Viva Forever May, the Spice Girls appeared on the National Lottery, performing "Viva Forever" and "Spice Up Your Life" without Geri Halliwell, the excuse being that she was ill. In early June, the single was confirmed to simply be "Viva Forever". The single was to be released on 13 July, over two months after the original release date of 11 May. Even though posters were printed showcasing the 13 July release date, it was not long before the release dates started changing again. On the day of release, stores around the United Kingdom received a notice saying that the single was not
Say You'll Be There Spice, after the group, because it had never been used before. Together, they composed two songs in the session: "Love Thing" and "Say You'll Be There". Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins—the songwriters and production duo known as Absolute—produced the song and recorded it for the most part at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London. At first, discussions were made about what song the group would release as their second single; originally it was going to be "Love Thing", but in the end they decided to go with "Say You'll Be There". In December 1996, while charting across Europe, "Say You'll Be