Version of Me

Version of Me is the seventh studio album by English recording artist Melanie C. It was released on 21 October 2016 by Red Girl Records to highly positive reviews.[7][8] It became her highest charting album since 2005's Beautiful Intentions, debuting at number 25 on the UK Albums Chart. It was released in Germany at a later date in 2017 becoming her first album to chart outside of the top 20.

Version of Me
Studio album by Melanie C
Released	21 October 2016
Recorded	2014–2016
Studio	London Bridge Studios, Peer Music Studios (Los Angeles) Peer Studios (London) Wilding Sounds (Bristol)
Genre	Pop[1][2]
Length	42:21
Label	Red Girl
Producer	Paul Boddy Dele Ladimeji SOS Music Tom Wilding
Melanie C chronology
Live at Shepherd's Bush Empire (2013) Version of Me (2016) Melanie C (2020)
Singles from Version of Me
"Anymore" Released: 6 September 2016 "Dear Life" Released: 16 December 2016 "Hold On" Released: 17 March 2017 "Room for Love" Released: 20 October 2017[3]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
Auspop	[4]
Daily Express	[2]
The Independent	[5]
Music News	[6]

Background and composition

Melanie C started recording the album in 2014, and it was not her only focus at the time. She elaborated,

"Because in the past, I've gone "Right. It's album time" with back-to-back writing sessions. But, with this record, I had other stuff going on. And actually, I think it's really benefited the record because I never got stale, you know? It just felt like life kept on happening and all of these scenarios kept coming up, and it was really inspiring. I didn't feel like I was repeating myself because I was just taking my time, so that was really cool. One of the songs on the album, as you know, is "Version of Me," and I thought this is a really good album title. Each record has been me at that moment in time, and this is really an expression of what's going on in my life in the last five years. So, that felt really good. I also like the thought that we all do this, we all have versions of ourselves. We're very different speaking to our friends than to our boss, or when we're in school with a teacher. We are this person, but there's so many versions of us".[9]

Musically, Version of Me is a pop album with elements of R&B and electronica.[1][2]

Promotion

During two An Intimate Evening with Melanie C special events at Under the Bridge in London, Melanie C performed some songs from Version of Me as well as her old hits. She also performed a set of songs acoustically at her show at G-A-Y on 2 October 2016. On 10 November 2016, Melanie appeared on Celebrity Juice, on what was the last episode of the sixteenth series. On 12 November 2016, Dear Life was played for the first time as a single on Graham Norton's BBC Radio 2 show.

In support of the album, several singles were released. On 29 July 2016, Melanie released "Numb" as the first promotional single for the album. "Anymore" was released as the album's lead single on 6 September 2016.[8] It reached number one on the UK physical chart.[8] "Dear Life" was released as the second single on 16 December.[10] On 17 March 2017, "Hold On" featuring Alex Francis was released as the third single.[11] It was not included on the original version of the album, but featured on the deluxe release.

Melanie announced "Room for Love" as the fourth single on 13 October 2017, with its release scheduled for 20 October.[3]

Tour

Melanie embarked on the Version of Me Tour in April 2017. She visited fourteen cities, starting in Glasgow on 4 April and finishing in Stuttgart on 9 May.[12] [13]

Track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Dear Life"	Adam Argyle Melanie Chisholm	SOS Music	3:27
2.	"Escalator"	Chisholm Richard Judge Tom Wilding	Wilding	3:22
3.	"Anymore"	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music	3:03
4.	"Something for the Fire"	Chisholm Olly Knights Gale Paridjanian	Wilding	3:48
5.	"Version of Me"	Nicholas Atkinson Chisholm Wilding	Wilding	4:00
6.	"Numb"	Olaniyi Michael Akinkunmi Chisholm Moses Ayo Samuels Varren Wade	SOS Music	3:30
7.	"Room for Love"	Akinkunmi Chisholm Samuels Wade	SOS Music	3:20
8.	"Unravelling"	Chisholm Rick Nowels	Wilding	4:41
9.	"Loving You Better"	Akinkunmi Chisholm Samuels Wade	SOS Music	4:44
10.	"Our History"	Paul Boddy Chisholm Dele Ladimeji	Boddy Ladimeji	3:51
11.	"Blame"	Chisholm Peter-John Vettese	Jonas Westling Wilding	4:35
Total length:				42:21

German Deluxe edition bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"Hold On" (featuring Alex Francis)	Chisholm Greg Hatwell Westling	Westling	3:22
Total length:				45:43

Brazilian bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
12.	"One Minute"	Chisholm Judge Wilding	Wilding Hatwell	3:14
Total length:				45:35

Deluxe edition bonus disc

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer(s)	Length
1.	"Dear Life" (Live from Ronnie Scott's)	Argyle Chisholm		3:31
2.	"Version of Me" (Live from Ronnie Scott's)	Atkinson Chisholm Wilding		4:03
3.	"Something for the Fire" (Live from Ronnie Scott's)	Chisholm Knights Paridjanian		3:56
4.	"Never Be the Same Again" (Live from Ronnie Scott's)	Chisholm Paul F. Cruz Rhett Lawrence Lisa Lopes Lorenzo Martin		3:32
5.	"Anymore" (At Night HiFi remix)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music At Night HiFi	5:38
6.	"Anymore" (Full Intention dub mix)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music Full Intention	5:44
7.	"Anymore" (Seamus Haji remix)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music Seamus Haji	6:00
8.	"Dear Life" (Grant Nelson radio edit)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music Grant Nelson	3:24
9.	"Dear Life" (Grant Nelson dub)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music Nelson	6:14
10.	"Dear Life" (Reuben Keeney extended mix)	Argyle Chisholm	SOS Music Reuben Keeney	4:58
11.	"One Minute"	Chisholm Judge Wilding	Wilding Hatwell	3:14
Total length:				50:19

Charts

Chart (2016–2017)	Peak position
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[14]	34
Irish Albums (IRMA)[15]	94
Scottish Albums (OCC)[16]	28
Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[17]	83
Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[18]	24
UK Albums (OCC)[19]	25
UK Indie Albums (OCC)[20]	2

References

1. Stephen Thomas Erlewine. Version of Me at AllMusic. Retrieved 21 August 2019.
2. "The Lemon Twigs Kings Of Leon and Melanie C: Album Reviews".
3. Melanie C (13 October 2017). "Let's #MakeRoomForLove ❤ Melanie C's new single "Room For Love" is now available for Pre-Save and Pre-Order on Spotify, iTunes and other digital outlets! Pre-Save and Pre-Order today and listen to the song on October 20th! And... don't forget to check out the video ;)". Retrieved 13 October 2017 – via Facebook.
4. "Melanie C 'Version Of Me' Album Review".
5. "Album reviews: Lady Gaga - Joanne, Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker, Pretenders - Alone, and more".
6. "Melanie C Version Of Me".
7. "Melanie C: Version of Me". iTunes. Apple (US). Retrieved 8 September 2016.
8. White, Jack (6 September 2016). "Melanie C goes electronic on new single Anymore, announces seventh album Version Of Me". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 September 2016.
9. papermagazine (11 October 2016). "Talking Girl Power, Social Media Fame, and Growing Up with Mel C., the Artist Formerly Known as Sporty Spice".
10. "Dear Life (CD Single) - Signed & Unsigned available". Melanie C Official Store. Archived from the original on 3 August 2017. Retrieved 4 December 2016.
11. https://www.facebook.com/MelanieCmusic/posts/10155185038467710
12. "Melanie C announces headline 2017 UK tour - Entertainment Focus".
13. "Melanie C Germany Tour".
14. "Offiziellecharts.de – Melanie C – Version of Me" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 24 February 2017.
15. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 43, 2016". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
16. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
17. "TOP 100 ALBUMES — SEMANA 43: del 21.10.2016 al 27.10.2016" (in Spanish). Productores de Música de España. Retrieved 4 November 2016.
18. "Swisscharts.com – Melanie C – Version of Me". Hung Medien. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
19. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 October 2016.
20. "Archive Chart". UK Indie Albums Chart. 28 October 2016.