15 August 1999
Westlife at Cheiron! Could this single, written and produced by the same triumphant Swedish studio behind ‘…Baby One More Time’ and ‘I Want It That Way’, be another 1999 pop classic? Have we been doing Westlife wrong all these years? Well, no. ‘If I Let You Go’ is a Westlife single. The credits don’t include Max Martin or Denniz Pop, so this is a Cheiron B-team job. Maybe Louis Walsh didn’t want to splash the cash on their top-of-the-range merchandise, or just felt happier with the bargain bin schmaltzy R&B-lite balladry about lifelong romantic commitment. Risk-free, sales guaranteed.
Since ‘If I Let You Go’ is the same as nearly every other Westlife single—bargain bin schmaltzy R&B-lite balladry about lifelong romantic commitment—you have to wonder what the standing brief was for all Westlife contractors. Songs for the first dance at wedding receptions? Songs to say “Happy anniversary! I got you this Westlife CD single and some flowers from the petrol station”? It all feels so conservative and passionless. What’s more, Cheiron themselves had already rendered this sort of stuff old-hat by furnishing the Backstreet Boys with their new-model sumptuous streamlined pop. But hey, Westlife will go on to cover Barry Manilow and Campfire ABBA, so this project was never likely to turn weird or even interesting. And no, a key change doesn’t count. Enjoy the wedding.
