What Will the Neighbours Say?

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What Will the Neighbours Say?
Girls Aloud - What Will the Neighbours Say%3F.png
Studio album by
Released29 November 2004 (2004-11-29)
RecordedApril–September 2004
StudioLondon, England
Genre
Length51:15
Label Polydor
Producer
Girls Aloud chronology
Sound of the Underground
(2003)
What Will the Neighbours Say?
(2004)
Chemistry
(2005)
Singles from What Will the Neighbours Say?
  1. "The Show"
    Released: 28 June 2004
  2. "Love Machine"
    Released: 13 September 2004
  3. "I'll Stand by You"
    Released: 15 November 2004
  4. "Wake Me Up"
    Released: 21 February 2005

What Will the Neighbours Say? is the second studio album by English-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud. It was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004 by Polydor Records. Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania were enlisted to produce the entire album, allowing for more inventive ideas. What Will the Neighbours Say? explores various subgenres of pop music.

Contents

What Will the Neighbours Say? was released to mostly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. It yielded five top-ten singles and had high sales, going double platinum in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The album was followed by Girls Aloud's first tour, the What Will the Neighbours Say...? Tour.

To celebrate the album's 20th anniversary, the album was re-released on 8 March 2024 in three formats, a sky-blue vinyl LP, a picture disc vinyl LP, and a 3CD Deluxe Edition, as well as a digital download and streaming. The 3CD Deluxe Edition features the original UK album along with a number of remixes, alternative cuts, other rarities, and three previously unreleased tracks produced by Xenomania: a cover of Chris Isaak's "Wicked Game" originally slated as the lead single from Girls Aloud's 2005 studio album Chemistry and two new songs, "Disco Bunny" and "Baby When You Go." [1]

Conception

Band member Cheryl revealed in an interview that although Girls Aloud's debut album Sound of the Underground and its singles had been successful, in 2004, Polydor Records were considering dropping them from the label after what they perceived as underperformance of the album's sales, considering that the group was formed during Popstars: The Rivals , which drew 20 million viewers, which according to record executives was not "turning into 20 million sales." However, Polydor's then-marketing director, Peter Lorraine, appealed to the label and convinced them to allow the group to record a second album. [2]

Polydor enlisted Brian Higgins and Xenomania to produce Girls Aloud's second album in its entirety, following their production of six tracks from Sound of the Underground, including the album's three singles, and three more tracks: "Girls on Film", "You Freak Me Out" (for the film Freaky Friday ) and "Jump" (for the film Love Actually ), which all featured on the album's late 2003 reissue. [3] "When the second album came round, the label said, 'Listen, we're not going to do this group any more if you don't do it.'" Higgins explained. [4] "I think my initial reaction was to do a few tracks and he said, 'No, you have to do this because I think you're the only person who understands exactly what it is'. So, that's how we took it on." [4]

Higgins said, "The pressure to come up with singles was, as always, immense. But [...] we were able to have a lot of fun working on ideas that were maybe a little too odd to be on the radio." [3] The album was recorded from April to September 2004, although its lead single "The Show" was released in June 2004. The album title comes from a lyric in the song "Love Machine" which asks, "what will the neighbours say this time?" This lyric is a reference itself to a line from "Sound of the Underground", in which Girls Aloud sing "Neighbour's banging on the bathroom wall / He's saying 'Crank the bass, I gotta get some more". [5]

Music

Style and lyrics

What Will the Neighbours Say? explores different subgenres of pop, especially incorporating electronic dance music into electropop. Synthesizers are more prominent on the album. The usage of guitar was also prominent in several songs. The backing track to "Love Machine", composed by Xenomania musicians Tim Powell and Nick Coler, was inspired by the Smiths, [6] while "Wake Me Up" includes a guitar riff inspired by garage rock. [7] [8] What Will the Neighbours Say? also includes a number of ballads.

The lyrics focus on a number of more adult topics, often dealing with sexuality, as well as themes of teenage rebellion and heartbreak. The lyrics to "The Show" contain an anti-promiscuity message. [9] "Wake Me Up" faced a slight controversy due to its "boozy lyrics." The song references Bud and margaritas in the first verse. [10] Unlike Sound of the Underground , Girls Aloud became involved in the writing process. [11] "We don't let them out of the room till they've given every ounce of melodic instinct that they've got in them, [...] at the end, you find they've contributed really well," Higgins stated in an interview with The Observer . [11] Nadine Coyle admitted, "I needed to be pushed into songwriting, because I wasn't really interested". [3] The album's lyrics were praised by critics, [12] [13] noting "the girls are usually singing something interesting. Someone at Xenomania has a knack for writing witty couplets". [7]

Songs

The album begins with its lead single, "The Show", described as "a feisty, thumping track with a positively rude bassline" and a "rush of thrilling synth stabs and natty vocal hooks". [14] [15] It was also compared to "an early-1990s rave record." [7] "Love Machine", the second single, follows. The Guardian called the song a "perfect example of Xenomania's uniquely rousing approach to pop." [7] It was called "three and a half minutes of pure joy, taking in a guitar line that sounds like it's been nicked from an old rockabilly tune, some mid-'80s synth pop and a rousing chorus." [8] A cover of the Pretenders' "I'll Stand by You" was recorded especially for Children in Need. [16] The first version of "I'll Stand by You" that Xenomania created was described as a "weird, modernist breakbeat version", which was scrapped upon deciding an updated version of the original song would be better suited for Children in Need. [17] Critics felt it was "arguable whether this cover adds much to the Pretenders' original." [3] Girls Aloud's version has also been compared to Shakespears Sister. [12] "Jump", a cover of a song by the Pointer Sisters, was originally taken from the re-release of Sound of the Underground and the soundtrack to Love Actually . Cheryl Cole noted in Girls Aloud's 2008 autobiography Dreams That Glitter – Our Story that the single "was the point when we realized everything we'd been doing was quite down and moody [...] and that's not what people wanted." The album's fifth track is its final single "Wake Me Up". The Guardian's review said that the song sounds like what would happen if "you married an alarmingly fast techno thud to an implausibly dumb three-chord garage-rock riff." [7]

"Deadlines and Diets", originally released in 2000 by Moonbaby (a pseudonym of Xenomania songwriter Miranda Cooper), is a song about one night stands. [18] The song received comparisons to All Saints, [12] [15] [19] specifically their breakthrough single "Never Ever". [14] "Big Brother", co-written by Cheryl Cole, was labelled "crunchy electro." [13] It was noted that the song "could be about anything, up to and including the admittedly unlikely topic of sexual subservience to a totalitarian dictator." [7] The "voyeur-themed" song was compared to ABBA, New Order and the Thompson Twins by one reviewer. [19] "Hear Me Out" was co-written by Sarah Harding. The ballad received comparisons to those of the Spice Girls. [13] One of the album's most noteworthy songs, "Graffiti My Soul", was intended for Britney Spears's In the Zone . [11] It was turned down for its lack of a chorus; Higgins said that they wanted "essentially "Sound of the Underground 2". [11] The track was described as "a full-scale collision between Madonna, Michael Jackson and the Prodigy" and "frighteningly sharp and sassy." [11] [13] The Guardian said the song makes you question: "What if the Prodigy hadn't turned down the chance to write with Madonna?" [7] "Real Life", the album's tenth track, "unexpectedly evokes Martina Topley-Bird's Tricky tracks." [13]

"Here We Go" was also originally recorded by Moonbaby. Aqua singer Lene Nystrøm Rasted, who co-wrote Girls Aloud's "No Good Advice", also recorded a version of the song for her 2003 album Play With Me. "Here We Go" is also the basis for the theme song to the television cartoon series, Totally Spies!. The track has been described as "a relatively filthy '60s romp". [13] "Thank Me Daddy", co-written by Kimberley Walsh, is a "saucy disco romp". [15] "I Say a Prayer for You", a bonus track co-written and entirely sung by Nicola Roberts, also received comparisons to Spice Girls' ballads. [5] [14] The album's final track is "100 Different Ways", which Nadine Coyle co-wrote and sings solo.

Release

What Will the Neighbours Say? was released in the United Kingdom on 29 November 2004. [20] The international versions of the album exclude the bonus tracks "I Say a Prayer for You" and "100 Different Ways". What Will the Neighbours Say? and other Girls Aloud releases appeared on the US iTunes Store on 26 June 2007.

Singles

The album's first single was technically their cover of "Jump", although the song initially appeared on the re-release of Sound of the Underground and was the recorded for the Love Actually soundtrack. The music video for "Jump" was made to appear like it was intertwined with Love Actually. The song debuted at number two on the UK Singles Chart. [21] "The Show" was the first single exclusive to What Will the Neighbours Say?. The song was critically acclaimed and peaked at number two. [22] The Times noted that "Brian Higgins's Xenomania hit factory proved itself as good as the greatest song teams in pop history with this thrillingly off-the-wall chart-topper. [23] The music video for "The Show" takes place in a salon called "Curls Allowed." "The Show" was released in Australia in June 2006, as the second single from the Australian version of Chemistry . "Love Machine" was the second single from What Will the Neighbours Say?. Critics said the song was "so unlike anything else in the charts right now...proving once again that they're still one of the most exciting bands in pop right now." [24] The music video takes place at the fictitious nightclub, the Eskimo Club. It was number two on the UK Singles Chart for two consecutive weeks. [25] [26] The song appeared in television advertisements for Homebase from 2006 to 2009. "I'll Stand by You" served as the album's third single, released for Children in Need. The track was announced as a single just ten days before its 15 November 2004 release. [16] It became Girls Aloud's second number one on the UK Singles Chart. [27] The album's final single was "Wake Me Up". In 2005, "Wake Me Up" won the award for the Popjustice £20 Music Prize, an annual prize awarded to the best British pop single of the year. Girls Aloud had previously won the award in 2003 for "No Good Advice". The music video for "Wake Me Up" was directed by Harvey & Carolyn and starred Girls Aloud as "biker chicks". [28] It became their first single to miss the top three when it peaked at number four. [29] "Graffiti My Soul" was going to be the sixth single released from the album, but was cancelled because the group wanted to start work on their third album.

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar half.svgStar empty.svg [5]
Entertainment.ie Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [30]
The Guardian Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [7]
RTÉ.ie Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [31]
Stylus Magazine A− [12]
Yahoo! Music Star full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [13]

What Will the Neighbours Say? received positive reviews from music critics. Stylus Magazine declared, "There is no pop in the world like Girls Aloud today." [12] The Guardian hailed it as "a great album: funny, clever, immediate, richly inventive." [7] Girls Aloud were praised for simply making it past their debut. [7] [13] [15] What Will the Neighbours Say? was referred to as "nothing less than the pop album of the year." [8] RTÉ.ie called it a "near perfect pop album", praised its "vivacious and engulfing tunes" and stated that there is "pretty much nothing to dislike" about it. [31] A review by Entertainment.ie's Andrew Lynch said, "Girls Aloud really shouldn't have made it as far as a second album. [...] There's just one problem – the girls have a knack of coming up with utterly infectious pop songs". [30]

What Will the Neighbours Say? did receive mild criticism for being "top-heavy", with the singles comprising the first five songs which AllMusic said "left the second half of the album rather thin on killer tracks." [5] BBC Music agreed, stating that the album "settles into a fairly predictable mix of well-produced tunes covering the various pop styles and themes." [14] The reviewer, however, did say "in the ultra-fickle world of TV-generated pop, Girls Aloud have real staying power." [14] Yahoo! Music announced more cynically, despite giving the album 7/10, that "this album isn't an investment piece so much a cheap thrill to be savoured and worn out by next Christmas." [13] Girls Aloud's covers of "I'll Stand by You" (originally by the Pretenders) and "Jump" (originally by the Pointer Sisters) were also criticised. [7] [11] MusicOMH said, "it's when the girls stray from their regular songwriting team that they become unstuck. [...] The two covers are the only mis-step though here." [8]

Commercial performance

What Will the Neighbours Say? became Girls Aloud's second top ten album in the United Kingdom. It debuted at number six on the UK Albums Chart, [32] spending two further weeks in the top ten and a total of 17 non-consecutive weeks on the chart, and was eventually ranked 44th on the tally's 2004 year-end chart. [33] On 10 December 2004, the album was certified Gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). [34] It reached Platinum status on 14 May 2010, surpassing sales of over 300,000 units. [34] In 2024, the album's deluxe edition reissue, released on 8 March 2024, re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 35. [32] The same week, What Will the Neighbours Say? debuted a number six on the UK Vinyl Albums chart. [35] On 26 March 2024, the album was certified double Platinum by the BPI for shipments in excesss of 600,000 copies. [34]

In Scotland, What Will the Neighbours Say? peaked at number four on the Scottish Albums Charts. [36] In Ireland, the album debuted at number twelve, remaining in the top twenty for eight weeks. [37] By 2005, it had been certified double Platinum by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA) for shipments of more than 30,000 units. [38]

Track listing

All tracks were produced by Brian Higgins and Xenomania. [39]

Standard edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."The Show"
3:36
2."Love Machine"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Nick Coler
  • Myra Boyle
  • Shawn Lee
3:25
3."I'll Stand by You"3:43
4."Jump"
  • Steve Mitchell
  • Marti Sharron
  • Gary Skardina
3:39
5."Wake Me Up"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
3:27
6."Deadlines & Diets"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Matt Gray
3:57
7."Big Brother"
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Cowling
  • Tim "Rolf" Larcombe
3:58
8."Hear Me Out"
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
3:42
9."Graffiti My Soul"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Peplab
3:14
10."Real Life"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Cowling
  • Larcombe
3:41
11."Here We Go"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Gray
3:45
12."Thank Me Daddy"
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Woods
  • Larcombe
3:22
UK bonus tracks
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
13."I Say a Prayer for You" (Nicola Roberts solo)
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
3:33
14."100 Different Ways" (Nadine Coyle solo)
3:41
Total length:51:15
2024 deluxe edition – disc 2 [40]
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Wicked Game" Chris Isaak 3:24
2."Disco Bunny"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Coler
3:16
3."Baby When You Go"
2:34
4."I'll Stand By You" (electronic mix)
  • Hynde
  • Kelly
  • Steinberg
3:25
5."Wake Me Up" (alternative version)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
3:26
6."Hanging on the Telephone" Jack Lee 2:39
7."Androgynous Girls"
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Coler
  • Cowling
  • Lee
4:40
8."Loving Is Easy"
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Coler
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Larcombe
3:02
9."History"
  • Girls Aloud
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Shave
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Larcombe
4:37
10."I'm Every Woman" (from Discomania)3:35
11."Love Machine" (demo version)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Coler
  • Boyle
  • Lee
3:05
12."Deadlines & Diets" (version 2)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Matt Gray
3:59
13."Love Machine" (CD:UK edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Coler
  • Boyle
  • Lee
3:05
14."The Show" (Popworld edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
3:05
15."I'll Stand By You" (tv edit)
  • Hynde
  • Kelly
  • Steinberg
3:26
16."Wake Me Up" (Off the Record edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
3:10
Total length:54:36
2024 deluxe edition – disc 3
No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Love Machine" (Tony Lamezma's club mix radio edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Coler
  • Boyle
  • Lee
3:47
2."Wake Me Up" (Tony Lamezma's "Love Affair" radio edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
3:56
3."The Show" (Flip & Fill remix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
3:40
4."I'll Stand By You" (Tony Lamezma's club romp radio edit)
  • Hynde
  • Kelly
  • Steinberg
3:58
5."Love Machine" (Gravitas disco mix radio edit)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Coler
  • Boyle
  • Lee
3:38
6."Wake Me Up" (Flip & Fill remix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
6:19
7."The Show" (Bang Bang Klub vocal mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
8:46
8."I'll Stand By You" (Gravitas vocal dub mix edit)
  • Hynde
  • Kelly
  • Steinberg
6:27
9."The Show" (Tony Lamezma's club mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
5:46
10."Wake Me Up" (Gravitas club mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
5:29
11."Love Machine" (Tony Lamezma's Full-Length club mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Coler
  • Boyle
  • Lee
6:20
12."The Show" (Bang Bang Klub alternative mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
7:42
13."Wake Me Up" (Tony Lamezma's "Love Affair")
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Lee
  • Paul Woods
  • Yusra Maru'e
7:01
14."The Show" (Gravitas club mix)
  • Cooper
  • Higgins
  • Powell
  • Cowling
  • Shave
6:51
Total length:92:00

Sample credits

Notes

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for What Will the Neighbours Say?
RegionCertification Certified units/sales
Ireland (IRMA) [38] 2× Platinum30,000^
United Kingdom (BPI) [34] 2× Platinum600,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

What Will the Neighbours Say? release history
RegionDateEdition(s)Format(s)Label(s)Ref.
United Kingdom29 November 2004Standard
  • CD
  • digital download
Polydor [32]
Various8 March 2024 Deluxe
Universal Music Operations [1]

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"Long Hot Summer" is a song by English-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken as the first single from their third studio album Chemistry (2005). The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. "Long Hot Summer" was written for inclusion in the Disney film Herbie: Fully Loaded (2005), but plans fell through. Higgins later described the track as "a disaster record." Released in August 2005, it became Girls Aloud's first single to miss the top five on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at number seven.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biology (song)</span> 2005 single by Girls Aloud

"Biology" is a song performed by English-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their third studio album Chemistry (2005). The progressive pop song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and Higgins' production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Composed of distinct sections, it avoids the verse-chorus form present in most contemporary pop music. "Biology" was released as a single in November 2005, ahead of the album's release. Following the disappointment of "Long Hot Summer", "Biology" returned Girls Aloud to the top five of the UK Singles Chart and became their tenth top ten hit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">See the Day</span> 1985 single by Dee C. Lee

"See the Day" is a song by English singer Dee C. Lee, released as a single on 21 October 1985. On 2 December it peaked at number 3 on the UK Singles Chart where it stayed for two weeks. The single sold in excess of 250,000 copies, receiving a silver certification, and became Lee's biggest hit single and her only UK top-40 hit, peaking at number three. "See the Day" also charted in Australia, the Netherlands, and West Germany. The B-side of the single, "The Paris Match", features Lee's future husband Paul Weller and his band the Style Council, of which Lee was a part-time member.

Brian Thomas Higgins is a British record producer and songwriter, who has written and produced albums and tracks for several successful pop music singers and groups, including Girls Aloud, S Club 7, Sugababes, and the Saturdays through his Xenomania production team. Miranda Cooper is a key collaborator who shares co-writing credits in nearly all Xenomania-written tracks.

<i>Tangled Up</i> (Girls Aloud album) 2007 studio album by Girls Aloud

Tangled Up is the fourth studio album by English-Irish girl group Girls Aloud. It was released through Fascination Records and Polydor Records on 16 November 2007, and was distributed in two physical formats and made available for digital consumption. The album is a pop record that incorporates elements of dance-pop, synthpop, and various EDM sub-genres produced by long time-collaborators Brian Higgins and production team Xenomania. Marking a more mature approach according to group member Cheryl, the album lyrically delves into themes of love, relationships and femininity, and it was the group's first experimentation with tools such as autotune and vocoder. Production and development began with each member meeting with Higgins to discuss their personal and professional experiences since the release of their third album Chemistry (2005). It was recorded separately from April to October 2007, with the band members earning songwriting credits for two tracks off the album.

"Graffiti My Soul" is a song by British-Irish all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their second studio album What Will the Neighbours Say? (2004). Written and produced by Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, the track was originally written for Britney Spears. "Graffiti My Soul" includes a sample of Peplab's "It's Not the Drug."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Can't Speak French</span> 2008 single by Girls Aloud

"Can't Speak French" is a song performed by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, taken from their fourth studio album and serving as the third and final single from the album Tangled Up (2007). The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. Described as "a swirling, slower cut with great jazzy guitar changes," Higgins said it was "the easiest Girls Aloud single they made." Upon its release in March 2008, "Can't Speak French" charted within the top ten on the UK Singles Chart, continuing their five-year streak of top ten hits.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Here We Go (Moonbaby song)</span> 2000 song by Moonbaby

"Here We Go" is a pop song written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins, and Matt Gray, originally recorded by Cooper under the alias Moonbaby. The song was initially released as Moonbaby's first single in 2000, later being covered by Lene Nystrøm in 2003 and Girls Aloud in 2004. A version with rewritten lyrics appears as the theme music of the French/Canadian animated television series Totally Spies!.

"Some Kind of Miracle" is a song by British all-female pop group Girls Aloud, appearing on their debut studio album Sound of the Underground (2003). The song was written by Miranda Cooper, Brian Higgins and his production team Xenomania, and produced by Higgins and Xenomania. One of six songs produced by Xenomania for Sound of the Underground, "Some Kind of Miracle" was also remixed by Illicit.

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