Hear'Say

By the arrival of the twenty-first century, reality television had shed its former aura of niche fascination and novelty. Viewers no longer demanded proof of genuineness, and any expectation of credibility went unheeded. The United States made the process transparent by unveiling O-Town as the direct product of Lou Pearlman’s profit-driven pop enterprise on ABC’s Making the Band. The United Kingdom followed suit by rolling out Popstars.

England embraced the resulting manufactured five-piece, Hear’SAY. Myleene Klass, Kym Marsh, Danny Foster, Suzanne Shaw, and Noel Sullivan were chosen from three thousand hopeful entrants and presented to the public in February 2001. Prolonged on-camera exposure revealed each member’s playful and eccentric traits, helping explain why the debut single “Pure and Simple” sold five hundred thousand copies within days of its late-April release and ranked among the fastest-moving singles ever. The self-titled album displaced The Beatles’ 1 from the top sales position that same month, while merchandise such as Hear’SAY dolls amplified the frenzy. ITV then commissioned a second season under the new title Pop Idol, intending to award one victorious contestant a recording contract overseen by Simon Fuller, whose credits already included Spice Girls and S Club 7. The Popstars format soon spread to Canada, Australia, Germany, Norway, and New Zealand. In October 2002, Hear’SAY announced their dissolution, stating that the band had reached the end of its natural lifespan.