It's 2003, and the debris of reality pop is starting to smell a bit. Gareth Gates' recent Jordan revelations are reason enough to worry for the poor lad, leaving Will Young with something to live up to when he makes his comeback. Girls Aloud have won the people over by actually being a bit ace, no doubt causing one-time arch rivals One True Voice to start scanning the jobs section again.
Before all this, there was of course Pop Idol ancestors Hear'Say, who vaguely dismantled the pop machine from within - by exposing exactly how dull, crooked and unglamorous it is - to an audience of millions weekly on a Saturday teatime. Their brief career, however, was marred by 'disappointing' sales - enter at anywhere but Number One and you're completely over - looking a bit weird and a general air of disaster that dogged their every move.
So now, two years on, as Myleene pouts scarily from men's mags, Suzanne wows the theatrical world in Grease, and both Danny and Noel nurse possible breakdowns, canny Kym, who saw a car-crash coming and got out just as the wheel arches bent, is back. After becoming one half of the Asda Posh'n'Becks with hubby (not for much longer - sympathetic Ed) ex-EastEnder Jack Ryder, she's stepped out into the increasingly cosy solo female market with her first effort 'Standing Tall'.
Most of these 15 tracks have Kym remodelled into a pre-angst Natalie Imbruglia, with debut single 'Cry' being the most obvious and a virtual homage to Imbruglia's 'Torn'. It's this track that sets the breezy-mostly-written-by-Norwegians guitar pop template on which the rest of the album follows. Tellingly, the most amount of writing required of Kym on 'Standing Tall' is in the credits, where she thanks her dentist before her kids and husband. A slight change of pace comes with the Kylie-lite 'Think It's Gonna Rain Today', which throws in some very now eighties angles and a host of tracks, which see her bedding-down in an unthreatening Emma Bunton area.
Mostly though, 'Standing Tall' is nothing to lose sleep over, and doesn't exactly let its presence be known, rather opting for a pleasant blandness. Obviously, no one was expecting a David Bowie style reinvention, but a bit of imagination wouldn't have gone amiss. As a little victory to herself, proving that she can do it, it's a winner. For expecting the wider world to care/buy it in droves, it's hopeless.
