Following the decline of Take That, Spice Girls, and Boyzone, the United Kingdom kept supplying distinctive pop acts throughout the early 2000s. Groups including A1, Westlife, and the television-created Hear'Say dominated airplay, while the Liverpool dance-pop trio Atomic Kitten entered the same cycle of chart competition and tabloid scrutiny. Audiences embraced the band partly because its behind-the-scenes narrative carried the same serialized drama that had defined the Spice Girls. Andy McCluskey of Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark formed Atomic Kitten in 1999; the teenage members Kerry Katona, Liz McLarnon, and Natasha Hamilton, all Liverpool natives, saw the project as the vehicle for their pop ambitions. A swift contract with Innocent Records that summer launched their career. The singles “Right Now” and “See Ya” quickly reached the European Top 10, and “Whole Again” ascended to number one during the winter of 2001. Although the group became a regular MTV presence, internal tensions surfaced. In September 2000 Katona informed journalists that she and Westlife’s Bryan McFaden had been together for a year, were expecting a child, and planned to marry. Her aversion to constant touring prompted her departure—an exit she later called regrettable once the debut album Right Now garnered widespread acclaim. Jenny Frost of Precious stepped in as replacement, and the Bangles cover “Eternal Flame” generated considerable attention in spring 2001. Several months afterward the Blondie cover “The Tide Is High” appeared, drawing enough stateside interest that Atomic Kitten joined the Supremes and the Spice Girls as acts with more than a dozen number-one singles. Two further tracks from the 2002 album Feels So Good—“Be With You” and “The Last Goodbye”—secured a U.S. agreement with Virgin Records before year’s end. While the dance-oriented single “Love Doesn’t Have to Hurt” climbed the British charts, the band prepared its self-titled American debut, issued in April 2003.
