If That Were Me

The lyrics of the song came in for particular criticism from professional music reviewers. Kurt B. Reighley wrote in CMJ New Music Monthly: "When she's singing lyrics like 'I couldn't live without my phone/ And you don't even have a home', it's tough to recall Chisholm's charms."^[4] The NME's Andrew Wagstaff recommended people donate to Shelter and ridiculed the song's lyrics: "If, after doing so, you still want to hear our Mel trilling - and this is not a joke - 'I couldn't live without my phone/But you don't even have a home', well, hell, just remember that charity begins at home. So bear the neighbours in mind and wear headphones."^[1] Alex Needham described the song in The Guardian as an "ode to a tramp" and suggested the aforementioned rhyming couplet was a strong contender for the worst song lyric ever.^[5] Caroline Sullivan of The Guardian likened the song to Phil Collins' critically panned 1989 single "Another Day in Paradise", arguing that they both addressed homelessness with a similar lack of insight.^[6] It was also chosen by The Guardian as among "the worst political lyrics in pop" in 2014.^[7]

The music video, which was shot in October 2000,^[8][9] shows Melanie C on the top of a factory and around urban buildings while curling her arms around herself from the cold. There are also scenes of rain in alleyways. The video on the UK CD single features scenes from the music video for Brandy and Ray J's cover of "Another Day in Paradise", but these scenes were removed from television broadcasts for copyright issues.^[10][11]

Credits are taken from the Northern Star album booklet.^[16]

Studios

• Recorded at various studios in Los Angeles, London, and Glasgow
• Mixed at O'Henry's Sound Studio (Burbank, California)
• Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City)

Personnel

• Melanie Chisholm – writing
• Rick Nowels – writing, production
• Patrick McCarthy – mixing
• Ted Jensen – mastering