''Relentless'' is the debut solo album by English singer

Jo O'Meara Joanne Valda O'Meara (born 29 April 1979) is an English singer and media personality. She was a member of the pop group S Club between 1999 and 2003, which has currently reformed since 2023. O'Meara was a contestant on the Channel 4 reality s ...

. It was released by

Sanctuary Records Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and is, as of 2013, a subsidiary of BMG Rights Management solely for reissues. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest ...

on 3 October 2005 in the United Kingdom, two and a half years after the initial split of her band

S Club 7 S Club, formerly known as S Club 7, are a British pop group formed in 1998 by Simon Fuller after he was fired as manager of the Spice Girls. Original members were Tina Barrett, Paul Cattermole, Jon Lee, Bradley McIntosh, Jo O'Meara, Ha ...

in May 2003. Chiefly produced by

Brian Rawling Brian Rawling is a British record producer and songwriter. He is the managing director of publisher and production company Metrophonic. Rawling has produced singles and albums for artists such as Cher, with whom he won a Grammy in 1999 for his w ...

and co-written by O'Meara, the album is a mix of contemporary pop, disco and soulful ballads. It debuted and peaked at 48 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

Critical reception

Caroline Sullivan from ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' found that "her solo album confirms beyond debate that 'Mearadoes indeed have a voice, and an Aguilera-type tornado at that, but it also proves that S Club's club-footed balladry still has a pernicious hold. The

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had ...

-ised slurpiness of the opening title track kickstarts a whole album's worth of future hen party classics. To hear her wasting her strong, sure vocals on sub- Kylie generica like "Let's Love" and the

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

-via-

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

stab at country, "Never Felt Like This," is a pain. The joyous redemption of "Wish I Was Over You" is reminiscent of S Club's one claim to fabness, " Don't Stop Moving, and," similarly, just highlights the tepidness of the rest."

BBC Music BBC Music is the arm of the BBC responsible for the music played across its services. The current director of music is Lorna Clarke. Officially it is a part of the BBC's Radio operational division; however, its remit also includes music used i ...

's James Blake called ''Relentless'' "slick, well constructed and safer than a bet on black still being in fashion this time next year ..However that doesn't detract from this being a fairly decent debut; far better than certain other ex boy and girl band members."

Track listing

Notes * signifies an additional producer.

Charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Relentless (Jo O'meara Album) 2005 debut albums Jo O'Meara albums Albums produced by Brian Rawling Sanctuary Records albums Albums produced by Bill Padley Albums produced by Graham Stack (record producer) Albums produced by Mark Taylor (music producer) Albums produced by Eg White