Scream If You Wanna Go Faster

Scream If You Wanna Go Faster is the second studio album by British pop singer Geri Halliwell. It was released by EMI Records on 14 May 2001 and yielded the UK number-one single "It's Raining Men", was also used on the Bridget Jones's Diary film soundtrack. The song was released as the lead single from the album. The single became a major hit worldwide, it peaked at number one in the United Kingdom and peaked in the top 10 in over 27 countries, becoming Halliwell's biggest hit to date. The song won her the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards.[3]

Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
Studio album by Geri Halliwell
Released	14 May 2001
Recorded	May 2000 – January 2001
Studio	Angel · The Aquarium (London)
Genre	Pop dance-pop pop rock
Length	46:55
Label	EMI
Producer	Gregg Alexander Rick Nowels Stephen Lipson Absolute
Geri Halliwell chronology
Schizophonic (1999) Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (2001) Passion (2005)
Singles from Scream If You Wanna Go Faster
"It's Raining Men" Released: 30 April 2001 "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" Released: 30 July 2001 "Calling" Released: 26 November 2001

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[1]
NME	negative[2]

The singles that followed, "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" and "Calling", reached number eight and number seven in the United Kingdom, respectively. Halliwell released a special French edition of "Calling", titled "Au Nom de L'amour". In 2002, Halliwell was once again nominated at the BRIT Awards, this time for Best British Female Solo Artist and Best British Single for "It's Raining Men".

Background

The album includes a cover version of The Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men" (1983), which became Halliwell's fourth UK number-one hit single. The title track, "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" is Halliwell's most rock-based song to date, and was inspired by her listening to Led Zeppelin the previous summer as encouraged by close friend, Robbie Williams. Halliwell commented about the album: "There's deeper meaning underneath if you care and choose to look. Some of it is deep as a puddle, some of it is a bottomless pit, like a well".

Singles

"It's Raining Men" was released on April 30, 2001 as the first single from Geri Halliwell's second solo album and was also used on the Bridget Jones's Diary film soundtrack. Halliwell's version received positive reviews by music critics, experienced international success and hit the top ten in over two dozen countries around the world, going to number one in several of them. However, in the United Kingdom, "It's Raining Men" debuted at number-one on the UK Singles Chart and stayed there for two weeks. It became Halliwell's fourth consecutive number-one single in the UK, selling 155,000 units in its first week and 80,000 in its second week. Overall the single went on to sell 449,000 copies in Britain alone,[4] becoming the 13th best seller of 2001 and Halliwell's most successful single worldwide.[5]

The song was successful outside the United Kingdom. In Flemish Belgium, the song stayed at number one for four weeks and was the best-selling single of 2001.[6] The single reached number one in France for five weeks and sold over 812,000 copies,[7] receiving a Diamond certification from the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP).[8] With this song, Geri Halliwell won the International Song of the Year award at the 2002 NRJ Music Awards in France. The cover was also a major success in Walloon Belgium, Ireland, Italy, Poland, and Switzerland.

The music video was inspired by the 1980 film Fame and by the 1982 film Flashdance for the video.[9]

"Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" was released on 30 July 2001 as the second single from the album. It received positive reviews by music critics, who complimented the singer's new style. The music video was directed by Jim Canty and Jake-Sebastian Wynne. To promote the single, Halliwell performed the song on Top of the Pops, Party in the Park, Musica Sí and Popkomm.[10] The song entered the UK Singles Chart (and peaked) at number 8, which became the lowest-charting single of Halliwell's career at the time. The single sold 27,458 copies in its first week, but ended up only selling about 80,192 copies in the United Kingdom.[11]

The accompanying music video for "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" was directed by Jim Canty and Jake-Sebastian Wynne. Halliwell plays two characters in the video. She said, "It's kind of like Lara Croft meets Blondie. The Lara Croft character, she represents spirit and soul, a little more organic, more playful. Then the (Blondie) character on stage, she's a lot more aggressive and sexual and represents ego."[12] The video generated controversy as the two-women theme was very similar to former bandmate Victoria Beckham's single "Not Such an Innocent Girl".[13]

"Calling" was released as the third and final single from Halliwell's second album. Just like Halliwell's previous single, the success for the song was limited. In certain regions, the song was released in a French version, called "Au Nom De L'Amour". The song was praised for both lyrics and production. "Calling" charted at number seven on the UK Singles Chart when released on 26 November 2001 with 28,000 sales in its first week. Altogether, the single sold 70,515 copies and it became the 192nd best seller single of 2001 in the United Kingdom.

The black and white music video was directed by Pierluca DeCario. It shows Geri, dressed with a black sweater and barefoot, singing the song while lying in a meadow and standing and walking in front of concrete walls.

Chart performance

The album reached a peak position of number five on the UK Albums Chart. With first-week sales of 35,000 copies and total sales of 155,000, it became the 127th best selling album of 2001 in the United Kingdom. Sales in the United Kingdom ensured Gold status. It eventually received an American release digitally via the iTunes Store on 30 October 2007.

Track listing

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Scream If You Wanna Go Faster.[14]

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer	Length
1.	"Scream If You Wanna Go Faster"	Geri Halliwell Rick Nowels	Nowels	3:38
2.	"Shake Your Bootie Cutie"	Halliwell Gregg Alexander Nowels	Alexander Nowels	4:02
3.	"Calling"	Halliwell Peter-John Vettese	Stephen Lipson	4:25
4.	"Feels Like Sex"	Halliwell Tracy Ackerman Andy Watkins Paul Wilson	Absolute	3:24
5.	"Circles Round the Moon"	Halliwell Ackerman Watkins Wilson	Absolute	3:59
6.	"Love Is the Only Light"	Halliwell Elofsson Lipson	Lipson	3:26
7.	"Strength of a Woman"	Halliwell Nowels	Nowels	4:03
8.	"Don't Call Me Baby"	Halliwell Watkins Wilson	Absolute	3:42
9.	"Lovey Dovey Stuff"	Halliwell Ackerman Watkins Wilson	Absolute	3:39
10.	"It's Raining Men"	Paul Jabara Paul Shaffer	Lipson	4:18
11.	"Heaven and Hell (Being Geri Halliwell)"	Halliwell Elofsson Lipson	Lipson	3:31
12.	"I Was Made That Way"	Halliwell Vettese	Lipson	4:47
Total length:				46:55

Japanese bonus track

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Producer	Length
13.	"Brave New World"	Halliwell Vettese	Ian Masterson	4:10

B-sides

Title	Single B-side	Producer(s)	Length
"New Religion"	Scream If You Wanna Go Faster CD Single	Absolute	3:05
"Breaking Glass"		Peter John Vettese	3:37
"Getting Better"	Calling CD Single		3:07
"Destiny"		Rick Nowels, Wayne Rodrgues	4:29

• An uncredited sample of "Breaking Glass" was used in 2004's "Hold On" by Timbaland & Magoo featuring Wyclef Jean . The track appeared on Timbaland & Magoo's album Under Construction, Part II

Personnel

• Geri Halliwell – vocals
• Wayne Rodrigues – drum programming, Pro Tools editing
• Rick Nowels – acoustic and electric guitar, bass guitar, keyboards
• Chris Garcia – bass guitar, drums, guitar
• Rusty Anderson – electric guitar
• Milton McDonald – guitar
• Charles Judge – keyboards
• Andy Duncan – programming
• Jorgen Elofsson – guitar
• Greg Kurstin – keyboards, clavinet
• Simon Clarke – flute
• Tim Pierce – guitar
• Mike Higham – guitar, additional programming
• David A. Stewart – keyboards
• David Rainger – electric guitar
• Peter-John Vettese – keyboards, programming, backing vocals
• Stephen Lipson – acoustic guitar, programming
• Tracy Ackerman – backing vocals
• Claudia Fontaine – backing vocals
• Danielle Brisebois – backing vocals
• Beverley Skeete – backing vocals
• Sue Ann Carwell – backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (2001) Peak position Australian Albums (ARIA)[15] 55 Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[16] 30 French Albums (SNEP)[17] 133 German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[18] 29 Hungarian Albums (MAHASZ)[19] 33 Italian Albums (FIMI)[20] 15 Irish Albums (IRMA)[21] 15 Scottish Albums (OCC)[22] 4 Spanish Albums (PROMUSICAE)[23] 20 Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[24] 22 UK Albums (OCC)[25] 5

Year-end charts Chart (2001) Position Italian Albums Chart[26] 82

Certifications and sales

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
France (SNEP)[27]	Gold	100,000^*
United Kingdom (BPI)[28]	Gold	100,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

1. Promis, Jose F. "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster AllMusic review". AllMusic. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
2. Ward, Christian. "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster review". NME. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
3. http://www.nrj.fr/music-awards/actualites/nrj-music-awards-2002-236040
4. Copsey, Rob (29 June 2017). "The ultimate Official Spice Girls solo chart: all their singles ranked by sales". Official Charts. Retrieved 5 August 2017.
5. "2001 - UK Charts Plus" (PDF). UKChartsPlus. 5 January 2002. Retrieved 16 May 2018.
6. "Jaaroverzichten 2001" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
7. "InfoDisc : Les Certifications (Singles) du SNEP (Bilan par Artiste) – Search for "HaliwellG."". Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Archived from the original on 13 July 2012. Retrieved 14 February 2011.
8. "Certifications Singles Diamond - année 2002". Disque en France. Archived from the original on 12 December 2011. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
9. "Entertainment Daily : Geri Halliwell". AP Archive. Retrieved 3 November 2016.
10. http://www.presseportal.de/pm/6708/273184
11. "Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" Sales Archived 9 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
12. Stevenson, Jane (8 June 2001). "Former Spice Girl Geri Halliwell no wallflower". Jam! Canoe. Retrieved 4 August 2017.
13. https://www.thefreelibrary.com/3am%3A+Not+Geri+original%3B+SPICE'S+FURY+AT+'COPYCAT'+VIDEO.-a075871219
14. Scream If You Wanna Go Faster (CD liner notes). Geri Halliwell. EMI Music. 2001. 7243 5 33369 4 3.CS1 maint: others (link)
15. Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010. Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
16. "Austriancharts.at – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" (in German). Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
17. "Lescharts.com – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
18. "Offiziellecharts.de – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
19. "Top 40 album DVD és válogatáslemez-lista – 2001. 31. hét" (in Hungarian). MAHASZ. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
20. "Italiancharts.com – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
21. "GFK Chart-Track Albums: Week 20, 2001". Chart-Track. IRMA. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
22. "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
23. Salaverri, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (1st ed.). Spain: Fundación Autor-SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
24. "Swisscharts.com – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster". Hung Medien. Retrieved 8 October 2016.
25. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 September 2018.
26. Italian Albums Chart Hitparadeitalia.it. Retrieved 22 June 2017.
27. "French album certifications – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster" (in French). Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique. Retrieved 19 March 2015.
28. "British album certifications – Geri Halliwell – Scream If You Wanna Go Faster". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type Scream If You Wanna Go Faster in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.