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Wednesday, May 25, 2022

"Somebody Like You" by Robbie Nevil

Song#:  3838
Date:  03/18/1989
Debut:  81
Peak:  63
Weeks:  11
Genre:  Pop


Pop Bits:  Nevil's second album, A Place Like This, didn't have the best of starts. Its first single, "Back on Holiday", could only manage to crack the Pop Top 40 at #34. It was a bit of a disappointment following the pair of Top 10s that his debut generated. Hoping for a better result, this next single was issued out. Unfortunately, it couldn't get the job done. The song stalled in the bottom half of the Pop chart. With those results, the album stopped at a low #118. It would be the last single released from the LP. 

ReduxReview:  Nevil was a good songwriter and possessed the ability to create hits. He crafted some memorable ones for his debut, but when it came time for the follow up it just seemed he didn't have his A-game going. This track was a pleasant listen, but it was far weaker than any of his previous Top 40 entries. Even the production was low-key and a bit bland. But then the problem was that there wasn't anything much better to release as a single on the album. Not that there was anything bad about the tracks. In fact there were some nice works on the album such as the driving "Can I Count on You." It was just that there wasn't any radio-ready hits. I'm sure pressure from the label to get out a second album didn't help things. It was too bad he couldn't come up with that one surefire hit to give the album a boost.

ReduxRating:  4/10

Trivia:  Nevil would release a third album in 1991. While Day 1 would not chart, it did supply him with one last Top 40 hit. "Just Like You" would do well enough to reach #23 on the Pop chart. A second single, "For Your Mind," would get to #86 Pop/#93 R&B. After that, Nevil retreated from the spotlight and mainly focused on writing songs for other artists. His first major success following the close of his own solo career was "The Right Kind of Love," a song he co-wrote for singer Jeremy Jordan. It was Jordan's debut single and it got to #14 in 1992 on the Pop chart (Jordan would have only one other charting song, the #28 "Wannagirl," a remake of a 1992 Trey Lorenz track). Around 2005, Nevil began a writing partnership with Matthew Gerard. They got hooked up with Disney and began working with their stable of young artists. Their careers took a big upswing when they supplied songs for the hugely successful TV movie High School Musical. After that, they wrote songs for Hannah Montana, The Cheetah Girls, and Camp Rock. Songs from those shows would end up charting with "What Time Is It?" from High School Musical 2 doing the best reaching #6 Pop.

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