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 There" became the focus of a controversy when Israeli soldier Idit Shechtman accused the group of copying her song "Bo Elai" (בוא אלי, "Come to Me"), a highly similar song released two years earlier in Israel. Shechtman hired lawyers and threatened to sue. A spokesman of the group later declared: "Where there's a hit, there's a writ. There's always someone who crawls out of the woodwork claiming to have written a hit song. We look forward to seeing her in court." "Say You'll Be There" is a midtempo dance-pop song, with influences from G-funk and R&B. It is written in