Tell Me Why (Spice Girls song)

"Tell Me Why" is a song by British girl group, the Spice Girls, appearing as the second track on their third studio album Forever (2000). The song was written by Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III and Mischke Butler. Jerkins and Daniels produced the song. It was released as a promotional single in December 2000. Planned as the second single from Forever, the release was scrapped in 2001.

For other uses, see Tell Me Why.

"Tell Me Why"
Promotional single by Spice Girls
from the album Forever
ReleasedDecember 2000
Genre
Length
  • 4:13 (album version)
  • 3:42 (radio edit)
LabelVirgin
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
  • Rodney Jerkins
  • LaShawn Daniels
Audio video
"Tell Me Why" on YouTube

Background
Rodney Jerkins writer and producer of "Tell Me Why" (pictured in 2013).

After Spice Girls released "Goodbye" as their first single without member Geri Halliwell, in 1998, the group took a break and came back to a recording studio in mid-1999, when Rodney Jerkins signed up to give their then-upcoming new album a tougher sound.[1] Jerkins said, "I went out to dinner with a couple of the Spice Girls about a month and a half ago and they told me that they want me to, you know, do some work on their album, so I'm planning on going to London at the end of January, early February to work on the album, so it should be cool. I'm ready for it", adding that he hoped to bring an "urban, danceable" feel to the project: "It will still have a pop appeal, but the beats will be a little harder".[2]

Release

"Tell Me Why" was released in December 2000 as one of the three songs picked as promotional singles from the Spice Girls' third studio album, along with "If You Wanna Have Some Fun" and "Weekend Love".[3] In January 2001, Virgin Records commissioned several remixes for the song including remixes from Thunderpuss and Jonathan Peters. The remixes for the proposed second single of Forever were not commercially released due to the "disappointing" sales of the parent album.[4] While the planned single release of the song was scrapped.[5]

"Tell Me Why" (Jonathan Peters edit) would later be commercially released as a bonus track in November 2007 on the deluxe edition of the group's Greatest Hits album.[6]

The song was performed in the 2012–13 jukebox musical Viva Forever!, which is based on the songs of the Spice Girls.

Composition
The song's lyrics was directed to Geri Halliwell (pictured in 2019).

"Tell Me Why" was written by the members of the group Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown and Emma Bunton, along with Rodney Jerkins, LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III and Mischke Butler, while production was handled by Jerkins and Daniels. The song is one of the three Spice Girls album tracks that Melanie C didn't receive a writing credit.[7] It is described as a "sparse, uptempo slice of R&B, flecked with chattering electronics" by Alexis Petridis by The Guardian.[8] In March 2019, Bunton stated that the song was about Geri Halliwell adding "we were writing songs, we were being very honest and open."[9]

Critical response

James Hunter of Rolling Stone called the song as a "silky, spiky danceability" track.[10] Anne T. Donahue of Vulture criticized the song and described it as attempt of the Spice Girls at throwing "shade" at Geri Halliwell who was a former group member at the time.[11] J.D. Considine of The Baltimore Sun described the track as an "itchy, keyboard-driven pulse."[12] Dorian S. Ham of The Lantern called the song as a "right tune with its jerky guitar driven beat", and describing it as a "fairly entertaining imitation" of an upbeat Mariah Carey song.[13]

Format and track listing
Promotional CD[3]
  1. "Tell Me Why" (radio edit) – 3:42
  2. "Tell Me Why" (Thunderpuss edit) – 3:39
  3. "Tell Me Why" (Thunderpuss Club Mix) – 10:55
  4. "Tell Me Why" (Jonathan Peters edit) – 3:22
  5. "Tell Me Why" (Jonathan Peters Club Mix) – 9:19

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Forever.[7]

Published by EMI Full Kneel Music/EMI Blackwood Inc./Rodney Jerkins Productions Inc./EMI April Music Inc./LaShawn Productions Inc./Ensign Music Corp./Fred Jerkins Publishing.

Release history
Release dates and formats for "Tell Me Why"
Region Date Format Label Ref.
United Kingdom December 2000 Promotional CD Virgin [3]
Greece 2000 [14]
Canada [15]
Australia 2001 [16]

References
  1. Rubin, Daniel (9 February 1999). "Master of Beat at 21, Songwriter And Producer Rodney Jerkins Jr. Is An R&b Wunderkind Who Goes For Energy With Beat". Philly.com.
  2. "Spice Girls Producer Jerkins Promises Urban Feel on New Album". 8 January 1999. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  3. "Spice Girls Tell Me Why (2000, CD)". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  4. "Spice on Ice". 15 January 2001. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  5. Rigby, Sam (5 November 2018). "WHY THE SPICE GIRLS' THIRD ALBUM 'FOREVER' DESERVES MORE LOVE". Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  6. "Greatest Hits by Spice Girls". Itunes.apple.com. 9 November 2007. Archived from the original on 11 November 2012. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  7. Forever (CD Album liner). Spice Girls. Virgin Records. 2000. 7243 8 50467 42.CS1 maint: others (link)
  8. Petridis, Alexis (8 November 2018). "All 43 Spice Girls songs – ranked!". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  9. Cragg, Michael (23 March 2019). "Emma Bunton: 'We made Victoria clean the bathroom!'". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  10. Hunter, James (21 November 2000). "Forever - Rolling Stone". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  11. Donahue, Anne T. (29 May 2019). "Every Spice Girls Song, Ranked". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  12. Considine, J.D. (7 November 2000). "Spice Girls fall into well-worn groove". Retrieved 21 October 2020.
  13. Ham, Dorian S. (29 November 2000). "SPICE GIRLS LOSE 'POP' AND FIZZLE OUT FOREVER". Retrieved 28 October 2020.
  14. "Spice Girls - Tell Me Why (2000, CDr)". Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  15. "Spice Girls - Tell Me Why (2000, CDr)". Retrieved 23 October 2020.
  16. "Spice Girls - Tell Me Why (2000, CD)". Retrieved 23 October 2020.
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