What Would Happen

"What Would Happen" by Meredith Brooks: A Follow-Up to a Defining Anthem

Picture the late 1990s, when the airwaves were ruled by a wave of fierce, guitar-driven women who had reshaped rock radio in their own image. The success of artists who fused confessional songwriting with crunchy alternative production had opened a door, and a generation of female singer-songwriters strode through it. Meredith Brooks had announced herself with one of the era's most unforgettable anthems, a song so big it threatened to overshadow everything that came after. "What Would Happen" was her attempt to prove there was more to her than a single defining moment.

Living in the Shadow of a Smash

Meredith Brooks had become a household name in 1997 thanks to her breakthrough single "Bitch," a defiant, hooky anthem of female complexity that became a massive worldwide hit. That song reached the upper echelon of the Billboard Hot 100 and turned Brooks into one of the most recognizable new voices of the moment. The challenge facing any artist with a debut that enormous is the follow-up, the difficult task of convincing audiences that the first hit was not a fluke. "What Would Happen" came from her album Blurring the Edges, the same project that had launched her career-defining single.

Brooks was a skilled guitarist and songwriter, part of a cohort of women who had brought a tougher, more autonomous sensibility to mainstream rock. Her music balanced introspection with attitude, and this single leaned toward the more reflective, melodic side of her writing, a deliberate contrast to the brash energy of her breakthrough.

A Modest Follow-Up Showing

On the Billboard Hot 100, "What Would Happen" performed respectably without approaching the heights of its predecessor. It debuted at number 46 on February 28, 1998, which also proved to be its peak position. It held at number 46 for a second week before beginning a gradual decline, slipping to 50, then 55, then 64. In total the single spent ten weeks on the Hot 100, a solid run that demonstrated genuine staying power even as it fell short of blockbuster status. That ten-week presence suggested real radio support, the mark of a song that found a steady audience rather than flaring out quickly.

A Telling Chapter in a Career

Within Meredith Brooks's story, "What Would Happen" represents the crucial second act, the moment when an artist either consolidates a career or recedes from the spotlight. The single proved Brooks was more than a one-hit phenomenon, earning her a respectable showing and extending her presence on the charts. While she would not match the world-conquering success of her debut single again, this track helped establish her as a real songwriter rather than a momentary sensation, a distinction that matters in the long arc of a musical life.

The Sound of the Late Nineties

What the song captures is the texture of its era, the polished yet emotionally direct alternative pop that filled radio in the closing years of the decade. Brooks delivered it with the conviction of someone determined to be taken seriously, and the result holds up as a snapshot of a moment when women with guitars were reshaping the mainstream. The production balances melodic accessibility with a rock undercurrent, the kind of crossover sound that defined the most successful female artists of the period.

That moment in popular music was genuinely distinctive. A cohort of singer-songwriters had pushed their way to the center of the industry, writing frankly about their own lives and refusing to be packaged as decorative pop figures. Brooks was very much part of that wave, and a single like this one, thoughtful and self-possessed, reflected the seriousness with which these artists approached their craft. The song stands as a document of an era when the radio had room for exactly that kind of voice.

Give it a listen and you will hear an artist working to prove her staying power, reaching past her biggest hit toward something more lasting.

"What Would Happen" — Meredith Brooks's singular moment on the 1990s charts.