Hits 21 - 2002 (9): Westlife, Christina Aguilera, Daniel Bedingfield

Episode Date: March 19, 2023

Hello again, everyone, and welcome back to Hits 21, the show that's taking a look back at every UK #1 hit single of the 21st century - from January 2000, right through to the present day. Twitter: @Hits21UK Email: [e-mail]

Hi everyone and welcome back to Hits 21 where me, Rob me, Andy and me, Lizzie all 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 Hits21UK. That is at Hits21UK. And you can email us too. Send it on over to

Hits21Podcast at gmail.com. Thank you so much for joining us again. Like our recent previous episodes, we're going to be looking back at some number one singles from the year 2002. This time we'll be covering the period from the 10th of November through to the 7th of December. So we're almost at the Race for Christmas number one and then into 2003. Looking back to last week before we get ahead to this week, the poll winner, and it only just was Heaven heaven by dj sammy featuring yanu and doe let's catch up we're very close though oh wow so so tight on the twitter poll and in the end the um the spotify poll was what took heaven over the line but it was very

very close almost neck and neck for quite a lot of the week that's the most exciting one we've had i think i've been following it intently through the weekend yeah me and my husband are in different camps i'm obviously team heaven from what you heard last week and my husband is very much team ketchup and he's been rooting for it i was thinking about making dummy accounts to brigade the poll which i trust that you didn't know but yeah um do you know we've had such lovely like interactions from people about heaven specifically um it seems that it touched a nerve with a lot of people too um so it's not just us um which was nice to know yeah um something else that happened this week um was that part of a little interview that we did went out on the Radio Times website. So we may as well announce it.

I think it's not going to be for another two or three weeks yet on the show. But the excerpts that were published on the Radio Times website were from our interview with a guy named Brian Capron, who's an actor who's probably most famous to most of our listeners for playing none other than serial killer Richard Hillman in Coronation Street. This month, in fact, this week that we're recording, it's 20 years since he was killed off on the show. Everybody knows who Richard Hill richard hillman is

who watched coronation street back then you don't really need much of an introduction for him but um yeah we're going to be interviewing him well we have interviewed him and the episode in which we interviewed him will go out just after our first episode of 2003. So we'll do next week's episode, then the Christmas episode, and then it will go out alongside our first episode for 2003. It is going to be a separate episode,

but I'll put them out on the same day. I don't know about you guys, but looking back on that interview, I thought it was great. He was so lovely. Brian was so nice. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, I grew up on the Richard Hillman era of Corey,

so he is like a huge star for me, as I'm sure he is for many of our listeners. And I was not sure what to expect, and I'm sure a lot of our listeners might not be knowing what to expect and thinking, oh, is that episode worth it? Trust me, it's worth it. It really is. We had the best time talking to him. Yeah, just really, a really, really

lovely person, a really great guest to have on the show. So, if Brian is listening, thank you so much. Yeah, it was great. Yeah, no, it really was. Yeah, like I say, that'll be out in a couple of weeks. We talked to him about, I don't know, Busted, that Wanna Die song, the episodes of Cory that he was on,

how Richard's storyline ended up going the way that it did. And we also got his thoughts on Beautiful by Christina Aguilera, which was number one the day that he was killed on Coronation Street. We had to get something topical and relate it back to our podcast so that's what we did okay on to this week's episode and as always we're going to give you some news headlines from around the time that the songs in this week's episode were number one moore's murderer myra hindley dies age 60 after being hospitalizedised following a heart attack. Hindley, in the 37th year of her life sentence at the

time of her death, had been appealing her sentence for the last decade. But, oh well. Bye then. At the same time, Home Secretary David Blunkett rules that four convicted murderers should spend at least 50 years in prison before

being considered for parole. The ruling comes two days before politicians in England and Wales lose their power to set minimum terms on life sentence prisoners. And the Fire Brigades Union votes to strike in an attempt to secure better salaries, marking the first nationwide strike by firefighters since 1977. The FBU eventually accepted a 16% pay rise over three years which was significantly less than their original request. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets for one week before Die Another

Day begins a four-week reign at the top. Pierce Brosnan makes his final ever appearance as James Bond in Die Another Day. Meanwhile, Gareth Gator's unchained melody, which I'm sure we're all aware of, for all of our listeners, is named Record of the Year by ITV, while athlete Paula Radcliffe wins BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

It's interesting with Record of the Year because we do a Record of the Year on this show, don't we? We do. For our highest rating. And I'm wondering, are there going to be any years where it matches up? We haven't had any so far. Surely not. I think it's fair to say that it won't match up this year.

Unchained Melody is decidedly not our record of the year so far. No. But we'll see. You never know, some creative vote rigging might get in the way. Yeah, maybe. And Girls Aloud are

revealed as one of the winners of Popstars The Rivals, with five members confirmed to be forming the group. Cheryl Tweedy, Sarah Harding, Nadine Coyle, Nicola Roberts and Kimberly Walsh. In the male category, Anton Gordon, Matt Johnson, Daniel Pearce, Keith Semple and Jamie Shaw are confirmed to have won, forming rival group One True Voice. And I'll tell you, one group goes on to be Legends and the other group were Girls Aloud, of course, as we all know. Yes.

It's interesting, isn't it, that with the five names from Girls Aloud, it's like a proper roll call. It's like, yeah, Cheryl Cole, Sarah Harden, Nicola Roberts. And then with One True Voice, it's just like, nope got nothing not even one no yeah not all of them have Wikipedia pages I'll put it that way oh that's sad yeah Andy the album charts how are they faring right now it's a very quiet period on the album charts I've only got two albums to talk to you about this week. Where we left off last week, One Love by Blue was at the top spot, which didn't produce any number one singles, funnily enough, but it did have some big singles off that album. It was toppled at the top the very next week by

Westlife with Unbreakable The Greatestits, Volume 1, which was obviously the single Unbreakable coincided with that album. But I've just got to say, I love, I absolutely love the goal of calling it Greatest Hits, Volume 1. You know. Isn't that great that they did that? Like, yeah, there's going to be more.

It's like, oh, boys. There's not one great hit on this one. So, you know. Never mind. Yeah yeah to but only has one week at number one before it is moved off the top spot by a really big album from this era which i mentioned last week to sort of think about what you think it was and you didn't get it last week haven't thought about it i'm going to give you another guess what do you think sees out the remainder of this year with six weeks at number one? I couldn't resist and looked it up,

so I'm going to leave it to Lizzie. Lizzie, have you got any ideas? Thank you for your honesty, Rob. Lizzie, have you got any ideas? I don't bloody know. Saint Anger by Metallica. It's not that. Six weeks at number one.

You never know. It's not that. It is Escapology by Robbie Williams. Of course. Which I think is one of those that like every household had at that time. I feel like it was a mum's favourite album. Like everybody's mum seemed to love that album. Yeah.

And it was actually like quite decent. There were a lot of Robbie songs on it. Feel, Come Undone, Something Beautiful. It was probably one of his better albums that but that's been six weeks at number one taking us right through to the end of the year so that's all i've got to talk about in terms of albums the rest of the year now it would go on to sell six times platinum and yeah what a hit that was wow okay how uh how are things in the u.s lizzie how are they looking well as i mentioned last week there are no new number one singles until february 2003 lucky you but we do have a

couple of albums to hit number one during this period first up is the eight mile soundtrack which of course features the current u.s number one lose yourself it went current US number one, Lose Yourself. It went straight in at number one, staying there for two weeks and returning for two more weeks in early 2003. It eventually went six times platinum in the US and finished at number seven on the 2003 year-end list. To date it's sold over 11 million copies worldwide. However, in the UK, compilation albums were excluded from the main album chart from January 1989 onwards. The 8 Mile soundtrack was classified as a compilation album for chart purposes and peaked at number one on the compilations chart, not the main album's chart. So after that, we've just got one more to mention. It's Jay-Z, who scores his fifth US number one album

with The Blueprint 2, The Gift and The Curse, which stayed at number one for one week and eventually went three times platinum in the US. However, in the UK, it only got as high as number 23, one place behind One Love by Blue. Oh, wow. Yeah. Truly a curse rather than a gift.

I've got no issue with Jay-Z, but that is an absolutely awful album title. It's so, so pretentious. It's terrible. Not one of his better albums either. It's not, no. It's not terrible. I think it's okay.

I think it's all right. I think it, you know, I mean, everybody knows Bonnie and Clyde 2003, I think. Yeah. Bit of a push at Excuse Me Miss because that's got Pharrell Williams on the, it's done by the Neptunes, isn't it? But yeah, I think it's, I don't know.

I mean, I don't know. I always think that when rappers redo album titles like they you know when they try and like recapture something that they feel they've lost and so they name their new album like oh it's gonna be called this like you know eminem did the Marshall Mathers LP 2. And, like, there's this with the Blueprint 2. And you've got Raekwon, who did another Only Built for Cuban Lynx. And there's a few of those around. And I feel like this is one of those where it's like the Blueprint 2.

And it's like you're putting a lot of expectation on this to be very, very good. And if it lands underneath expectations, people are not going to be happy. But then, like, I seem to remember with this, there was The Blueprint 2, which was, like, 30 songs long. It was huge, wasn't it? It was, like, a big double album thing. And then he did another version of the album, which was called The Blueprint 2.1, which was, like, a condensed version of the album which was called The Blueprint 2.1 which was like a condensed version of the album with the best songs from both sides of the album

it's very very odd it's a very strange decision to make it's not even the sequel thing for me though, it's just such a wordy title for no reason, it's so clunky with so many bits of punctuation in it that aren't needed it reminds me of Michael Jackson's album,

well, History, but with the His in capital. So it's His Story, His Story, History, Past, Present and Future, Book One. Come on, you've workshopped that too much there, haven't you? Yeah, yeah. OK, are we done done is that the round up is that all finished for both of you yes it is yeah

excellent okay right on to our first song this week and first up is this took my hand touched my heart, held me close.

You were always there by my side. Light and day Through it all Baby, come what may Swept away on a wave of emotion We're caught in the eye of the storm And whenever you smile I can hardly believe that you're mine Believe that you're mine This love is unbreakable

It's unmistakable, it's unmistakable. And each time I look in your eyes, I know why. This love is untouchable. A feeling my heart just can't deny. Each time I look in your eyes Oh baby, I know why This love is unbreakable Okay, this is Unbreakable by Westlife.

Released as the lead single From the group's compilation album Entitled Unbreakable The Greatest Hits Volume 1 Unbreakable is Westlife's 13th single overall to be released in the UK And their 11th single to reach Number 1 It's not the last time we'll be discussing Westlife

On this podcast Unbreakable went straight in at number 1 As a brand new entry knocking dj sammy off the top of the charts it stayed at number one for one week in its first and only week at number one it sold 90 000 copies beating competition from i'm gonna get you good by shania twain which got to number four work it by by Missy Elliott, which got to number 6, Put The Middle On It by Danny Minogue, which got to number 8, and All Out Of Love by H and Claire, which got to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Unbreakable dropped three

places to number 4. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 20 weeks and the song was certified silver in the UK in January 2003. Silver? Only silver? Only silver, yes. Only silver? Lizzy. Yeah. Thoughts on Unbreakable

by Westlife? Yeah, haven't really got much left to say about them at this point. This song's not very good. I feel like if you've never heard it, you can just imagine literally any other Westlife song and you'll be close enough. There's no reason to go out your way to hear this song. And I think because I have so little to say about it, I kind of wanted them to fill in the gaps because for me there's just nothing here.

And so I had to go out of my way a little bit and I went and sought out their book from 2008 entitled Westlife, Our Story to see if I could glean anything about this particular song and the answer is no I can't but I can give you a little glimpse into the world of Westlife in 2002. We've provided little glimpses of that ourselves and we figured you know let's have a look see if the grass is greener on the other side, on the Westlife side. You know it is because of the West, but so yeah, let's just quote from the book here. Me and Shane are car mad, admits Nikki. We buy Top Marks magazine every week and look at all

the supercars in there. When the money from Westlife started to come through it was almost impossible not to start thinking about buying new cars. At first we had nice BMWs, that sort of thing, but inevitably we eventually turned our attention to Ferraris. In 2002 after our second tour I decided to take the plunge and bought a beautiful Ferrari 355 F1. Shane had a gleaming black 550 and Brian, typical Brian, came back with a bright canary yellow one. We'd spent over £300,000

between the three of us. Cash! It goes on. I'd been looking at getting a black Ferrari 360 at the same time as the lads too, says Kian. I phoned my mum to see if it fitted in the garage, but it didn't. It seemed like a good excuse though.

If you remember my dad's reaction when I bought the BMW, imagine if I'd driven home in a Ferrari. We all knew it made no financial sense whatsoever to buy a Ferrari, continues Nicky. all knew it made no financial sense whatsoever to buy a Ferrari, continues Nicky. We knew it was just flash, but we just wanted to have that ultimate lad's self-indulgence. We'd worked hard and earned the money, so it was great fun to just do it and not worry. It is a fond memory driving the 355 back to my mum's house and parking it next to my Jeepep and bmw you can say materialistic things aren't important and my god in the grand scheme they aren't uh parentheses and i speak as a father close parentheses but as an ambitious and driven man in his early 20s i was very proud like if that's all you can glean from westlife at this time like i start to resent them even more

because it's just like of all the things to go out of your way and do when the big paycheck comes in i feel like buying an expensive car is the biggest waste because the fact of the matter is you might have a nice expensive car but you've still got to drive at the legal speed limit like everyone else on the road and you've still got to pay car tax and it'll be a lot more expensive and you've still got to deal with all of the upkeep and everything like that and you best believe that people will want to break into that car if they see it out on the street so you can't leave it there it just like it boggles the mind that this is what they think you know the realities of fame and success should be and this is all i've got to show for it and so this song um that little thing just of like mentioning that the garage

was too small yeah you just buy her a bigger house exactly maybe they did that in the end oh they probably did we'll need to keep reading to find out yeah maybe when we get to the next number one I can try and fill in the gaps but until then this is rubbish yeah it's like

it's not even really a proper anecdote for an autobiography either is it it's just showing off I think they feel like it's like, it's not even really like a proper anecdote for an autobiography either, is it? It's just like... It's just showing off. I think they feel like it's a more interesting story than it is. It's like, Mr. Burns' son in The Simpsons is like, oh, and one time I saw a blimp. It's like, oh, remember that time we drove a car? Yeah.

Great story, boys. All five of you. Great. Okay. Andy, how are you feeling about Westlife and Unbreakable and all that yeah, I'm doing much the same

as Lizzie did in that I have nothing to say anymore about Westlife well, I'll sum it up very briefly is that this song is total rubbish it's like pretty much the same as every other Westlife song we've covered before.

I've got nothing left to say at all. So I thought, well, what if I try and engage with the song a bit and sort of relate to what they're expressing? Is there anything that I can express my love for which is unbreakable and unmistakable?

And I also was thinking as well you know what it's really hard to engage with that with Westlife because they are such a kind of corporate produced by committee schlocky generic band so you know there's nothing unique about them and I thought well I'm just going to use my time to ignore Westlife as the corporate product they are and talk about my unbreakable love for something else something local which sadly has failed due to money issues which is a local restaurant near mine called uh v rev vegan diner in manchester which was a vegan burger place which i've been there with you haven't i rob um yeah i've been there, I went there like 30 times maybe more, me and my husband

that we basically we've both been vegan for years and what they really understand there is that vegan people don't always just want healthy food, you know, we don't want to always sit there and eat a nice tabbouleh salad or a nice poke bowl you know, sometimes we want to get a big

greasy, dirty, disgusting burger inside of us that's like full of fat and massive and they really got that and made absolutely delicious food covered the walls with um really fun art that was like simpsons stuff music stuff like 90s punk stuff on the walls all the um menu items were like puns on things from our childhood it was the best place ever and it's closed down sadly last year and when it closed down out of nowhere i felt genuine grief i shed an actual tear um because i was so sad to lose it because we used to go there every couple of weeks like some big nights in my life started in there. Like, you know, it was the start of many a night out

sometimes. And whenever I think of something that I just love so much that I will do anything to get it back, I think of VREV, for which my love is unbreakable. And that's what I'm dedicating this segment to, because one meal that I had there is better than the entire

output of Westlife. So my love for VREV is unbreakable. Aww. Vegans miss it every day. I'm not vegan personally, or even vegetarian, but it was just nice knowing it was there and that a lot of people I knew liked going there and I used to live very close to it and it was always nice to know that friends were a five minute walk away, as it were at the time um yeah my my kind of i realized as i was listening to unbreakable through the week that my review of it would just be like a kind of noise but that's not great um like you two i have run out of things to say i feel like

you could take my previous westlife review which i think was the last one we did was queen of my heart i think oh god it was um and apply that to unbreakable just take out queen of my heart and put unbreakable in its place it does all the things that every westlife song does it's slow it kind of encourages you to sway very, very slowly and then there's a key change and then it ends and it's so annoying. That's about it. So moving swiftly on, our second song this week is this. Dirty Nasty Too dirty to clean my act up You ain't dirty

You ain't here to party Ladies move, gentlemen move Somebody ring me alarm, a fire on the roof Ring me alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring me alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows

Ring the alarm, and I'm throwing elbows Oh, I'm overdue Give me some room, I'm coming through Paid my dues, in the mood Me and my girls gonna shake the room DJ spinning, show your head Let's get dirty, that's my jam I need that, to get me off

Sweating till my clothes come off It's explosive, speakers are on Still jumping six in the morning Take a dance in class, it's a pressure No questions, time for some action Self-portrait of a girl to a girl Get my girls, get your boys, gonna make some noise Gonna get crowded, gonna get a little unlooney

Get it right up in the hood, gonna get it Okay, this is Dirty by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman. Dirty by Christina Aguilera featuring Redman. Released as the lead single from her fourth studio album entitled Stripped, Dirty is Christina Aguilera's seventh single overall to be released in the UK and her third to reach number one after Genie in a Bottle and Lady Marmalade both reached the summit in 1999 and 2001 respectively. It's not the last time we'll be discussing Christina on this podcast. Dirty first entered the UK chart at number 81 before dropping out a week later. It then re-entered the chart and went straight to number one, knocking Westlife off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week at number one, it sold 74,000 copies, beating competition from Love on the Line by Blazing Squad, which got to number six. Stronger by Sugar Babes, which got to number seven.

Come Into My World by Kylie Minogue, which got to number eight. And The Scientist by Coldplay, which got to number ten. I've got to say, seven, eight, and ten there. Disappointing. by Coldplay which got to number 10. I've got to say 7, 8 and 10 there, disappointing. As much as I actually quite like Dirty it's disappointing that those three didn't quite get the justice we deserved. In its second week at the top it sold 47,000 copies beating competition from Don't Let Me Down by Will Young which got to number 2, Jenny from the Block by Jennifer Lopez, which got to number 3, Alive by S Club 7, which got to number 5, and Through the Rain by Mariah Carey, which got to number 5. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Dirty fell two places to number 3.

By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for just 10 weeks, which is a very short stay. However, the song endured and was eventually certified platinum in the UK in July 2019. So definitely a case of a song having a stronger legacy than its immediate impact. Andy, Dirty by Christina Aguilera. How are we feeling?

Yeah, I just have to call you out first of all on your mispronunciation of the title. It's dirty. Dirty. Yeah. It's a bit of a thing at this time, isn't it? Because it reminds me of hot in here. Well, it's spelled hot in here. Hot in here.

Hot in here. Yeah, that's a bit weird, isn't it? So, yeah. Good old Xtina. I like Christina, actually. I've got quite a lot of time for her. I think she's one of those people who's got a very, very strong voice, but she doesn't have much control, which bothers me. Like, the key culprit to that, who I always point out, is Jessie J,

who just drives me around the bend with the way she just can't say a single note without going on a run with it. But Christina is quite similar, but she manages to just about maintain a level of huh, that's an impressive voice, rather than oh my god, you're annoying.

And this one, I think what really struck me about it is that this is quite out of character for her. What we kind of later will know is a Christina single where it's usually quite a sort of accessible bop. This isn't that at all, really. And the thing that I really didn't like about this song was the production, which is what it says on the tin.

It is suitably dirty, but it sounds really dirty. It's like, it just makes me feel like I've been drowned in mud. It's like a proper kind of grimy, grungy sound to that production, which I think goes too far and is way over the top. Because actually at the heart of this, there is a really catchy, nifty little pop song, which I'm not saying that everything has to have clean all bells and whistles and everything i get that but i think

they double down a little bit too far on the dirty theme and it's it's quite a um muddy sounding song because of that which i think really spoils it but i'm only pointing that out to the start because otherwise i actually really like this i think christina really sort of nails the vocals on this i think those verses in particular are really really catchy you really want to dance to those that really strong bass line coming through at the bottom i think it's one of those songs that puts just as much attention into the verse as the chorus to kind of get you going and the bridges as well with that oh happening over and over again you know there's a lot built in to this song which i really like um shout out as well to another instance of dropping my cup of tea down um singing with the whoa whoa whoa another

one of those happening again which i keep noticing every time they happen now but yeah um i actually really like it in general I like it as a song and I feel like if it was performed live or something like that it would really come to life and I'd really love it and that would really elevate it as it is I do like it but it won't go much further than that because I think the production just really spoils it for me but I feel like that might be quite a divisive opinion that others may not share but to me it really soaks it up too much so yeah, it's a thumbs up but it could have been much better I think

Lizzie, how about you for Dirty? Yeah, I pretty much entirely agree with Andy I completely agree about the production in that it seems like I mean, it's one thing for a song to be kind of loud but it seems loud like i don't know they've turned all the knobs up and there's just no space for anything to breathe and so it's like listening to it is quite oppressive and maybe that's what they were aiming for but i think it's also a side effect of a lot of music you get in the kind of late 90s early 2000s

where like the loudness wars were happening and like Californication and things like that where it is just they turn everything up to 11 and so listening to it is still quite difficult but aside from that yeah I think it's a really good song I think we've got another example of like a big reinvention as well you know like we had um Pink a couple of weeks ago where she had kind of wanted to brush off this image as like an R&B star with Aguilera she was in like the Britney Spears kind of teen pop mold and I think she wanted to go in a more raw like heavy direction and I think this this this does work but it's kind of I think by the time we next see Christina Aguilera it's like you don't really know where you stand because as much as I really

like the next song as well, it's like it's kind of going from one extreme to another. More on that later on in the episode, by the way. But yeah, in terms of the song itself, it's really instantly effective. It just comes straight at you. It's kind of unforgiving, but that's what it you know what it's kind of seeks out to do and it is you know it's something that sticks in the memory and also particularly when you pair it with that video where everything's like brown and gray and dingy and you know

only about a year before like i say Christina Aguilera was in that. She was a teen pop star and now she's just right here in this gritty, horrible world. And yeah, I realise I'm kind of jabbering a bit, but yeah, I do like this song. But God, I wish that production could have been toned down a little bit. Yeah, I think the loudness, that's a good point. like this song but god i wish that production could have been toned down a little bit yeah i think the loudness that's yeah that's a good point that it's it kind of almost sounds like it's peaking sometimes which it does i'm not sure if it's supposed to sound quite as loud as that way peaking in the you know the tech sense not in the quality sense it does sound like it's really kind of scratching and peeking at the top sometimes which is really not not a

nice thing to hear um yeah so that makes me wonder do you think it's entirely deliberate or do you think they perhaps went a bit too far and you know it's just shoddy production i think it's a bit of both honestly because like aguilera herself is quite a big singer as well she's quite um i don't want to say loud because that sounds like it's a bad thing but she's one of those she's one of those big belter voices and you kind of need a bit of room for that to i don't know because otherwise if you just put if you just kind of cram all these elements into such a small space then then it can get quite oppressive. Yeah, I agree.

With this, first things first, I do like this. I think as you two have covered, it's loud and it's exciting and it definitely shows off Christina's range. It is boisterous and I suppose raw is probably the word as well there's a degree of kind of

nastiness and ruggedness and sexuality to this which gives it a lot of personality and i think crucially as well at this point maybe christina's the only pop artist that this song could have belonged to at the time i can't think of anybody else who would have gone for something like this and hit it i think pink could have done this pink maybe but pink was moving towards like more rocky stuff rather than towards club like club hip-hoppy stuff but i think pink would probably have the pipes to cope definitely um like you guys um the production is a bit of a weird thing for me, but I think it's kind of grown on me as the week has gone on. Like speaking more compositionally and in terms of like the production and stuff, I kind of like all the harsh orchestral like stabs and all the thick drums and like the random shots of vocal harmony in the back that seemed to come in at odd points like the uh like the things that you were mentioning before um i also think redman really brings it on his verse like i think he's the perfect choice for this kind of song not only

because it's inspired by a song of his which was called let's get dirty um but because of the way that he launches into this um the way that he launches into his verse might be my favourite moment in the song, and it made me wish that, like, maybe this was Redman's song and Christina was guesting on it, or something like that, or something like that anyway, you know, I think at that time in hip-hop, I think you'd probably get, like, B like buster rhymes would probably give this a good go and ice cube would probably give this a good go and he was only just making his name alongside uh as one of like outcasts affiliates at the time but killer mike might have come in and given this a good go at the time there are very few rappers with this kind of like ferocity and power and

speed that could have arrived on this in the same way and also have been fine to make like big commercial concessions and stuff like that at the time um so yeah i'm really into like i'm into the vibe i'm into the performances and i'm sort of into the the production and stuff I think if I have any criticism I think it's slightly too long I think it needs refining it feels like they had too many ideas to bring the song in and then there were too many ideas when it fades out it just it takes forever to come in and takes forever to come out as well there were so many things like Redman sort of saying like too dirty to clean my act up and like she's going yeah ladies fellas or whatever like that and then i feel like the song should start when red man says

if you ain't dirty then you ain't here to party that's a great just just cut like the first 15 seconds they're just they don't have the same impact as Redman coming in and if you went dirty you went here to party and then that's a great choice that's a great choice to come in on and then like then it really kicks you know everything kind of clicks into gear and everything kicks up a notch but then

on the way out they repeat the chorus like three times and it's just Christina ad-libbing in different ways and it's just just take one of the choruses off bring the ad-libs in different ways and it's just just take one of the choruses off bring the ad-libs in a bit earlier you know just take 20 seconds off at either end and I think you get something quite special um it just I think that the beginning and the end of the track is kind of representative of my issues with it in general which is that it sounds kind of cluttered and busy and it sort general which is that it sounds kind of cluttered

and busy and it sort of feels like it's stumbling over itself to cram in like so much stuff um but christina herself and red man too they both climb above whatever's happening around them um and i think the the connection between the album release and the video and the single and stuff it does all feel like an event you know a big pop event like you know a rebrand everybody turn and look at this like oh i imagine this was like you know a big special video premiere like they used to do on tv where like um tune in this saturday night for christina aguilera's brand new video and like they'll turn it into like a huge event which is probably why it's five minutes long um because they you know they probably play it a couple of times like repeat it and then they'd be like getting it requested on like total

request live and and things like that so yeah I think um I don't know I've gone back and forth on whether I'd actually put this into the vault or not and i think now i've talked about it i've decided against it but it's bloody close it is really close um i think that it's this really fun rambunctious like incident in pop but just listening to it now i'm like i'm into the charisma the performances the talent everything but i just feel like they went a bit too overboard it just feels like they've gone a bit like like a cartoon character like you know when they start running and they do the like that with the with the legs turning into a cloud of dust it feels a little bit like that but like taz basically it's just a shame i think really yeah yeah definitely quick question on this one so I sometimes think about Christina that like although she's been a consistently big star for well maybe

not so much these days but for about 10 years she was a consistently big star and I thought she doesn't really have a signature song though I think if she was to have one I think it would be this but I'm not really sure do you think this is, if you went to see Christina live would you expect this to be the encore because I don't really know what her big signature hit is it could be a few things

or Fighter as well maybe there's a couple it could be but it could be this I don't know I feel like this is the one that starts off the show and Beautiful is the big one that she goes out on. This would make a really good opener, thinking about it. Actually, yeah.

It's a big hype song. Yeah, yeah. It is. It's basically just all hype, this. Yeah, yeah. There are songs coming up, actually, in future years that are all hype that i prefer i think we've got one next year that's coming um but yeah it's interesting to hear christina tackling

um something like this but i'm kind of surprised that like her next number one is her last we we do beautiful and then that's it she doesn't the closest I think she gets is like Moves Like Jagger I imagine she has a lot of near misses I would imagine yeah yeah it'd be interesting to see her come up

right okay third up and the last song this week is this if you're not the one then why does my soul

feel glad today if you're not the one, then why does my soul feel glad today? If you're not the one, then why does my hand fit yours this way? If you are not mine, then why does your heart return my call? turn my call if you are not mine would i have the strength to stand at all i never know what the future brings but i know you're here with me now we'll make it through and i hope you are the one I share my life with I don't wanna run away, but I can take it I don't understand If I'm not made for you, then why does my heart tell me that I am?

Is there any way that i could stay okay this is if you're not the one by daniel beddingfield released as the third single from his debut studio album entitled Gotta Get Through This, If You're Not The One is Daniel Bedingfield's third single overall to be released in the UK and his second single to reach number one after Gotta Get Through This reached the summit in 2001. It's not the last time we'll be discussing Daniel Bedingfield on this podcast. If You're Not The One went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Christina Aguilera off the top of the charts.

It stayed at number one for just the one week. In its first and only week at number one, it sold 75,000 copies, beating competition from Last Goodbye by Atomic Kitten, which got to number two, We've Got Tonight by Ronan Keating and Lulu, which got to number three. Brushes by Darius, which got to number five. And United States of whatever by Liam Lynch, which got to number ten. I can't believe that charted so high.

I've got a fact about that, actually. Yeah, yeah. I'm pretty sure it's the shortest song to have ever charted. Or it was, anyway, at the time. Yeah, it's only about a minute have ever charted Or it was anyway at the time Yeah it's only about a minute and a half right Oh I know a shorter one That also took that record So maybe at the time it was

But Spider Pig from the Simpsons movie Which was about 40 seconds That made the chart So maybe that took the title from it That's one of the most useless facts I know And I can't believe I just had a really good opportunity To wheel it out. I'm so happy.

When it was knocked off the top of the charts, If You're Not The One fell two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 28 weeks, and it was eventually certified platinum in the UK in August 2014. So this was big. This stuck around. This clearly endured for a very long time. Lizzy, if you're not the one, how do you feel about that? Well, I mean, I have a kind of question to lead into this actually. Have either of you ever bought or listened to an album based off one song and then been very disappointed to find out that the rest of the album isn't like that yes oh my god yes can i

give you believe by share yeah yeah terrible this is a good answer yeah i have a feeling actually i didn't buy this album but i did listen to it when I was a kid. And I remember being really attached to James Dean, because that was the closest that got to gotta get, I think it got to gotta get through this, whereas the rest of it, as you said, and are implying,

yeah, it's this. So, yeah, carry on. Yeah. I love the thought of, like, proper garage heads going out to buy this in summer 2002 thinking oh yeah here it is finally and yeah just getting this i can imagine it's like people who hear avril 14th by apex when it's like i've got to pick up this drugs album just like oh god it's like four sides of non-stop acid techno. Great.

But yeah, I'm not really on board with this. Like, as far as breakup songs go, this is far from the worst we'll cover on this podcast. But there's something about this which I find very difficult to love. Like, I don't think it's fair to accuse Bedingfield of like selling out after the success of Gotta Get Through This but he doesn't do himself any favours by citing Westlife as his main inspiration when writing this song and you know in interviews he kind of talks about like um I mean, I can quote him actually.

Commercialism, sappy lyrics and meek tunes are the things I hate most in the universe. But I'm not sure even Bob Dylan could get record company interest without hooks these days. It's a different age. You need to go some kind of populist route. So about three years ago, I sat down with a Westlife song and tried to write something similar and like I'm sure there are people out there who are saying well it's not really fair to compare this to Gotta Get Through This but it is on the same album and I think even if like so aiming for Westlife is one thing but even if you had kind of admitted that you liked those sort of 90s slow jams like I find this quite similar to something like All My Life by Casey and Jojo or maybe like

End of the Road by who was that was that Boyz II Men that was Boyz II Men yeah yeah those kind of like 90s soft ballads which is fine I think this one it almost tries to do a bit too much like I've said to you this week in that the falsetto bit which I think is what a lot of people remember this song for is so disconnected from the rest of the song and doesn't seem to actually fit in with what's being said. It's almost just there as if to say like, hey, look what I can do. I can go into this range.

I bet you can't. And it's like just nothing. And I don't find this sort of thing that romantic either. I think in his mind, or maybe in Natasha Bedingfield's mind, he thinks it's just something that, oh yeah, women will love this because it's all soft and gooey, but I don't know, not really, it just seems a bit desperate, it's like, I don't know, a puppy singing to me, and I don't really get on board with that, so yeah, as much as there's worse breakup songs than this to come

there's obviously much better breakup songs than this to come as well and this kind of ranks on the lower end I think Andy if you want the one yeah this is one of those where I saw the title when I was looking at the list of

what songs were coming up and I thought, oh yeah, that's all right. Yeah. And I listened to it once. I was like, yeah, it's okay. And the more I've listened to it and the more I've thought about it, I'm like, actually, no, no. It's gone down a couple of pegs in my view.

First of all, I'm really interested by that comment from Bedingfield that you've just said there, Liz about you know why he wrote the song i i really don't like that attitude that's a really snobbish kind of attitude to have of like oh yeah well you you know i hate this kind of stuff but you've got to get commercial and do it it's like well you know you're doing it yourself so you can't you can't look down on everybody else when you're doing exactly what they are, you know. Exactly. Yeah, I think that's a really pretentious attitude to have, to be honest, so I don't like that.

And there is a general air in this song of, you know, worthiness and doing things because they're technically impressive and doing things because they're artsy rather than, you know, just making a good song. There's just no reason for that falsetto to be in there at all can i just interject a second i want to say if you want pretentious just wait till you hear the liner notes but i'll save it until well he's he is like a pretentious person like he had that thing which i think i mentioned before that he insisted on recording songs fully naked because he wanted to be at one with himself. Which is just, come on, just terrible behaviour.

But yeah, he kind of comes across as that kind of person. I think that bleeds through this song, that there is far too much kind of stuff that's in there, not because it aids the song, but because it helps him come across more as a serious artist. And I'm like, well, you can't have it both ways daniel you can either do a nice westlife style ballad or you can do something that really exercises you vocally and really is impressive and you know you can't really do both i don't i don't think the way, and so you get this unholy marriage of the two

where even in a music, it's not just the pitch, even in a just kind of basic songwriting sense, they just don't go together because almost every line in both the verse and the chorus has this kind of on the beat and then triplet structure where it's like, I don't want to run away,

but I can't take it. It's like i don't want to run away but i can't take it so it's like every line has that kind of rhythm and then it's just is there any way that i where it's just suddenly really slow and like every syllable is so much longer than all the ones that have come before that line just doesn't fit with all of the others, like the cadence is just wrong compared to all of the others, it's just, oh it should be scrubbed from the song, it's so weird, but then on the other hand, that's the gimmick of the song, like that, I have no doubt that that's why this song took off, because of that big high bit, because everybody notices that straight away, like whoa, that's a high note, it's a gimmick and it's a silly

gimmick but it works and it sells the song and so if you take that out all you've got is something very generic really so i'm kind of in this difficult halfway house really where it's like i don't think the falsetto fits with the song at all but also if you took it out you wouldn't have much to chew over here um yeah so it puts it in a sort of difficult spot here. It's just the kind of level of building up to that falsetto as well and you know the sincerity, the over-sincerity, the earnestness of it is what really kind of makes me cringe. There's that bit before the final chorus where, you know, Spend my life with... And he does it like three, four times as the strings behind him

get higher and higher and his voice gets higher and higher as well. And I wonder how long it's going to keep going. Where you'll just keep building up to this chorus with the Spend my life with... You don't know how high he's going to go. At the end he'll only be audible by dogs. It's silly, really really it's really silly but i've trashed it enough and actually i do think that there is a certain amount of you know skill to this song that actually is it it is quite memorable that you know you hear about five seconds of this song and you've got it

straight away i think one thing that really came across from gotta get through this is that he actually is a very good songwriter and actually really knows how to deliver a hit and you know he's delivered on the brief here of do a big ballad that has commercial appeal it obviously does it's a massive hit and i give him credit for that that actually it is a good solid well-written pop song pop ballad other than the falsetto which doesn't need to be in there at all um yeah it is actually okay it's just it's just a real mess of ideas um yeah it's just okay it's just okay the only other comment i wanted to make about not just this but westlife like do you ever have an episode of this where you kind of feel the presence of another artist who isn't actually in the episode who's just sort of hanging over like

a ghost in this and unbreakable by westlife i'm really kind of feeling the presence of enrique inglesias like it feels like hero yeah has been a big inspiration for both of these songs i can easily imagine both of these songs being given to him with that really over-the-top, over-romantic, yearning quality that you get from Hero. I think that's really prominent. They use the same sort of guitar in Unbreakable, and in this, the kind of emphasis, emotional emphasis is the same.

I feel like Enrique is really hanging over this week, even though he's not here. So that's the only other observation I would have. But yeah, it's okay. It's okay. I hate the falsetto, but again, it's the most memorable thing about the song. So I'm not going to dick on it too much.

It's all right. Yeah. And final, final thoughts is that I think Daniel Benningfield is one of those rare artists on this show who I think his trajectory of the three number one singles is a clear steady

downwards trajectory that the first gotta get through this we all agreed was quite good actually really good song this is okay and then his third number one I think is absolute rubbish so we're in the middle right now, we're in the second part

of the trilogy and we'll come back to that next year yeah I just wanted to say you've summed it up really well, it's the combination of like the big instrumentation and the crystal clear perfect production and the lyrics that sound like

they were written by a 12 year old who had just been dumped after going to watch johnny english at the cinema i promise this didn't happen to me it's like you've got to do one or the other you either go big and you just like go ham with it or you kind of strip it down and make it because Because, you know, we've had that quality with, like, Atomic Kitten, where it is basic and it is sort of almost juvenile, but it kind of works in its favour. Yeah. And this just tries to do both and comes off with neither.

Yeah, because I actually like the lyrical concept of the song, this idea that I thought you were the one, and if you're not the one then why do i feel like this why do i feel like that i actually like that as a concept but it's done in such a cheesy maudlin way that you're right it's it does feel like it's written by a 12 year old the lyrics are like the feel like pure shit just misses so much you know so that's like fine and there's another number one we come to in a couple of years which I think is a really good example of how you can take that honesty

and turn it into something quite beautiful but this just again it tries to do too much and just falls a bit flat Andy wasn't there also something about Miranda that you wanted

to mention? There was, yeah. So my main memory that I always think of with this song, I don't know if we're going to use the clip, but if not, I'll just sort of demonstrate it myself, is a clip from Miranda, which I know a lot of people don't really like that show because it's quite broad comedy and stuff, but there's this bit that I find is very funny

where Miranda Hart does this song on karaoke while drunk and going through a breakup and she tries to hit the high note, oversells it because she has to leap so high to get to it and halfway through the high note she just goes Oh it's too high Daniel and it's unnaturally high for a man and it always just makes me laugh

It's very much like Why do birds Exactly like that With this I didn't expect to feel The way I do about it This is getting Slightly more than a mild

Thumbs up from me It veers Awfully close to cribbing Too much from the Westlifelife slash enrique hymn sheet and i wish it leaned more into the trip-hop down-tempo vibe that's there but i think this is nicely carefully composed and sort of quite sensitively performed. I think it understands that compositional development and volume are two different things. Each little section is slightly rephrased,

has something new to introduce whenever you go back to it. The melodies are delicate. The performance is smooth and appropriate. I think there are moments, though, where I think it's overwritten. Like you were saying, Andy, that moment, I think it's either at the end of the second verse or at the end of the bridge where that strange build

where it cannot find a place to land before lifting off again, where it keeps resting on a cadence and then going on a little bit further. And then it knocks the cadence off to you like he can't go to the chorus from here so then he does another one you think ah there's now he's gonna go to the chorus and then he goes i hope i love you all my life and i'm like start the second chorus just get there just do it oh god at least two of those are superfluous. They're just so, so pointless and it's really, really annoying. And it just, yeah, I think also as well about Daniel Bedingfield being very open

about the fact that he kind of wrote this just to sell records, coming at it like, oh, you know, you've got to do this, you've got to do that to play it in this game. And so, yeah, yeah i think you know fair enough acknowledging that is fine but kind of writing it and sort of coming at it from a kind of disdainful obligatory point of view like i don't know i always think of um sears tweet from about

10 years ago maybe a little closer than that maybe only about eight years ago where she just tweets in bed writing another mediocre smash and i just i i think there are ways to approach it and i think fine it comes across like a bit of a knobhead but like he sort of plays the part and speaking of playing parts i kind of hope that he is playing a part in this song because if he really means everything he's saying i totally understand the perspective that like you know like you were saying andy where it's like everything about us makes sense to me but it doesn't make sense to you but if we're not supposed to be together then why am i feeling all of these things and like, it makes total sense,

but it just, it comes across a bit stalker-ish. I don't think he has, I don't think he has enough charm as a singer to pull this off convincingly. And it all ends up sounding a bit, you know, like, oh, come on, mate. Like, you know, get over it. Like, you know, 20 other fish in the sea.

So many songs like this do that don't they like it's such a fine line to tread where it's like when does love become obsession and when are you doing it in the form of a very heartfelt ballad where you're putting yourself out there it's really hard to find that line and this is yeah a good example of a song that somewhat crosses that line yeah yeah and it's like for you it's just a song but for someone listening to it it might be their reality and that's not healthy yeah it can be very uncomfortable

but I think what he lacks in charm he makes up for in ability and I think that one high note well the three high notes because he does it three times but like it sounds silly and I totally agree with your criticism andy that like if you were to take this out of the song what is there to remember years later but it is in there like that is the hook like that that's

the thing that he knows will I mean we're talking four years later Shane Ward tries this so many times and doesn't get the same results with it I'm thinking of breast look breathless that he does where before the final chorus they do the so I'll try every day of my life. And then he goes, And then he goes, And he goes further and further up. And it feels like this echoes forward about four or five years.

I think they tried to turn Shane Ward into a bit of a Daniel Bedingfield after that first number one, because I think they realised, oh, he's got this falsetto. Oh, we didn't know he had this. And No Promises, I think, also does it as well, which was his follow-up. Because that chorus goes, Now I need to hold you tight I just want to die in your heart

but obviously with falsetto an octave higher And I feel like they tried to do the same thing And so I think that silly high note that Daniel Bedingfield does in this It is influential in a weird way Not in a good way, it doesn't influence good things But it's there and it is the bit in the song that everybody remembers I think, and apart from the bit in the song that everybody remembers, I think. And apart from the music video as well,

where I think everybody just kind of remembers it for, like, repeated images of Daniel Bedingfield looking very sad into the camera, just sort of, like, going... I think you could make a case for, like, saying that this helped the falsetto come back. Like, give it a couple of years, we get Mika. Yeah. Yeah, Mika.

Sam Smith as well. Yeah, and I was also thinking as well, in between those two, I would say he's probably more famous than the band he's in, but Ryan Tedder from One Republic, that was, you know, his falsetto was a defining feature of Apologise as well. So maybe there's more to this than I think,

but yeah, I think there's enough to like, but there's lots of problems. There's lots of problems, but there's enough to like. That's where I kind of settle on If You're Not The One. Do we have anything more to say about any of the songs that have been put forward this week for consideration can I leave the listeners with

some of the liner notes from Daniel Bedingfield's album Gotta Get Through This yes okay so quote from Daniel Bedingfield the blazing beauty of a tree

I've already gone okay from Daniel Bedingfield. The blazing beauty of a tree or the magnificent calm of the sky. Our treasures are obscured and overshadowed, enveloped, swallowed by the meaningless dirge, the cry of oppression, the hopeless song of confused faces. I often find myself swept downstream by the song's awful, spelt with an e, power humming along to its prevailing top line, pain. But I also seek to express the whole journey. These brief moments of sight, these points of clarity, these expressions of hope,

deliverance, and the upward struggle of the searching soul. I point with my broken fingers towards the only safety I know. Are your fingers broken? Greater love hath no man than he hath.

Oh no. Oh wow, Daniel. That was... than he oh no oh wow Daniel that was oh my gosh I too own a thesaurus so thanks for that Fuss Bake Beddingfield no way he says that no he doesn't I couldn't believe that though

aww I feel kind of like aww he's so sincere but also sort of not it just feels like one of those things where it's like I don't want to laugh too much because like what if he really means it that sort of thing it just feels like he doesn't mean it

and it just feels like he's so pretentious at the same time it's interesting to compare him to his sister Natasha who is like... She has a similar but alternative kind of vibe, where she also

comes across as someone who wants to be very worthy and serious, but also she's totally fake. So I wonder if Daniel was secretly kind of the same. More on that in the future episode. What are those lyrics from these words? It's a red fire, a shelly and keys residing over a hip-hop beat.

So it's like, okay, you read a lot of poetry, do you? I'll just never get over the fact that she didn't write that song. That's just remarkable. She had five co-writers. We'll discuss that. Definitely discuss it earlier today because it does get to number one Okay so Piehole and Vault Inductions Unbreakable

By Westlife Is that going in the piehole or the vault for anyone? It's definitely going in one of them Straight Into the piehole 100% It's not even the best song I can think of with the word unbreakable in it because the theme tune to

Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt is better put together by the guys who did autotune the news that's better go listen to that instead yeah I'm also putting it in the pie hole so that's three I think unanimous yeah unanimous yeah okay

Dirty by Christina Aguilera and Redman So that's three, I think. Unanimous. Yeah, unanimous. Yeah, okay. Dirty by Christina Aguilera and Redman. No. Not quite, but it's very close to the vault. Yeah, close to the vault for me too. A little bit off. Yeah, I know, but also as well, I don't know if our listeners would really be interested, but I uh what the album and dare is a dark side

uh been listening to those two albums a lot like in the past month or so just in anticipation of this and they're both excellent they're both great um if you're not the one by daniel beddingfield is that going up or down for anyone no neither for me no not quite It's not that bad, but it's not that good either. Yeah, not for me either. That's it for this week's episode. Thank you very much for listening. When we come back, we'll be covering the period between the 8th of December through to the 22nd of December. So Christmas number one was named Christmas number one. Awfully close to the big day.

I think everything will run as normal. I'm away, but we're going to try and get the episode out. And Andy, you're also away. I am, yes. So, yeah, we'll try and get the episode out as normal. But if not, that's why. We have a parent's note to explain our absence, just in case we can't get the episode out together

and I'll be right here just as ever yeah Lizzie you're doing it solo next week yeah you can guess what our opinions would be as well fill an hour and 15 minutes why don't you yeah another edition of Born to Runner Up maybe

I love Born to Runner Up you definitely should do it again yeah maybe I will okay alright then so we'll see you next time hopefully next week whenever that may be we'll see you later

bye see ya bye