Maybe (Emma Bunton song)

Updated on Oct 28, 2023

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Released 13 October 2003 Genre Pop, groove		Format CD single Length 3:45
B-side "Don't Tell Me You Love Me Anymore" Recorded Sarm West Studios (London)

"Maybe" is a song recorded by English singer Emma Bunton for her second studio album, Free Me (2004). Written by Bunton herself and Yak Bondy, and produced by Mike Peden, it was released as the second single from the album on 13 October 2003 by Polydor Records. It enjoyed moderate success, entering the top forty on various record charts. The song contains lounge/bossa influences, and the music video was inspired by the style of Sweet Charity's "Rich Man's Frug". Bunton performed an edit of the song as her solo performance on the Return of the Spice Girls tour.

Production

The unusual inspiration behind the song was a soundtrack album of 70s German porn music; Bunton and her collaborators "found some ideas out of that". She described the process as "mad" and "hilarious", while noting the style of the finished song is reminiscent of its origins.

Music video

In the summer of 2003, a music video for "Maybe" was released. Directed by Harvey & Carolyn, the video is strongly inspired by the Rich Man's Frug scene from film Sweet Charity. Bunton began conceptualising the music video while she was in the process of writing; her inspiration was the "very sexy" stage musical Chicago. She chose to incorporate Bob Fosse's style of dancing (used in that musical) to create a "slick" and "different" work.

The video starts with Bunton entering a hall, which is a big theatre, all painted in white. She is wearing a white hooded trench coat, which she then removes to reveal a black dress with a pink collar and cuffs (the same as the one on the cover of the single). Throughout the video there is a lot of dancing scenes behind white, green and pink backdrops.

Critical reception

A 2004 review of the album Free Me by BBC Music said the song was "a perfect pastiche of French fluffy '60s bubblegum pop". In 2006, Talia Kraines of the same website said the song had a "beehive razzamatazz".

Chart performance

"Maybe" debuted at number six on the UK Singles Chart and although it did not reach the top five as "Free Me" had, it outsold its predecessor and totalled 80,247 copies once it completed its chart run. In early 2004, "Maybe" began to receive airplay across Australia and Continental Europe, where it achieved top forty success and huge radio airplay, but it failed to emulate the major impact it had on the UK. The song failed to enter the Canadian Singles Chart and the BDS airplay chart, but it managed to frequently occupy the number one position on MuchMoreMusic's MMMTop10.ca. Up until the end of the summer, it maintained a top ten position before it exited the chart.

Early in January 2005, the song and its remix were solicited to US radio. Both versions climbed to a peak position of number six on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Play, which made it a success in nightclubs.