Atomic Kitten is a British pop girl group, first established in 1997 in Liv… Read Full Bio ↴Atomic Kitten is a British pop girl group, first established in 1997 in Liverpool. The group was founded by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (OMD) members Andy McCluskey, and Stuart Kershaw. The original line-up featured, Liz McClarnon, Kerry Katona and Heidi Range (later in the Sugababes), but Range decided to quit and was replaced by Natasha Hamilton. Jenny Frost (formerly of Precious) replaced Katona in 2001. Hamilton, McClarnon & Frost were the final and most successful line-up of the group.
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.
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.
Softer The Touch
Atomic Kitten Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
So beauty's only skin deep baby
But when you touch me
I don't care
All I know when you're in deep baby
I just want to keep you near
I can't control
My needing
You're all I hoped you'd be
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
Oh yeah
Um
Oh
And everytime I feel I'm needing
I quickly stop to lose my head
Just one touch
And it to beginning
You make a temple of my bed
I can't control
My needing
You're all I hoped you'd be
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
Oh no, hell no
Just where did it go
'Cause when it's right
To it shouldn't fight
I can't to screen
When you're with me
To think I sugared
It feels so good
I can't control
My needing
You're all I hoped you'd be (Let it go)
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The softer the touch, ooh yeah
The sweeter the kiss
The sweeter the kiss
The slower the hand
The slower the hand
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
must be bad
The softer the touch
Yeah yeah, must be bad
The sweeter the kiss
Yeah
The slower the hand
Oh it hurts
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
But when you touch me
I don't care
All I know when you're in deep baby
I just want to keep you near
I can't control
My needing
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
Oh yeah
Um
Oh
And everytime I feel I'm needing
I quickly stop to lose my head
Just one touch
And it to beginning
You make a temple of my bed
I can't control
My needing
You're all I hoped you'd be
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
Oh no, hell no
Just where did it go
'Cause when it's right
To it shouldn't fight
I can't to screen
When you're with me
To think I sugared
It feels so good
I can't control
My needing
You're all I hoped you'd be (Let it go)
I'm breathless
From this feeling
This need's controlling me
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The more that I love you
The sweeter the kiss
The harder it hurts
The slower the hand
The faster I want you
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
The softer the touch
The softer the touch, ooh yeah
The sweeter the kiss
The sweeter the kiss
The slower the hand
The slower the hand
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
must be bad
The softer the touch
Yeah yeah, must be bad
The sweeter the kiss
Yeah
The slower the hand
Oh it hurts
It feels so good
Oh it must be bad
"Softer The Touch" by Atomic Kitten is a love song that talks about how the gentler the touch or the sweeter the kiss, the more the love becomes intense. The singer declares that although beauty is only skin deep, when her lover touches her, it doesn't matter because all she wants is to be close to him. She admits that she can't control her desire and that her need for him is controlling her.
The chorus of the song emphasizes the idea that the softer the touch or the kiss, the more intense the love becomes. The singer narrates that with just one touch of her lover, everything begins, and she loses control willingly. She admits that it feels so good, that it must be bad.
The song explores the theme of a delightful, agonizing, and uncontrollable love that feels so good and that it must be wrong but is just so right. The singer has become obsessed with her lover, and she doesn't want to let him go.
Line by Line Meaning
So beauty's only skin deep baby
Physical beauty is not important as it doesn't affect the emotional connection
But when you touch me
However, when you touch me, I forget about everything else
I don't care
I am not worried about superficial things when I am with you
All I know when you're in deep baby
All I know is that when we are emotionally connected, I want to be close to you
I just want to keep you near
I want to have you near me always
I can't control
I am unable to control my need for you
My needing
My desire for you
You're all I hoped you'd be
You are everything I wanted in a partner
I'm breathless
I feel overwhelmed with emotion
From this feeling
From the intense emotions I feel when with you
This need's controlling me
My desire for you is so strong that it is taking over my thoughts and actions
The softer the touch
The gentler your touch
The more that I love you
The more I am drawn to you and love you
The sweeter the kiss
The more tender your kiss
The harder it hurts
The more it hurts emotionally when you are not with me
The slower the hand
The more drawn out and tender your touch
The faster I want you
The more I am drawn to want you physically and emotionally
It feels so good
Being with you is an amazing feeling
Oh it must be bad
I know it's not sustainable or healthy to rely on someone this much
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Written by: ELIZABETH MARGARET MCCLARNON, JENNIFER FROST, NATASHA HAMILTON, SIMON TAUBER
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
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