Poison by Bardot

New Zealand number-one hits don’t get much worse than this Australian reality-TV show product.

Poison—Bardot

• Release year: 1962
• Topped the NZ charts for 3 weeks, starting on 7 May 2000.

1/10

More about my NZ number #1 project.

Bardot

Around the turn of the millennium, the Popstars TV franchise manufactured pop groups, auditioning contestants and winnowing them down to a successful pop quintet. The format was successful in the UK, launching the careers of Girls Aloud and Hear’Say. But most of the other winners have long faded into obscurity.

Australia was the second country in the world to have a Popstars series, after New Zealand. The presenters auditioned 2,500 young women, ultimately choosing Chantelle Barry (who was quickly replaced by Tiffani Wood), Belinda Chapple, Sophie Monk, Sally Polihronas, and Katie Underwood. The show was huge, averaging more than 2.6 million viewers per episode.

Poison

Producers Darryl Sims and Michael Szumowski wrote ‘Poison’. It’s a soulless piece of garbage. Which makes sense, as the show’s producers were also soulless pieces of garbage, paying the girls a tiny allowance while they produced millions of dollars of revenue.

Belinda’s book says the girls received a $35 a day pay per diem, and Belinda has said in interviews with various media outlets that she heard rumours that the gross profits for Bardot from their first year as a band came in around the $27-$28 million mark.

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My Verdict

There’s little to enjoy here – it’s just a flat pop song. It sold millions, since the group already had a captive audience from their TV show. But it’s a mundane song, with little energy in the delivery. In particular, the singing is insipid, especially when they sing individually. It’s hard to believe they auditioned 2,500 wannabe singers, and these were the best they could find.

The aftermath

The group split after two albums, although they’ve recently performed some reunion gigs without Sophie Monk.

Largely, the members have left the music industry. Sophie Monk is a successful television presenter in Australia, while Belinda Chapple is an interior designer. Katie Underwood is a meditation teacher, while Tiffani Wood runs a performing arts school for children. Sally Polihronas helps people activate their creative path with genuine clarity, self-trust, and direction….