Just when we thought the Beckham family feud had taken every possible turn, Victoria Beckham fans pulled one more trick from their sleeves.
The Spice Girls icon’s pop career has had somewhat of a resurgence thanks to some deeply unserious people online, whose mission has been to get her into the charts.
And while she didn’t quite manage to break into the top 100 of the Official Singles Chart (let’s be realistic, the song is 25 years old), she did achieve something else.
The tune in question is VB’s 2001 single Not Such an Innocent Girl, which fans have been playing and buying on iTunes in a social media-led campaign amid a rift with her son, Brooklyn Beckham, having been accused of dancing on him ‘inappropriately’ after his wedding to Nicola Peltz in 2022.
As a result of all the memes, Victoria, 51, has stormed to number one on the Official Singles Sales Chart and Official Download Chart, marking the designer’s first taste of solo chart-topping success.
Sales and streams of the track surged by an astonishing 19,615%, according to Official Charts Company data, meaning it was the UK’s best-selling single this week – not bad for a woman who hasn’t dropped any music since 2003.
There’s no denying that fans chose Not Such an Innocent Girl to soundtrack the Beckaissance due to its rather on-the-nose title.
However, the glistening pop-R&B anthem also has the perfect nostalgic feel, referencing a ‘secret rose tattoo’ in a true Y2K-era signifier.
Upon its initial release, the song faced tough competition in a hugely hyped chart battle against Kylie Minogue’s hit Can’t Get You Out of My Head. While the latter scored the Aussie pop princess a number one, Victoria debuted at number six.
Posh Spice shifted 35,000 units, with Not Such an Innocent Girl becoming one of four top 10 solo hits she now has to her name.
It was also the opening track on her self-titled debut album of 2001. She was the last Spice Girls member to release a solo record, and while reviews were originally mixed to negative, opinion has (clearly) only strengthened over time.
In total, during her brief music career, Victoria released five singles with accompanying music videos, the album itself selling 100k copies and just making the top 10.
And while fans have long championed her to return, a comeback seems more unlikely each day, given the growth of her fashion empire and refusal to join her bandmates on their 2019 tour.
Speaking after the surprise Oasis reunion, she said: ‘Before I was in the Spice Girls, I was so self-conscious, and they made me feel that I was good enough, but being on stage, I realised as fun as it is, you know, it’s not ultimately what I want to do anymore.’
She added to SiriusXM’s Andy Cohen Live that the idea of a residency somewhere like the Las Vegas Sphere is ‘tempting’, but she ‘can’t’ take on a world tour.
‘I have a job,’ Victoria remarked. ‘I love the idea of it. I mean, I don’t know if I could even still sing. I mean, I was never that great.’
Nevertheless, Victoria is far from irrelevant, as her personal life makes more headlines than ever.
Earlier this week, budding chef Brooklyn, 26, accused his mum and dad, Sir David Beckham, of ‘controlling’ him since he was a child.
In a brutal takedown of ‘Brand Beckham’, he claimed actress wife Nicola, 31, has been repeatedly ‘disrespected’ by his family, going on to accuse Victoria of not only pulling out of making her wedding dress at ‘the eleventh hour’, but then also ‘hijacking’ their first dance.
Taking to his Instagram Story with an explosive statement, he wrote in part:
‘My mum cancelled making Nicola’s dress in the eleventh hour despite how excited she was to wear her design, forcing her to urgently find a new dress.’
He added: ‘During the wedding planning, my mum went so far as to call me “evil” because Nicola and I chose to include my Nanny Sandra, and Nicola’s Naunni at our table, because they both didn’t have their husbands. Both of our parents had their own tables equally adjacent to ours.’
‘The night before our wedding, members of my family told me that Nicola was “not blood” and “not family”.’
The former photographer went on to call his mum’s behaviour at his wedding bash ‘humiliating’ as sources say she ‘grinded’ on him during what was meant to be a romantic moment between the newlyweds.
‘In front of our 500 wedding guests, Marc Anthony called me to the stage, where in the schedule was planned to be my romantic dance with my wife but instead my mum was waiting to dance with me instead. She danced very inappropriately on me in front of everyone,’ penned Brooklyn.
‘I’ve never felt more uncomfortable or humiliated in my entire life. We wanted to renew our vows so we could create new memories of our wedding day that bring us joy and happiness, not anxiety and embarrassment.’
Indeed, the couple renewed their vows last year in front of Nicola’s billionaire family – Brooklyn’s noticeably missing.
Neither Victoria nor Sir David has responded publicly to their firstborn’s shocking claims, but they have continued posting on social media and attending public events, seemingly keen to keep up appearances despite the chaos surrounding them.
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