It was also the third-fastest-selling single in UK chart history at that point, behind " Do They Know It's Christmas? Controversy erupted when it was found out that Shentall had previously been a member of short-lived pop group Boom! Pure and Simple" was released on 12 March 2001 in the United Kingdom and received a continental European release in April 2001. Popstars sold 306,631 copies in its first week, breaking yet another record for fastest-selling debut album.

In March 2002, Hear'Say cancelled their planned arena tour to allow Shentall time to "settle in" to the group. Their record was beaten a year later by Will Young, the first UK Pop Idol, with his debut single "Anything Is Possible/Evergreen," which sold over 1 million in its first week. It took her only 30 minutes to pen this and she discussed her songwriting with the Metro newspaper March 31, 2006: "I quit the industry and eventually got back into it when I was asked to work on Simon Cowell's girl group, Girl Thing. They initially announced five dates which quickly sold out, causing the band to schedule thirty more dates.Despite the second album's lack of success, it did achieve Gold status by the BPI but over a decade after its release [10] and plans were made for an arena tour but these were later cancelled. The five unsuccessful finalists went on to form the group Liberty (later renamed Liberty X after a legal dispute). I dont know how people could say hear'say have no talent, after all wasn't it their voices that got them here in the first place?

Johnny Shentall, husband of Steps singer Lisa Scott-Lee, won the auditions, joining the group on 5 February 2002. This single had the third fastest selling opening week (550,000 copies sold) in UK chart history and the biggest ever by a debut act and a non-charity record. Kym's voice is by far the strongest and she stands out as the most talented member of this new band, which explains why she takes most of the lead lines. This followed on from a mini-series named Meet the Popstars which was intended to allow the public to get to know the group and their music away from the talent show format.

Following the disappointing sales of the single, it was thought that they would be dropped by the label, though no official word came from Polydor.