. Throughout the next few years she worked with producers including The Stereotypes, C.J. Abraham, Stephen Dresser, Johan "Jones" Wetterberg, Edward Ellis, and Aaron Joseph on a music career, releasing demos on her SoundCloud page. In August 2017, Petras released her debut single for BunHead Records, with 'I Don't Want It At All', and in October 2018 she released the 'Turn Off The Light, Vol. 1' EP, as a Halloween-themed extended play. In February 2019, she released three singles titled '1, 2, 3 Dayz Up', 'If U Think About Me...', and 'Homework', and although she hasn't publicly expressed plans to release an album with these eleven "neon head" digital singles on it, she has referred to this period of her career as "Era 1". 

Her debut album 'Clarity' was released in June 2019, and in August she announced that there would be a limited edition vinyl pressing of 'Turn Off the Light, Vol. 1', with Vol. 2 being released exactly a year after the first part, but in fact 'Turn Off The Light' became her second studio album, released in October 2019, featuring all of the songs from the EP plus nine new tracks. On 7 May 2020, Petras released the single 'Malibu' as the lead single from her next album, and announced that 'Turn Off The Light Vol. 3' would be released sometime in 2021, although neither of these plans came to fruition. In August 2021, she signed to Republic Records and released 'Future Starts Now' as the lead single from her upcoming major-label debut studio album, and she performed two more singles from the forthcoming album — 'Coconuts' and 'Hit It From The Back' — when she appeared at the 2021 MTV Europe Music Awards. On 10 February 2022, after teasing some of the songs on TikTok, Petras announced a surprise EP titled 'Slut Pop', which was released the following day, but there was no sign of the new album, and in July she finally announced on Twitter that the album, titled 'Problématique', had been scrapped. In September 2022 Petras released the song 'Unholy', which was a collaboration with Sam Smith, hitting number one in various countries upon release, including Australia, the United Kingdom, and New Zealand, and it was also her first career entry on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, eventually topping the chart in October 2022. With her career now established worldwide, we can go back and listen to the album which would have been her major label debut had it not been shelved. 

Track listing 

01 Problématique
02 Future Starts Now
03 Revelations
04 Deeper
05 Confessions
06 Hit It From The Back
07 Je T'adore
08 Something About You
09 Born Again
10 Coconuts
11 All She Wants (feat. Paris Hilton)
12 Your Time To Cry
13 Malibu
14 Sex Talk
15 Love Ya Leave Ya
16 Left My Body