the reason for Halliwell's departure. The Spice Girls then flew to Oslo, Norway, to complete the last two shows of the European segment of the tour performance as a quartet. On 31 May 1998, Halliwell officially announced her departure from the Spice Girls through her solicitor, claiming that she was suffering from exhaustion, and because of differences between the group. She would later admit of having problems with an eating disorder and depression. The remaining group members announced that they would continue through the summer of 1998 with the North American part of the tour as originally planned. On 15 June, the group traveled to the US to continue with the Spiceworld Tour in West Palm Beach. During the following weeks, the release date of "Viva Forever"–only as a standalone single–was pushed to three different dates in July 1998. Music Week reported that the single was to be released on 4 July, while Smash Hits announced it for 13 July. In late June 1998, the song started to receive airplay across the UK, appearing on the playlists of 46 ILR stations and Capital FM's the Pepsi Chart. It entered the UK Airplay Chart Top 50 on 11 July, and two weeks later, the song reached the top five despite the lukewarm support from Radio One, initially appearing on the B-list, before being promoted to the A-list. After several delays, "Viva Forever" was commercially released in the UK on 20 July 1998, in three single versions. The first one, an enhanced CD, included the radio edit of the song, an instrumental take, and a remix version by American singer-songwriter and producer Tony Rich. In addition, the CD contained a multimedia programme, which features animated figures of the Spice Girls, scrolling synchronised lyrics, photographs and cartoons of each group member, an animated magic wand cursor that triggers an audio sample, and the music video. This was the first time that interactive multimedia components were available on a Spice Girls CD. The second version, released on a standard CD single, included the radio edit, live versions of "Who Do You Think You Are" and "Say You'll Be There" recorded at the NEC Arena in Birmingham, and a double-side poster. The same track listing was used for the third version of the single, released in cassette format. Critical reception "Viva Forever" was met with mixed reviews from music critics, many of whom criticized the