10 June 2000
Not long before this, in 1998, we had a wave of Irish pop girls at number one: a group of them as B*Witched on the fantastic ‘C’est La Vie’ and a solo one in Kerri Ann on the alright ‘Irreplaceable’. So, Samantha Mumba at number one in 2000 with her debut single wasn’t a surprise. She clearly had the talent, the look, and the cut of a pop star’s jib, not to mention the considerable bluster of Louis Walsh in her sails.
What had changed in the meantime was the 1999 arrival of Britney Spears and ‘…Baby One More Time’ to invent 21st century chart pop. No way was Louis going to deviate from any proven hit formula, baby! So, ‘Gotta Tell You’ is almost needy in how closely it sticks to Britney’s debut hit, most notably in the uncomfortably low key for the verses that Mumba has to deliver in Britney fashion with what your local reply guy would dismiss as vocal fry. Unfortunately, this can’t mask the lyrical clunker of “I’m trying deeper to explain” that I always wish I didn’t have to hear. So far, so-so.
What redeems ‘Gotta Tell You’ is that fine chorus: melodramatic, memorable and mahoosive. The two Swedish guys co-writing (with Mumba herself) and producing this aren’t at the Champions League level of first-team Cheiron but they still bring a sleek, streamlined sound – and they know how to craft a load-bearing chorus hook. This being a Louis Walsh project, Mumba is almost muffled out by needless sticking-plaster layers of backing vocals, but she just about cuts through to make that chorus her own. The mid-section teeters close to overwrought cliche but its drop-out of the music gives Mumba the space to sell it to us convincingly.
A couple more years after this we’ll hear five other young women, also initially under the wing of Louis, kick on from Britney-isms and sing the best pop music of the ’00s. For now, Samantha Mumba will suffice in consolidating the emergence of strong young female pop stars. If you’re good enough to make a Louis Walsh project sound fresh and exciting, then nothing is beyond you.
