Tim: Popstars: The Rivals – remember it?
Tom: No. Genuinely, no: I didn’t watch it when it was on.
Tim: Never mind. Basic concept: in the finals, ten males and ten females, top five of each form a band which are the titular rivals. You may well have forgotten about One True Voice, the boyband; you’ve probably not forgotten about their rivals, Girls Aloud.
Tom: I was about to ask how the sixth-placed woman felt, and whether she’d faded into obscurity: but she was Javine, who had a reasonable solo career.
Tim: And who, as of yesterday, has her voice on a not-half-bad new dance track. But you have almost certainly forgotten about Phixx, the group formed the next year from the guys that finished in the bottom five. This is them, with the second (and best) of their four top 20 singles.
Tim: So there we go. Why bring it up now? Well, why not. I suddenly remembered about them, apropos of nothing I can recall, and so here they are. It’s a fun track, and an even more fun video; despite all the oiling, writhing and vampirism that’s going on I think my favourite item is the bloke who’s casually leaning on a lightsaber. SEE ME RESIST THE WEAPON OF THE FORCE.
Tom: I enjoyed the guy at the end who appeared to just be smelling his own armpit.
Tim: Also a highlight. Incidentally, the fact that they had four top 20 singles and one album puts them well ahead of One True Voice, who only managed a paltry two songs before falling apart. Actually, now I think about it Liberty X outperformed Hear’Say fairly comprehensively as well. There’s probably some reason behind that. Buggered if I care, though.