Trivia / Atomic Kitten

• Approval of God: Susanna Hoffs loved their cover of "Eternal Flame" so much that she gave them the song "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt", which she had originally written for herself.
• Breakaway Pop Hit: Their cover of "Eternal Flame" was recorded for The Parole Officer, which has become mostly forgotten and is only remembered for being Steve Coogan's debut film. The song became their second number one, and is still one of their most remembered.
• Creator Breakdown:
  • Liz suffered from depression ironically during the Feels So Good era.
  • Natasha was battling post-natal depression during the Ladies Night era.
• Dye Hard: Natasha, a natural redhead dyed her hair both blonde and later black before allowing her natural red to come through just before the split. Liz, a natural brunette, became blonde at the end of Right Now.
• Executive Meddling: After "Whole Again"'s success, Innocent Records kept demanding more songs like it, and Andy McClusky and Stuart Kershaw, who had founded the band, got fed up and were eventually dismissed.
• Follow the Leader:
  • The "Whole Again" video is clearly inspired by Sugababes "Overload" - with the band members singing against white backgrounds.
  • The last shot of "The Last Goodbye" is likewise inspired by Backstreet Boys "Show Me The Meaning of Being Lonely".
• Hide Your Pregnancy: Natasha was pregnant during the video for "It's OK". She's wearing a loose top in contrast to the bikinis Liz and Jenny wear, and in many of the shots she's lying down on the sand. She's also driving the car, allowing the wheel to hide the bump. But averted for "The Tide Is High", see below.
• Hostility on the Set:
  • Kerry admitted to having multiple fights with the others before she first left the group, saying Liz once punched her after an argument and she retaliated by stamping on her feet while they were performing on stage. Although they were able to perform together for The Big Reunion, they had all become estranged by the 2020s and a reunion to support Blue in 2022 only had Natasha, Liz and Jenny without even asking her.
  • In the Ladies Night era, tensions were quite high in the group. Liz and Jenny were annoyed at Natasha's commitments slipping after she became a mother - and she had even no-showed several publicity events. Things came to a head when she turned up for a photoshoot with a hairstyle identical to Jenny's - who had cut her hair into a bob precisely to distinguish herself from the others. The girls argued and bickered all through the Greatest Hits Tour - leading to Natasha no-showing a concert in Dublin completely.
• Irony as She Is Cast: The Kittens lampshaded the irony of filming "The Last Goodbye" video in Liverpool. The video emphasised the girls being lonely and sad - which makes it ironic that they filmed it in their hometown.
• No Budget: The "Whole Again" video was shot on a shoestring, as the label were on the verge of dropping the girls. After the single went to Number 1, the American version was re-shot with a higher budget.
• No Export for You:
  • Inverted with "You Are". The UK is the only place it wasn't released as a single. And that was the only place it was promoted too.
  • The American version of "Whole Again" never saw release in the US because of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
  • The first two albums weren't released in America; songs from them were cobbled together into one album that didn't do too well.
• The Other Marty: Kerry's vocals (which weren't that much)) were replaced by Jenny's on the re-release of the Right Now album, though for time purposes it was only on the past and future singles.
• The Pete Best:
  • Kerry. Then subverted when she's the most well-known these days, though it's more due to scandal than anything else.
  • Heidi Range was actually in the first lineup but quit before their debut single because she wanted to sing R&B instead and was replaced by Natasha. Heidi is now more famous as a member of Sugababes.
• Product Placement: An MG Rover features in the video for "The Last Goodbye" because they had a deal with the band.
• Production Posse: Jake Nava directed their videos for "It's OK", "Be With You", "The Tide Is High (Get the Feeling)" and "The Last Goodbye".
• Real Life Writes the Hairstyle:
  • Jenny has a bob from "Love Doesn't Have to Hurt" onward partly because her hair had been ruined from extensions, and she wanted to distinguish herself from the other two.
  • She has long hair again in "Someone Like Me" because Natasha unexpectedly cut her hair into a similar bob, and so Jenny hurriedly had extensions put in.
• Real Life Writes the Plot:
  • Jenny is lying down during the "Eternal Flame" video because she was suffering from tonsillitis and had no energy.
  • The dance routine for "The Tide Is High" was choreographed around Natasha's pregnancy (she filmed the video while eight months pregnant).
  • Natasha isn't seen in the trip to Africa for the "Cradle 2005" video because she was pregnant with her second child.
  • Natasha is also absent from Mike Bassett: England Manager because she was suffering from a ruptured appendix, and it's given a hand wave that she has food poisoning.
• Throw It In!: The group's name was originally to be 'Automatic Kitten', but when Kerry Katona told her mother, her mother misheard her and kept saying 'Atomic' instead. She passed this onto the others and they agreed it sounded better.
• Troubled Production: Just before the Greatest Hits tour, tensions in the group were running high. Natasha had been suffering from post-natal depression, and as a result had no-showed many publicity events. She also thoroughly pissed off Jenny by turning up to a photoshoot with exactly the same hairstyle as her^note Jenny had cut her hair into a bob to distinguish herself from the other two - ratcheting up tensions even further. On the night before the show in Dublin, Natasha had a fight with the girls and turned off her phone so no one could contact her. She only let them know she wouldn't be flying to Ireland a couple of hours before the show. The venue just lied to say she was ill. Jenny also suffered a nasty bout of food poisoning, and had to rush off the stage at intervals to throw up into a bucket. The Kittens compromised for this by bringing three fans up on stage to sing Natasha's parts in other singles, and invited Big Brother winner Brian Dowling on stage too.
• Vacation, Dear Boy:
  • "It's OK" became a Beach Episode just so the girls could have fun in South Africa. As Natasha was pregnant at the time, that also meant they didn't shoot as long hours as normal (thus giving them more time to have fun).
  • Inverted for "The Last Goodbye", which was shot in Liverpool to give the Kittens excuses to visit home more often.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The video for "You Are" was going to be filmed at Grand Central Station in New York. However due to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the video was filmed on a constructed set instead.
  • Natasha quit the group in 2004 due to the stress of being a mother. After some consideration, the other two opted to take a break rather than replace her.
  • They tried multiple times to introduce the girls to America. "See Ya" was featured in Bring It On, and an alternate American version of "Whole Again" was filmed but never released due to the 9/11 attacks. They tried again with "The Tide Is High (Get The Feeling)" being used in the Lizzie McGuire movie, but the low record sales led to them just focusing on Europe and Asia.
  • A reunion was announced in 2008 but never materialised.