Released: 30th November 1998
Writers: Bryan Adams / Eliot Kennedy
Peak position: #3
Chart run: 3-6-8-7-6-6-6-7-5-7-11-15-22-32-36-42-50-57-65
Melanie C’s first single away from the Spice Girls saw her team up with Bryan Adams on a song that dominated the charts and set a high commercial benchmark for the group’s solo endeavours.
Though often regarded by many critics as the Spice Girl with the most potential as a solo artist, Melanie C was not the first member of the group to score a hit in her own right. That honour went to Melanie B, who reached #1 in September 1998 with I Want You Back, featuring Missy ‘Misdemeanour’ Elliott. However, it was only a few months later when Melanie C made her debut alongside Bryan Adams. When You’re Gone was not a solo launch outright; work wouldn’t formally commence on her first album – Northern Star – until the following year. Instead, the track was taken from his eighth studio album, On A Day Like Today, with Melanie C credited as a featured artist. She wasn’t the first choice for When You’re Gone, though; Bryan Adams initially reached out to Sheryl Crow but received no response. It was only after a chance meeting with Melanie C that the offer was extended to her instead. The vocals were subsequently recorded with Eliot Kennedy (who has co-writing credits with both acts) and mixed into the track.
While the circumstances were somewhat serendipitous, the timing was convenient. The comparatively modest year-end sales of I Want You Back (218,000 copies) suggested that even following Geri Halliwell’s departure, the Spice Girls were still a far stronger commercial prospect together than individually. Yet, the group had reached a point in 1998 – as they prepared to release Goodbye – where a hiatus felt inevitable, whether it would be to facilitate solo aspirations or not. Thus, When You’re Gone seemed unlikely to impact the Spice Girls in the short term. Furthermore, in the (unlikely) event it failed to meet expectations, Melanie C did, at least, have the contingency of this not being her song as such.
It’s not as if Bryan Adams didn’t stand to benefit, either, because When You’re Gone undoubtedly gained more exposure in the UK than would otherwise have been the case if Sheryl Crow had accepted the offer instead. Additionally, it presented a lucrative opportunity in light of the mixed reception towards On A Day Like Today. The song mightn’t necessarily have changed critical opinions on a toe-tapping soft rock album. Nonetheless, When You’re Gone is a great example of the commerciality of the material and how its uplifting guitar riffs had the potential to slip effortlessly onto radio playlists.
Although Melanie C is a good fit for the song, this isn’t a showcase of her voice in the way that many fans might’ve expected or hoped. She sings alongside Bryan Adams throughout in a harmony that occasionally positions her in more of a backing role. The arrangement is impressively cohesive, though; particularly considering the vocals were recorded separately. The pair blend well and sound great together as they find themselves in a despairingly forlorn breakup: “I’ve been wanderin’ around the house all night, wondering what the hell to do, yeah, I’m trying to concentrate, but all I can think of is you”. Even if it was difficult to draw any meaningful conclusions about how Melanie C might operate as a solo artist, When You’re Gone shows she could competently step outside the Spice Girls and sing a different style of music without it feeling inauthentic or gimmicky.
The track is filled with smartly written anecdotal contemplation: “Well, the phone don’t ring ‘cos my friends ain’t home, I’m tired of being all alone; got the TV on ‘cos the radio’s playing songs that remind me of you” that strikes an affably relatable tone. Indeed, that extends to the performance, too, because while Bryan Adams’ distinctive rasp is present, When You’re Gone rarely harnesses the full power of his or Melanie C’s voice, meaning it retains an inviting and accessible sing-song quality. Even so, there are still standout moments where the pair cut loose with a bit more vigour – like the second verse: “Oh, this is torture, this is pain, it feels like I’m gonna go insane, I hope you’re coming back real soon, ‘cos I don’t know what to do” – which highlight how well Bryan Adams and Melanie C match each other’s energy.
Although When You’re Gone is a musical departure from the Spice Girls, there is a sense of familiarity in the way that the track reserves Melanie C’s most prominent contributions for the ad-libs during the final chorus: “Oh baby, when you’re gone (when you’re go-o-o-one), I realise I’m in love (so in lo-o-ove), the days go on and on, and the nights just seem so long, even food don’t taste that good (woah-oh), drink ain’t doing what it should, things just feel so wrong (so wro-o-o-ong), baby when you’re gone…”. It does feel, to some extent, that they’ve been created to mirror the role she frequently took on the group’s material. Playing to Melanie C’s strengths isn’t a bad thing, but the way she elevates the final chorus also shows there was scope for her to play a more active role throughout.
While Bryan Adams and Melanie C recorded When You’re Gone separately, they shot the music video together, though that’s not immediately obvious. It’s fittingly influenced by the song’s underlying theme of estrangement and set in a series of interconnected rooms that the pair wander through, looking for each other. There are a series of near misses where one of them enters through one door while the other leaves via another, but they never actually meet. Indeed, were it not for a photo in the single artwork showing Bryan Adams and Melanie C relaxing in the same clothes they’re wearing in the video, it’d be entirely conceivable that the visuals were largely spliced from separate shoots. Yet, because the concept is so well-realised and edited – with both singers likeably portraying the despondent tone – keeping them apart never feels detrimental.
There’s a distinctive aesthetic to When You’re Gone, which mixes predominantly whites and greys in the rooms with an apple-green backdrop to the corridor shots. It’s immediately recognisable, and not just because of how frequently the video appeared on music channels at the time. As a first solo endeavour for Melanie C, her Sporty Spice persona is still – somewhat inevitably – present in terms of styling and sequences where she bounces a ball or does a handstand against the door. However, When You’re Gone strikes a deft balance in retaining enough familiarity to not alienate existing fans while being enough of an evolution to appeal to a broader audience. That continued into the promotion of the track, where it became increasingly apparent from the live performances with Bryan Adams how much Melanie C was finding a new identity away from the Spice Girls.
When You’re Gone was an immediate success in the UK when it debuted and peaked at #3. While much of the Spice Girls’ chart dominance was defined by their consistent accumulation of #1 singles, Melanie C proved herself in a different yet no less significant way. The track defied the usual downward trend of the late ‘90s and remained in the top ten for ten weeks – the longest of any Spice Girls-related single besides Wannabe– until February 1999. It was the 45th best-selling single of 1998 (317,000 copies) and the 55th best-seller of 1999 (318,300 copies). When You’re Gone was also a big radio hit, spending three non-consecutive weeks atop the airplay chart; indeed, Melanie C technically knocked herself from the #1 spot, replacing Goodbye. As of 2021, the song’s sales stand at 921,000 copies, making it the biggest-selling solo Spice Girls single by a considerable margin, ahead of Geri Halliwell’s It’s Raining Men, which sold 477,185 copies (although some might argue that Geri is equally deserving of the plaudit since When You’re Gone is credited to Bryan Adams as the lead artist).
Melanie C has since spoken about her experience working with Bryan Adams on When You’re Gone gave her the confidence to launch her solo career properly in 1999. The pair wrote further songs together – Follow Me, Angel On My Shoulder, and You Taught Me – so there might’ve been a not-unreasonable assumption that their partnership meant Melanie C would pursue a similarly radio-friendly pop-rock direction for her album. While the tracks were later released as B-sides or promotional material, it quickly became evident that When You’re Gone was very much a separate entity from the creative vision of Northern Star. And that’s how it remained. Though there would’ve been every commercial justification for Virgin Records to include it on the album as a bonus track, the song would’ve sounded totally out of place. Without it, Northern Star is, thus, a far more cohesive body of work as a result.
Off the back of When You’re Gone, Bryan Adams also enjoyed a resurgent period of chart success. The follow-up single – Cloud Number 9 – was remixed by Chicane and peaked at #6. That subsequently led to a further collaboration with Chicane on the dance track, Don’t Give Up, which reached #1 in 2000. Though Bryan Adams’ status was already well-established before When You’re Gone, it did feel that the song led to some experimentation in material aimed beyond his traditional fanbase that might not otherwise have happened.
The song itself has also had an enduring legacy, with both Bryan Adams and Melanie C continuing to perform it – albeit rarely together – in their live shows. Somewhat bizarrely, when Bryan Adams released his Anthology compilation album in 2005, the American edition featured a re-recorded When You’re Gone with Pamela Anderson. The rationale was that because the track hasn’t been a hit in the US, a different angle was needed to warrant inclusion on Anthology…which is certainly one way to describe it. Melanie C didn’t need to be replaced – it’s not as if she was unknown in America – but modernising and localising the track isn’t an unreasonable decision, in principle. The issue is that Pamela Anderson takes away far more than she adds. Her performance is about as reasonably competent as one might expect, albeit that’s achieved by replacing most of Melanie C’s original ad-libs with half-spoken ones, leaving the track an inferior version of itself. As a superfluous curio, it’s passable, but for a two-disc, career-spanning retrospective, it’s a perplexing decision.
Sensibly, when Bryan Adams (inspired by Taylor Swift) re-recorded some of his earlier material in 2022 due to the masters being owned by a former label, he invited Melanie C back for an updated When You’re Gone (Classic Version). There are no drastic changes; everything that makes the original work so well is retained with a subtly fresher production, while the warm vocals blend just as cohesively, if not perhaps even more so. A new single-take music video was also filmed, albeit one that’s clearly shot on a low budget and out of convenience (it coincided with Bryan Adams playing a gig in Melanie C’s hometown, Widnes, where they reunited onstage). All the same, that simplicity allows a continued fondness between the pair for each other and When You’re Gone to radiate, further emphasising what an inspired – and significant – collaboration this ultimately proved to be.
Although When You’re Gone may – in principle – be Melanie C’s biggest-selling solo single, it didn’t overshadow her debut album campaign to the extent that such a big hit could’ve done. There was still plenty of scope for Northern Star to capitalise on the momentum, marking some important creative and commercial milestones in its own right.
