Following the 2003 breakup of S Club, Rachel Stevens stood out among the act’s members who launched solo careers. Performance interests surfaced early for her through childhood singing and acting, and she later claimed first place in a modeling competition at 15. After obtaining a degree from the London School of Fashion, she planned a career in fashion PR yet cut several demos that secured her a role in the pop group and television series S Club 7, formed in 1999 by former Spice Girls manager Simon Fuller. Once the ensemble’s run concluded, Stevens moved quickly into independent work, issuing her debut solo single “Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex” in late summer 2003. Conceived by songwriter and onetime pop artist Cathy Dennis together with production team Bloodshy & Avant—the same collaborators behind Britney Spears’ “Toxic”—the track had first been imagined as a reply to Justin Timberlake’s “Cry Me a River” and introduced her initial full-length album, Funky Dory, that autumn. The record reached the United States in early 2004. Stevens scored another major success that year with the Richard X-produced “Some Girls,” whose shuffling rhythm recalled both classic glam rock and contemporaneous dance trends. Her second solo album, Come and Get It, appeared in the U.K. in early 2005 and reached the U.S. by year’s end.
