"Everybody" is a song by British pop group

Hear'Say Hear'Say were a British pop group. They were created through the ITV (TV network), ITV reality TV show ''Popstars (British TV series), Popstars'' in February 2001, the first UK series of the international ''Popstars'' Media franchise, franchi ...

, written by

Martin Harrington Martin Harrington is a British songwriter, record producer and music publisher. He has written songs for many music artists including Emma Bunton, Five, Celine Dion, Ed Sheeran, Natalie Imbruglia and Blue. See also *Music of the United Kingdom ...

Ash Howes Biffco is a music production and songwriting team from Brighton, England, formed by Richard "Biff" Stannard, Julian Gallagher, Ash Howes. The group have worked with a number of high-profile artists, including Kylie Minogue, One Direction, Atomi ...

, Richard Stannard, Julian Gallagher, and Andy Caine. Produced by Harrington and Howes, the track was recorded for the group's second studio album of the same name (2001), released nine months after their debut album, ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Realit ...

''. "Everybody" was issued as the album's lead single on 26 November 2001 and was the final single released by the band before member

Kym Marsh Kimberley Gail Ratcliff (''née'' Marsh, previously Ryder and Lomas; born 13 June 1976) is an English actress, television presenter and singer. In 2001, she won a place in the band Hear'Say as a result of appearing on the reality television ser ...

quit. Upon its release, the song peaked at number four on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song's

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

is set inside a

space capsule A space capsule is an often-crewed spacecraft that uses a blunt-body reentry capsule to reenter the Earth's atmosphere without wings. Capsules are distinguished from other satellites primarily by the ability to survive reentry and return a payl ...

and shows the five band members dancing on a stage.

Background and release

When

's second single, " The Way to Your Love", debuted at number one on the

, it sold 75,514 copies during its first week of release, considerably less the first-day total of 160,000 copies for the band's debut single, " Pure and Simple". The group's label,

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

, concluded that the public was losing interest in the band following their ''

'' formation and decided to rush the quintet into the studio to record a second album rather than release another single from the ''

'' album. For this song, the two male members,

Noel Sullivan Noel Sullivan (born 28 July 1980 as Noel John Hayes) is a Welsh singer and actor. He was a member of the British pop group Hear'Say. Like the other members of the group, he won his part through the talent show '' Popstars''. Early life Sulli ...

and Danny Foster, sing lead vocals. "Everybody" was serviced to UK radio in October 2001 and was released as a single on 26 November 2001 across three formats: two

CD single A CD single (sometimes abbreviated to CDS) is a music single in the form of a compact disc. The standard in the Red Book for the term ''CD single'' is an 8 cm (3-inch) CD (or Mini CD). It now refers to any single recorded onto a CD of any si ...

s and a

cassette single A cassette single (CS), also known by the trademark cassingle, or capitalised as the trademark Cassette Single, is a music single supplied in the form of a Compact Cassette. The cassette single was first introduced in 1980. History The debu ...

Reception and aftermath

Following the song's release,

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

began to speculate how much longer Hear'Say would remain together. Can't Stop the Pop wrote that "Everybody" is a catchy song, comparing it to " Keep On Movin'" by

Five 5 is a number, numeral, and glyph. 5, five or number 5 may also refer to: * AD 5, the fifth year of the AD era * 5 BC, the fifth year before the AD era Literature * ''5'' (visual novel), a 2008 visual novel by Ram * ''5'' (comics), an awa ...

, but criticised the track for lacking the R&B influences of the group's earlier songs. British columnist

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a music writer and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worked on air ...

also likened the song to "Keep On Movin'", noting its harmonies and "singalong" chorus but writing that the band's charm was starting to diminish. ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' called the track "pop-by-numbers" and wrote that the track would leave the charts immediately after appearing. The song stayed on the

for 11 weeks, debuting and peaking at number four on 2 December 2001. The single also charted in Ireland, reaching number 23. Two months after the song's release,

quit the band by announcing her departure through a newspaper, citing disputes with bandmate

Myleene Klass Myleene Angela Klass (born 6 April 1978) is a British musician, singer, presenter, model and businesswoman. She was a member of the pop group Hear'Say, and later released two solo classical crossover albums in 2003 and 2007. More recently, Klass ...

. Marsh was replaced by

Johnny Shentall Johnny Shentall (born John George Shentall; 3 September 1978) is a British pop singer. He was first a member of the pop group Boom! (group), Boom! before joining another pop group, Hear'Say in 2002. He is married to Steps (pop group), Steps ba ...

from pop group Boom!, and the band released their final single, "Lovin' Is Easy", in August 2002, which peaked at number six on the UK Singles Chart. Afterwards, plans to record the group's third studio album were cancelled, and in October 2002, the group disbanded.

Track listings

UK CD1 # "Everybody" (single edit) # "Once in a Lifetime" # "The Way I'm Feeling Tonight" # "Everybody" (video CD-ROM) UK CD2 # "Everybody" (single edit) # " I Knew You Were Waiting" # "Everybody" (Almighty mix) UK cassette single # "Everybody" (single edit) # "I Knew You Were Waiting"

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the UK CD1 liner notes. Studios * Recorded and mixed at

Biffco Biffco is a music production and songwriting team from Brighton, England, formed by Richard "Biff" Stannard, Julian Gallagher, Ash Howes. The group have worked with a number of high-profile artists, including Kylie Minogue, One Direction, Atomi ...

Studios (Dublin, Ireland) * Edited at 777 Productions (London, England) * Mastered at Transfermation (London, England) Personnel *

– writing, all instruments, production *

– writing, all instruments, production, mixing * Richard Stannard – writing * Julian Gallagher – writing * Andy Caine – writing, additional guitars * Sharon Murphy – backing vocals * Alvin Sweeney – additional recording * Jeremy – editing * Richard Dowling – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{Authority control 2001 singles 2001 songs Hear'Say songs Polydor Records singles Songs written by Ash Howes Songs written by Julian Gallagher Songs written by Martin Harrington Songs written by Richard Stannard (songwriter)