Atomic Kitten had three UK number one singles; Whole Again, the fourth best selling single by a girl group of all time; Eternal Flame and The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling). They also had two UK number one albums, Right Now, a re-issue of their debut album, and Feels So Good, both going double platinum in the UK alone. Atomic Kitten sold over 10 million records worldwide. In terms of sales, Atomic Kitten are the one of the most successful European girl groups of the twenty first century, alongside the Sugababes.
The group's first single, Right Now, debuted in December 1999 and reached the UK Top 10. After their initial success, Atomic Kitten performed an Asian tour and scored their first number one hit there with Cradle. The album, also titled Right Now, was first released in Japan on 16 March 2000, and subsequently released in the United Kingdom on 23 October 2000 with a slightly modified track list. In 2000, the group also recorded a cover version of The Locomotion for the movie Thomas and the Magic Railroad.
The Right Now album was unsuccessful upon its first release, peaking only at #39 in the UK album chart. Initially, there were no plans to focus on the global market and Atomic Kitten's record label, Innocent Records, was even considering dropping them because of their limited success. However, the record company were persuaded to allow the group to record one more single. The single, Whole Again, became their first no. 1 hit in the UK in 2001, and stayed at the top for four consecutive weeks. Due to this success, "Whole Again" was released worldwide, and reached #1 in 18 other countries. The song and video for "Whole Again" originally featured Kerry Katona; however, she left the group several days prior to the number-one position because of her pregnancy. The single was remade when Jenny Frost was added to the line-up as Katona's replacement. This led to a decision to partially re-record and re-release the album, which then went to no. 1 in August 2001. The next single, Eternal Flame, a cover version of the 1989 hit by The Bangles, also became a no.1 hit in several countries, and sold a million copies worldwide.
Following the success of "Right Now", a new album, Feels So Good, was recorded. The songwriting and production agreement with Andy McCluskey was an increasing source of tension within the group, and the girls decided to terminate the contract with McCluskey halfway through the recording of the album.
The first single off the album was It's OK!. Even though this song performed well in the charts, securing a No. 3 position in the United Kingdom, and reaching the top 20 in many other countries, it was the next single The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling), a remake of the 1965 song by The Paragons (also made famous by Blondie in 1980), which attained Atomic Kitten their third number-one single in their homeland. The single became the Kitten's second largest hit, getting into the top 10 in over 25 countries. In April 2002, Hamilton announced that she was pregnant, but rather than leave the group, she opted to continue with the scheduled 2002 tour. Hamilton filmed the music video for "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)", and made an appearance at Party in the Park before finally going on pregnancy leave.
In April 2003, the group released the album, Atomic Kitten in the United States. Until that time, the group had not focused on the American market, and the album consisted of tracks from their first two albums, Right Now and Feels So Good. Promotion for the album began with the single, The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling), appearing on the soundtrack for the Disney film, "The Lizzie McGuire Movie" starring Hilary Duff, and managed to debut and peak at #42. However, the single plummeted to #88 in it's second week. In addition, after the album only managed to peak at #102 on the US Billboard 200, it was decided the group would focus solely on the European, Oceanian, and Asian markets.
Before recording their third album, Kool & The Gang approached the group about a collaboration of their hit Ladies Night and were looking for a girl group to sing the lyrics. Atomic Kitten liked the idea and enquired whether they could use it for their next album which was subsequently named Ladies Night in honour of this collaboration.
Their first single of the album, excluding Be with You, was If You Come to Me. It secured a #3 position on the UK top 40. It became Atomic Kitten's 6th best selling single in the United Kingdom for sales of 180,000 copies. Moreover, "If You Come to Me" reached the top 30 in every single country it charted, and reached the top 10 in over 10 countries.
Atomic Kitten spent late 2002 and early 2003 in the studio recording their third and final studio album. Up until the recording of Ladies Night, the group mainly relied on songwriters, though they had occasionally co-written songs featured on their albums. While recording Ladies Night, they decided to be directly involved in the creation of eight of the fifteen songs. Ladies Night was released on 10 November 2003, and peaked at no.5 in the UK album chart.
In early 2004, a tour to support the Ladies Night album and the upcoming release of their Greatest Hits album was planned. Shortly before the tour kicked off, the group announced they would be taking an extended break after the completion of the tour.
On 23 January 2004, Natasha Hamilton decided to devote more time to her young son and wanted to take a hiatus from the group. Atomic Kitten released the single Someone Like Me/Right Now 2004" as a "goodbye" to their fans. The reunited on Valentine's Day 2005 to release the charity single Cradle 2005", a new version of the original song from their album Right Now which was a no. 1 hit in Asia back in 2000. "Cradle 2005" peaked at No. 10, selling 35,000 copies worldwide, with proceeds going to World Vision.
In 2005, the group was featured on the soundtrack of Disney's Mulan II with the song (I Wanna Be) Like Other Girls. In 2005, they also performed together in Krakow, Poland on 28 August at the Coca-Cola SoundWave Festival.
In 2006, Atomic Kitten recorded a one-off single, All Together Now (Strong Together), in association with Goleo VI, the official mascot of the FIFA World Cup 2006. The track is taken from The Official FIFA World Cup Album and was released for digital download and in CD form on 6 June 2006, in Germany, where the World Cup was held ten days later. The single was listed by the HMV website for physical release in the UK many weeks prior to the competition but was later withdrawn due to the amount of competing football records that were being released at that time. The proceeds of the single went to SOS Children's Villages.
On 4 December 2006, the group reunited again for a one-off performance of "Whole Again" and two other songs at a benefit concert for the Michael Shields appeal at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.
On 31 December 2006, Atomic Kitten performed at the Ocean Terminal in Hong Kong at Nokia's New Year's Eve celebration. The marked their second international appearance since their extended break in 2004.
Atomic Kitten released another charity single, Anyone Who Had A Heart on 27 January 2008, a version of Dionne Warwick's 1963 hit as part of the Liverpool Number One Project. The single peaked at no.77 in the UK. Their last stage performance happened on 19 January 2008, Atomic Kitten had returned to the stage for The Number One Project, where they sang "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Whole Again" and "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)" live. Their last television performance happened on 25 January 2008, the group appeared on GMTV, talking about The Number One Project and performed "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in the studio.
Jenny Frost and Liz McClarnon embarked on solo careers, although neither were able to replicate the Kitten's success.
They returned on 12 March 2012
The group released a remake of "Whole Again" in support of England at UEFA Euro 2020, entitled "Southgate You're the One (Football's Coming Home Again)". The release of the track also marked Frost's return to the band for the first time since 2008.
Don't You Know
Atomic Kitten Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Chorus:
Don't you know
I don't want to be alone
But, I don't want to be
In love
No, I don't want to be
Don't you know
I don't want to hear you say
Yours has gotta be the way
You only do
The things you want to do
All my days
And all my nights
I sit up pouring
Is this right?
Will you only take me
For what you want
When you whisper in my ear
You make my problems disappear
Sometimes I don't know
Where you're coming from
I feel my senses turn around
I can't believe
The love I've found
Then I ask myself
Can this be wrong
(Chorus)
Somethings you just
Can't control
There's no way
Of letting go
You could let me down
It only takes time
Things I may live to regret
Wishing that we'd never met
Hard to see my way
But love's so blind
Oh my head
Is spinning round
Can't believe
This feeling now
I wish I knew what's
Going on in my mind
(Chorus)
If you want what I want
But I see that you don't
We need some understanding
You gotta let me know
If I want what you want
And you see that I don't
Don't try and be demanding
You've gotta take it slow
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,
(Chorus)
In this song, the singer expresses her fear of falling in love with someone who might break her heart. She wants to be loved but at the same time, she's scared of being too vulnerable. The chorus repeats the phrase "Don't you know" to emphasize her uncertainty in the relationship. She doesn't want to be alone, but she also doesn't want to be a fool for someone. The singer goes back and forth in her thoughts, questioning if the person she's with truly cares for her or if they are just using her.
The second verse talks about how the singer is stuck in this cycle of doubt and confusion. They can't control their feelings, but they are also terrified of being hurt. They wish they knew what was going on in their mind and what the other person truly wants. The bridge emphasizes that love is blind and sometimes the singer feels like they're losing control over their senses.
Overall, the song is a cautionary tale about being cautious in love and taking things slow. It's important to communicate your needs and wants clearly, and to make sure that your partner is on the same page as you.
Line by Line Meaning
Don't you know
I hope you realize
I don't want to be alone
I don't want to be by myself
But, I don't want to be
Although I don't
In love
Be in a romantic relationship
No, I don't want to be
I definitely don't want to be
A fool for you
Doing things that make me look foolish because of you
Don't you know
I hope you realize
I don't want to hear you say
I don't want to hear you
Yours has gotta be the way
You insist on your way only
You only do
You always do only
The things you want to do
The things that you feel like doing
All my days
Always
And all my nights
Every night
I sit up pouring
While I'm up pouring
Is this right?
I question the rightness of this
Will you only take me
Will you only use me for yourself
For what you want
For your benefit only
When you whisper in my ear
Whenever you whisper sweet things in my ear
You make my problems disappear
You make my worries go away
Sometimes I don't know
At times, I'm confused
Where you're coming from
I don't know what your motives are
I feel my senses turn around
I feel disoriented
I can't believe
I find it hard to believe
The love I've found
That I found love with you
Then I ask myself
Then I wonder
Can this be wrong
If this is unwise
Somethings you just
There are some things
Can't control
I can't manage
There's no way
It's impossible
Of letting go
To detach myself
You could let me down
You could disappoint me
It only takes time
It takes just some time
Things I may live to regret
Things I'll probably regret later
Wishing that we'd never met
I wish we never crossed paths
Hard to see my way
I'm confused and can't think straight
But love's so blind
Because of love, I can't see clearly
Oh my head
I'm so confused
Is spinning round
And I can't think clearly
Can't believe
I can't believe
This feeling now
This feeling that I have right now
I wish I knew what's
I want to know what's
Going on in my mind
Going on inside my head
If you want what I want
If you want the same thing as I do
But I see that you don't
But I notice that you're not interested
We need some understanding
We need to be more understanding toward each other
You gotta let me know
You need to communicate better with me
If I want what you want
If I want what you also want
And you see that I don't
But you can see that I'm not interested
Don't try and be demanding
Don't pressure me into something I don't want to do
You gotta take it slow
We have to take things slow
Yeah, Yeah, Yeah,
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Don't you know
I hope you realize
I don't want to be alone
I don't want to be by myself
But, I don't want to be
Although I don't
In love
Be in a romantic relationship
No, I don't want to be
I definitely don't want to be
A fool for you
Doing things that make me look foolish because of you
Don't you know
I hope you realize
I don't want to hear you say
I don't want to hear you
Yours has gotta be the way
You insist on your way only
You only do
You always do only
The things you want to do
The things that you feel like doing
Don't you know
I hope you realize
Lyrics © Peermusic Publishing, Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: CONNIE HARRINGTON, TRINA LOY HARMON
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind