she was only doing it for your own good. And you think: 'God, I was really horrible.'" "Mama" was released in the UK and Ireland as a double A-side along with "Who Do You Think You Are" in March 1997, timed not only for the Comic Relief telethon, but also for Mothering Sunday. Composition "Mama" is a pop ballad, written in the key of A-flat major, it is set in the time signature of common time and moves at a moderate tempo of 100 beats per minute. The song is constructed in a verse-chorus form, with a bridge before the third chorus, and its instrumentation comes from keyboards, a rhythm guitar, a cello, and a violin. It opens with an instrumental introduction, with a chord progression of D–E–Fm–E/G–A, that is used in the entire song. Bunton and Brown sing the first and second verse respectively. The bridge and third chorus follow. Then a choir, arranged by Mark Beswick, supplements the group during the last part of the song. "Mama" ends with the group repeating the chorus until the song gradually fades out. Lyrically, the song deals with the difficulties in the relationships between mothers and teenagers that appears during the adolescence, and it was dedicated to the group's mothers. Reception Critical response "Mama" received mixed reviews from music critics. The Daily Mirror criticised the song saying "Yuk! We don't want our Spice Girls sweet, ta very much. They should concentrate on the raunch and let Daniel O'Donnell take care of the mums." Dev Sherlock of Yahoo! Music Radio called it a "glossy ballad that would do Mariah Carey proud". Edna Gundersen of the USA Today said that their album Spice "is assembly-line dance-pop", adding that "only the funky 'Say You'll Be There' and touchingly cornball 'Mama' hint at depth". In a review of their album Spice, Ken Tucker from Entertainment Weekly called it "a fearlessly corny ballad", and added that it "will likely keep them from being one-hit wonders in America". Melissa Ruggieri of the Richmond Times-Dispatch said that in the song, the girls "are sunny vocalists who harmonize with perfumey sweetness when called upon". Daniel Incognito of Sputnikmusic said that in "Mama" the group "sing with heartfelt emotion", and added that "their somewhat amateurish singing is brought up and pushed along by the production crew, harmonising nicely into a stirring pop hook". Chart performance "Mama" was released in the