6 July 2002
Surprise! Yes, Six had a second single, never mind a second number one. Let’s not be too harsh on ourselves, though. Public interest in TV talent show winners tended to be one-and-done; hopped up on the thrill of the vote, an over-enthusiastic viewership enables a rote valedictory chart-topper as series merch. In truth, the poor sap’s pop career ended with the end credits of the final. Even the standard UK winner’s video, all black-and-white slo-mo of their best bits, is in keeping with that spirit of In Memoriam.
Anyway, I have no knowledge or memory of ‘Let Me Be The One’. So, as usual, I will listen to this for the first time LIVE as I write this. Prognosis? I have a first inclination that this’ll have to facilitate some dance moves to give all six of them something to do, which if not up-tempo then at least walking pace, but the corny title and the eminence beige of Louis Walsh suggest a vapid, saccharine ballad in the dreary Boyzone style.
[One listen later]
Another surprise – I’m both right. Implausible as this seems, ‘Let Me Be The One’ is a vapid, saccharine ballad at an up-tempo pace. The verses start with an odd, almost literally a cappella, round of “bom bom bom”. One of the lads does that strange Boyzone vocalism of breathily quacking in lieu of singing. The girls sound like actual human people doing real singing. Not that it matters: the rhythm track comes in and you can visualise all half-dozen of them doing co-ordinated walking around each other – another patented Boyzone coping mechanism, this time for dancing. I cannot overstate how watery and uninteresting the final product is.
‘Let Me Be The One’ is definitely a chart-topping single that was slipped in without us noticing, while we were all still preoccupied with Saipan and its afters. And yet Six can keep it proudly stuffed and mounted on their wall: two number ones! Twice as many as you other loser winners! There’s career longevity for you! More ominously, it also means Six leave the field of battle with more Irish number ones than will be mustered by either the Sugababes or, cruelly, Nadine’s new group. Please, no more surprises.
