Hits 21 - 2000 (3): Westlife, Craig David, Fragma, Oxide & Neutrino, Britney Spears

Episode Date: July 17, 2022

Hello again, everyone! And welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every single UK #1 hit of the 21st century - from from January 2000 right through to the present day. You can follow us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/Hits21UK You can email us: [e-mail] Songs for this week: Fool Again - Westlife Fill Me In - Craig David Toca's Miracle - Fragma Bound 4 Da Reload (Casualty) - Oxide & Neutrino Oops I Did It Again - Britney Spears

All right there everyone and welcome back to Hits 21, where me, Ron. Me, Andy. And me, Lizzie. Look back at every single UK number one of the 21st century from January 2000 right through to the present day. If you want to get in touch with us, you can find us over on Twitter. We are at Hits 21 21 uk that is at hits 21 uk and you can email us as well just send it over to hits 21 podcast at gmail.com thank you so much for joining us again uh just like our previous two episodes we're going to be looking back at

five uk number one singles from the year 2000. This time we'll be covering the period between April 2nd through to the 13th of May of that year. Before we get going, I just want to announce that our poll winner for last week was Pure Shores by All Saints. Of course it was. What other song could it have possibly been? I like our listeners. Yeah, and for week one it was. What other song could it have possibly been? I like our listeners. Yeah, and for week one it was Rise by Gabrielle. So it seems that our listeners are currently in agreement with us about what the best songs of each week are. Long may that continue because it means that the email inbox stays nice and civil and quiet.

And there's no anger and no rage, so that's great's great but yeah um lizzie andy how are we doing um yeah i'm i'm doing all right i feel like this week um like the previous two episodes we've had quite a clear winner in terms of favorite i don't think it will be quite so simple this week somehow maybe once we get talking about them yeah i think it may that the lines may blur a little um but andy how how have you been the previous uh previous few days i'm also very good thank you yes um and i've been looking forward to this episode um for largely the same reasons that lizzie said that i think this one will definitely have the first time songs that between us we really disagree on and I think our listeners may well do as well I don't think I can confidently call the poll winner for this one um so yeah I've been looking

forward to this yeah oh cool all right then so we're gonna take you back to April slash May of the year 2000 with some news headlines from around the globe at that particular time. Labour Party MP Ken Livingstone becomes the very first Mayor of London. Charlie Cray, one of the infamous Cray brothers, dies in a hospital on the Isle of Wight after suffering a heart attack in Parkhurst Prison at the age of 73. The Tate Modern Art Galleries opened up to visitors for the very first time. Over in America, the state of Vermont passes HB 847, which legalises civil unions for same-sex couples. Whoop whoop!

Yay. Yay. And back over here in the UK, the big number change takes place. As a result, area codes in Cardiff, Coventry, London, Northern Ireland, Portsmouth and Southampton were all permanently changed, allowing for a greater expansion of local dialling capabilities in those areas. Thank you Wikipedia for that one. Yes! Thank you, Wikipedia, for that one. In pop culture, the following films all went to number one at the UK box office

while these songs were top of the charts. You've got Erin Brockovich, Pokemon, the first movie, which I remember going to see. I didn't see that. Yeah, yeah, got the Pokemon cards as a free gift and they got very, very sticky. Kevin and Perry go large and Scream 3. Meanwhile, the Olsen brothers win the Eurovision Song Contest for Denmark. No relation to the Olsen sisters, who are coincidentally big at this time.

Yeah, the Olsen brothers win that with their song Fly on the Wings of Love, a title you may recognise because it is eventually remixed by XTM and Ania, reaching number eight on the UK singles chart in 2003. Fly on the wings of love, baby fly. And one headline that has ramifications further down the line, Metallica have filed a lawsuit against Napster which results in several other artists following suit, including Dr Dre. The P2P file sharing website would eventually reach a settlement with Metallica and Dre

after securing a sale for $94 million. But the sale eventually collapses due to a court ruling and the company is liquidated in 2001. And one of the owners goes on to be played by Justin Timberlake in The Social Actress. I was just going to say, I always have it in my head that at some point Justin Timberlake owned Napster, but that's because he played the owner of In The City. Great movie, Really great movie.

Yeah, great movie. Andy, you've got a little section for us that we've introduced, so go ahead. I do. So we're talking about the UK albums chart, and it's nice and straightforward this week. The number one album for this entire period that we're covering today is Play by Moby, which I've listened to. I know that album quite well. It would eventually go on to be the fifth biggest selling album of the year in the UK, where it was certified six times platinum after selling almost two million copies. Well done, Moby. Yeah.

Hey. Do-do-do-do-do-do-do. You been there? Oh, hi. Oh, hi. Why does my heart feel so bad? Is that the one that Extreme Ways is on from Born Identity? The one that went...

At the start. Maybe. That sounds familiar. I used to really like that song. Yeah. Lizzie, you've got some stuff for us as well yeah I'm reporting from the US this week where the number one single for this entire period and slightly

beyond is Maria Maria by Santana with the product G&B which would eventually hit number three on the Billboard year end list and number two on that list would be Santana's other hit single Smooth featuring Rob Thomas which got to number one in January and was the final billboard number one of 1999 obviously holding on to the top spot for a

couple more weeks in January the number one single on the billboard year-end list was Breathe by Faith Hill a single that never reached number one it was held Billboard year-end list was Breathe by Faith Hill, a single that never reached number one. It was held at number two by the aforementioned Maria Maria, and the next number one single, and is one of only four songs in the history of the Hot 100 to be named the number one single of the year without making it to the top of the charts on any weekly surveys.

The first was Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs in 1965. Breathe was the second and we'll see the other two in 2001 and 2021. Meanwhile, in the US albums charts, the number one for this entire period is No Strings Attached

by NSYNC. It would be certified 11 times platinum in the US after selling over 14 million copies and was the best-selling album of the year in the US. Well, thank you for that stateside report there, Lizzie. How is it over there at the moment? Yeah, ups and downs, you know. Election looming. I'm sure we know how that one goes. election looming I'm sure we know how that one goes well okay

it's on to our selection of number ones for this week and the first one up is this Baby I know the story I've seen the picture It's written all over your face Tell me, what's the secret

That you've been hiding And who's gonna take my place I should have seen it coming I should have read the signs anyway I guess it's over Can't believe that I'm a fool again I thought this love would never end how was i to know you never told me this is fool Again by Westlife

Released as the fifth and final single From their self-titled debut album Fool Again is Westlife's fifth consecutive number one After Swear It Again, If I Let You Go, Flying Without Wings And the double A side, I Have A Dream Slash Seasons In The Sun Which we've already covered They all reach number one

this song reaching the top of the charts means that every single released from Westlife's debut album made it to number one that's a phenomenal achievement can we just put a pin in there, that's an amazing achievement that is a very, yes, well done to Mr's

Westlife because that's their name, isn't it? Oh, yeah. This knocked Mel C and Lisa Lopez off the top spot and stayed at number one for one week, fighting off competition from Say My Name by Destiny's Child. When it was knocked off number one, it fell seven places to number eight,

and by the time it left the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 15 weeks dropping from number one to number eight is huge that is large that's like as as we'll ex as we'll explore that is like mcfly levels of like just making sure everybody buys the single in week one don't give a stuff what happens in week two yeah i think it's what you would call front loading isning, isn't it? You get it a lot with films as well that have big fan bases. It's very much a fan base phenomenon because of that sort of thing.

But no matter the size of the drop, it did get to number one, which means that we are featuring it on this episode. So, Andy, how are we feeling about Fool Again? Well, I think it was actually, it's pretty nice to start off with. After we covered I Have a Dream and Seasons in the Sun, and I was left feeling very, very much underwhelmed by both of them, I was thinking, hmm, Westlife really are quite as dull as I remembered, aren't they? But actually, this sort of blew me wrong.

I quite enjoyed, I'm going to specifically say I quite enjoyed the first two thirds of this song. It has a very, very nice quality to it in the production. It's quite restrained at first. Again, at first, it's quite restrained. And it plays upon one of the classic boy band topics there are about four or five topics that basically every boy band song is about and one of them is that I've been spurned by the woman I love I will express this with a heady combination of existential angst a mild socially

acceptable amount of anger and a big dose of self-loathing. And for some reason, that set of emotions made men very fanciable in the noughties. I guess some mysteries are really unsolvable because I don't really know why that appealed. But it's one of those nice songs that everybody can in some way relate to. Why did you cheat on me? Why did you leave me? Yeah, I quite liked it. But then it really let me down with that key change because it is so unnecessary it's really just so not needed it's it's been a nice gentle ballad that has a quality to it that is not quite as over the top as most westlife songs

and i think for something that's about being hurt and feeling fragile about it, that's quite a nice beat to hit. You'd like it to feel a little bit more personal and small. But no, we get the rising off the stools, we get the firework rain, we get the key change. And at that point, I'm just like, oh, you just can't resist, can you?

You just can't break this habit. And to be fair, it gets number one. So, you know, if it ain't broke, don't fix it, it as far as they're concerned but I felt that was a shame the key change that was just not necessary but it was it's definitely I what I would call a more vintage Westlife track than the last ones we had I think that was a bit of a low point for them in their early days and this one is much much better random point completely random point is that I think this is I kept trying to think of what song is this really reminding me of and this one is much much better random point completely random point is that i think this is i kept trying to think of what song is this really reminding me of and this is going to be a really

strange deep cut we'll hear about it again but the song it reminded me of was stop living the lie by david sneddon um winner of fame academy in that it's basically about the same topic it's in the same key it has a lot of the same sort of progressions, it feels very similar, and I liked that song a lot as a kid so that just stays in my head, I remember that song quite well. And I just think that must be the kind of market that other artists were going for at the time, that Westlife clearly are such a hot commodity at this time that this sound starts to become quite a recognisable thing and I just thought that was worth observing as well. So overall good, improved but still

hold yourself back a bit more boys let me get to know you before you go for it so hard Lizzie what about yourself? Yeah I really have to echo that, like they were so close to making a very good single with this one

you know like you you, Andy, I love the first two thirds. It's very reminiscent of like Back For Good by Take That or even the post-chorus of If You're Looking For A Way Out by Odyssey, which is one of my personal favourite breakup songs. Like it has its issues in that part, sure. Like I'm not keen on, you know, Shane Fillon's

like quivery singing style at the start really great zombie don't like that and yeah the production is still a bit too pristine particularly in the chorus where they it's like they harmonize together but you can't make out any of their individual voices which makes the singing sound weirdly metallic. But overall, it's a perfectly nice breakup song until about two minutes and 50 seconds into the song where it grinds to a screeching halt with a clumsy drum fill that sounds like someone falling down the stairs. A little bit of EastEnders.

Yeah, a little bit. It's like, oh yeah, now coming up next it's a question of sports you can find out what happens to grant mitchell thursday at 8 3m yeah and yeah it's one of the ugliest key changes i can recall like i'm of the perhaps unpopular opinion that very few songs have ever been improved by a key change, especially not one so late in the song that doesn't introduce any kind of tension or alternative angle. But the way they try to get this one over the finish line is particularly obnoxious,

because all they do with it is they just sing the same chorus, but louder. Like that final minute of them all standing up from the bar stools and bellowing down the microphone and taking turns to do like that tedious vocal gymnastics thing they do it just spoils what could have been one of the best singles of this week yeah yeah yeah it's a real letdown to you know to have that tacked onto the ending so much so that i i asked you like

would it be worth doing an edit where they don't do the key change where they just stay in key where they they stay on their bar stools they don't stand up what's interesting as well is that so many tracks especially of this era when you know editing was becoming so so much easier so rapidly digital editing you would you know so many songs of this era would just copy and paste the chorus and stick it up by a semitone, whereas you can clearly hear them straining to do the higher key on this one. Yeah, definitely. I thought that they really struggled with those higher notes,

which, to be fair, they're very high notes. It's not really criticism. They are, yeah. But I thought that was interesting of, like, why are you doing this key change if it's sort sort of audibly, you're not pulling it off. It's a strange thing to do. Yeah. Yeah.

Sorry, just on the EastEnders Duff Duff thing. So first of all, when I was looking for the song, just to find a clip of it, just to put in the episode, there is a single version of this or a shorter version of the song which doesn't have the big doom, doom, doom, doom, doom. I mean, yeah, it's the video version, right? It just kind of jumps in. Yeah.

It doesn't have the big introduction. It just goes from one beat to the next, traditional kind of Westlife key change, right? It doesn't modulate. It just jumps. But I don't know why, but like, you know, you were saying you were looking to do an edit of the song without the key change. I don't know why, but I'm now looking to do an edit version of the song where What's His

Face says, I guess it's over. And then Zoe Slater turns around and screams, you hate my mother. and then Zoe Slater turns around and screams you hate my mother but yeah surprise surprise before the key change this is lovely this is of course it's bland and sterile

the verses are a little bit nondescript but the song overcomes those issues once I think it reaches the chorus, the original key chorus. I wouldn't say it was beautiful, but it's touching it. The song has a very sweet centre

and a gorgeous melody. It's a proper single on chorus line that doesn't try to force itself by being too loud or too showy, which is exactly the problem with the final chorus. It's very unnecessary, kind of unintentionally hilarious, gets far too showy, tries to force itself too hard. I think the song could just easily end on that quiet, you never told me, or I guess it's over, or just something like that, but it kind of has to start itself again

to do the key change, and in the end, the frustration is that Westlife will always just be Westlife. They can't resist, like you say, the fireworks rain, standing up off the bar stools, doing the passionate look into the camera while sort of hopping slightly on one foot to the rhythm of the song and one of them kind of not quite singing with the rest of them and doing little ad-libs and

looking deeper into the camera than any of the other members and yep but it is a shame because yeah i was surprised by how much i actually like this because i don't i don't remember this much from being a kid um like from the title i couldn't really you know it didn't stick out in my mind like when i hear you know when i see like flying without wings or um the cover of uptown Girl or something it's like yeah I immediately hear the Westlife version going on in my head whereas this it took me an actual listen I went in

about as cold as you can get I think and I was wasn't expecting much after our previous coverage of Westlife in episode 1 but this was quite lovely until that bloody key change, which I think we're all sort of in agreement about.

So do we have anything more to say about Fool Again? I think it's, well, not about Fool Again, but I think it is just worth noting that this is our first returning artist. I think that's just something for the history books, that not only are our first returning artists, but the first artists to get two number ones in the noughties. Which is, yeah, that's something to congratulate them for. Yeah, absolutely.

All right then, next up is this. All right. Come on. Fill me in? Talk about it I was checking this girl next door When her parents went out She'd phone say, hey boy

Come on right around So I knocked on the door You were standing with a bottle of red wine Ready to pour Just in a long black satin Laced to the floor So I went in And we sat down, started kissing, caressing Told me about jacuzzis, sounded interesting

So we jumped right in All calls diverted to answer phone Please leave a message after the tone I mean me and her parents were kinda cool But they were the fine line between me and you We were just doing things when people didn't love to Parents trying to find out what we were up to Why were you creeping out late last night?

When I see two shadows moving in your bedroom light Now you're dressed in black when I left you were dressed in white Can you feel me? Okay, so this is Craig David's Fill Me In. Released as the lead single from Craig David's debut solo album, Born To Do It, Fill Me In was, obviously, Craig David's first number one single. It became the 10th biggest selling song of the year 2000 and shifted over 500,000 copies in the UK. 2000 and shifted over 500,000 copies in the UK. It also reached number 15

in the United States, which is quite an achievement for a British artist. Quite remarkably, Fill Me In reached number one during a week when the entire top six was made up of new entries or re-entries to the chart. It stayed

at number one for one week and it fought off competition from Flowers by Sweet Female Attitude, A Song for the Lovers by Richard Ashcroft, Deeper Shade of Blue by Steps, The Bad Touch by the Bloodhound Gang, and Blow Your Mind by Lock and Load.

Yeah, Deeper Shade of Blue being number one, I would have been fine with that. And The Bad Touch as well. Flowers is the one I wanted at number one. That's a tune. Yeah, so Craig David denying three of our

nominations for number one. Thanks, Craig. Yeah. When it was knocked off number one, it fell one place to number two and stayed on the chart for a total of 17 weeks and in december 2009 it was revealed to be the 93rd biggest selling song of the 2000s so well done to that one um lizzy what do we make of uh fill me in yeah just before i talk about this uh one of the things i

love about this podcast is hearing a song or even just the name of a song and unlocking a memory from that time, which this song, like it came on the radio and the parents not realising quickly enough that the song was playing and therefore not having time to turn it off before many of the eight or nine year olds in attendance started asking their parents what it was about. And it's one of the, you know, it's one of those music videos from the time that I remember vividly, like there's another one coming up later on which i'm sure is also very iconic in that sense but yeah anyway fill me in um it's kind of strange to look back and see the rock press of the day treat craig david like public enemy number one like yeah you might suggest that it says a lot more about them than it does about 19 year old craig david but how many other artists go from absolutely nothing to straight in at number one

with their debut single before even turning 20 like i can see why some in the music business might have smelt a rat when this kid shows up and instantly becomes the biggest name in british music but you listen back to this and it's extremely easy to see why he did it's just that that broad appeal which is so hard to kind of pin down like this has a pretty nice guitar sample backing and it does something kind of unusual with the backing beat where it feels slower in the verse than it is in the chorus like some of you music theory people out there might be able to explain that one for me and um yeah some of the lyrics are a bit clumsy like wearing a jacket whose property said you'd been queuing for a taxi

but i don't know the song feels more honest that way the lyrics read like the words of a real-life 19-year-old guy who's talking to his mates about how he's horny for a woman who's clearly living under his parents' thumb, which isn't something you can effectively portray beyond that age. I really like this one, and it's kind of encouraged me to go back and listen to more of, particularly Born to Do It. I think I just avoided it at the time because it was so ubiquitous

and because it was like older sister music if that makes sense, it wasn't for me but yeah, I feel like I've maybe missed the boat a bit on Craig David and I should go back because yeah, I like this

yeah, I actually kind of like it as well um I have to say this is another one where I was aware of the title and I you know I remember the vague sound that Craig David had you know the kind of softer end of uh garage and pop with a little bit of two-step thrown in and stuff so but I was a little bit shocked because when i saw the title i thought that the song was going to be about um craig david asking his girlfriend to fill him in on the current situation like what's their status um have you been cheating on me like fill me in on the details but it ends up being quite a charming kind of sweet song about two kids who are just trying to spend some time together while their parents follow them around and try and track their

movements and there is something quite cute and innocent about it like you know we've all been well maybe not all of us but you know a lot of enough people have been young and we've tried to escape our parents watch for lies and like we've tried to keep it a secret that we fancy somebody or yeah that we're dating somebody and like eventually you know that they find out or like then they try and embarrass you about it and you know i think it's so it's a situation that a lot of people could relate to so i understand why it went to um number one um i think it's a little bit long for what it is a little bit but yeah i would agree with that yeah and i totally agree that um some of the some of the couplets are quite clunky um when he says that he sets his what is

it he sets his calls to answer phone and I'm just like he's going to do a voicemail message next isn't he and it's please leave a message at the tone I'm just like yeah okay I kind of guessed where you were going with that one but it's fine I think it's nice

I think that yeah it is strange to look back and I know that he got a bit of stick in the sort of like in his own scene and his own community for kind of selling out, if you will. Yeah. But it is...

Because I know that he got a lot of criticism from a few angles, but, you know, the general public were well into him, so as we'll find out not just in this episode, but in future ones. Yeah. So fair play. And he was still, you know, I don't think he was really getting big number

ones anymore but he was still getting chart hits in the 2010s so fair play to him for sustaining himself and making a bit of a comeback and it's just nice to see where it all started Andy what about yourself?

So I'm going to be careful about how I approach it because I don't Andy, what about yourself? So I'm going to be careful about how I approach it because I'm still broadly positive about this, I want to make it clear so I'm going to do all my positives first I've got slightly more negatives I first of all completely agree that I've been

looking out as we've been doing this generally for artists who may be still around now and there's been some artists who are still going who are still at active consent but I think Craig David is the first artist we've encountered who could conceivably get

another number one I don't think any of the other artists we've covered so far, no disrespect to them but I think their number one days are kind of over whereas I think Craig David could still do it, he was still doing it as of a few years ago, and I'd give him credit for that, he's had longevity, and there's no doubt about that at all. I do really like the sound, this guy knows how to write a pop song, there's no doubt about it at all, that he has four or five different hooks in it he has that lovely spanish guitar sound which i

notice is also there in seven days that seems to be his like sort of signature sound um and there's a lot of really nice stuff to this i feel like if it was like a karaoke track or someone was just sort of playing the melody on a trumpet or something over it i would be like oh this is lovely to listen to and i say that because I have a big problem with the lyrics, which I think is more fundamental than the problems, perhaps, you two have, in that I just, I can't look past it, it really bothers me. It kind of, he has this, I know that Craig David is sort of known for this in general, that he has this kind of, despite the fact he's done very, very well

and he is very credible as an artist, people do kind of make fun of him a little bit, but kind of poke fun at him and it being a bit strange. And I get why, because his lyrics are very, they're very overly literal. They're very, this sounds meaner than I intended to,

but it genuinely kind of reminds me a bit of like the kind of R&B lyrics that Alan Partridge might write. It's very sort of odd non sequiturs focusing on topics for a good few seconds that you don't need to focus on. And there's just a lot of sort of strangeness about it. If you look at the lyrics on Google, which I've got in front of me right now, it's war and peace. He's so verbose. He has a lot to say in this song. And half of it is just not necessary.

The word parents, which Rob has already joked about, that's the one that really stood out, is that there are kind of more artistic, more cool, more kind of you know just creative ways of saying parents you say like your mom and dad or your folks or something like that he says parents didn't you say robbie says parents five times five times and three times in the first verse yeah yeah it's just he just he uses words that are quite difficult and you don't hear often in pop songs. And one other example of that, which I feel like he's struggling to kind of fill the melody that he's written with lyrics,

is that sometimes he falls over himself because he puts too many lyrics in one line. And so you find him going kind of comically fast with some lines. Like one of them is like like say you'll be home by 12 come strolling in out for out with the girls but living with the boy next door like cram loads of syllables into too little space and i find it really funny because he doesn't do it every time but he does it on certain lines where you're like yeah you clearly just like had to cram that in you couldn't think of a better way to say it i don't know if i'm maybe being too harsh on it like i'm really being overly analytical more than i am usually with lyrics but it really really stood out to me and it made it hard to

truly appreciate all the other positives about the song the analogy that i'm kind of thinking of it's like you see a beautiful building that you know has got a gorgeous ceiling and ornaments on top, it's got beautiful stained glass windows, it's in a gorgeous location, beautifully well constructed but you forgot to put a front door on that's kind of what it reminds me of where it's like fundamentally this is not going to be

what you want it to be because the lyrics are so crap. Or the lift doesn't work or something. Or the lift doesn't work, yeah it's just fundamental really't work. Yeah, yeah. It's just fundamental really. And it's a shame because I do actually think that Craig David gets too much of a bad rap. He is, like I say, he can clearly write a good pop song.

Yeah. Maybe it's his age. Maybe he's just a little bit young to be experienced with writing lyrics. You know, it is very hard writing good lyrics but I think it really showed and it was a big problem for me with this. So overall overall i am still positive but that was a big negative for me yeah i'm just reading the lyrics on google now and like looking and looking back over them my favorite couplet from the whole song is um so i went in then we sat down started kissing caressing

told me about juzzi, sounded interesting. Sounded interesting. So this is one where he focused for way too long on the same thing, where he just goes into minute detail. Whenever the coast was clear and she'd ask me to come out, I'd say, hey girl, come on right around. So she knocked at the door, I was standing with the keys in my hand

to the 4x4, jumped in my ride, right, this is five lines now and you've not yet left the house what kind of story are you trying to tell me and the irony of it is that we never found out what has happened on this date we never get the fill me in from the fill me in because we never really get beyond hey girl should we go out on a date and now we get home and the parents are mad at us because he spends so much time on the beginning and the end we don't see the middle really other than the jacuzzi was turned on they go to the only thing that we see and they leave yeah there's as many lines dedicated to several hours at a club um yeah it's that's weirdly that's something i think about it's probably this is a bit of a random tangent but my it's the way you've just described it then my least favorite um weezer song which is the girl

got hot where it takes two verses in the song for him to look at a girl and then walk over it's really not good um the thing is though it's it's story songs though isn't it it's tricky and i do grant him that that you know there are so many of like if you look at worst song ever lists quite a lot of the ones that tend to make it on there are story songs because they do have that inherent kind of funny quality to them just because you have to tell a very kind of long-winded tale and it doesn't sound as musical and as, you know, as refined as you might like. You know, songs like Run, Joey, Run or Tell Laura I Love Her

or things like that, they sound melodramatic, they sound weird because you have to focus on telling a story and include in particular details. So I do respect that, that he has a hard job here. I just don't think he rises to the challenge. The thing is that storytelling is kind of his thing though, like he does it next time we see him, no spoilers. And yeah it's kind of the focal point of this album but yeah, I know what you mean, that it is a bit like, yeah, that some of the couplets are definitely clumsy i thought the whole

you know the speeding up thing like you know the bit where he goes like we went to a club we got down down by boughs where they were there and it's like i thought it's just sort of showing off to say like yeah i can do this whole speeding up and slowing down thing it's just another form of like vocal gymnastics i didn't think that like i didn't see as him trying to squeeze a lot of lyrics into a small space because he can't think of an alternative i just thought here's the one here's the one that really stood out for me with that where i thought so it's now you're dressed in black when i left you were dressed in white that sounds clunky to me why is it why is it not just like dressed in black you were dressed in white Why does it have to be when I left you were dressed in

white? It just sounds a bit... I don't know. I still feel like he's trying to go for a twister kind of thing where he's just singing it really quickly. Maybe I'm just not getting the vibe. But like I say, there's loads about this I do like. It's just

not so much the what he's doing so much the the what he's doing it's it's the actual substance it's the words themselves so yeah okay never mind all right then next up is this Esta tarde se me va tu cabeza Thank you. If you're gonna save the day And you're hearing what I say I feel your touch, your kiss is not enough And if you believe in me Don't think my love's for free

I won't take nothing less than a deeper love let me tell you I know I I need a miracle I need a miracle it's more than physical what I need to feel from you okay

brace yourselves for this one this is a hell of a story for... Of this section that I've done on this podcast a few times. This is my favourite one by far, so far. So this is Fragma. It's Toka's Miracle by Fragma. This was released as the second single from Fragma's debut album, Toka. And Toka's Miracle is Fragma's first and only number

one single in the UK. The song is a mash-up of Fragma's own hit Toka Me, which reached number 11 in 1999, and Coco's I Need a Miracle, which reached number 39 in 1996. As a result, these days the song tends to be billed under the name of Coco vs. Fragma. Toka's Miracle stayed at number one for two weeks, holding off competition from Thong Song by Sisqó and Who Feels Love by Oasis. When it was knocked off number one, the song fell one place to number two, and by the time it was done on the chart, it had been there in the top 100 for 19 weeks. But it wasn't done there. In 2008, a reworking of the song, this time featuring a new vocalist called Tess, entered the charts at number 16 and stayed in the top 100 for 6 weeks. Around the same time, the original version of

Toka's Miracle re-entered the charts where it peaked at number 29. A year before that in 2007 I Need a Miracle was covered by Cascada whose version got to number 57 and as of today I Need a Miracle, its Cascada cover version, Toka Me, Toka's Miracle and Toka's Miracle 2008 have all spent a combined total of 42 weeks on the official UK charts. What a mess. Round of applause for Rob there. What a shame the song is not as interesting as the story that surrounds it. Truly. This clearly must be a big deal in a scene I am not part of,

because to have five different versions and a reworked version in 2008 plus a cover of the song that was added in the mashup that we're currently talking about, clearly a lot of people in the club scene are very interested in this

Andy, what do you make of Toka's Miracle? Well just on that point, I think what it is is that it's so ubiquitous and it's pretty easy to recreate because there's not that many kind of constituting parts to this. I think it's that, you know how,

you know, other genres, obviously, but songs like Can't Take My Eyes Off You or something have been done by about a million people and you don't know really, you forget who the original artist is because it's just been done by so many people i think maybe it's that sort of thing with this song and this is just the one that happened to get number one um it's it's it's good i like it um you know i i will fully admit that early noughties club music is not my genre um i i don't have that much that I can contribute.

I was far too young to have been involved in that scene. And I'm also now marginally too old to really be in that scene now. So it's a tricky one for me. I think it's one of those songs that everybody knows, but it's probably no one's favorite of all time. I think it probably gets a solid seven or six or something out of ten from everyone you know it's it's it's hard to dislike but i don't think it's you know the biggest song ever for anyone it's just it's around everywhere

i think of all the songs we've covered so far this is one of the ones that instantly everybody would recognize more than perhaps some of the others that we've covered. I think it feels older than it is. I don't know whether that's just because of the very checkered history that it's had, but it feels like an older song than the early noughties. I don't know why

that is. Do you guys feel that way, that it feels like this is from the nineties rather than the noughties? Yeah, a little bit. It kind of is though. though yeah that's what i mean it kind of is so i'm struggling to locate this in time um yeah it feels a bit strange to me one thing about this song that that kind of bothers me just in terms of how i would do it i have this really annoying thing with it where i feel like the vocal is on the chorus it's like two beats ahead of where i want it to be like i want it to hit the chorus on i need a miracle like one two three

four i need a miracle but it doesn't it comes in on the upbeat it's like i need a miracle two three four and i that always really bothers me like i find that really strange it's just i want to like get it up in Cubase and just drag the vocal track along. Just by two beats or something. Just while you were singing there, I was just thinking one, two, three,

four, I declare a thumb war. You get what I mean though? Yeah. Yeah. I always kind of have it in my head as going that way. Just personal preference though. But yeah,

I do like the song. Like I say, it doesn't get anything more than a solid thumbs up from me. I don't think there's anything particularly special about it. But it's a good club track. You could put this on at any party and people would sing along and have a bit of a dance. It's an old reliable. So there's nothing wrong with that. Yeah.

Yeah, I am basically in agreement. I think the hook from Coco has lasted a lot longer than anything else to do with this song. It's got great energy and charisma. She's got a lot of soul as a vocalist. But I don't know. I don't think we're consuming these songs in the most appropriate environment or the environment that they were meant to be heard in you know i think i'd maybe have a much better experience of this and maybe better memories if i'd been 20 years old in the year 2000 going to clubs for like the first time well they were that that was the people buying these songs you know that was the audience with the yeah exactly but i do think that if you were to walk into a room and maybe there's a random cross-section of the population in there,

there's about 50 people, and the challenge was to just start singing a song and then see by the time, if you sang the hook over and over again, how fast people would pick it up and start singing it too. I think if you went into a room like that and started singing, I need a miracle, I need a miracle, it's more physical. up and start singing it too i think if you went into a room like that and started singing i need a miracle i need a miracle it's more physical i think i think most of the people in that room would like get it and remember the song don't think they could remember who made it or what

the song's actually called but i do think that hook has survived longer than the artist that actually made it and the names of the artists and the name of the song and the fact that it even got to number one. I don't think people would necessarily remember that this was a number one single, but they would remember the hook. But I don't know. Last week, we talked about how there's a bit of a boom for club music in the charts at this present moment in time. And I think the result of that is a lot of the songs that break through from this scene and get on the radio and get into the charts,

they're not the best examples of the genre. They feel a little watered down. genre they they feel a little watered down with with this one when i think of songs like zombie nation well i forget what that's called now is it kern craft or something like that yeah kern craft 400 yes and like where the and even something i know that not everybody's a massive fan of it but um satisfaction by benny benassi where like the noises are loud and really in your face and like it's a the the synths feel like noises you've never really heard before whereas with this i think it's pleasant and i don't think club music is necessarily supposed to be pleasant like you know we talked about westlife before and we described them as pleasant this

just kind of keeps going at a nice tempo until it just sort of stops there is no logical end to this it just kind of picks a moment to finish after about three and a half minutes and there's no there aren't that many progressions in this that make it feel interesting or lively in a way that other you know it's not even like annoyingly repetitive in the way that something like kern craft 400 is where it's just the same thing and especially satisfaction as well where it's just the and there's nothing like an assault on the senses like i would expect this kind of music to be but maybe it's just because i wasn't there i'm missing something i'm not appreciating something that i that i should do but it's okay i think it's nice i think it's a step up from something like chicane

last week yo yeah definitely i would agree with that. Yeah, 100%. I do agree with your point though about how it's perhaps not doing the job that it needs to do in terms of, because it sounds pleasant, that's not really what you want a big innovative dance track to do. I would kind of say that with this as a club track that your mum probably quite likes i mean everyone's mums that the royal mum you know that's probably not that's probably not something that you would like to hear as a club artist is it that you know you've got people in their 40s and 50s who like this song that's probably not what they wanted um weird how success can sort of be a bad thing in certain genres isn't it yeah uhzie, what about you?

Yeah, this is okay. I can't say I've got a lot to say about it beyond what I said about Don't Give Up in the previous episode, that I was too young to experience it in a club or a festival setting at the time, and it's not something I'm likely to experience as a 30-year-old some 22 years later either. Like, yeah, I do like this one more than Don't Give Up, if only because Coco doesn't honk her way through it

like Bryan Adams did. But like Don't Give Up, it's missing something from the climax to really elevate it above being just okay. There's a faint sense of like tension building about 30 seconds before the end, but then the song just stops on a dime without any kind of release

and I just find that really disappointing Do you know what it's missing? It needs to stop and then do a key change that's what it needs to do It needs to sit up off the bar stool I'm actually more of a fan of both of the songs pre-mashup. Like, have you heard the original I Need a Miracle, produced by Rob Davison and Victor Imbres?

It's fucking brilliant. It sounds like almost industrial. It's got this gorgeous, like, droning organ backing. It's really cool. Go and check that out on YouTube. it's really cool go and check that out on youtube and yeah obviously Fragma's Tokemi is a pretty good atmospheric trance instrumental which you know it doesn't beat you over the head and it has plenty of room to breathe within its production and it yeah it does have a quite nice build but yeah I can't fault Toke's Miracle too much despite its faults. Like, it's warm, it's memorable,

and it sounds like people having a good time happening somewhere you're not. Yeah, I think that's a very decent summation, yeah. All right. Okay, next up on the countdown is this. ចានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា� I've been shot. I don't believe this. Can everyone stop getting shot? shot, shot, shot. Can everyone stop getting shot. Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload.

Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload. Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload. Mr. DJ give me that reload. Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload. Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload. Bound for the bomb, bound for the reload. Mr. DJ give me that reload Bound for the, bound, bound for the reload Bound for the, bound, bound for the reload Bound for the, bound, bound for the reload Mr. DJ, give me that reload Come and skyboard that camera, Richan

Bound for the, bound, bound for the reload This is Bound for the Reload in brackets Casualty by Oxide and Neutrino released as the lead single from the compilation album The Solid Sound of the Underground, which showcased songs by the members of a little-known group called So Solid Crew, Bound for the Reload is the first and only number one credited to Oxide and Neutrino, although they're not completely done on the charts yet, as we'll find out in a later episode.

The song contains samples from the Casualty theme tune, which was composed by Ken Freeman, as well as from Guy Ritchie's Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. The sample from the film did lead to some radio stations refusing to play the song. Despite being banned by some stations, this was number one for a week, holding off competition from Candy by Mandy Moore, which only reached number six, which means that the entire top five were songs that were already in the chart, so we've by Mandy Moore, which only reached number six, which means that the entire top five, apart from Bound for the Reload, were songs that were already in the chart.

So we've gone from a whole influx of new entries to barely any at all. That explains a lot, I will say that. Yeah, true. When it was knocked off the top spot, Bound for the Reload dropped one place to number two and went on to spend a total of 15 weeks inside the top 100. Lizzie, how are we feeling about Bound for the Reload? Contrary to Bag It Up last time,

this one actually grew off me as the week went on. Like, I think I mentioned in the first episode with regards to the Manic Street Preachers that I'm always happy to see something as uncommercial as this hitting the number one spot and fighting off competition from big commercial juggernauts, especially given that this would have received relatively little airplay due to its content, but I wish this track did more with that. Like, other than the lock stock sound pull and the casualty synth stabs, this track goes absolutely nowhere.

There's a sense of urgency and threat which is presented by the intro but never really followed up on and the repetition gets old quickly because the track is so sparse that there's nothing else to really latch onto. Like, there's a lot of amazing garage and two-step tracks coming out and getting into the charts at this time, but this isn't one of those tracks. But hey, still, who knows? Maybe Oxide and Notrino will join those ranks next time we see them on the podcast. By the way, before I pass over, fun game for you at home. Does anyone want to guess how many times the word

bound is said on this track? Oh, can we do a closest wins? Did you work this out? Yep, I've got the number right here. Oh my god. I'm going to guess 58. Okay. 59. Are you into that? That's not fair.

Are we doing closest without going over, like Price is Right rules? Okay, if you like it. So, Andy, you're saying 58. Rob, you're saying 59. Yes. Okay. So, Rob, you are the winner. I'm going to hand it to Andy because I was thinking, honestly,

I was thinking more like 37 I just said 59 what was the answer? the answer is 65 you know I wasn't far off that's really good guessing Andy well done when I first heard this

about 3 years ago I did chuckle a little bit because of that sample but I'm kind of like the opposite of um lizzie actually the more i've listened to this uh the more i've kind of enjoyed it i don't love it and i wouldn't recommend it for the vault but i think it's uncommercial and fresh and it's got a load of energy um where i think like you know songs like don't Give Up and Toker's Miracle We talked about them being for a specific

Environment that we're not part of And I think maybe The problem with Those songs is that they don't really immerse me In the environment that they're actually meant for That much Images come to your head but You can't live in the images

Whereas with this for me i could imagine myself in a london house slash flat there's a guy on a turntable another guy on the mic lots of people in a room together sweaty and it's hot begging someone to crack open a window i can see it and i can hear it and i can feel it um and i think that with this casualty theme and i mean theme in in both senses of the word um in sense of theme tune and a narrative theme plus the lock stock sample like the way that they've manipulated it and the words that they actually choose the song ends up being like a call for peace like can violence stop like can everyone please stop getting shot and complete can everyone stop firing guns so that we you know and it's kind of like maybe we should all kind of

take care of ourselves a little bit i wish that it had a bit more in terms of maybe craig david should have got involved with the because the lyrics there aren't enough lyrics in this it just I get that that's the the repetition is kind of the point because it's lots of the um when I say you say we say you say make some noise and stuff it's more about atmosphere and it's more about tempo and it's more about getting a crowd going with yeah chants and I say you say and bada bada bada swing and stuff like that. It's just stuff being said into a microphone just to kind of keep the crowd going. And, you know, that's how hip hop itself actually, you know, that's how it started, where this

eventually led to in the UK, hiphop and garage and two-step scene so like you know it's speaking to its origins from about 30 years before but it it's just yeah i wish it did something else other than what it does what it does i like what it does i don't mind really that it doesn't develop um because i'm not sure that the it manages to sustain its level of energy and emotion without needing to add new sections in. It's just kind of... It's structured very differently to quite a lot of pop songs, and it is very uncommercial.

Yeah, I dig it, but I don't love it. I think I'm hanging over the edge a little bit. Andy, what about yourself? I'm very taken with a lot of what you've said there, Rob, because my main problem that... Well, not my main. I have several problems with this song, but one of the biggest ones that I have with it

is I just don't get what is binding all these random objects in the song together. Like, the casualty theme, the really stupid slowed down everyone's shot and the bound for the bound bound and all the other little weird vocal

hooks they throw in there, I'm just like what is going on here, what the hell what is this song about it kind of feels like people just pressing all the different sound effects on the keyboard. It's like, DJ, DJ, DJ! You know, it just kind of had that vibe to me.

So I initially hated this, really hated it. I was going to recommend it for the pie hole. Having now listened to it again, and especially in light of what you said there, that that's probably what it's about, is some sort of statement against gun violence. I okay it's not quite that bad um i do think it's executed quite well for what it is um there's some good production on it definitely i must say

i must admit that the bound for the bound bound did get in my head quite a bit i found myself just humming it a couple of times so i've got to give it that but this is really not my jam at all i don't really get this um i don't think there's any way you can include the casualty theme in a song and not have it be incredibly cringy yeah it's just it's it's like throwing the curry theme in or something or the one show theme it's so it's so kind of safe insipid middle class white britain to throw something like that in is just so so against everything that i would think that hip-hop is supposed to be about throwing in the casualty theme it's like what's next you know the theme to antiques roadshow it's just i did go looking at their album thinking like oh maybe they've done an emmerdale track or you know that would be great but um no i just i just think that is so well

conceived and that's that's kind of my position on it really that i think it's actually quite well made i think they've definitely got some good ideas um oxide and neutrino and you know impressive that they got a number one with this to be honest but but i think the ideas are ill-conceived i think this is a strange piece of music it's sort of like a collage rather than any one specific idea um and my main thought that i kept having while reflecting on this song was this must have been a really quiet week and so when you said there about the background there bearing in mind as well that toka's miracle was in itself quite a surprising one to get number one so it wasn't particularly hard to knock that off and then there was not much else out this week i think that largely explains that

they still have just sneaked in there at number one not that that's anything bad you know that that happens you know that that's just a thing that has happened to lots of songs, but I don't think it's worthy of a number one this, I think it's too odd for me and too much of a mishmash it's not my thing so overall thumbs down, but I don't absolutely despise it anymore, but yeah, definitely an

overall thumbs down from me on this one One thing I will add is that I also like the double entendre of the title, the reload, because obviously it's kind of had, we talked about it very, very briefly, but rewind when the crowd say Bo Selector, like come from a very, very similar kind of area. And it's this, know dj you know i mean obviously the reload in the for this one is the reload of a gun but also very clever of them

the reload like you know that and i imagine they probably reloaded this several times when in this house that i'm imagining like you, you know, and I imagine at the same time there were probably a lot of people doing like, you know, a lot of DJs were playing, you know, Rewind when the crowd say Boat's Elected and start the song again. And then, and I imagine this is why the song is so repetitive

and it just seems to be the same section four times, but with a different thing happening on the top of it. And I think that's where that it sounds really silly out of context but i think that's where that slowed down could everyone stop getting shot sample thing comes in because that'll be him really slowly turning the the the turntable round back to the point where he can then release it and it's Do you really not

think though that just objectively that sample is just so... Out of context it doesn't sound great. It's so dumb. It's just so, so random that sample. I'm personally a big fan of the slowed down scream because it sounds like Tom and Jerry

but yeah I think it's I think it's alright I think it's okay actually I think it's more than okay I think it's strangely abrasive in a way which I kind of appreciate but yeah I think it's alright but Andy

I totally take and as well I think to be honest with yourself there I think it's fair enough as well people listening to this will more than appreciate the fact that you just sort of went just not my scene don't get it it's just not my jam that's not politeness that is genuinely how I feel

that there's stuff in this and I'm like yeah I kind of get why people would like this but this is not for me at all and i don't want to put that on i mean i do think there are valid criticisms of the song like that i've made but i don't want to put it too much on the song itself that i don't like it because i think this is just this was never going to be for me this one yeah yeah same all right then last up this week is this I think I did it again I made you believe We're more than just friends Oh baby, it might seem like a crush

But it doesn't mean that I'm serious Cause to lose all my senses That is just so stupid to me Oh baby, baby Oops, I did it again I played with your heart Got lost in the game Oh baby, baby Oops, you think I'm in love

That I'm sent from above I'm not that innocent Oops, I did it again To your heart Oh, you shouldn't have. Released as the lead single from Britney's second album of the same name, Oops I Did It Again is her third number one single in the UK after Baby One More Time and Born To Make You Happy,

which we've already covered on this show, reached the summit in the late 90s and earlier in the year 2000. This was the number one single in the uk for one week beating competition from heart of asia by watergate which reached number three when it knocked uh when it was knocked off the top spot it dropped one place to number two and eventually spent 14 weeks inside the top 100 lizzie we will let you begin the end of this week's episode Okay, sure I mean, like yet again

this is a song I love but I find very difficult to talk about because it feels like such an integral part of pop culture in the 21st century at this point Like there's only so many times that you can describe something as a solidly crafted pop song before you're inevitably asked to

explain what that term means and why this qualifies as a solid pop song but say American Pie by Madonna doesn't and like unfortunately I'm not insightful enough to actually give an answer on that but all I can say is that Britney had this market cornered around this time and here's your evidence, it's another brilliant single in a run of brilliant singles that showed no signs of stopping around this time. Britney was the sound of the millennium, whether we liked it or not. And I do agree with some of the criticism that this is maybe a little bit too close to Baby One More Time musicallyically but it applies the same trick of using the video as less of a promotional tool and more of a mission statement this is Britney Spears version

2.0 gone is the schoolgirl outfit and the pigtails in comes the pin straight hair and the iconic red leather jumpsuit she makes this sort of reinvention look easy it's that clear change from point a to point b but the same direct effect of the earlier songs that same direct hit where you know it and straight away bang top of the charts like so many other pop singers in particular try to do this and they accidentally end up tanking their career with it because they get overconfident and they fuck with the formula too much or they don't have the same fluidity that britney did with switching from one public persona to another and yet despite what we've learned about britney in recent years and you know everything going on

with her personal life you get the impression that she's the one in control here she's able to lead her own destiny and ascend above other pop singers and groups who are struggling to figure out their identity and purpose in a new millennium um so in terms of song yeah it's really good I'm a big fan of Dom Energy Britney and also the Titanic bit

will never not make me giggle so yeah yeah this this is instant isn't it

like from the big piano stabs at the beginning the little nasal vocal intonation it acts like a calling card where it's like yeah it's britney bitch like you know it's i mean obviously that comes years later

but yeah this is one of her best there is a proper like there's a kick and a click and a push to the rhythm section that makes it very infectious from like the earliest possible strands of the song. Just the... And where Born To Make You Happy probably could have been a Christina Aguilera single around this time. Cannot hear anyone else on this one. The vocal production of basically all of Britney's songs has always been really remarkable to me, and this is no different.

This knows exactly when to make it sound like it's just her of basically all of Britney's songs has always been really remarkable to me, and this is no different. This knows exactly when to make it sound like it's just her singing to you through some dodgy radio transmitter thing. Or, you know, like Lizzie, this will actually reveal to you, Lizzie, that I've started watching Severance. You know, when the woman in the first episode, when she wakes up on the table

and Adam Scott's voice is coming to her through that little speaker yeah it sounds like she's singing through that at the beginning but then they always also know when to make it sound like there are hundreds of britney chanting the same thing yeah that's true yeah vocal tracks going on at once um just yeah real marvelous feat of pop production to make that sound the way that it does and then that final bridge before the last chorus which repeats all the lyrics of the first chorus but with entirely an entirely fresh rhythmic arrangement no logical reason to do something like that makes no sense but it works it's a very bold decision exactly like a baby one more time exactly the same i must confess that my loneliness is the same thing yeah exactly

um yeah and the further away i get from this the more i love the kind of playful not so innocent title like the oops who me little old me like they're playing up this like girl with the bad attitude britney for the new millennium shtick um yeah they've kind of taken the how would you say the the kind of badly behaved school girl who's in the baby one more time video and they in this video they have literally shot her into space like she's in mars everything's a bit more neon she's wearing leather now as opposed to tartan skirts and school shirts and little ties and things like that the the bodysuit the the dance moves everything the whole product really fits together with this um and i think that's like you were saying about certain acts

trying to copy this and not quite getting the identity right um the one thing that i always find remarkable is that christina aguilera around the same time was doing a very similar thing like the kind of slightly sexy pop songs little innuendos and little things like that yeah at this time i don't know if you'd have said if you'd have just called a christina as opposed to christina aguilera the full name is the full brand whereas with britney it's just britney yeah i'm i'm not sure about that to the point what you mean, though. To the point where, in Fairly Odd Parents, a few years later, the pop star in that, other than Chip Skylark, is Britney Britney.

And I think that if you'd have just called her Britney, it's like Britney, everybody knows what it means. The word Britney is synonymous with Britney Spears in a way that the word Christina, I don't think it's as synonymous with Christina Aguilera. And I think that this is part of it. I think it depends. I know Christina Aguilera does

have a big following. I'm not part of it. She's kind of passed me by a little bit. With Christina, it's X-Tina. That's the thing. That's it, yeah. Okay, I don't know about this. It's like, because Chris, it sounds like crisscross,

so people spell it X-tina. And that is synonymous, like X-tina, that's Christina Aguilera. That is synonymous in the same way Britney is, yeah. But if you're not in that circle, then I can understand that. But yeah, I don't even mean that Britney is Britney, that everyone in the world, there is no other Britney they could possibly get it confused with. I do get that.

Andy, how about you? Well, I just 100% agree with everything you guys have been saying. Absolutely preach it. This is fantastic. Fantastic, fantastic pop song. It is, as you guys have commented, it is so similar to Baby One More Time.

It is sort of Baby One More Time Part 2 but that's a really good thing because like all the best sequels it's similar enough that you maintain the magic of the first one but different enough that you've done something really new and found new ground at the same time

it absolutely is the Empire Strikes Back for Britney this is absolutely remarkable in terms of how she does it musically it is so so similar to baby one more time it's you know you can almost copy and paste it really again right down to that bridge that is sort of the best part of the song for me it's the best part of baby one more time as well where it just does that slightly different chorus um to send us into the bridge but it's got its own killer hook that is quite stiff quite different to maybe one more time that you know you can differentiate it quite easily um what i really like about this is that it

lyrically and in terms of theme it's it is like baby one more time but it's completely the other way around in terms of where Britney sits in this story. And Lizzie, you kind of referred to this as well, where last time Britney was the damsel who was longing for one more bit of seduction from her lover. She wanted the attention. This time, she is the one who can't resist ensnaring her man over and over again. It's quite feminist in its own way really as jerry

halliwell might say who's wearing the trousers now quite literally because of the catsuit but i also think the phrase this is something that maybe just because i'm for my sins i'm fairly knowledgeable in the britney fandom about kind of things that resonated. And the phrase, not that innocent, that really kind of is a thing that really sticks around. That's a major turning point moment for her, that phrase, not that innocent. It's a kind of meta comment on how she might have been perceived as a little schoolgirl who, you know, looked very sexy in that outfit, but she's just a little girl really, isn't she? And now she's claiming her sexuality as her own skill to utilize

rather than just a byproduct of that youth, as a byproduct of the skimpy clothing she's wearing. You know, even though she looks gorgeous in this song, she is fully covered up in that red suit. You know, she's, in terms of lyrics, she's not there as an object for men to fawn over. She's the one who's putting them in their place who's like yeah i might come back to you at some point and i'll

ensnare you again see you later you know it's it's an empowerment moment for britney it's great to see and i think that's that's what i love about it is that musically and in terms of sexuality and in terms of you know that kind of relationship with the audience, it's so similar to Baby One More Time. But the intent is so different. It has its own different intentions. It has its own differentiation in terms of content. And it's got its own killer hook. It's an absolute slam dunk.

I think one of the remarkable things about this is, despite how much I love it, I don't think it's the best Britney song, and I actually don't even think it's the best Britney song on this album. I don't have another chance to mention this really, so I'm going to say it now, that I do think on the UK charts, sadly, Stronger did not get the recognition it deserves. I think Stronger is just absolute, the definition of a banger. I absolutely adore Stronger.

And it's a shame that that never gets to number one. It only makes it to number seven in the UK, unfortunately. Wow, I remember it being bigger than that. Yeah, me too. It's had a long legacy. It's really stuck around. I think it's one that in the last sort of 10 years or so, people have looked back on as,

wow, that was actually, you know, it may not have had the sort of shock factor, the visual instant recognition of Oops, I Did It Again and Baby One More Time and Toxic and all the rest, but Stronger really is, you know, a really great pop song just to listen to. But yeah, this is, go on, yeah, go on. My favourite off this album, only got to number five, is Lucky. I'm not as big a fan of Lucky, but I get why people do like it.

I do completely get that, yeah. I mean, I absolutely love this, and the only thing I've got left to say is, are we sending this to the vault? I'm going to vote for it, yes. Yes, me too. There we go. It's unanimous. Whey!

Whey! Okay, so it's up there with Pure Shores then. Yeah, that's it. That's a great pair of songs to have in there to start us off. Three recommendations. Absolutely.

The other thing as well is that only just a year after this, Victoria Beckham does I'm Not Such an Innocent Girl, doesn't she? Mm-hmm, yeah. Yeah.

Honestly, that phrase really is. Do you guys know about Derek Barry? I know, Rob, you watch a bit of Drag Race. I don't know if you do, Lizzie, but Derek Barry is a drag queen who is actually a professional Britney impersonator.

Some would say probably the world's most successful Britney impersonator. And she walks into her season of Drag Race saying, huh, I am not that innocent. It's just like a phrase that she uses all the time. It's lived on forever yeah it really has lived on one hell of a hook okay that is the end of this week's show next time should you come back we'll be covering the 14th of may through to the 1st of july in the year of 2000

uh thank you for listening this week and we'll be back as soon as we can to give you some more Hits 21 goodness, so it's goodbye from me. Goodbye from me. And a goodbye from me. And we'll see you soon. Bye-bye. See ya.