Among the surprises that the British charts left us this week, we cannot talk about Sabrina Carpenter, who not only maintains number 1 with ‘Taste’ but also continues with her 3 singles in the top 5. But we can talk about Milli Vanilli.
The music of the ill-fated duo, shot down by the industry after it was discovered that they did not sing their songs, is back in fashion. ‘I’m Gonna Miss You’ re-enters the top 40, while ‘Blame It On the Rain’ does so at number 47. And Ryan Murphy is to blame for everything.
There are people on social media who believe that Milli Vanilli would be returning to the charts after revealing how the industry treated them in their documentary. However, such a documentary has been known since last year, and the real reason for this return to the news is the use of Milli Vanilli in the Netflix series ‘Monsters: The Story of Lyle and Erik Menéndez’.
According to the book ‘The Menendez Murders: The Shocking Untold Story of the Menéndez Family and the Killings that Stunned the Nation’, Lyle Ménendez chose ‘Girl I’m Gonna Miss You’ for his parents’ funeral and that is something that has been respected in the production, returning the song to the charts.
According to Spotify, the countries in which this resurrection has had the most impact are Ireland, Lithuania, Iceland, Norway and the United Kingdom, although not enough to revive the song on global charts.
All in all, another resurrection for those who called themselves “fake Milli Vanilli”, specifically for its surviving member Fab Morvan. This year we interviewed him and saw him perform at Mallorca Live. This was his summary of what happened with Milli Vanilli:
«It is a story of exploitation, power, greed, of two boys who didn’t know what they were doing, of the ins and outs of the music industry. When you get into the industry you think everyone is your friend, but no, it’s a business. When an artist is not worth it, they throw him in the trash. They use you and you don’t realize it. You think you’re part of the family. Things are good until they don’t. For me it was a learning process: no one knew that Milli Vanilli would be so successful. We released a single and we thought things would end there, but no, success came, fame came, and fame seduced us. Rob was adopted, I came from a family of divorced parents, the love we received from the public was incredible and we didn’t want to lose it. So on we go… Rob and Fab made a mistake in front of everyone. When people make mistakes they do it in the privacy of their home, no one cares, but we were exposed. And although judges are supposed to investigate all aspects of a story, that’s not what happened. “We were blamed for absolutely everything.”
