Liberty X - Thinking It Over

[@cald8939]

Truly underrated - they were a class act with great songs and great vocals/harmonies. They deserved more success - crazy to think they had a double platinum selling album - which was relatively rare then, even moreso today - and then didn't carry on too much longer. The Richard X collaboration is still a pop masterpiece - would be great to hear them make some new music in the future (probably wishful thinking!). Great documentary, looking forward to the next one!

[@stephthestar90]

In the days before Spotify and Apple Music a double platinum album was a huge deal. Thinking It Over was and still is a great album, though some of it does sound a bit dated and of its time. Still much better than Hear'Say's S Club 7 lite cheesy pop though. A show like Popstars wouldn't work nowadays in the social media age. In 2001/2002 the internet was still very new and not everyone used it. I first went online in 2000 but it was very expensive. Smartphones did exist but they were a business tool. There was no Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, WhatsApp, ChatGPT, KZbin, Spotify, Reddit etc. Amazon was just for books. For social networks you had chatrooms and forums and the main web browser was Internet Explorer. No Chrome or Safari back then! Scary thing is that the world has changed a lot since Liberty X's heyday and not for the better and a whole generation of people are unaware of this group and their music. When Thinking It Over came out Tony Blair was in govt, the world was still reeling from 9/11, the UK economy was doing well and Windows XP was state of the art, though many still used 98. Apple had just released the iPod and Mac OS X. Now we have a useless Tory govt, Brexit, strikes and food shortages. Windows 11 feels so corporate and sterile compared to 98/XP and AI is starting to take over.

[@tyronesmith4622]

I loved them and wore their debut album CD out!!

[@maryuspandyra7359]

hearsay were terrible, I loved liberty x -the richard x remix was my life

[@fanstastic83]

Just a little is one of those songs that you fall in love with after the very first listen. Brilliant pop tune. I can imagine Anastacia singing it haha Holding on for you single version is good. Annoys me that their albums aren't available on Spotify, only their biggest hits.

[@jamie_ghost.johnson]

The fact that people call them the flop band and the losing contestant, that didn’t make the final cut. But they were the one who became popular and well known. While winning band became the flop one and possibly forgotten, while rejected contestant that didn’t make the final five. Perform their own band, became more popular than the winning band. I guess they had the last laugh😂

[@stephthestar90]

Yep and that's a trend which carried on to the likes of X Factor, Got Talent and The Voice. Plenty of XF runners up ended up doing better than the winners. Olly Murs is a good example of what I call the Liberty X effect. He has done well for himself in music and TV. One Direction is another and also Becky Hill. She was on The Voice but only made it as far as the semis. Now she's very popular on the dance music scene

[@jamie_ghost.johnson]

@@stephthestar90 Your not wrong about the runner up or loser contestant, being the real star and successful one be in the music industry. While the winner are the real loser, not all of them. Like Girls Aloud won the competition in Popstar, and Little Mix won competition in X factor. That they had a successful career, but most of the winners. Don’t end up being the real stars of the music industry, while the runner up or secondary contestants. Unusually are the one get most of the success, in the business then the winner contestant.

[@stephthestar90]

@@jamie_ghost.johnson They got it right with Girls Aloud and Little Mix. GA had a winners single which is still a banger now and didn't rush release an album either. They're now back on tour to honour Sarah and all the shows are sold out. Most of the winners of shows like X Factor seemed to have one album and then back to their day jobs or musical theatre or similar. It definitely pays to be a runner up in those talent shows

[@TrickKeyOne]

I'm going to have to hunt down this album and the singles. I hope to get another part for this group!

[@YeastyBrioche]

Being Nobody is definitely my favorite song and video of theirs. It's a shame they didn't stick around longer after that

[@Keibro]

They were such a cool group and I loved their sound. I bought the album

[@ruthiemax3229]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jZPQi6Vrap2nrsU

[@stephthestar90]

I bought the re-released version with the videos and remixes on a second CD. I still have it somewhere

[@Blaizeria]

Such an underrated band at the start.

[@stephthestar90]

They used to be called Flopstars by the papers but Just A Little proved that they were anything but!

[@merlinspaniel153]

After Steps, they're my fav co-ed group.

[@owendavies4087]

Literally just seen this uploaded. Clicked on it and that intro is incredible 🙌 so much I didn't know. I loved them and added some of their songs back onto my Spotify now haha

[@CKBOXERS123]

omg need a part 2 !!!!

[@ridensroom6957]

I love this album. No Clouds is my fave non single. And all singles rock.

[@jayfriday9485]

I’m glad they were able to succeed on their own terms. the industry in the uk seems to have a dislike for r&b. I wonder why that is?

[@МихаилЛатс-ш4в]

Please please please make two more vids for all their albums

[@jamesm6333]

When is the next part!? Loving your documentaries

[@МихаилЛатс-ш4в]

thank you for the video. loved them so much!

[@benl8413]

Just found your channel, absolutely love it, right up my alley!

[@salatiellealm]

So underrated. Their album is amazing. Thanx for the video. I love ur channel. Much love from Brazil ♥️

[@popunderrated]

♥️

[@supersezza100]

EXCELLENT work as ever, thank you!

[@nicolamarchbank1846]

Infinitely more interesting both in music and personality than Hear’Say. Clearly they had a point to prove and they actually tried to craft a sound that was authentically them and worked closely with their team to deliver music that was actually good rather than just record whatever generic pop songs were given to them and hope it hung together. You just have to wonder what would have been if they’d leaned into Hear’Say’s distinct talents, strengths and tastes a bit more particularly given they had a classically trained pianist amongst their number. One did as they were told, the other one did as their instincts told them - its obvious who came out on-top. Weirdly, Liberty X fit quite neatly into what British girl groups were doing at the time, just with a couple of blokes for added variety. Objectively, there seemed to be a pattern developing. The ingredients were: 1) 3-5 members who all had distinct voices and personalities that weren’t knocked out of them to fit into the band. 2) Songs were built around one voice that was a vocal foundation and then playing around with the contrasts between everyone’s singing styles and personalities instead of repeating the same old tired routine of a lead-singer and everyone else backing them with harmonies. 3) Everyone could expect a reasonable amount of stand-out moments or solos. 4) Efficient and thought out marketing. 5) Creative production and song-selection. The Spice Girls and Girls Aloud did exactly the same thing to great success with 5 members with All Saints and Sugababes as the 4 and 3 member variants. The only difference other than the presence of males here was that Liberty X consciously focused on more of an urban and club-friendly R&B sound which reflected the members’ personal musical tastes contrasting with The Spice Girls who were just really efficient pop music built on Memeable branding (Geri’s Union Jack dress) Girls Aloud were the bad little sisters who played music at full volume, hung out with cool people (Franz Ferdinand), got into fights and drank grown men under the table on the regular (The Arctic Monkeys). ‘Just a Little’ is an absolute banger and made me sit up at the time and think “these guys are for real aren’t they?” I am glad that they have their phases of revival and easily outdid Hear'Say - and I have nothing against the individual members of that group, they were just too unoriginal to do anything for me whatsoever. Hopefully Tony and Kevin will come back one day, even if just for a 25th anniversary show as a proper retrospective.

[@Jarmix-vq3gn]

Great watch. I was hoping for the next Two albums as well. Will you be doing the rest of their story? 🙏🎉

[@popunderrated]

Possibly. I’ve not really thought about it.

[@pedroamador1991]

Yassss my inspo for making an American version 20 yrs later

[@julieinnes6541]

U made an American one?

[@rimisark]

What is the name of the performance of 32:59, please?

[@thevault2584]

Do more libertyx

[@sanderdegraaf2992]

I second this! Please do Being Somebody!

[@cald8939]

Kevin and Kelli's vocals are just 😍kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJmYiKx6gLqgl7c

[@Blumoon_vii]

Hearsay is the most unattractive band ever 😅 I call them. The middle-aged band ... Liberty X had the X factor and they were so good and unique

[@stephthestar90]

Hear'say looked like a group of students who sung a few songs between lectures 🤣 and sounded like a diet S Club 7, whereas Liberty X were more polished and actually looked and sounded like a pop group. Some Liberty X songs still sound good now

[@alexverdia8009]

Only 1 album??

[@popunderrated]

?