title: 1990s in music

text: Italy ended the 1980s with Italo house, before becoming one of many countries to release Eurodance and Hi-NRG. Both genres were commercially successful across the world, with artists such as 2 Unlimited, La Bouche and Captain Hollywood promoting the genre. Countries such as Germany and Belgium, however, developed harder, darker styles of music, namely gabber, hard trance and techno. Trance emerged in the early 1990s and by the end of the decade had penetrated most of Europe, with artists such as ATB, Ferry Corsten, WestBam and Paul Van Dyk gaining huge commercial and underground success. European trance remained popular until the early 2000s. Goa became famed for its goa trance parties and Ibiza became the Number 1 clubbers' holiday destination.


title: 1990s in music

text: The popularity of country music exploded in the early 1990s. The stage had been set in 1989 with the debuts of several performers who proved to be profoundly influential on the genre during the 1990s and beyond. Most notable of that group was Garth Brooks, who shattered records for album sales and concert attendance throughout the decade. The RIAA has certified his recordings at a combined (128× platinum), denoting roughly 113 million U.S. shipments. Brooks recorded primarily in a honky-tonk style, although he frequently combined elements of soft rock and arena rock in his songs. His songs sometimes explored social themes, such as domestic violence (in "The Thunder Rolls") and racial harmony ("We Shall Be Free)", while others – such as "Friends in Low Places" — were just good-time songs with traditional country themes of heartbreak, loneliness and dealing with those emotions.


title: 1990s in music

text: Other performers who rose in popularity during the early 1990s were neo-traditionalists Clint Black and Alan Jackson and southern rock influenced Travis Tritt. Mary Chapin Carpenter had a folk-style about her, while Lorrie Morgan (daughter of the late George Morgan, himself a country legend) blended elements of country and pop, and occasionally operatic sounds in songs such as "Something in Red." Trisha Yearwood was one of the top new singers of 1991, while Diamond Rio blended traditional and bluegrass styles and Brooks & Dunn provided a driving honky-tonk sound.


title: 1990s in music

text: During the early-to-middle part of the decade, several recordings were influenced by the popularity of line dancing, including "Boot-Scootin' Boogie" by Brooks & Dunn and "Achy Breaky Heart" by Billy Ray Cyrus. This influence was so great that Chet Atkins was quoted as saying "The music has gotten pretty bad, I think. It's all that damn line dancing."


title: 1990s in music

text: A steady stream of new artists began their careers during the mid- and late-1990s. Many of these careers were short-lived, but several went on to long-lived, profitable careers. The most successful of the new artists were Yearwood, Shania Twain, LeAnn Rimes, Lee Ann Womack, Martina McBride, Kenny Chesney, Collin Raye, Faith Hill, and Tim McGraw, while Lonestar and Dixie Chicks were the most successful new groups. Twain's "Come on Over" album became the best-selling album released by a female of any genre. Yearwood became the first woman in more than 25 years to have her debut single top the Billboard Country Singles chart in 1991 with her single "She's in Love with the Boy". Yearwood's debut album also became the first by a female country act to sell over 1 million copies, eventually going double platinum.


title: 1990s in music

text: Among artists whose success continued from the 1980s, Reba McEntire was the most successful of the female artists, selling more than 30 million albums during the decade, gaining eight number-one hit singles on the U.S. Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart and six number one albums internationally, including her best-selling album, "Greatest Hits Vol. 2", which was released in September 1993 and has sold over an international amount of 10 million copies to date. George Strait, a neo-traditionalist whose national success began in the early 1980s, enjoyed success as both a radio artist (17 No. 1 songs) and as a movie star (1992's "Pure Country"). Alabama, the most successful country band of the 1980s, continued their run of popularity with sell-out concerts and best-selling albums, while topping the country chart five times. Among older artists having big hits, Conway Twitty was one of the most successful, scoring two Top 3 hits with "Crazy in Love" and "I Couldn't See You Leaving", while Eddie Rabbitt had a No. 1 hit with "On Second Thought." Dolly Parton had a No. 1 hit (with relative newcomer Ricky Van Shelton) on "Rockin' Years" in 1991 and had several top 15 hits. Although his 1990s singles never reached the top 20 (excepting for a duet single with Randy Travis), George Jones (who had been around since the 1950s) regularly recorded and released critically acclaimed material, including the semi-autobiographical "Choices." The Oak Ridge Boys continued their run of success with a No. 1 hit ("No Matter How High") and several other top 40 hits; in 1995, upon the departure of William Lee Golden's replacement Steve Sanders, Golden reunited with longtime band members Duane Allen, Joe Bonsall and Richard Sterban, and the group has remained intact since then. While the Oak Ridge Boys' contemporaries The Statler Brothers were no longer reaching the top 40, the veteran group remained highly popular with fans and their new albums continued to sell well. Other artists reaching the top 10 of the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart were Waylon Jennings, Anne Murray, and Kenny Rogers.


title: 1990s in music

text: Pop-influenced country music began growing in popularity, particularly after Twain and Hill rose in popularity in the latter half of the 1990s. In 1998, Hill's "This Kiss" and Twain's "You're Still the One" both reached the top 10 of the "Billboard" Hot 100, in addition to peaking at No. 1 on the Hot Country Singles & Tracks chart. Rimes had a multi-million selling hit with "How Do I Live" (a song successfully covered by Yearwood), while Lonestar also had a huge crossover hit with "Amazed." Although the occurrence of country crossing over to the pop charts goes back as far as the start of the "Billboard" charts in 1940, some critics began to be troubled by a trend toward what they perceived as pop music marketed as country; they contended that radio was concentrating more on newer music while ignoring the more traditional styles of older artists such as Merle Haggard, George Jones, and others who continued to record and release new material. Johnny Cash and producer Rick Rubin once purchased a full-page advertisement in "Billboard" magazine – after Cash's album "Unchained" won a Grammy for Best Country Album, despite a lack of support from radio – showing a young Cash displaying his middle finger and sarcastically "thanking" radio for supporting the album. The criticism of pop-influenced and non-traditional styles in country music, however, dated back to the 1970s although it had quieted down comparably during the 1980s.


title: 1990s in music

text: In the 1990s, alternative country came to refer to a diverse group of musicians and singers operating outside the traditions and industry of mainstream country music. In general, they eschewed the high production values and pop outlook of the Nashville-dominated industry, to produce music with a lo-fi sound, frequently infused with a strong punk and rock & roll aesthetic, bending the traditional rules of country music. Lyrics were often bleak, gothic or socially aware. Other initiators include Old 97's, Steve Earle, Uncle Tupelo, Son Volt, Ryan Adams, My Morning Jacket, Blitzen Trapper, and Drive-By Truckers.


title: 1990s in music

text: A number of notable artists in country music died during the decade, including Twitty, Webb Pierce, Dottie West, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Roger Miller, Roy Acuff, Charlie Rich, Minnie Pearl, Faron Young, John Denver, Carl Perkins, Grandpa Jones, Tammy Wynette, Eddie Rabbitt, Gene Autry, Roy Rogers, Rex Allen and Hank Snow.


title: 1990s in music

text: During the 1990s, concurrent with third wave ska, swing music made a resurgence in the form of swing revival, which brought the jazz form into the pop charts. Reaching its commercial zenith around the time of the movie "Swingers", whose soundtrack featured numerous 1990s swing bands, the movement was exemplified by bands such as Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, Cherry Poppin' Daddies, Squirrel Nut Zippers, and the Brian Setzer Orchestra. The highest-charting song of the genre would have been "Jump, Jive an' Wail" by the Brian Setzer Orchestra, which peaked at No. 23 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. in 1998, and won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals in 1999.


title: 1990s in music

text: In the late 1980s/early 1990s, a counter-culture movement rose from the Manchester club scene that came to be known as Madchester. Happy Mondays and the Stone Roses were the pre-eminent bands.


title: 1990s in music

text: In the early 1990s, a counter-culture movement rose in Britain, called Britpop by the music press, rejecting the themes of disenfranchised youth coming out of America in favor of songs written specifically about the experiences of the British youth. Although the movement was heavily influenced by 1960s, 1970s and 1980s British rock, there was very little that musically defined the Britpop bands beyond the intensely British lyrical themes. Britpop bands such as Blur, Suede, Pulp, Ash, Elastica, Supergrass, the Verve and Oasis regularly topped the singles and album charts throughout the decade.


title: 1990s in music

text: Oasis were the biggest band of the Britpop era at the forefront of alternative rock, as their second album "(What's the Story) Morning Glory?" became the second highest selling studio album of all time in the UK. "Wonderwall" peaked at number 2 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 8 on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. Their era-defining concerts at Knebworth Park, playing to 250,000 people over two nights, broke records for attendance and ticket applications. In addition to this, they made a significant impact on the US market, achieving three top 5 albums in that country. The Britpop phenomena ran out of steam by the end of the 1990s with most of its most successful bands splitting up or fading away, although bands that rose from the rubble of predecessors Oasis were Travis, Coldplay and Keane.


title: 1990s in music

text: From about 1997, Britpop as a movement began to dissolve, and emerging bands began to avoid the Britpop label while still producing music derived from it. Many of these bands tended to mix elements of British traditional rock (or British trad rock), particularly the Beatles, the Rolling Stones and Small Faces with American influences, including post-grunge. Post-Britpop bands like Coldplay, Travis, Stereophonics and Feeder achieved much wider international success than most of the Britpop groups that had preceded them, and were some of the most commercially successful acts of the late 1990s.


title: 1990s in music

text: Shoegaze is an indie and alternative rock subgenre distinguished by an ethereal blend of obscured vocals, guitar distortion and effects, feedback, and overwhelming volume. The album "Loveless" (1991) by My Bloody Valentine is widely regarded as the genre's defining release; other notable shoegaze bands include Slowdive, Ride, Lush, Pale Saints, and Chapterhouse. "The Scene That Celebrates Itself" was a loose label given to shoegaze bands and other affiliated bands in London in the early 1990s. Most shoegaze artists followed in the footsteps of My Bloody Valentine and bands like Dinosaur Jr., the Jesus and Mary Chain, and Cocteau Twins on their late 1980s recordings.


title: 1990s in music

text: The Irish Celtic folk rock band the Corrs achieved international success during the late 1990s with a series of hit recordings which established them as international stars and helped prolong a successful career that continued into the 2000s.


title: 1990s in music

text: Pop music and dance music became popular throughout the 1990s. Popular European pop artists of the 1990s included Seal, M People, 2 Unlimited, and Ace of Base.


title: 1990s in music

text: During the 1990s, some European managers created their own boy band acts, beginning with Nigel Martin-Smith's Take That and East 17, which competed with Louis Walsh's Irish bands Westlife and Boyzone. In 1996, the male saturated market was turned on its head by one of the most successful and influential pop acts of the decade, the Spice Girls. The group achieve nine number one singles in the UK and US, including "Wannabe", "2 Become 1" and "Spice Up Your Life". The group, unlike their British boy band predecessors, manage to break America and achieve the best-selling album of 1997 in the US. More girl groups began to emerge such as All Saints, who had five number one hits in the UK and two multi-platinum albums. By the end of the century, the grip of boy bands on the charts was faltering, but proved the basis for solo careers like that of Robbie Williams, formerly of Take That, who achieved six number one singles in the UK between 1998 and 2004. Additional popular European teen pop acts of the 1990s included Ace of Base, Aqua and A*Teens.


title: 1990s in music

text: Ballad songs were popular during this decade, and popular European artists included George Michael, Robert Palmer, Sade, Sinéad O'Connor, the Cranberries, Lisa Stansfield and Roxette. Danish pop/soft rock band Michael Learns to Rock, fronted by singer/songwriter/keyboardist Jascha Richter, were well known for their ballads, particularly in Asia with songs such as "The Actor", "Sleeping Child", "That's Why (You Go Away)", and "Paint My Love".


title: 1990s in music

text: In summer 1996, the Spanish music duo Los del Río popularized the dance craze "Macarena" with their summer hit "Macarena". The song was featured prominently in many other countries during the mid-1990s.


title: 1990s in music

text: With the explosive growth of computers music technology and consequent reduction in the cost of equipment in the early 1990s, it became possible for a wider number of musicians to produce electronic music.


title: 1990s in music

text: The popularity of house, techno and rave in the early part of the decade lead to the boom of the more commercial Eurodance genre. Popular European Eurodance acts of the decade included Toy-Box, Daze, Jonny Jakobsen, Alexia, Alice Deejay, Haddaway, Captain Jack, Captain Hollywood Project, Basic Element, Solid Base, Daze, Gigi D'Agostino, Vengaboys, 2 Unlimited, Cappella, Corona, Culture Beat, DJ Bobo, Dr. Alban, Ice MC, La Bouche, 2 Brothers on the 4th Floor, Twenty 4 Seven, Leila K, Fun Factory, Masterboy, Mr. President, Pandora, Magic Affair, Maxx, Loft, Sash!, BKS, Snap!, Playahitty, Love Inc., Real McCoy, Urban Cookie Collective, Scatman John, Paradisio and Whigfield. Eventually the popularity of the Eurodance genre lead to the huge popularity of the trance genre in the late 1990s and early 2000s.


title: 1990s in music

text: The 1990s also saw the development and refinement of IDM (intelligent dance music), which borrowed from forms such as techno, drum and bass and acid house music and introduced more abstract elements, including heavy use of digital signal processing.


title: 1990s in music

text: In the United Kingdom, popular electronic genres of the 1990s included breakbeat hardcore, drum and bass/jungle, big beat and UK garage. Among the most commercially successful electronic acts in the 1990s of these scenes were artists such as the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers, Fatboy Slim, Aphex Twin, Autechre, Boards of Canada, Squarepusher, Leftfield, LFO, Massive Attack, Portishead, Underworld and Faithless. Notable 1990s UK garage acts included the Dreem Teem, Tuff Jam, Grant Nelson, 187 Lockdown, R.I.P. Productions/Double 99, Dem 2, Artful Dodger and Sunship.


title: 1990s in music

text: Acid jazz saw a rise in popularity in the early part of the decade, with acts such as Jamiroquai, Incognito, the Brand New Heavies, Us3, the James Taylor Quartet, Stereo MCs, Ronny Jordan, Galliano, and Corduroy, as well as some American acts such as Digable Planets and Buckshot LeFonque.


title: 1990s in music

text: The arrival of Massive Attack in the early 1990s lead to a new style of slow electronic music dubbed trip hop and influenced groups such as Portishead, Björk, Tricky, Morcheeba and Thievery Corporation.


title: 1990s in music

text: Puerto Rico became a merengue stronghold in the early 1990s, with acts such as Elvis Crespo, Olga Tañon and Grupo Mania topping the charts throughout Latin America.


title: 1990s in music

text: Latin boys band and vocal pop groups were storming up the charts in Mexico and Central America. Mexican boy band Magneto spawned hits in the early 1990s but split in 1996. In 1995, their successors, Mercurio continued making top hits like "Bye Bye Baby" and "Explota Corazón". MDO, a Puerto Rican boy band also hoarded the charts with songs like "No Puedo Olvidarme de Ti". Mexican pop groups Onda Vaselina and Kabah spanned several hits in the Latin American charts and made history in the Mexican charts. Jeans, Mexican pop girl group rose to fame in late 1996 and 1997 and continued until the 2000s.


title: 1990s in music

text: Then-21-year-old singer Luis Miguel rediscovered the bolero circa 1991, echoing back to the trios of the 1940s with his album "Romance", making him the biggest international Latin star until the late 1990s.


title: 1990s in music

text: From early to mid-1990s successful acts such as Selena Quintanilla-Pérez, Thalía, Lynda Thomas, Chayanne, Paulina Rubio and arguably the most successful and influential, Gloria Trevi, became the first 1990s music idols in Latin America, subsequently appeared other successful singers and pop groups, including No Mercy, Shakira, Fey and Enrique Iglesias, they also achieved international success.


title: 1990s in music

text: Colombian rock singer Shakira, Puerto Rican-American actress Jennifer Lopez, and Spanish singer Enrique Iglesias began to rise into the top of the pop charts by the end of the decade, following Selena's assassination.


title: 1990s in music

text: Ricky Martin eclipsed Luis Miguel as the top Latin star when he performed "The Cup of Life" during the 1999 Grammy Awards, earning him the award for Best Latin Pop Performance. He released his English-language debut album less than half a year later, which featured the international hit, opening track "Livin' La Vida Loca".


title: 1990s in music

text: Surge of newfound interest in Spanish-language rock, led by bands like Soda Stereo, Héroes del Silencio, Los Fabulosos Cadillacs, Maná, La Ley, Café Tacuba or Los Tres which gained large international following during this period. Others would follow their footsteps.


title: 1990s in music

text: Along with the rise of Spanish rock came "rock alternativo", a Spanish equivalent to alternative rock headed by bands like Los Piojos, Babasónicos and Attaque 77. The "rolinga" or "stone rock" genre also emerged from "rock alternativo", popularized and headed throughout the entire decade by Viejas Locas. The stone-rock genre would remain popular in the 2000s with the Viejas Locas' vocalist, Pity Álvarez's other band Intoxicados.


title: 1990s in music

text: During the 1990s, salsa spread from the Caribbean region all over Latin America sharing the dance music niche with cumbia. During this period salsa became also increasingly popular as dance music in the US and Europe.


title: 1990s in music

text: Beginning in 1990, the salsa romantica that began in the 1980s becomes a standard in tropical music thanks to chart-topping stars mainly from Puerto Rico such as Marc Anthony, Jerry Rivera, Tito Rojas, Víctor Manuelle and Gilberto Santa Rosa.


title: 1990s in music

text: In the 1990s, the popularity of cumbia waned in favour of other styles such as salsa but remained relatively strong. In Argentina, Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia and other countries as well synthesizers and elements of electronic music were incorporated into cumbia music, giving birth to cumbia sonidera, cumbia andina mexicana and cumbia villera. The blending of chicha music and cumbia in Peru also gained large popularity.


title: 1990s in music

text: In Australia and New Zealand, the bands INXS and Crowded House, who had risen to international fame in the 1980s, continued their success into the 1990s. However, INXS saw a decline in popularity after the release of 1993's "Full Moon, Dirty Hearts", which did not even reach the US Top 50 and on 22 November 1997, a few months after the release of the band's tenth studio album "Elegantly Wasted", lead singer Michael Hutchence was found dead in a Sydney hotel room. Crowded House released two further albums, 1991's "Woodface" and 1994's "Together Alone", which were both successful internationally, but disbanded in 1996 after playing their 'Farewell to the World' concert at the steps of the Sydney Opera House. Their greatest hits compilation album "Recurring Dream", released in 1996, debuted at number one in Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom and reached the Top 20 in several European territories. Notable 1990s Australian rock bands include Silverchair, Savage Garden, Bachelor Girl, Powderfinger, and The Living End.


title: 1990s in music

text: In New Zealand, hip hop group OMC's single "How Bizarre" became the most successful New Zealand song in history, reaching number one in several music charts around the world, including Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and Austria. The nineties saw a surge in popularity of alternative rock music in New Zealand, especially the popularity of alternative rock bands from the independent music label Flying Nun Records. Successful alternative rock bands of this era include Straitjacket Fits, Headless Chickens and The Chills. Headless Chickens provided Flying Nun with their first number one New Zealand single in 1994 with their song "George".


title: 1990s in music

text: Australian singer Kylie Minogue, who quickly rose to fame in the late 1980s, continued to be popular throughout the decade, most notably with songs "Confide in Me" and "Where the Wild Roses Grow", which she recorded with Nick Cave. Her younger sister Dannii, launched her music career becoming successful in Australia and the United Kingdom with hits such as "Love and Kisses", "This Is It", and "All I Wanna Do". The 1990s also saw the emergence of pop/rock singer Natalie Imbruglia who gained a worldwide popularity with a cover of Ednaswap's song Torn, pop singer Peter Andre, pop band Human Nature, Tina Arena and R&B/hip-hop artists CDB and Deni Hines.


title: 1990s in music

text: In 1998, Supercar released its influential debut album "Three Out Change". Characterized as having "almost foundational importance to 21st century Japanese indie rock", Supercar remained active through 2005 with their later albums containing more electronic rock.


title: 1990s in music

text: Around the same time, bands such as Quruli and Number Girl had begun heavily influencing Japanese alternative rock. Music critic Ian Martin wrote that, along with Supercar, these groups had demonstrated that "Japanese rock bands could take on the British and American alternative bands of the 1990s at their own game ... and in doing so, they had laid new ground for Japanese rock to develop in its own way from this point on."


title: 1990s in music

text: Tokyo-based noise rock band Melt-Banana became an international touring cult act as well as the Boredoms.


title: 1990s in music

text: J-Pop was a major trend in the late 1990s. The Japanese record label Avex Trax produced a string of top-charting J-pop artists, including Namie Amuro, Ayumi Hamasaki, and the band Every Little Thing. Hikaru Utada, only 16 at the time, scored her signature hit in 1999 with "Automatic", which was later covered by Hong Kong singer Kelly Chen. Also in 1999, DA PUMP, a four-member boyband, had a hit with "Crazy Beat Goes On!", featured in the soundtrack of the year's film blockbuster, "". "Give me a shake", by girl-band MAX, was also a chart-topper in 1999.


title: 1990s in music

text: J-pop in the 1990s was significant because of its irresistible inclusion of English lyrics in the songs. Titles of most songs were also often in English. Notable examples include "Feeling good – it's paradise" by DA PUMP and "Give me a shake" by MAX. Other J-pop artists, such as Hokkaido two-girl band Kiroro, rarely included English lyrics in their songs.


title: 1990s in music

text: Some non-Japanese-speaking artists, such as Taiwan's Vivian Hsu, also crossed over successfully into J-pop; Hsu's band Black Biscuits had a hit single in 1999 in both Japanese and Taiwanese Mandarin with "Bye bye". Taiwanese singer A-mei recorded a Japanese song on her 1999 album "May I hold you, lover?".


title: 1990s in music

text: The 1990s saw a revival of interest in local music in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore. In these four regions alone, local artists outsold foreign artists, especially during the late 1990s.


title: 1990s in music

text: Three big Taiwanese rockers were household names throughout the 1990s. In 1997, it was Wu Bai; in 1998, the two-piece band Power Station; and in 1999, the veteran pub guitarist/singer Dick Cowboy.


title: 1990s in music

text: Wu was known for his versatile ability to sing and write songs in Hokkien ("Number one in the world", "Back to hometown", "Lonely tree, lonely bird") as well as Taiwanese Mandarin ("Wanderer's love song", "Crying woman"), and also his poetic lyrics. His compositions were also recorded by other artists such as Hong Kong's Jacky Cheung ("If this is not love"), Wakin Chau ("Crying woman"), and Andy Lau ("Number one in the world", "Lone star tear"), and Taiwan's Tarcy Su ("Lazy Man's Diary", "Passive", "Yellow Moon").


title: 1990s in music

text: Power Station, a Taiwanese aboriginal duo from the Paiwan tribe, were well known for their long hair, pitch-perfect two-part vocal harmonies, branded guitars/basses, and electrifying rock anthems. Members Yu Chiu-Hsin and Yen Chih-Lin also enjoyed success as singers of numerous television opening (and occasionally ending) themes throughout 1998 and 1999; they won the Best Theme Song award at the 1999 Star Awards for their song "I can endure the hardship", opening theme song to the award-winning drama series "Stepping Out".


title: 1990s in music

text: Dick Cowboy had been a singer in various pubs in his youth, and was especially known for his covers of songs by A-mei, Phil Chang, and Jeff Chang. In 1999, at the age of 40, his original composition "Forget me or forget him" propelled him to superstardom.


title: 1990s in music

text: High-voiced male singers were fashionable in Taiwanese pop music in the 1990s. Jeff Chang was the foremost of these. His album "Intuition" (1998) contained the title track, which is his biggest single to date.


title: 1990s in music

text: Singer-songwriter Panda Hsiung, whose voice was very similar to Chang's, had his biggest hit with his original composition "Incomprehensible memories" in 1998, which was featured on the soundtrack of the drama, "Legend of the Eight Immortals". Panda also had a string of hits throughout 1998 and 1999, including "I Wander Alone", "River of the Blues", "Snowbird", and "The Match Girl".


title: 1990s in music

text: Other popular Taiwanese male singers with exceptionally high voices during the 1990s included Chang Yu Sheng, Terry Lin, and Chyi Chin.


title: 1990s in music

text: The Eurodance craze found its way into the Asian pop market with such singers as Yuki Hsu. Her first big hit, recorded in 1999 when she was only 20, was "Who is bad?", a cover of Jonny Jakobsen's "Calcutta (Taxi taxi taxi)". Similarly, J-pop became popular in Taiwan and Hong Kong after their songs were translated into Chinese, for instance Kelly Chen's "Automatic ", a cover of the Hikaru Utada original; and Rene Liu's "Later", a remake of the Kiroro original.


title: 1990s in music

text: Hong Kong's Four Heavenly Kings – Aaron Kwok, Andy Lau, Jacky Cheung, and Leon Lai – were the undisputed solo artists from Hong Kong in the 1990s. Cheung was also nicknamed the "God of Songs" during this period.


title: 1990s in music

text: Young Hong Kong singers Daniel Chan, Ronald Cheng, and Gigi Leung had their big breaks in the 1990s. Chan's "Only you in my heart", on the album of the same name, was released in 1997 when Chan was only 22; the song was later selected as the opening theme song of Singaporean TV series, "From the Medical Files" . Chan would also continue to sing a few television opening/ending themes in 1998, including "Lonely nights I'm not lonely" (from "Stand by me"), "When dreams are discovered" and "Does your heart hurt" (both from "A Piece of Sky").


title: 1990s in music

text: Cheng's album "I Really Can" was released in 1999 and was his biggest seller to date; his other successful albums included "You Are Not My Dearest Lover" (1997) and "Don't Love Me" (1996).


title: 1990s in music

text: Leung's album "Fresh" (1999), along with its title track, was a bestseller upon its release, and the title track remains her signature song.


title: 1990s in music

text: Julie Su Rui of Taiwan and Anita Mui of Hong Kong, both of them established veteran singers, also had comeback albums in this period. Su's album "Love Comes This Way" was released in 1998, and Mui's "Intimate Lover", in 1992.


title: 1990s in music

text: In late 1999, two Hong Kong veteran singers had chart-topping albums. Jordan Chan's album "A Bigger Star" contained the song "I Don't Have Such Fate"; while William So's album "Loving Someone Is So Hard" contained "You + Me + Heartbroken", a re-recording of his signature song "Sadder as We Kiss" with new lyrics.


title: 1990s in music

text: The 1990s also saw the death of Taiwanese countertenor singer Chang Yu Sheng, who died in a car accident late in 1997. His protege, aboriginal singer A-mei, recorded the song "Hearing You, Hearing Me" in his memory.


title: 1990s in music

text: In December 1999, "Billboard" magazine named Mariah Carey as the Artist of the Decade in the United States. In 1999, Selena was named the "top Latin artist of the '90s" and "best-selling Latin artist of the decade" by "Billboard", for her fourteen top-ten singles in the Top Latin Songs chart, including seven number-one hits. The singer also had the most successful singles of 1994 and 1995, "Amor Prohibido" and "No Me Queda Más".


title: 1990s in music

text: Reflecting on the decade's musical developments in "" (2000), music critic Robert Christgau said the 1990s were "richly chaotic, unknowable", and "highly subject to vagaries of individual preference", yet "conducive to some manageable degree of general comprehension and enjoyment by any rock and roller." A 2022 study from research group Luminate revealed that 60% of American music listeners born in the 1990s listened to music from the decade they were born, compared to 53% of those born in the 2000s, 52% of those born in the 1980s, 41% of those born in the 1970s, and 35% of those born in the 1960s.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh is an American animated television series produced by Walt Disney Television Animation. Based on the "Winnie-the-Pooh" books by authors A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard, "The New Adventures" was the first time a major Disney character headlined an animated, made-for-television series as well as the first Disney television series based on a major animated film. The cartoon premiered with a limited run on The Disney Channel on January 17, 1988. Nine months later, the show moved to ABC as part of their Saturday morning lineup. New episodes continued until October 26, 1991. Proving popular with children and older fans, it remained on television in the United States for nearly two decades.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The series depicts the everyday lives of Christopher Robin and his companions Pooh, Piglet, Eeyore, Tigger, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit, Owl and Gopher. Rather than a straightforward adaptation, the show was more Americanized than previous "Pooh" efforts. Episodes dealt with strong messages about honesty, responsibility, persistence, cooperative effort, friendship, and caring. Many stories are designed to help young children distinguish between fantasy and reality and overcome common childhood fears.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Publications ranging from "The Los Angeles Times" to "TV Guide" gave the series extremely positive reviews for its resemblance to the earlier Disney efforts and its high production quality, receiving praise for its wholesome tradition. The show won back-to-back Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program as well as two Humanitas Prizes. The show was well received by both children and their parents. Most of the viewer mail the crew received were from parents thanking the staff for producing a show that they can watch with their children. "The New Adventures" is credited with bringing about a resurgence of "Pooh" animated media, including a series of television and video specials.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Winnie the Pooh was created by British authors A.A. Milne and E. H. Shepard in the 1920s. The character was named after a teddy bear owned by his son, Christopher Robin Milne. He had named his toy bear after Winnie, a Canadian black bear he often saw at London Zoo, and "Pooh", a swan they had met while on holiday. Drawing from this and other toys owned by his son, Milne created the world of Winnie-the-Pooh. He first appeared by name on December 24, 1925, in a Christmas story commissioned and published by the London Evening News. The following year, a collection of Pooh stories was formally released bearing the name "Winnie-the-Pooh". The stories proved very popular and inspired a sequel.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The idea for a television series was first discussed in 1957. NBC suggested Jay Ward undertake the pilot, then titled "The World of Winnie the Pooh", with an option for thirty-nine episodes. Some songs and bits of dialogue were recorded, but the project was ultimately abandoned. In 1961, The Walt Disney Company's namesake founder Walt Disney bought the film rights to make an animated movie starring the characters. He subsequently produced a series of three short featurettes throughout the late 1960s and early 1970s, beginning with "Winnie the Pooh and the Honey Tree". Disney had also aired a variety show with the characters that used electronically controlled puppetry and life-sized costume titled "Welcome to Pooh Corner". This became the highest rated program on the Disney Channel. The original featurettes also proved popular, with video sales topping the charts in 1986 and 1987.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: An animated cartoon starring the characters was first proposed by Walt Disney Television Animation Vice President Gary Krisel during a Disney retreat, in which company assets and future prospects were examined. Rich Frank later recalled him saying: "I think Pooh is a great character for Saturday morning animation". He believed the merchandising license, held at that time by Sears, would work as a great promotional tool. Mark Zaslove was contacted to write the series bible; he had recently finished work on the "DuckTales" pilot episode. The document was written over Memorial Day weekend 1987, with Zaslove having only three days to complete the proposal. The pitch was well received by Disney and subsequently green-lit.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Instead of shopping "Winnie the Pooh" around to different networks, the show was pitched directly to ABC. The channel had desperately wanted a cartoon from Disney for their Saturday morning schedule, which had fallen to last place in the ratings. They had hoped Pooh could boost ratings for the channel. Two years earlier, Michael Eisner and Krisel had set up meetings with all three major networks in hopes to sell rights to their two cartoon series: "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears" and "The Wuzzles". NBC and CBS had purchased "Gummi Bears" and "Wuzzles" respectively. Realizing they had nothing left to offer ABC, Eisner and Krisel met with them anyway and received a warm response to the gaffe. A deal was reached giving ABC the show, while giving first run rights to The Disney Channel.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show was official announced via a press release on November 15, 1987. It would mark the first time a prominent Disney character was seen on Saturday morning television. The series was viewed as a gamble, with people unsure if Pooh would survive on the new medium. At the time, Saturday morning cartoons were viewed as a place with dry, repetitive storylines, shallow characters, clichéd narratives, and cheap animation. As a result, animation fans greeted Disney's plans to adapt A. A. Milne and E. H. Shepard's childhood favorite to the small screen with a mixture of skepticism and dismay, fearing the show could not top the original featurettes.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: ABC eagerly commissioned 25 half-hour episodes of "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" for its first season, rather than the standard 13 to 17. Karl Geurs, a self-described Pooh fan, developed the series, which took many months. At the time, Walt Disney Television Animation had only 80 employees and two projects in production. The department did not yet have in-house facilities built, so employees worked out of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences building. Disney put the same high standards of expectation that they had with their feature films. They had hoped to set a new standard of excellence in Saturday morning television, one with "storytelling rich in language and values, as well as delightful well acted characters" that would appeal to audiences of all ages.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The writing process began with story premises being pitched to Zaslove, who served as story editor for the first season. The best ones were selected and sent to ABC executives for approval, followed by story outlines and scripts. The process took around four weeks per episode. The crew were "dyed-in-the-wool" fan of Milne's works, constantly checking their work against published "Pooh" books in order to stay true to the original sense of Milne. Special attention was given to maintain the personalities of the characters as they had originally been written. The cartoon attempted to have the right balance of both action-adventure sequences and moments of whimsy. The staff often found trouble working with the limited cast, with supervising director Ken Kessel quoted as saying: "You are restrained by what the characters can do and who they are". The writing staff hoped to channel the spirit of the Walt Disney shorts of the 1940s, drawing inspiration from artists Jack Hannah, Ward Kimball, and Jack and Dick Kinney.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The series had one internal standards director. Care was made to ensure there was no imitable behavior that children could copy. A source of friction on the show was whether Gopher was allowed to have gunpowder. A consulting company based in Glendale, California advised the team on how the characters should speak, look, and act in order to better appeal to the target demographic. The relationship with the production staff was described as positive.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Like most other cartoons, the animation was outsourced to other countries. This was mainly done for cost purposes and the limited availability of artists in the United States. All the writing, music, direction, character design, and color was worked by around 30 Disney employees in Hollywood. After this, everything was sent overseas for the animation. Approximately 300 employees would work on inking and printing. An unusually high number of animation cels were used for the show, with 20,000 cels in each episode as opposed to 8,000–12,000 for typical cartoons. The show had more drawings per minute than any other television cartoon at the time. Early episodes were completed by TMS Entertainment in Tokyo, Japan and later by Walt Disney Animation UK Ltd. in London, England, Hanho Heung-Up in Seoul, South Korea and Wang Film Productions in Taipei, Taiwan. Sixteen episodes were also produced by Walt Disney Television Australia in Sydney, New South Wales. The show set a benchmark for similar cartoons that both Disney as well as other channels expected for future shows. In Manila, Philippines, Fil-Cartoons (subsidiary of Hanna-Barbera) and Toon City also contributed some animation for the series.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: After the animation was completed, the production reels were sent back to the United States where music and sound effects were added. The show's theme song, entitled "Pooh Bear", was written by Steve Nelson and sung by Steve Wood. A version with Nelson doing the vocals later appeared on his "Listen What the Katmandu" album. Another version of the song with Jim Cummings doing the vocals (who also voiced Pooh and Tigger) appeared in reruns of the series on Disney Channel in 1994. Nelson also composed several additional songs that were shown on the early episodes. The music was particularly praised by critics. The show's underscore was composed by Thom Sharp. An orchestra was used to record the music, using instruments such as trumpets, woodwinds, and a full string section. The composers were given the unique opportunity to examine the animator's exposure sheets, enabling them to write music while an episode was being scripted.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The producers actively sought out the surviving original voice cast which had been used in the 1960s featurettes. Sterling Holloway, the original voice of Winnie the Pooh, read for the part, but had aged to the point where he could no longer do the voice successfully. A casting call was held and Jim Cummings was selected as his replacement, a role he has continued with to the present day. Cummings claimed that veteran actors such as Burgess Meredith and E.G. Marshall had read for the part of Pooh as well. John Fiedler and Hal Smith, the original voices for Piglet and Owl respectively, returned for the series. Paul Winchell also reprised his role as Tigger. On advice from his cardiologist, Winchell mostly avoided working with the rest of the cast to avoid the stress. The studio let him do his voices alone. At the time, Winchell was making various trips to Africa to cure hunger. Cummings often filled in for Winchell during these. In the show's third season, Cummings permanently took over the role of Tigger. Most of the sessions occurred at B&B Sound in Burbank, California. Newer technology allowed for the actors to record their roles without having to be in the same room. For example, Fiedler always did his recordings from New York and Winchell was able to do some from Florida.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Coming into the 1988–89 television season, networks had been struggling with a drop in ratings among children. ABC itself experienced a decline of 37 percent in kids under the age of 6. It had been surmised by ABC executives that this was due to a change in the way Nielsen ratings were collected. The data had historically been recorded automatically by a device inside household television sets. However this had been changed the year before; children now had to use people meters for their viewership to be counted. This required manually pushing buttons that would clock kids in and out and programs, something they often had trouble successfully completing. What resulted was a demographic that could not be guaranteed to advertisers.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: In order to combat this, ABC decided to fill their programming with "old favorites". The studio began to develop and retool preexisting characters and shows, ones that they hoped could attract older children and their parents into watching the program. "Winnie the Pooh" became the centerpiece in this plan, with the show was described as the highlight of ABC's Saturday morning schedule. The character had what network executives call "marquee value"—meaning they are familiar and already have a built-in audience. Squire Rushnell, Children's Vice President for ABC, was hoping "Pooh" could draw a "somewhat more sophisticated" audience in the range from 6 to 11 years.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: In the three weeks leading up to its debut, ABC began airing promotionals for the cartoon during prime-time hours. This was seen as a very unusual occurrence. Part of the reason this was done was to fill airtime, as the 1988 Writers Guild of America strike had caused production to be halted on prime time television shows. Advertisements for "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" were played during adult shows such as "thirtysomething" and "Moonlighting" using the tag line "Now you can share your childhood heroes with your children". A television commercial that aired during the "ABC Sunday Night Movie" on September 4, 1988 used the tagline "before taxes. before puberty. there was childhood. and Winnie the Pooh".


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The evening before the show made its broadcast debut, ABC aired a thirty-minute Saturday Morning preview show featuring Winnie the Pooh and other debuting cartoons: "The New Adventures of Beany and Cecil" and "A Pup Named Scooby-Doo". The show placed second in its time slot with a 7.3 rating and a 14 share, with 11.2 million viewers watching.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Sears & Roebuck and Honey Nut Cheerios partnered to host a nationwide premiere party to celebrate the series coming to ABC. Over 300 Sears stores across the country participated in the breakfast, which doubled as a charity event. The first episode was telecast on in-store video displays. More than 40,000 children attended the event. Some stores had Winnie the Pooh characters show up in costume. Sears also dedicated eight pages of their Christmas catalog to the series.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: During the 1980s, a debate emerged inside Disney about whether original programs should be aired on the Disney Channel or outsourced to other channels. Some executives felt there was nothing more important than the Disney Channel. Others such as Gary Krisel disagreed, feeling they risked losing a generation of TV viewers who did not have cable. In the end, a compromise was reached with Disney Channel President John F. Cooke, who agreed to "pay" Krisel's division a certain price if he could get first run rights. The show premiered on the Disney Channel on January 17, 1988. Thirteen episodes aired at 8:30am on weekends. The show's run ended that July.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show then moved to Saturday morning where it aired for a full hour from 8:30am to 9:30am. For the second season, the show was cut back to 30 minutes to make room for new entries. The show was merged with "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears" and aired as part of the "Gummi Bears-Winnie the Pooh Hour". This partnership was short-lived and lasted only one year, when "Gummi Bears" moved to The Disney Afternoon. "Winnie the Pooh" returned as a solo effort the following year. New episodes intermixed with reruns returned for a third season in the fall of 1990. During this time, two of the show's characters—Winnie the Pooh and Tigger—were incorporated into the television special "Cartoon All Stars to the Rescue". The show returned for a fourth season on September 7, 1991. The show was not renewed the following year. After the series ended, the crew produced "Winnie the Pooh and Christmas Too", a primetime spin-off of the show.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Despite production ending the year before, reruns of the show returned to ABC's fall schedule for the 1992–93 season. By the following year, the show was dropped by ABC and sold in syndication. Executives felt the show could make more money selling directly to television stations rather than accepting ABC's license fee. The show later returned on December 9, 1995 when reruns of the program replaced "The New Adventures of Madeline". The show briefly stopped airing for the first part of the 1996–97 season, then returned to the lineup on January 4, 1997 and continued until September 7, 2002.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The Disney Channel began airing reruns of the series on October 3, 1994. These continued until September 1, 2006, at which point it was taken off the schedule. It was also shown on Toon Disney, first airing April 18, 1998. Internationally, the show has aired in several countries including the Family Channel in Canada, India, and Poland. Reruns also aired on Playhouse Disney.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: For the most part, the show used a limited cast consisting only of characters in the original Milne books, with the notable exception of the Disney-created character Gopher. However, several minor characters did make appearances. Christopher Robin's mother is shown occasionally, but always with her face obscured.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: For this adaptation, the show underwent an Americanization. The setting was changed from native England to contemporary America. The series depicted Christopher Robin as a typical 1980s kid rather than a 1920s British child. He is shown living in a suburban house with his mother and no longer had an English accent. His mischievous imagination drew comparisons to Calvin from "Calvin and Hobbes", as opposed to Milne's original interpretation. Additionally, unlike the earlier Disney featurettes, the show did not use a narrator or the storybook theme.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Although the show still used the Hundred Acre Wood as its main setting, several episodes took place in other locations. The characters occasionally traveled to the adjacent town, going to a grocery store or movie theater. Other episodes were set in more imaginative settings and involved the characters journeying into the clouds or down in a wishing well. Two episodes took place in the Wild West, one in the form of a play. These styles of episodes were done away with later on. The writing staff felt they worked best in the Hundred Acre Wood.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The writers made a point of keeping the show as timeless as possible, having the Hundred Acre Wood become a "never, never land". The show did its best to leave out all the modern conveniences. The approach to episodes was to put more emphasis on adventure, yet keep the integrity of Milne's characters. To add excitement, the occasional waterfall or cliff was added, which the show found tough to fit in. The dialogue was updated to make the show more relatable to today's generation.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show was a conceived as a comedy of manners and was hailed as a rare cartoon devoid of any violence or villains. The show's main theme revolved around the complications and misunderstandings that often arose between the characters and their eventual return to normalcy. For instance, one episode dealt with Pooh believing Rabbit was moving away after hearing he had "eaten him out of house and [honey]". Special attention was paid to write from a child's point of view, rather than an adult's. For this, the writers drew inspiration from Bill Cosby, Gahan Wilson, and "The Phantom Tollbooth". Additionally, the staff was also very conscious of their older viewers—dubbed "older kids"—and would always aim for a sensibility that would appeal to them as well. Kessel noted that while the show often had writing that would go over the heads of little kids, the original Milne books did as well.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Unlike previous adaptations of "Winnie the Pooh", the stories were for the most part not based on chapters from A. A. Milne's books. The writers made a point of not copying from Milne, but instead drawing the essence of him for the modern day; keeping the same charm and style as the original stories. The episodes have very little action in terms of plot, which in later years has drawn comparisons to "Seinfeld". The main storylines typically derived from the characters and their relationships to each other. Episode plots ranged from the simple, such as Winnie the Pooh searching for honey (stylized as hunny), to the more dramatic, such as Christopher Robin becoming trapped under his bed. Some episodes spoofed published works of fiction including "Frankenstein" and Sherlock Holmes.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Episodes focused on socioemotional issues, dealing with topics such as teamwork, resourcefulness, how to triumph over challenges, the power of positive outlook, and the value of friendship. The series delivered strong messages about honesty, responsibility, persistence, cooperative effort, friendship and caring. The morals taught in each story allow children to draw parallels to their own lives. These were offered in a far more subtle manner than the "prosocial snippets" seen on other programs. Many stories are designed to help young children distinguish between fantasy and reality and overcome common childhood fears. Innumerable children's-expert panels continued throughout its lengthy network run to highly commend and recommend the series to the three-to-ten-year-old crowd, even growing tolerant enough to be amused by the "hunny/honey" spelling controversy.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Charles Solomon of the "Los Angeles Times" called the show "the best made-for-TV cartoon show in several seasons". Months later, he claimed it as "not only the classiest new show of the season, but also one of the best-looking series ever animated for television", and gave an similarly positive review the next year. "The Atlanta Journal-Constitution" said it "contained much more detailed and lively animation than the usual kidvid". "TV Guide" said the show had "theatrical-grade animation, sprightly stories, conscientious eschewing of laugh tracks and best of all, the willingness to let the visual jokes speak for themselves". "Entertainment Weekly" gave the show an "A" saying "there's enough excitement, including lots of slapstick and bad guys, to keep '90s adventurers happy". "The New York Times" called the show "lovingly faithful" to the original Milne books. Lee Winfrey of "Knight-Ridder" says the writers successfully maintained the integrity of Milne's characters and praised the animators for Ernest H. Shepard's illustrations. The "Milwaukee Journal" said the show will "offer children and probably their parents, a gentle walk through Pooh Corner". Gene Seymour of "Knight-Ridder" called the best animation on weekly television outside of the General Mills Commercials. "The Dayton Daily News" called the program one of the best on television writing "The animation of this offering from the Disney's studios is not as sumptuous as the company's feature films, but it is miles above the television norm". Charles Witback praised the show claiming that "Milne [came] out on top " and they remain unique to the flashy, noisy Hollywood. "The San Bernardino Sun" wrote "if kids like the verbal wit of the other shows, they'll tackle the rich sophistication of Winnie the Pooh".


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: "Good Housekeeping" wrote that the show was "sweet and endearing, though its educational value is essentially limited to a kid-tailored 'I'm okay, you're okay' theme". Common Sense Media gave the show 4 stars, saying "the lessons are just as classic and time-tested as the characters". Hal Erickson, writing in his book "Television Cartoon Shows", called the show a delightful eye of calm in "the hurricane of hectic Saturday morning slapstick". DVDizzy.com praised the show calling it "true both to the spirit of Milne's creation and the animation of Disney's terrific short films". DVDVerdict.com called the show "perfectly respectable imitations that still rank as stellar, sweet-natured children's entertainment", going on to write "Kids should enjoy this stuff and adults should feel comfortable leaving their young ones in the care of this of this good-hearted programming for an hour". "AnimatedViews" called the show "a well-remembered if not exceptional series that slotted into the kind of programming that filled the Disney Afternoons." David Perlmutter, in his book "America Toons In", called the longevity of the show "a testament to the enduring appeal of the beloved characters". Common Sense Media have the series a four out of five stars, saying, "Classic characters will delight preschoolers."


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Not all reviews have been positive. Evan Levine, writing for the "Philadelphia Daily News", gave the program a mixed review, saying "the characters are all true to form, but the colors are overly bright, and the whole look is harsh" but adding "this series is certainly better than a lot of other cartoons that we've seen". Jan Crain Rudeen, writing for the Scripps Howard News Service, described the series and the resulting video releases as "awful", which he felt lacked imagination. Desson Howe of "The Washington Post" described the series as "cheaply sweetened fare". One particular episode has been a source of controversy. "Sorry Wrong Slusher", in which the characters stay up late, order pizza, and watch a late night "slusher film", has been called violent.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The network television premiere on Saturday, September 10, 1988, was hailed as an immediate success. The show won its time-slot with 5.9/23 Nielsen ratings share, translating to 5.7 million viewers. ABC, who had been in third place for Saturday morning the year prior, won every time-slot averaging a 5.0 rating/20 share. This trend continued for the next three weeks. Selby Hall, Marketing Manager for ABC, was quoted as saying "[the show had] been very successful on Saturday mornings in the States". The high ratings caused an extra push behind the international airings of the program. Throughout the season, the show continued to receive "solid" ratings. The show ranked 10th place out of all Saturday morning cartoons for the season.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: During the 1989–90 television schedule, the series was paired with "Disney's Adventures of the Gummi Bears". The show once again won its time-slot, but fell one rating point from the previous year's debut. The show repeated this the next week, but was beaten by "" the next two weeks.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: By 1993, the show had fallen in the ratings. Finishing 27th out of the 36 Saturday morning programs, the show averaged a 2.1/9 Nielsen rating share. The show received a 3.3 Nielsen rating in late February 1993 corresponding to 3.2 million viewers. In 1997, "MediaWeek" ranked it 301st out of every broadcast show. By the late 1990s, the show was one of the top five Saturday morning cartoons. It had a (2.5/11) market share in Boys 2–11 and a (2.2/11) market share in boys 6–11.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: For its debut season, the show won a Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program. During his acceptance speech, Mark Zaslove praised the actors and animators for their dedication to the series and specifically thanked Jymn Magon and Karl Geurs for the humanity they brought to the program. The following year the series was awarded the same honor, this time in a tie with "Beetlejuice". The show was awarded the first of two Humanitas Prizes during its first season for "[examining] the need to both hold onto and let go of love". Three years later, the show would pick up its second prize for its dramatization "of the struggle to assume responsibility and live with the consequences of your mistakes". The show also received a commemoration from the Action for Children's Television with President Peggy Charren calling the show "an imaginative extension of the Pooh stories...preserving the essence of the original characters".


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show was cited in the Children's Television Act of 1990 as an example of a positive educational program. The show received a special salute during the opening session of the Congressional Club in 1988. Joan Lunden, co-host of "Good Morning America", hosted the opening session which included United States Congressional and Cabinet wives as well as their children and grandchildren. BuzzFeed ranked the theme song third in their list of "7 Cartoon Theme Songs Guaranteed to Earworm You"


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Although Disney has never released the complete series on home video, there have been numerous video collections released over the years. The first was a collection of 10 videocassette tapes issued by Walt Disney Home Video. Each VHS contained two to four episodes, with the first three tapes released in 1989. This was followed by an additional three the next year and four more in 1992. Due to a twenty-five year license agreement on "Pooh" merchandise, these videotapes were released only in Sears. Sales were very poor, despite a solid consumer base.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Eric Schulz, Vice President of Marketing at Disney, recalled an incident one Friday afternoon at Kmart where parents were shopping: "We noticed that no Winnie the Pooh characters were available. Several consumers were asking the store clerks if the Poohs were sold out". Schulz and his team discovered there were no plush toys available at Kmart, due to the licensing. They also discovered that this license was expiring in just a few months and would not be renewed. That afternoon, the marketing team returned to the office and began to plan new ideas to sell "Winnie the Pooh" videos.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: In 1994, on the day that the Sears license expired, a nationwide Pooh video and plush promotion was launched. Videos were packaged with Pooh plush characters together in a single box. Disney proclaimed 1994, "The Year of Pooh", which coincided with the 70th anniversary of Winnie the Pooh. In lieu of traditional press kit, Disney sent out a Winnie the Pooh cookie jar to the press outlets, a decision which received overwhelmingly positive reaction. "The Today Show" proudly displayed its Pooh cookie jar on television while the hosts talked about the new video releases.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: Two collections of compilation tapes called "Pooh Playtime" and "Pooh Learning" were released with three videotapes encompassing each set. The videos featured between two and four episodes of "The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh" and featured new songs written by Dave Kinnoin. Sales were very high, with numerous videos turned up on the "Video Bestseller List". In just three weeks, Disney had sold twenty times more "Winnie the Pooh" videos than they had in the previous twelve months. By 1995, Pooh videos sold over thirty times what they had sold the year before, despite the fact that Disney had only repackaged existing products. Because of their success, two additional videos were added to each collection. A third collection entitled "Pooh Friendship" was released in 1997, bringing the three collections to fifteen videos between them.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show first appeared on DVD in the United Kingdom. Under the title "The Magical World of Winnie the Pooh", eight volumes were released consisting of four episodes apiece. The first five volumes of this series later appeared in the United States under the name "Growing Up with Winnie the Pooh". Appearing in February 2005, the releases were made to coincide with the premiere of "Pooh's Heffalump Movie". These episodes did not include the original opening credits, but instead had new sequences specifically made for the discs. Episodes of the show have also been released as part of the "special features" in the DVD releases of Winnie the Pooh movies, such as "The Tigger Movie" and "".


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The series helped spawn a successful "Winnie the Pooh" media franchise, which grew into a series of made-for-TV holiday specials, two additional television series, and four theatrically released movies. Many of the cast members continued to work with these Winnie the Pooh adaptations. Jim Cummings continues to voice Winnie the Pooh and Tigger in the present day. Paul Winchell briefly reprised his role as Tigger in "". John Fiedler voiced Piglet until his death in 2005. Ken Sansom and Peter Cullen continued voicing their characters until 2010. Much of the writers and directors returned for "Pooh's Grand Adventure" and "The Book of Pooh". Bruce Talkington has since written many children's books based on Winnie the Pooh.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The show was one of the last times "Winnie the Pooh" was designed and marketed for audiences of all ages. In the years following the series, Walt Disney Home Video began to reposition their strategy and marketed the television series, and Winnie the Pooh in general, towards younger age groups, despite critics claiming the show can be enjoyed by members of all ages. In later years, the show has been touted as strictly for preschoolers. DVDizzy summarized the idea saying "Even though Milne's books had won over readers of all ages and even though kids weren't buying movie tickets and merchandise, Disney seemed set on the idea that Pooh was strictly for little ones, those not even old enough to attend school".


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: The program caused a resurgence of popularity of "Winnie the Pooh" that continues to this day, to the point of the character being Disney's second largest franchise. Following the home video releases, Disney's annual revenue from "Winnie the Pooh" rose from $100 million to more than $1 billion in just four years. Winnie the Pooh is now the most successful Disney character, surpassing Mickey Mouse. As of 2012, it is the third most popular media franchise in the United States.


title: The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh

text: To promote the opening of "", the production released a recording of Corbin Bleu covering the show's theme song. Bleu sings the original "Winnie the Pooh" theme for the actual production.


title: Trichome

text: Trichomes (); ) are fine outgrowths or appendages on plants, algae, lichens, and certain protists. They are of diverse structure and function. Examples are hairs, glandular hairs, scales, and papillae. A covering of any kind of hair on a plant is an indumentum, and the surface bearing them is said to be pubescent.


title: Trichome

text: Certain, usually filamentous, algae have the terminal cell produced into an elongate hair-like structure called a trichome. The same term is applied to such structures in some cyanobacteria, such as "Spirulina" and "Oscillatoria". The trichomes of cyanobacteria may be unsheathed, as in "Oscillatoria", or sheathed, as in "Calothrix". These structures play an important role in preventing soil erosion, particularly in cold desert climates. The filamentous sheaths form a persistent sticky network that helps maintain soil structure.


title: Trichome

text: Plant trichomes have many different features that vary between both species of plants and organs of an individual plant. These features affect the subcategories that trichomes are placed into. Some defining features include the following:


title: Trichome

text: In a model organism, "Cistus salviifolius", there are more adaxial trichomes present on this plant because this surface suffers from more ultraviolet (UV), solar irradiance light stress than the abaxial surface.


title: Trichome

text: Trichomes can protect the plant from a large range of detriments, such as UV light, insects, transpiration, and freeze intolerance.


title: Trichome

text: Trichomes on plants are epidermal outgrowths of various kinds. The terms emergences or prickles refer to outgrowths that involve more than the epidermis. This distinction is not always easily applied (see Wait-a-minute tree). Also, there are "nontrichomatous" epidermal cells that protrude from the surface.


title: Trichome

text: A common type of trichome is a hair. Plant hairs may be unicellular or multicellular, and branched or unbranched. Multicellular hairs may have one or several layers of cells. Branched hairs can be "dendritic" (tree-like) as in kangaroo paw ("Anigozanthos"), "tufted", or "stellate" (star-shaped), as in "Arabidopsis thaliana".


title: Trichome

text: Another common type of trichome is the scale or peltate hair, that has a plate or shield-shaped cluster of cells attached directly to the surface or borne on a stalk of some kind. Common examples are the leaf scales of bromeliads such as the pineapple, "Rhododendron" and sea buckthorn ("Hippophae rhamnoides").


title: Trichome

text: Any of the various types of hairs may be , producing some kind of secretion, such as the essential oils produced by mints and many other members of the family Lamiaceae.


title: Trichome

text: Many terms are used to describe the surface appearance of plant organs, such as stems and leaves, referring to the presence, form and appearance of trichomes. Examples include:


title: Trichome

text: The size, form, density and location of hairs on plants are extremely variable in their presence across species and even within a species on different plant organs. Several basic functions or advantages of having surface hairs can be listed. It is likely that in many cases, hairs interfere with the feeding of at least some small herbivores and, depending upon stiffness and irritability to the palate, large herbivores as well. Hairs on plants growing in areas subject to frost keep the frost away from the living surface cells. In windy locations, hairs break up the flow of air across the plant surface, reducing transpiration. Dense coatings of hairs reflect sunlight, protecting the more delicate tissues underneath in hot, dry, open habitats. In addition, in locations where much of the available moisture comes from fog drip, hairs appear to enhance this process by increasing the surface area on which water droplets can accumulate.


title: Trichome

text: Glandular trichomes have been vastly studied, even though they are only found on about 30% of plants. Their function is to secrete metabolites for the plant. Some of these metabolites include:


title: Trichome

text: The model plant "C. salviifolius" is found in areas of high-light stress and poor soil conditions, along the Mediterranean coasts. It contains non-glandular, stellate and dendritic trichomes that have the ability to synthesize and store polyphenols that both affect absorbance of radiation and plant desiccation. These trichomes also contain acetylated flavonoids, which can absorb UV-B, and non-acetylated flavonoids, which absorb the longer wavelength of UV-A. In non-glandular trichomes, the only known role of flavonoids is to block out the shortest wavelengths to protect the plant; this differs from their role in glandular trichomes.


title: Trichome

text: Non-glandular trichomes in the genus "Cistus" were found to contain presences of ellagitannins, glycosides, and kaempferol derivatives. The ellagitannins have the main purpose of helping adapt in times of nutrient-limiting stress.


title: Trichome

text: Both trichomes and root hairs, the rhizoids of many vascular plants, are lateral outgrowths of a single cell of the epidermal layer. Root hairs form from trichoblasts, the hair-forming cells on the epidermis of a plant root. Root hairs vary between 5 and 17 micrometers in diameter, and 80 to 1,500 micrometers in length (Dittmar, cited in Esau, 1965). Root hairs can survive for two to three weeks and then die off. At the same time new root hairs are continually being formed at the top of the root. This way, the root hair coverage stays the same. It is therefore understandable that repotting must be done with care, because the root hairs are being pulled off for the most part. This is why planting out may cause plants to wilt.


title: Trichome

text: The genetic control of patterning of trichomes and roots hairs shares similar control mechanisms. Both processes involve a core of related transcription factors that control the initiation and development of the epidermal outgrowth. Activation of genes that encode specific protein transcription factors (named GLABRA1 (GL1), GLABRA3 (GL3) and TRANSPARENT TESTA GLABRA1 (TTG1)) are the major regulators of cell fate to produce trichomes or root hairs. When these genes are activated in a leaf epidermal cell, the formation of a trichrome is initiated within that cell. GL1, GL3. and TTG1 also activate negative regulators, which serve to inhibit trichrome formation in neighboring cells. This system controls the spacing of trichomes on the leaf surface. Once trichome are developed they may divide or branch. In contrast, root hairs only rarely branch. During the formation of trichomes and root hairs, many enzymes are regulated. For example, just prior to the root hair development, there is a point of elevated phosphorylase activity.


title: Trichome

text: Many of what scientists know about trichome development comes from the model organism "Arabidopsis thaliana", because their trichomes are simple, unicellular, and non-glandular. The development pathway is regulated by three transcription factors: R2R3 MYB, basic helix-loop-helix, and WD40 repeat. The three groups of TFs form a trimer complex (MBW) and activate the expression of products downstream, which activates trichome formation. However, just MYBs alone act as an inhibitor by forming a negative complex.


title: Trichome

text: Plant phytohormones have an effect on the growth and response of plants to environmental stimuli. Some of these phytohormones are involved in trichome formation, which include gibberellic acid (GA), cytokinins (CK), and jasmonic acids (JA).


title: Trichome

text: However, both SPINDLY and DELLA proteins repress the effects of GA, so less of these proteins create more trichomes.


title: Trichome

text: Some other phytohormones that promote growth of trichomes include brassinosteroids, ethylene, and salicylic acid. This was understood by conducting experiments with mutants that has little to no amounts of each of these substances. In every case, there was less trichome formation on both plant surfaces, as well as incorrect formation of the trichomes present.


title: Trichome

text: The type, presence and absence and location of trichomes are important diagnostic characters in plant identification and plant taxonomy. In forensic examination, plants such as "Cannabis sativa" can be identified by microscopic examination of the trichomes. Although trichomes are rarely found preserved in fossils, trichome bases are regularly found and, in some cases, their cellular structure is important for identification.


title: Trichome

text: "Arabidopsis thaliana" trichomes are classified as being aerial, epidermal, unicellular, tubular structures.


title: Trichome

text: In the model plant "Arabidopsis thaliana", trichome formation is initiated by the GLABROUS1 protein. Knockouts of the corresponding gene lead to glabrous plants. This phenotype has already been used in genome editing experiments and might be of interest as visual marker for plant research to improve gene editing methods such as CRISPR/Cas9. Trichomes also serve as models for cell differentiation as well as pattern formation in plants.


title: Trichome

text: Bean leaves have been used historically to trap bedbugs in houses in Eastern Europe. The trichomes on the bean leaves capture the insects by impaling their feet (tarsi). The leaves would then be destroyed.


title: Trichome

text: Trichomes are an essential part of nest building for the European wool carder bee ("Anthidium manicatum"). This bee species incorporates trichomes into their nests by scraping them off of plants and using them as a lining for their nest cavities.


title: Trichome

text: Plants may use trichomes in order to deter herbivore attacks via physical and/or chemical means, e.g. in specialized, stinging hairs of "Urtica" (Nettle) species that deliver inflammatory chemicals such as histamine. Studies on trichomes have been focused towards crop protection, which is the result of deterring herbivores (Brookes et al. 2016). However, some organisms have developed mechanisms to resist the effects of trichomes. The larvae of "Heliconius charithonia", for example, are able to physically free themselves from trichomes, are able to bite off trichomes, and are able to form silk blankets in order to navigate the leaves better.


title: Trichome

text: Stinging trichomes vary in their morphology and distribution between species, however similar effects on large herbivores implies they serve similar functions. In areas susceptible to herbivory, higher densities of stinging trichomes were observed. In "Urtica", the stinging trichomes induce a painful sensation lasting for hours upon human contact. This sensation has been attributed as a defense mechanism against large animals and small invertebrates, and plays a role in defense supplementation via secretion of metabolites. Studies suggest that this sensation involves a rapid release of toxin (such as histamine) upon contact and penetration via the globular tips of said trichomes.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Her Story is an interactive film video game written and directed by Sam Barlow. It was released on 24 June 2015 for iOS, OS X, and Windows, and the following year for Android. In the game, the player searches and sorts through a database of video clips from fictional police interviews, and uses the clips to solve the case of a missing man. The police interviews focus on the man's wife, Hannah Smith, portrayed by British musician Viva Seifert.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: The game is Barlow's first project since his departure from Climax Studios, after which he became independent. He wanted to develop a game that was dependent on the narrative, and avoided working on the game until he was settled on an idea that was possible to execute. Barlow eventually decided to create a police procedural game, and incorporate live action footage. He conducted research for the game by watching existing police interviews. Upon doing so, he discovered recurring themes in the suspects' answers, and decided to incorporate ambiguity to the investigation in the game.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Her Story" was acclaimed by many reviewers, with praise particularly directed at the narrative, unconventional gameplay mechanics, and Seifert's performance. The game has sold over 100,000 copies, and earned multiple year-end accolades, including nominations for Game of the Year awards from several gaming publications. In August 2019, a spiritual sequel titled "Telling Lies" was released.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Her Story" is an interactive movie game, focusing on a series of seven fictional police interviews from 1994. As the game begins, the player is presented with an old desktop, which contains several files and programs. Among the programs are instructional text files, which explain the game's mechanics. One of the programs automatically open on the desktop is the "L.O.G.I.C. Database", which allows the player to search and sort video clips within the database, of which there are 271. The video clips are police interviews with Hannah Smith, a British woman. The interviews are unable to be watched in their entirety, forcing the player to view short clips. In the interviews, Hannah answers unknown questions to an off-screen detective, prompting the player to decipher the context of the answers. Hannah's answers are transcribed, and the player find clips by searching in the database for words from the transcriptions, attempting to solve the case by piecing together information. As the player selects clips, they can enter user tags, which are then available as searchable terms. One of the files on the desktop is a database checker, which allows the player to review the number of clips that have been viewed; as a clip is viewed, the red box in the database checker changes to green. The desktop also features the minigame "Mirror Game", based on the strategy board game "Reversi".


title: Her Story (video game)

text: The interview tapes feature a woman who introduces herself as Hannah Smith (Viva Seifert), whose husband, Simon, has gone missing, and is later found murdered. Hannah admits that she and Simon had argued, but has an alibi placing her in Glasgow when Simon disappeared. As more pieces of the interviews are discovered, it is claimed that "Hannah" is actually two women: Hannah and Eve, identical twins separated at birth by the midwife, Florence. Florence, whose husband died during the war, desperately wanted to have kids, but did not believe in remarrying, so she faked the death of one of the twins to claim one for herself. Florence deliberately kept Eve indoors as much as possible and the twins were unaware of each other's existence until years later. When Florence died, Eve secretly moved in with Hannah at which point they decided to act as a single person, keeping a common diary and a set of rules defining their actions as "Hannah". Hannah's parents were oblivious, and assumed that Eve was Hannah's imaginary friend.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Hannah eventually began dating Simon, whom she had met at a glazier where they both worked. Despite their rules to share equally, Hannah slept with Simon and became pregnant. She gradually became possessive of Simon and forbade Eve from interacting with him. Because of the pregnancy, Hannah and Simon were married and moved in together while Eve moved out to her own apartment and began wearing a wig. Hannah miscarried in her eighth month and believed she was infertile afterward. Some time later, Simon encountered Eve in a bar she was singing at. Smitten by her resemblance, the two began an affair. Eve became pregnant but never told Simon and hid the identity of the father from Hannah. On their birthday, after Simon gave Hannah a handmade mirror as a gift, Hannah revealed to him the existence of Eve and her pregnancy. From his reaction, Hannah realised that Simon was the father of Eve's child. After kicking Simon out of the house, she argued with Eve over the affair, causing the latter to leave and drive to Glasgow. When Simon returned, Hannah pretended to be Eve by wearing her wig. Thinking she was Eve, Simon gifted her a similar handmade mirror and professed his desire to be with Eve rather than Hannah. Hannah became furious and revealed her identity. She later claims that, as they fought, she shattered the mirror and inadvertently cut Simon's throat with a shard of it while trying to fend him off. When Eve returned, she found Hannah sitting next to Simon's lifeless body. The two agreed that Eve's baby was the priority so they hid Simon's body and used Eve's trip to Glasgow as an alibi for the time of his disappearance. At the end of the final interview, Eve says that Hannah is "gone ... and she's never coming back" but mockingly asks "can you arrest someone who doesn't exist?". She then requests a lawyer, and says that her comments are just "stories". It is not entirely clear if Eve's story of being an identical twin is true, an intentional fabrication meant to confuse the police, or a case of dissociative identity disorder, with pieces of evidence in-game lending credence to each theory.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: As the player uncovers enough of the story, a chat window appears asking if they are finished. Upon answering affirmatively, it is revealed that the player is Sarah, Eve's daughter. The chat asks Sarah if she understands her mother's actions, and asks to meet her outside.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Her Story" was developed by Sam Barlow, who previously worked on games such as "" (2007) and "" (2009) at Climax Studios. Barlow had conceived the idea of a police procedural game while working at Climax Studios, but decided to become independent to create the game, in order to develop a game that is "deep on story". He became frustrated by publishers rejecting game pitches for being "too kitchen sink [realism]" in favor of more standard video game tropes like a "cyborg assassin from the future", and found that becoming independent allowed him to create his own game of the sort. He also wished to become independent after playing games like "Year Walk" (2013) and "80 Days" (2014). Barlow avoided development until he had an idea that was possible to execute. "I could probably quite easily have gone and made an exploration horror game ... but I kind of knew that there would be big compromises there because of budget," he said. Barlow spent his savings to work on the game, allowing him a year of development time. He followed through with the concept of "Her Story", as it focused on an "intimate setting, dialogue and character interaction", which he found was often dismissed in larger titles. Barlow felt particularly inspired to develop "Her Story" after seeing the continuous support of his 1999 game "Aisle". When referring to how "Her Story" challenges typical game conventions, Barlow compares it to the Dogme 95 filmmaking movement, and Alfred Hitchcock's 1948 film "Rope".


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Her Story" was approved through Steam Greenlight, and was crowdfunded by Indie Fund. It was released on 24 June 2015 for iOS, OS X, and Windows. Barlow wanted to launch the game on all platforms simultaneously, as he was unsure where the audience would be. "If I'd just gone for just one I'd have lost a lot of the potential audience," he commented. Barlow found that playing "Her Story" on mobile devices is a "'sofa' experience". He also noted that it felt "natural" for it to be released on mobile devices, as they are regularly used to watch videos and search the internet; similar tasks are used as gameplay mechanics in "Her Story". The iPhone's smaller pixel size of 640×480 as opposed to 800×600 led to Barlow's doubts of a release on the platform, but he was influenced to release it upon receiving positive feedback through testing. As development neared completion, the game underwent testing, which allowed Barlow to "balance some aspects" and "polish items together". An Android version was released on 29 June 2016. "Her Story" runs on the Unity game engine.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Barlow's immediate idea was to create a game involving police interviews, but he "didn't know exactly what that meant". He then conceived the idea to involve real video footage, and the ability to access the footage through a database interface; he described the interface as being "part Apple II, part Windows 3.1 and part Windows 98". The interface design was inspired by Barlow's appreciation of the police procedural genre, commenting that "the conceit of making the computer itself a prop in the game was so neat". He also compared the searching mechanic to the Google search engine, and wanted to "run with the idea" that the player is "essentially Googling". The game's concept was inspired by the TV series "" (1993–1999), which Barlow found depicted police interviews being a "gladiatorial arena for detectives". Barlow intentionally made the game's opening screen to be "slightly too long", to immediately notify the player of the slow pacing that would follow.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Inspiration to work on "Her Story" stemmed from Barlow's disappointment of other detectives games: he felt that "L.A. Noire" (2011) never allowed him to feel like "the awesome detective who was having to read things and follow up threads of investigation", and he called the "Ace Attorney" series (2001–present) "rigid". When Barlow began development on "Her Story", he added more typical game aspects, but the game mechanics became more minimalist as development progressed. The initial plan for the game was for the player to work towards a definitive resolution, ultimately solving the crime. However, when Barlow tested the concept on pre-existing interview transcripts of convicted murderer Christopher Porco, he began to discover themes surfacing within the interviews, particularly relating to the concept of money, which was ultimately a large factor in Porco's trial. He took this concept of recurring themes and threads, and decided to "move beyond the clearly scripted stuff" when developing "Her Story". Barlow felt that the story's appeal was the ambiguity of the investigation, comparing "Her Story" to the podcast "Serial" (2014–present), which he listened to late in development. He found that the attraction of "Serial" was the lack of a definitive solution, noting that "people lean towards certain interpretations ... what makes it interesting is the extent to which it lives on in your imagination".


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Barlow decided to feature live action footage in the game after becoming frustrated with his previous projects, particularly with the technical challenge of translating an actor's performance into a game engine. Barlow set out to work with an actor on "Her Story", having enjoyed the process while working at Climax Studios, albeit with a larger budget. He contacted Viva Seifert, whom he had intermittently worked with on "" for a year, before its cancellation. He felt that Seifert is "very good at picking up a line and intuitively pulling a lot of the subtext into her performance", which led him to believe that she was "perfect" for the role in "Her Story". When Barlow asked Seifert to audition, he sent her a 300-page script, which he managed to reduce to 80 pages, by altering font size, as well as some dialogue; she accepted the role.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Seifert began to feel pressure midway through filming, when she realised that "the whole game is hinging" on her performance. She described the shoot as "intense" and "rather exhausting", and felt as if she was "subtly being scrutinised" by Barlow, which helped her performance. Barlow also felt that the intensity helped Seifert's performance, taking cues from director Alfred Hitchcock, who would upset his actors in order to achieve the greatest performance. Seifert felt that there were small nuances in her performance that may have "added some twists and turns" for the player that Barlow had not anticipated. The game's seven police interviews were filmed roughly in chronological order over five days, in a process that Barlow called "natural". Like Seifert though, Barlow thought the shoot was intense, remarking "at the end of the shoot, it was just a huge relief it was all over and we hadn't forgotten to record or anything." Barlow travelled to Seifert's home county of Cornwall to film. He felt that finding the locations for the interrogation rooms was the simplest part of production, because "everywhere has crappy looking rooms", with footage being recorded in a council building in Truro. When filming was complete, Barlow wanted to give the impression that the videos had been recorded in 1994, but found digital filters were unable to capture this time frame appropriately. Instead, he recorded the footage through two VHS players to create imperfections in the video before digitising the video into the game.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Barlow played the part of the detectives during filming, asking scripted questions to Seifert's character, but is never featured in "Her Story". When watching police interviews for research, Barlow found himself empathising with the interviewee, which inspired him to exclude the detective from the game. He stated that the interviews typically feature "double betrayal", in which the detectives are "pretending to be the best friend". Barlow felt that removing the detective from the game empowers Seifert's character, allowing the player to empathise. When conducting research for "Her Story", Barlow looked at the case regarding the murder of Travis Alexander, which made him consider the manner that female murder suspects are treated in interrogations, stating that they "tend to be fetishised, more readily turned into archetypes". This was further proved to Barlow when studying the interviews of Casey Anthony and Amanda Knox; he found that media commentary often ignored the evidence of the investigation, instead focusing on the expressions of the suspects during the interviews. Barlow conducted further research by studying texts about psychology, and the use of language.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: After conceiving the game's main mechanics, Barlow began developing the story, conducting research and "letting [the story] take on a life of its own". To develop the story, Barlow placed the script into a spreadsheet, which became so large it often crashed his laptop upon opening it. He mapped out every character involved in the investigation, including their backstories and agendas. He spent about half of development creating detailed documents charting the story's characters and events. He also determined the dates on which the police interviews would take place, and what the suspect was doing in the interim. Once he had determined the game's concept more precisely, Barlow ensured the script contained "layers of intrigue", in order to interest the player to finish the game. Barlow often replaced words of the script with synonyms, to ensure that some clips were not associated with irrelevant words. When writing the script, Barlow generally avoided supernatural themes, but realised that it would involve a "slight dreamlike surreal edge". Working on the script, he often found that he was "very much in the moment, writing from inside the characters' heads". He found it difficult to create a new idea for the story, as detective fiction has been explored many times before.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: When searching for music to use in "Her Story", Barlow looked for songs that sounded "slightly out-of-time". He ultimately used eight tracks from musician Chris Zabriskie, and found that his music invoked nostalgia, and had a "modern edge". He felt that the music "highlights the gap between the 'fake computer world'" and the game. The "emotional intensity" of the clips also influences the music changes in "Her Story". Barlow also intended to feature a song for Seifert to sing in some of the clips that fit within the game. He settled on the murder ballad "The Twa Sisters", which he felt would trigger the mythical elements of the game. Seifert and Barlow both altered the ballad, to fit the game. Barlow intended for the sound design to be "all about authenticity". He used an old keyboard to provide sound effects for the computer, using stereo panning for the keys to have the correct 3D position in playback.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Telling Lies" was Barlow's spiritual sequel to "Her Story"; rather than focusing on one central character, it features live-action footage from the video conversations of four characters (played by Logan Marshall-Green, Alexandra Shipp, Kerry Bishé, and Angela Sarafyan), and requires the player to piece together events by searching the video clips to determine why these characters were under surveillance. The game was published by Annapurna Interactive on Windows and macOS systems on 23 August 2019.


title: Her Story (video game)

text: "Her Story" was well received by critics. Review aggregator Metacritic calculated an average score of 91 out of 100 based on 10 reviews for the iOS version, indicating "universal acclaim", and 86 out of 100 based on 49 reviews for the Windows version, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Metacritic ranks the game within the top 20 iOS and Windows games released in 2015, and GameRankings ranks "Her Story" within its top 100 iOS games of all time. Praise was particularly directed at the game's narrative, Seifert's performance, and gameplay mechanics. "IGN"s Brian Albert called "Her Story" "the most unique game I've played in years", and Steven Burns of "VideoGamer.com" named it "one of the year's best and most interesting games". Adam Smith of "Rock, Paper, Shotgun" remarked that it "might be the best FMV game ever made"; Michael Thomsen of "The Washington Post" declared it "a beautiful amalgam of the cinema and video game formats".


title: Her Story (video game)

text: Critics lauded the game's narrative. "Edge" considered it "a superlatively told work of crime fiction." Kimberley Wallace of "Game Informer" wrote that the "fragmented" delivery of the story "works to its benefit". She appreciated the subtlety of the narrative, and the ambiguity surrounding the ending. "Polygon"s Megan Farokhmanesh noted that "Her Story" "nails the dark, voyeuristic nature of true crime". Chris Schilling of "The Daily Telegraph" was impressed by the coherence of the narrative, "even when presented out of order". "Eurogamer"s Simon Parkin found the effects of the narrative to be similar to well-received HBO thrillers, particularly in terms of audience attention. Stephanie Bendixsen of "Good Game" was disappointed that large plot points were revealed early in the game, but attributed this to the uniqueness of each player's experience.