2002 Liberty X: Just A Little

'Every loser wins' - so sang Nick Berry back in 1986, yet though I was quick to take the mick, it seems that I'm the one left with egg on my face; Nick might have been right all along. Liberty X are another set of graduates from the Popstars shows, albeit with the twist that the five members were actually rejects eliminated from the show's latter stages in favour of the bunch that went to become Hear'say - even losers win on Popstars. And what's more, that egg on my face was actually double yoked in that 'Just A Little' is by far the best offering to date from anyone involved in any of these talent shows. True the hits from the so-called winners so far have been piss poor to a note, but 'Just A Little' more than holds its own against allcomers, not just reality TV stars. Ok, so its juddering R&B offers nothing new to the genre, but the clipped guitar that drives it and compressed crunch of its production recalls a mid-eighties Prince and gives it a genre credibility over and above what you might expect from a disparate bunch of talent show leftovers. At least, it does whenever Kelli Young takes the lead; being a democracy, the producers seem keen to give each a turn in the spotlight to see who shone the brightest and the tag team nature of the shared vocals splinters the effect somewhat. But not enough to spoil the pleasant surprise of the single as a whole.