Comin' Atcha! (album)

Updated on Dec 17, 2023

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Released 30 June 1998 Length 47:08 Artist Cleopatra		Recorded 1997 Comin' Atcha! (1998) Steppin' Out (2000) Release date 30 June 1998

Label Maverick Recording Company Genres Pop music, Rhythm and blues, Contemporary R&B Pop music albums Where We Belong, Best Of, Latin Classics Mijares, Cicero Park, BEGIN

Comin' Atcha! is the debut album by British pop and R&B girl group Cleopatra, released on 30 June 1998 by WEA. The album was written by singer-songwriter Cleo who is also the lead singer of Cleopatra. Four singles were released from the album—the top five hits "Cleopatra's Theme", "Life Ain't Easy" and a cover of The Jackson 5's "I Want You Back", as well as the top 30 "A Touch of Love". The album was released worldwide and went Platinum. Comin' Atcha! was released digitally on 28 December 2004. The album had a huge impact on Cleopatra's career, leading to them being signed to Madonna's Maverick record label and selling over 300,000 copies in the US alone. In Canada the girls are known as Cleopatra ZYC as the name Cleopatra was already taken by an artist.

Writing

The album was written by lead singer Cleo who had written some of the songs as young as 9 years old. The album was recorded in 1997 when Cleo was only 14 years old. When the original demos were recorded they were R&B and soul records which were later remixed to pop songs. Cleo often wrote about personal experiences or issues she felt she needed to address. On the track "A Touch of Love" Cleo goes into her whistle register hitting F#6.

Impact

Their debut single was "Cleopatra's Theme" entered the UK chart at No. 3, giving them their first Top 5 hit single.

The next two singles—"Life Ain't Easy", and a cover of The Jackson 5's classic hit "I Want You Back" followed the same success, heading into the Top 5, gaining the girls BRIT Awards and MOBO Awards nominations. They performed at the 1999 BRIT Awards alongside Steps, Tina Cousins, B*Witched and Billie Piper and were also nominated for Best British Newcomer. Madonna signed Cleopatra in 1998 to her Maverick label and introduced them to the United States at Nickelodeon's 11th Annual Kids' Choice Awards, where they performed their debut single, "Cleopatra's Theme". It was released shortly afterwards and reached no. 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 16 in the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The video reached No. 4 on the TRL Top 10 countdown. Comin' Atcha sold over 300,000 copies in the US alone and entered the top 30 there in July 1998. The group filmed a live show for a 60-minute Disney Channel special, "Cleopatra in Concert", where they performed their biggest hits aboard the Disney cruise ship, Disney Magic. The show also contained a behind-the-scenes look into the lives of the three sisters over a four-day Bahamas cruise.

Cleopatra were invited to support the Spice Girls on the UK leg of their sell out Spiceworld Tour, playing to 150,000 fans at Wembley Stadium. They were also invited to perform at the Vatican by request of Pope John Paul II, backed by a 100-piece orchestra. They sang "O Come All Ye Faithful". The performance was later released on DVD in 2004 as All-Star Christmas – From the Vatican. They covered the Bee Gees song "I've Gotta Get a Message to You", renaming it "Gotta Get a Message to You", for the tribute album of the same name. They were also asked to record a cover of the disco song "Right Back Where We Started From" for An Extremely Goofy Movie by Disney.