Rachel Stevens...A look back, five years later

It's been five years since Rachel Stevens released Come And Get It. To sort of sum things up, Come And Get It is one of its decade's most stylish, brilliantly executed pop records. It got rave reviews from the British press upon its release, but its singles all performed below expectations, and the album itself limped somewhere into the top 30 on the charts before disappearing from sight. In a world where there are numerous pop injustices, this was truly the greatest of them all.

"What happened with Come And Get It?", many have asked. It's not an entirely pointless question. It had all the makings of a pop success. Good looking female singer- check. Established pop credentials- check (she was a member of S Club 7...not exactly credible, but established nonetheless). Slew of top producers- check. So what got bungled up along the way?

We believe the project failed because it had no real idea which audience to aim itself at. The pop landscape was a bizarre one in 2005. Girls Aloud got lucky, but most other pop heroes were falling on their swords as people turned more and more to indie rock or hip-hop. Rachel Stevens was the prim-and-perfect, Grade-A pop starlet primed for success, armed with the right ammunition, and audiences were turned off by that. Girls Aloud remained successful because they had always been a bit of a hodgepodge, rough-around-the-edges gang, but Rachel was too pretty, the package was too sleek, too commercial. There was no real audience lapping it up, and as a result Come And Get It tanked the way it did.

That doesn't remove the fact that it is a fucking incredible pop album. Critics accused her of being detached and sounding completely disinterested in her singing, but Christ on a bike who cares when the songs are just so good? She got producers like Xenomania (amazing), Richard X (amazing), Rob Davis (amazing), Hannah Robinson (amazing), Jewels and Stone (amazing), and so many more to throw the best batch of pop that money can buy into her perfectly toned lap. The results were splendid, even if only ten people gave a shit.

Let's have a listen to some of Come And Get It's more amazing moments:

"Crazy Boys"
Like 2004's massively wonderful "Some Girls" (which also made its way onto this album), Richard X dresses up "Crazy Boys" as a rough, not-quite-finished slice of industrial pop. When that chorus kicks in though, everything seamlessly comes together and the listener is left in a state of sheer euphoria.



"So Good"
The Kylie-esque video aside, "So Good" is...well, so good. A sort of "I Will Survive" for the 20th century, as one review put it, which might be stretching things a bit, but as a harmless piece of electro-pop, high marks all around.



"Funny How"
Ah, Xenomania, you can do no wrong.



"I Will Be There"
If Depeche Mode produced a song written by Dianne Warren for Britney Spears, it might sound something like this. We know that description doesn't exactly sound promising, but trust us, it's worth the listen.