she played the tape to Paul Wilson and Andy Watkins—the songwriters and production duo known as Absolute. The duo then worked with the melody and began playing with it. Halliwell commented in her autobiography: I wanted something with a Motown feel. Mel C[hisholm] eventually finished off the chorus and we had the basis for a song called "Stop". Later, when we had more time, the other girls came in and we helped write the verses and bridges. According to Chisholm, "Stop" is about the group's feelings towards fame and their frustration with their management who they felt was overworking them. These frustrations would culminate with them firing their manager Simon Fuller in November 1997. Composition "Stop" is an up-tempo dance-pop song with influences of Motown and blue-eyed soul, and is reminiscent of classic singles by The Supremes or Martha and the Vandellas. It is written in the key of C major, with a time signature set on common time, and moves at a fast tempo of 132 beats per minute. Lyrically, the song calls for a slowing down on the courtship process, and it is particularly addressed to appeal to the young female audience, as the female to female bonds are not threatened. It is constructed in a verse-pre-chorus-chorus form, with a bridge before the third and fourth chorus. It starts with an instrumental introduction, and uses a chord progression of C–B–Am7–G, that is also used during the verses and the chorus. In the first verse, Halliwell, Chisholm, Bunton, and Beckham sing each one line. The chords change to Dm11–Dm9–Dm11–Dm9–Dm7–Em7–F major7–G during the pre-chorus, followed by the chorus. The same pattern occurs leading to the second chorus, the first part of the second verse consists on the repeated use of the words do and ba da, then Bunton and Chisholm sing the rest of the verse. The group then sing the bridge, and end the song repeating the chorus twice. Release "Stop" was released in the United Kingdom on 9 March 1998, in two single versions. The first one, a standard CD single, included the track and live versions of "Something Kinda Funny", "Mama", and "Love Thing", taken from the set of concerts the group did in Istanbul in October 1997. The second version, also released in a standard CD single, contained the track, along with the David Morales remix, the Stretch & Vern's Rock & Roll Mix of the