Hits 21 - 2003 (1): David Sneddon, t.A.T.u., Christina Aguilera

Episode Date: April 16, 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] Dan Howell: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lrwMja_VoM0 LGBT Foundation Helpline: 0345 3 30 30 30 // [e-mail] Information for young LGBT People, from The Proud Trust: https://www.theproudtrust.org/young-people/

🎵 Hi there 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. Just send it on over to Hits21Podcast at gmail.com.

Thank you so much for joining us again. It's time for 2003. How exciting. This time we'll be covering the period between the 1st of January and the 15th of March, 2003. And of course, as we've been teasing over the past few weeks, this episode will be accompanied by our first ever bonus episode, our interview with Brian Capron, who played Richard Hillman on Coronation Street, who was killed off after many killings of his own on the 14th of March, 2003.

So it just creeps in. And the last song that we're covering this week, we got Brian's thoughts on that. And so the episodes will sort of be going out together. I might leave a few hours between because I know some people like to get in nice and early with a brand new Hits 21 episode. And then they'll think, oh, well, I've got no Hits 21 to listen to for a whole week now. Or in the case of the gap between our last Christmas episode and this one, two weeks. or in the case of the gap between our last Christmas episode and this one, two weeks.

But you'll only have like an hour to wait because I'm going to upload the Brian Kaplan interview like really soon afterwards. So you're spoiling them, Rob. You're spoiling people here. Don't we always spoil them, Andy? Don't we always? Of course. Unfortunately, just like our last episode, we have more sad news to talk about before we get going this week. Paul, Paul Catamol from S Club 7 is no longer with us. It just, I couldn't believe it.

I did not expect it to hit me like it did. It really hit me like a ton of bricks. I did not expect it to at all because I know we've been talking about Paul and S Club on the show and everything like that. But I didn't know the guy. And I hadn't thought about him in a long time. And then all of a sudden, we cover him so much recently. And then the reunion.

Yeah, it was all a lot. Andy, I don't know how you reacted to the news and everything. Yeah, well, I know that Miami 7 wasn't as big a thing for you, Rob, as it was for me and Lizzie, but it was a big thing in my childhood. And Paul is one of those figures, as with most of S Club, really, that I don't think about a lot, really. But then you realise, once you've lost them you know what a big part of your childhood they were and I too just felt a huge pang of grief as soon as I saw

the news um just absolutely appalling that we've talked about S Club a lot and we've talked about Miami 7 a lot and we've had a couple of jokes about how Paul had to sort of operate on several levels of reality in terms of resigning from the band. And then he had to do an exit in the show where he also resigned from the band. And that was because, you know, the awful controlled nature of S Club 7 meant he actually had to serve notice, which was extraordinary, really. He really kind of stands out as one that sort of had a different journey to the rest in that he left the band a bit early he had that relationship with Hannah obviously had a tough time in the

decades that have preceded afterwards and now very sadly he's the first one to pass away and I really hope that he's remembered for more than just that, more than the fact that he's sort of the biggest headline maker I want him to be remembered for being genuinely hilariously more than just that, more than the fact that he's, you know, sort of the biggest headline maker.

I want him to be remembered for being genuinely hilariously funny in Miami 7 and always putting a smile on my face. Me and my sister always, like, quote that show, and probably the quote that we make the most is, it's Bradley, he keeps fidgeting, which for people who will have watched it, will surely get that one. And also, there's always some muffin who's late. I love that one

as well. Very, very sadly missed. I'm so, so sorry to hear about this. And rest in peace, Paul. Lizzie, you watched a lot of Miami 7 recently, right? The series when we were covering Don't Stop Moving,

I think? or maybe before that yeah i've watched it a couple of times through now and i've i think i've said to you as well and a couple of other people that one of my favorite things about doing this podcast is being able to revisit that and revisit s club and just kind of relive that period and like like you and i really love um miami 7 and i think my favorite episode is the one where um paul gets put in charge of the hotel and he turns into this passive-aggressive micromanager while he's trying to put on this hawaiian show the luau or as joe calls it the lu-wa-wa but yeah

I totally agree with you Andy that he's really naturally funny and charming and it's just yeah it's still kind of taking me aback right now and we're sort of recording this a week on and

it's awful to know he's gone and it really did seem like we might have turned the corner you know with the reunion tour because i know like you say we've been going through some difficult times i thought this might be the you know the start of something new and um obviously we don't know the full extent of what's actually happened, but yeah, it's unfortunate to lose him at this time, especially. Yeah. Really sad. So as we said at the time, thanks for all the great music and great TV, Paul.

Wherever you are now. Absolutely. Wherever you are now. Thank you, Paul. Yeah. On to this week's episode, and as always, we are going to give you some news headlines from around the time that these songs were at the top of the UK chart,

so it's back to 2003. Morris Gibb, co-founding member of the Bee Gees, dies in Florida aged 53. Gibb had been admitted to hospital for an operation to remove an intestinal blockage, but suffered a heart attack before the operation and was unable to pull through the procedure. Meanwhile, in the United States, the Columbia Space Shut Investigation Board, published in August 2003, found that a breach of the shuttle's heat shield on takeoff caused it to break up on re-entry.

Meanwhile in London, 1.2 million people demonstrate against the Iraq War. At the time, it became the largest demonstration in UK history, a record which still stands today. Meanwhile, the London congestion charge comes into operation. Big time in London. Yeah. Yeah. The films to hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows. 8 Mile for two weeks, Catch Me If You Can for one week, Two Weeks Notice for two weeks,

One Week, Two Weeks Notice for two weeks, The Ring for two weeks, and Made in Manhattan for two weeks. And on the BBC, BBC Choice officially becomes BBC Three. Meanwhile, Girls Aloud member Cheryl Tweedy is involved in an altercation with a nightclub toilet attendant in Guildford, which sees her charged with causing actual bodily harm and for committing a racially aggravated assault. She is found guilty of the first charge, but not guilty in relation to the latter. She was ordered to complete 120 hours of community service, pay £3,000 in prosecution costs and a further £500 to her victim. I always forget quite how quickly that happened after the general made it big. And I think that she had a very

lucky escape from that, to be honest. That would have finished many people off. Absolutely. She somehow escaped the net on that one. Meanwhile, here we go, 19.4 million people tune into Coronation Street as Richard Hillman confesses his crimes to his wife, Gail Platt.

Soon after, Richard flees the street, returning in March to kidnap the Platt family and drive them into a canal. The Platts make it out alive, but Richard drowns in the crash, bringing his own reign of terror to an end. And you'll hear all about it

on our bonus episode. Yes, if you want to relive that glorious time in soap. Andy, how are the album charts looking for this period? Quite a lengthy period to be looking at, so yeah, go ahead. Well, because it's a lengthy period, it's a change from the last few weeks in that I've actually got loads to talk to you about. The last few episodes of our show have been dominated by Escapology by Robbie Williams.

And now I've got no less than five new albums to talk to you about of varying quality, I will say. But yeah, we start with Let Go by Avril Lavigne, which is number one for three weeks and went six times platinum, a very big hit. It's a bit of a good album, this one. It's, of course, her debut album. They had Complicated, Skater Boy, I'm good album, this one. It's, of course, her debut album that had Complicated, Sk8er Boi,

I'm With You, amongst others. I'm With You is an absolute gem. I'm really sad that never gets to number one. But yeah, Avril Lavigne starts to hit her early peak here. That's followed for the next two weeks at number one by Justin Timberlake with Justified, also six times platinum, another huge hit. And I'm really, really glad this has come up. Justin Timberlake with Justified, also six times platinum, another huge hit.

And I'm really, really glad this has come up. I mentioned last week that, you know, there was a few artists behind the scenes who never got number one last year who actually were really setting the tone and were really influential. It was Justin Timberlake I was talking about, really. And this album, I mean, the four singles off this album, Like I Love You, Cry Me a River,

Rock Your Body, and Senorita, that's a body of work. Every single one of them, an absolute classic, I think. Well, the album itself is just okay, but those singles are just superb. Really, really

brilliant stuff. I'm not surprised they were such big hits. Yeah, Neptune's were not missing a beat around that time They really weren't Yeah, the weird sort of Bit of trivia that I know about Rocky Body, which I think a lot of people Probably know, which is that it was offered to Michael Jackson In the late 90s and he turned it down

You can sort of tell It really just sounded quite Wound up with Justin Timberlake's voice on it instead I'm glad, to be honest And fun funnily enough that song ended up being associated with janet jackson for a very different reason of course yeah yeah which i'm sure we'll come to in a few years time but anyway yeah yeah um that's followed at the top for one week in february by kelly roland with simply deep an album title that I hate. I just think there's something awful about that.

It went platinum, just single platinum, and was only number one for one week. And then that was replaced at the top by Massive Attack with 100th Window, which had only one week at number one and joined that dubious club of being number one without going platinum. It just went gold.

That is only the fourth album of the decade to do that so far. I'm keeping track of that one. After that, Justin Timberlake returns to number one with Justified, but at the end of the period we're covering, we are introduced to Nora Jones with Come Away With Me, which went eight times platinum, an enormous hit there, and four weeks at number one throughout most of March. Lizzie, how are the US charts looking right now?

I'll start with the singles chart, as I usually do, where Eminem's reign at number one was eventually broken in early February, when Bump Bump Bump by B2K featuring P. Diddy got to number one for one week. But despite that, you've probably never heard of it because it only got as high as number 11 in the UK charts in March 2003. Yeah, I had never heard of it. I'm glad that's not just me. Yeah, you're not alone, don't worry. After that, Jennifer Lopez scored her fourth and final US number one to date.

She's still plugging away, she could get another. But this final one is All I Have featuring LL Cool J. Yep. It went platinum in the US and it stayed at number one for four weeks and even got as high as number two in the UK, held off the top spot by a song we'll be covering on our next episode. And finally for singles this week, 50 Cent scored his first US number one single with

In The Club which stayed at number one for nine weeks and eventually went nine times platinum in the US in the UK it peaked at number three held off the top spot by a song we'll be covering next week and Kim Marsh yes really

oh my god yeah meanwhile in the album's chart Shania twain's run at number one was broken by a re-entry at number one for the eight mile soundtrack and after that nora jones hit the top spot with her album come away with me which stayed at number one for four non-consecutive weeks eventually going 12 times platinum in the u. and as you've already mentioned, Andy, also hitting the number one spot in the UK. To date, the album has sold over 28 million copies worldwide. Yeah.

So between those two stints at number one for Nora Jones, three weeks from late January to mid-February, and then one week in March, there was also a re-entry at number one for Home by The Chicks as well as one week at number one for Robert Sylvester Kelly. But our final album this week is Get Rich or Die Trying by 50 Cent which got to number one for six non-consecutive weeks and eventually went nine times platinum in the US.

It's a good record. It is a good record. But is a good record, I think. But in the UK, it only got as high as number two, held off the top spot by Justin Timberlake's Justified. Personally, I'm fine with that, but it's sort of

the peak period for both of them, really, isn't it? They are the two of sort of late 2002, early 2003. Definitely. 50 Cent's life is interesting before like before the album eventually comes out like his debut album was supposed to be released in like 2001 and it was looking very different um like there's a song of his that's called life's on the line and if you listen to it you'll notice that he sounds very different, that the overall sound of the record is very different.

And his general demeanor behind the mic is very different. And that's because while it was being recorded and while the album was being put together, that was when he was attacked and shot. Of course. And so he was shot in the face. Well, one of the bullets hit his face and it meant that when he came back to the studio he has that kind of flow that he's now known for the kind of you know very horizontal kind of like laid back like slightly slurred speech yeah the kind of mumble right yeah and so yeah in the club becomes like a massive hit off the back of that and

it's wow it is a big sliding doors moment i think um okay well thank you very much both of you for your reports it's time to get in to the songs that we're going to be looking at this week and the first first new number one of 2003 after girls allowed held on to the top spot for a little while is this. He sits alone at a table in a small cafe Drowning his tears in a bottomless cup of coffee And he's tumbling into his thoughts His memories are all tied in knots Who is going to save him? No one wants to know it

She stands alone in a place where no one knows her name She catches them staring, they turn around and finish the frame And she's nursing her head and her pride She died long ago, deep down inside Who is going to save her? No one wants to know I can't believe that you fall asleep when you cry. When you cry.

You'll stick in the night and give a kiss and I'll live the life. Live the life. We all have a savior. So do yourself a favor. Stop living the lie This is Stop Living the Lie by David Sneddon. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album entitled 7 Years 10 Weeks, Stop Living the Lie is David Sneddon's first single to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, this is the last time we'll be discussing David on this podcast.

Stop Living the Lie went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Girls Aloud off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week at number one, it sold 108,000 copies, beating competition from Year 3000 by Busted, which got to number two. That's a shame. True by Jameson, which got to number four. Mundi and Tabachke

by Punjabi MC, which re-entered the chart at number five. Love Story by Leo and Bushwacker, which got to number eight. And Just the Way I'm Feeling by Fida, which got at number 5. Love Story by Leo and Bushwacker, which got to number 8. And Just The Way I'm Feeling by Fida, which got to number 10. In its second and final week at number 1, it sold 46,000

copies, beating competition from 03 Bonnie and Clyde by Jay-Z and Beyonce, which got to number 2. The Opera Song by Jürgen Ries, which got to number 3. And Hidden Agenda by Craig David, which got to number two the opera song by Jürgen Vries which got to number three and hidden agenda by Craig David which got to number 10 Craig David still knocking around top 10 when it was knocked off the top of the charts stop living the lie dropped two places to number three by the time

it was done on the charts it had been inside the top 100 for 18 weeks, and the song was certified silver in the UK in July 2013. So it's sort of endured, but at a lower level than most of the songs that we've covered so far. And I think it did quite well, because as we found when we tried to come and listen to this, it was only recently added to streaming services, and the version that was added to streaming services is not the same as the single version as we found it's like a re-recording i'm not sure about the ins and outs of that but andy um it seems like you have pretty strong memories of fame academy and david sneddon so have at it have a yeah david sneddon yeah i absolutely do i mean starting on fame Academy first,

rather than the actual song. So he has a very interesting history with Fame Academy in that he was there from the start. He was one of the auditionees. He got to a sort of early stage before the finals and then was eliminated. But someone else dropped out. And so he got brought back in

as a sort of alternate for someone else um which you would think would just mean you're just another one there you're just making up the numbers really and that's how these things tend to go when that's happened on other reality shows and he was really kind of written off by most people um but somehow he won and i say somehow because it really was a big surprise it's worth mentioning that Lamar was in the final who went on to arguably have the bigger career well not arguably he did have quite a successful career and another singer called Sinead Quinn who was relatively popular as well it was quite a surprise that David Sneddon won Fame Academy but I'm glad

he did because he's quite a talented guy. He's found more success as a songwriter, which I'll get onto later, but he has a very nice voice. I wouldn't really go much further than nice, but he does have a certain amount of soul to it. It's definitely of that kind of Westlife mold, but he's got more to him than Westlife do. This whole song as well, I feel like he could definitely put in Westlife's hands, but he manages to do to him than westlife do this whole song as well i feel like he could definitely put in westlife's hands but he manages to do more with it he manages to make it more of a sweet more of an authentic song the actual song i still remember really well and this seemed to be quite big at the time which is weird because it seems to be completely forgotten now you know

i've mentioned this to a few people in you know my life outside of the show who just and they just don't remember it it's just not really been remembered at all i'm sure there will be people listening who remember this very well but it's one of the more obscure songs that we've covered so far which considering he won fame academy which was a big show at the time you would think that this would be well remembered but it's not really and like you said it didn't really sell as well as most of the other songs that we've covered so far um i think possibly a contributor to the fact that he's not very well remembered is that he deliberately withdrew from public life he wasn't enjoying fame at all so after a couple of years he consciously left the industry as he says he

deliberately disappeared deliberately just became a pub singer and a song writer um which might have something to do with the fact that he's not really around anymore and because he isn't interested in fame he doesn't pop up on you know bbc3 shows or whatever like a lot of these people tend to do but i think that's a shame because i think this is quite a nice song it's quite a straightforward ballad but um it's got a structure to it where it takes quite a while to get to the chorus where it keeps on building um that i quite like that you don't really hear that very much really where it's not a simple verse chorus verse chorus or verse chorus bridge it takes quite a while to reveal itself as a song um and goes at quite a gentle pace throughout i quite like it um and i think he had more to offer than this song. It's not the best song in the world, it's nothing particularly special but it is interesting and I think a lot

of winner's singles from these shows I wouldn't describe as interesting so I think it's a bit of a shame that he never really carved out much of a career to be honest but obviously his mental health is the important thing and I hope he's happy. i'm sure he is because he's had a very successful career as a songwriter i was stunned a few years ago just coincidentally when i was reading about lana del rey to notice that her single national anthem was written by david snedden um which is just amazing really yeah he's written songs for nicole scherz Olly Mers, Lana Del Rey, of course, Newton Faulkner, Pixie Lott. He's really everywhere.

And these are relatively current. Some of these are in the last five, six years. He's still plugging away. He's still in the industry, and people know him, and people work with him. So good on him. He's just sort of reconfigured his career slightly. But yeah, like I say, I like this.

I don't think it's particularly special, but considering where a lot of artists start who come out with reality shows when they have their winners single yes we had a fantastic one last week with girls allowed but we've got some real schlock coming up from the x factor over the next couple of years this is sort of better than that and i do kind of wonder what he could have done if he'd stuck at it but all power to him for carving out a different career um in songwriting and yeah it's just nice to talk about david sneddon it's great you don't get any opportunities to talk about him so if you're listening david hello you're great um lizzie how about you um I'm sorry, I kind of disagree. I think this is a bit boring.

Really? I think it's very kind of earnest and predictable and there's a little bit of tension in there, but it gets resolved quite quickly and there's just nothing to really hang your hat off. And I do agree that it's in the Westlife mould, but it feels like it's like high effort Westlife which I don't think is better than just Westlife it's still in very much in that mold and it so it kind of makes sense to me that people remember Fame Academy more for

Richard Park's feud with Patrick Keelty than they do for David Sneddon. Like, this is, you know, you ask the public, what does a songwriter look like? And this is it. It's this nice boy with a piano singing about two people and they're having a coffee and they're a bit sad, but it's okay in the end. And yeah, I'm talking about it now and I feel like I can barely remember the song which I feel awful because it's not horrible by any means we've covered much worse on the show but I feel like I needed some excitement to kick off the year and especially after the conclusion to last year when we've seen what reality TV can put out

and it can, you know, it can blow people away, to get something like this where it's just okay but it kind of aims a little bit too low, I don't know. I can't really muster up much praise for it. I'm sorry. It's all right, though. I fully acknowledge that there's

probably nostalgia in this for me that it's just nice to hear it again after all these years um but yeah i i i hear you yeah it's funny what you say about um you know a songwriter at a piano singing about a man and a woman and it'll all be okay in the end because i don't know if there's a name for this sort of genre but you've hit on a real thing there, that this song really reminds me of Bad Day by Daniel Powder. Oh, God, yeah. And there's a particular little genre there of, like, a man at a piano singing about this slice-of-life relationship.

And I don't know if there's a term for it, but that. Yeah, there's a thing there. I could maybe coin one. You're good at coining these things things so I'll leave that with you I could try it, what if we call it coffee pop there we go you're so reliable there that'll be a genre tag

on rate your music in four years time hell yeah, it started here yeah this will be the moment the other one was actually one that Andy you coined last week and then Ed Thomas from the In5 podcast, friend of our podcast, took it and turned it into a real thing, which was Ernest Manpain, as if Ernest Manpain was a real person.

I can blur do a song about Ernest Manpain. Probably. Yeah, Lizzie, I'm leaning more towards you on this one i was reading um freaky triggers blog about this song and i think he kind of summed it up when he said that like you know girls allowed was like the you know the the product of pop stars and things like pop idol whereas fame academy always fancy it was a bit more bbc and it was all a bit more professional and put together and most importantly serious and authentic and this is what you get out of it where talent just equals songwriting it just it ignores that pop is like a much bigger product

than just the guy with the piano making the song, which, you know, I think that, you know, that's why David Sneddon has ultimately ended up in what I think is the ideal way to make money in music, which is in the back rooms away from the cameras,

still making the cash, but not having to deal with people coming up to you all the time and going, Oh my God, it's you. Like that's, if I was to ever make a career in pop music, that's exactly how I'd want to do it. You know, a one-off number one single that made you a load of money and you can take that home with you,

but not enough that anybody will actually still be haranguing you in the street 20 years later. Of course. But I think the Fame Academy product is sort of why David was a bit of a flash in the pan. Because I think this has been made to take itself far too seriously. And it's sort of like you hinted towards, Lizzie, it kind of aches in this really insincere and like committee approved way. Like you can see it in that top of the parts performance that he does when he's straining his face and the crowd are all swaying very nicely but not doing anything else because we have to contribute to the atmosphere of the song remember because it's lovely david at a piano and he's singing about how you know we should all talk to that stranger help that person in need you know that sort of thing um as the weeks have gone by since i started listening

to this again um it's kind of grown off me initially i was a bit like andy where i was like oh i remember this and you know i appreciated that it was brave enough to withhold that chorus for a while there's no doubting that david is like a talented guy he has a lovely voice the message of the song is nice you know maybe we should all learn from these two people as he says in the song but I think the moment

that this started to grow off me was basically the first line where he rhymes cafe with coffee and he sort of has to bend the word coffee so that it rhymes with cafe. And it all feels a bit like intelligent songwriting, but it isn't really able to be separated from the focus groups and the meetings that no doubt strip this of all life. Because I've been listening to the version that was released at the time and i've been listening to the version that ended up on this version of the album that exists and it

feels like his vision was much rockier you know it involved guitars and a band setting and you know that sort of thing but it feels like it's all been smoothed out by the team behind it it means that the radio version has got lots of little signifiers of that type of pop, this coffee pop, as we've now called it, which is genius. Where you can tell that they've tried to nudge it as close to Westlife as they can, because Westlife are making lots of money right now, but they can't tip it over the edge,

because remember, this is Fame Academy. It's serious. It's about talented people. It's about talented songwriters um but they have to give it that winner song feel because in the end as much as fame academy is a bit like oh yeah we do things differently here it's no it's the same thing and at least pop stars was naked about like and transparent about the fact that like yep we're just going to manufacture a group get loads of people interested in him make him seem interesting and put out a load of music and make some cash but we'll use the foundation laid by the fact that these guys have already got guaranteed public profile for a while to make some fairly interesting and strange pop and stuff like

that whereas with fame academy it's like you can hear lewis capaldi in this and yeah definitely which is sort of ironic because i think david snethern ended up working with lewis capaldi um he did years later and so uh yeah but you can sort of like you say you're daniel powders you're, your Daniel Powders, your... James Blunt, yeah. Yeah, a few years after that, like Passenger and Rag and Bone Man and things like that. You can sort of hear it. And that's not to say that it's a good thing, that it was sort of influential in its own way.

But I'm kind of between the two of you where it's it's there it's fine it's pleasant but to be honest every time i've gone back to the three songs we're covering this week i've just been kind of skipping past it and going to the second one oh this is definitely the weakest of the week i definitely wouldn't argue that yeah yeah definitely so speaking of The songs that we've been skipping ahead to Next up on our show the second song this week Is this All the things you said, all the things you said

Running through my head, running through my head All the things you said, all the things you said Running through my head, running through my head All the things you said, all the things you said Is not enough I'm in serious shit, I feel totally lost If I'm asking for help, it's only because Being with you has opened my eyes

Could I ever believe such a perfect surprise? I keep asking myself, wondering how I keep closing my eyes, but I can't block you Wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me Nobody else, so we you and me Nobody else So we can be free Nobody else So we can be free

All the things you said Running through my head Running through my head All the things you said Running through my head All the things you said All the things you said Not enough

You're the type to want more This is the time All that's interested, all that's interested Okay, this is All The Things She Said by Tattoo. Released as the lead single from the group's first English-language album, entitled 200 Kilometers An Hour In The Wrong Lane, All The Things She Said is Tattoo's first single to be released in the UK. It is also their first to reach number one. The song is an English-translated reworking of Tattoo's original Russian song, Я Сошла Сума, which literally translates to I've Lost My Mind, which was taken from their 2001 Russian language album 200 Повречтени, which literally translates to 200 kilometers an hour against the traffic. This is the last time we'll be discussing Tattoo on this podcast. All the things she said first entered the UK charts at number 57

and went to number one in its third week on the chart, knocking David Sneddon off the top. It stayed at number one for four weeks. In its first week at number one, it sold 90,000 copies, beating competition from Stole by Kelly Rowland, which got to number 2 in it's second week at number 1 it sold 57,000 copies

beating competition from Crimea River by Justin Timberlake which got to number 2, I cannot believe that sold less than 57,000 copies I was in Manchester the other week and there was a guy doing a drunk cover of it in Piccadilly Gardens it was huge but anyway, Songbird by Oasis, which got to number three, and Gimme the Light by Sean

Paul, which got to number five. In its third week at the top, it sold 46,000 copies, beating competition from I Can't Break Down by Sinead Quinn, another Fame Academy alumni, which got to number two, and Don't Worry by Appleton, a Hits 21 alumni, which got to number two and don't worry by appleton a hits 21 alumni which got to number five in its fourth and final week at the top it sold 41 000 copies beating competition from painkiller by turin breaks which got to number five when it was knocked off the top of the charts all the things she said dropped two places to number three by the time it was knocked off the top of the charts, all the things she said dropped two places to number three. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 17 weeks.

The song was certified platinum in the UK in January 2020. Lizzie, Tattoo, all the things she said. Go. Yeah, I'll try and keep it brief because I know you both have a lot to say about this one which is fine but yeah this still sounds amazing it's easily one of the best singles we've covered on the podcast and like what i'm trying to do at the minute is to avoid the chat about the video initially because i feel like that's a separate discussion and I think the song kind of deserves to be discussed in its

own right like you could argue that the video and Tattoo's image were the driving force behind their success in the UK but would it leave the same lasting impression if the song wasn't as good as this one is like there's so much like tension and angst and drama contained within what like three and a half minutes all these little all these like really small moments that add up and it's a lot like um you think of something like heaven where it kind of builds and builds and builds and you get this huge moment of release it's a similar sort of thing here and like there's just all of these small moments that you can pick out in isolation like the the synth solo and the the bit in one of the choruses where the vocals get all distorted and then when it does the whole pixies loud and

quiet thing where it can kind of you know pull you down and then push you straight back up again and yeah it's it's one of those things where sometimes when a song is as good as this it's hard to talk about in isolation because it's one of those things where you just want to say just listen to it you'll see what i mean it's really good um but yeah it's it's still you know despite the video and despite the attention it got other than everything this feels like something that probably wouldn't get to number one today but I'm

very grateful that it got to number one in 2003 and yeah I think it's one of the best number ones ever wow yes Lizzie I will be making similar comments when we come to my section,

but Andy, all the things she said by Tattoo, go ahead. Yeah, first of all, just got to mention Crimea River. Any other week, I would be just so devastated that that didn't get to number one. But, you know, for it to be beaten by this, I'll accept that. You know, I think this, as good as Crimea River is, this is better.

So, yeah, I mean, all the things she said is a song that, it's always struck a chord with me. It's a song that just, oh, just hits me in a way that few songs do, particularly so as I've got older and I've looked back on my younger years on my teenage years and not to immediately well i was gonna say not to immediately take this to a very personal place but i'm gonna do exactly that actually so yeah i mean it it does relate to me in a way that's very very personal i i came out as gay when i was 15 going on 16 but i'd actually

known deep in my Heart probably for about five years before that meaning it was there it was gradually growing in my mind and in my soul throughout my entire time at high school and when there is that large part of yourself and a large part of your feelings towards other people that you just can't express despite your raging hormones. For me at least the overwhelming feelings were sadness, unfairness, despair, a sense of helplessness and oh god what am I going to do and that's what this song really gets to the heart of in a way that's more concise, more articulate than I can recall in basically any other song about this subject. And I don't speak, obviously, I don't speak for every LGBTQ plus person. But for me, for my experience, this is

literally, it was like this. This is what it felt like, this song, being in the closet. And people have accused this song over the years, as Lizzie said, of being a gimmick, that it's riding on shock tactics of a pair of young lesbian women in an attempt to titillate the audience. And I will come to that. I would like to talk about that. But that isn't all this song is. And Lizzie is absolutely right to say that

it wouldn't have got as big as this if the song didn't live up to the hype of that video. I mean, the story of this song is about one teenager's feelings towards another presented in a kind of hyper-serious, almost kind of anxiety-inducing, frantic nature. And just every lyric really resonates with my experience. Like, just the main lyric, all the things she said are running through my head. For me, that's like, I can't tell you how many times I got a crush on a boy at school,

and because I wanted to know whether there was any chance of them retaining that affection I just hyper-analyzed even the slightest comment even the slightest gesture of kindness or friendship from them all the things they say are literally running through your head and similarly even the mildest form of rejection or thoughtlessness that was done just sort of offhand would send me spiraling for the same reason because you can't just ask that person if they want to go out with you. Because if you do, it could destroy that entire relationship and their connection with that person in a heartbeat if they take it the wrong way. It could destroy your whole life, unfortunately, if you even dare

to ask them. So all you're left with is the things that they say. And there's also the have I lost my mind refrain that keeps coming through as well and that's another thing that so many kids of our community go through is okay, yeah, you hear about gay people but I can't be one of them. What are the odds of that? Surely I'm just going crazy, you know,

because the alternative is much worse and that resonates with me as well. And the most powerful lyric of all to me is that one repeated simple statement that I think characterises the entire experience of being in the closet, which is, this is not enough. That phrase that just gets repeated over and over again.

And in the nicest way possible, one thing that people who aren't LGBTQ+, will probably never truly understand about it is that aching frustrating feeling of knowing that not only will the person you're you've got feelings for never return your feelings but they literally cannot possibly do so because they're just not compatible and so instead you've got friendship and you've got understanding hopefully but it's not enough because going through your life without the people you love being able to love you back is not enough.

And I'm very, very lucky that only a few years after I came out of the closet, I found someone who is compatible with me, who I fell in love with almost immediately, who I've married and spent my life with ever since. And I'm very, very lucky. But it's not that easy for a lot of people who only have such a small pool of people who could ever be compatible and no matter how much we celebrate pride and understanding that simple emotional

physical barrier can't be removed it will never be removed um you know if you're gay then around 90 percent of all potential partners are immediately ruled out and that's just a hard thing to get past when you're in the closet and come to terms out. And that's just a hard thing to get past when you're in the closet and come to terms with that. And that's where that sadness and despair came from. For me, that thought that this is not enough. It's not enough out there. And that's why I love this song so much

because it gets to the heart of the stigma we face. It gets to the heart of the inherent unfairness of it all while still being, by the way, an absolute banger of a song, still an absolutely huge floor filler of a song still an absolutely huge floor filler of a song as well it gears the song towards youth when these emotions run at their most high when the hormones are running most high and it doesn't avoid the sadness of the situation that it presents but there is one last thing to ponder with this um unfortunately for one of tattoo at least julia volkova this wasn't coming from a genuine place

she has stated since that she doesn't support homosexuality she wouldn't allow it within her own family and tattoo are also of course russian it must be acknowledged as well a country where homosexuality is illegal in all but name basically um and this is what real stigma looks like this is what real challenge in overcoming stigma looks like that even with a song like this that gets to the heart of the matter so well the very person performing it still doesn't understand and thus more people will stay in the closet because they'll think even you don't understand which is so frustrating. But yeah, and there's also the fact, of course,

that the song was marketed with this aggressively sexualized video showing two singers in the rain dressed like schoolgirls making out with each other. And so many people will have watched that video purely for titillation, seeing specifically female homosexuality and bisexuality as a sort of frivolous issue that only exists for heterosexual male enjoyment and that those kind of things just don't help it sets us back even further and this song and this video for me is just a microcosm of the whole issue of gaining understanding and gaining tolerance and acceptance of lgbtq plus people

like there's so many issues packed into this and so it just makes me feel inherently emotional listening to this because there's my own experience there's wider issues for the community in this as well there's a lot to unpack um and i've kind of struggled to do it in the few minutes that we've got here but i will say that songs like this really matter they really do matter and that's why it's special to me but what matters even more is that we properly listen and engage to music like this that you know perhaps one day people come to terms with their sexuality might not need music like this that might feel more easily about it and might not feel the panic and anxiety that's in this song but for me that's what it was like for a lot of people that's what it was like and so it's just wonderful to feel so represented by this song but it's sad

that that has to happen it's sad that that has to exist and obviously the context behind it with Julia Volkova is very very sad as well but I'm just very very grateful that this song got to number one and that I've had the opportunity to talk about it like this because as i'm sure you can gather it means a hell of a lot to me so yeah yeah definitely pick that up yeah yeah thank you very much that was a big big sharing session yeah andy so yeah thanks that's amazing thank you yeah um well my job now is to follow that um sorry just with this like just actually andy based on what you said that i haven't really gone into this in my notes i've sort of mentioned that like obviously i can never really understand um but the way that it was kind of put to me i remember

speaking to a friend of mine um who i'm not sure listens to the show but i won't name them anyway um he came out to me as bisexual uh like a few years ago and when he became more comfortable talking about it like in in public and stuff i remember him writing a review of a film and i forget what the film was it was just on his blog or something like that. And it made me think, because like me personally, Rob talking now, like I was not good. I was not lucky with girls at school at all. Like my first ever girlfriend, like I had to kind of go outside of my school and my town and also my country. Like, you know, I had to use the internet as, like, a mask to pretend I was capable of talking to the opposite sex kind of thing, but, like, if I was to tell a girl in school that I had a crush on her or something, they would automatically turn me down, but, like, I would live with, like, the social shame for, like, a day, maybe, like, three days, and then,

because of the mind and the hormones of a teenager you get to move on and you just kind of as well as a straight teenager anyway you just kind of get to move on but like i remember my friend kind of writing in this blog entry he said like i remember the first time i had a crush on a boy and he said he was like 12 or something and he said if i ever told him he would have battered me and i was like fuck like yeah like you know i maybe get laughed at, and, and it's just, so it's that, it's that barrier that, like you were saying, Andy, that I'll never get, so with that context, talking about all the things she said, um, I feel really similarly to something that Lizzie said, there really is, like, no point beating around the bush

with regards to how I feel about this one. This is my favourite song that we've covered so far. It's probably my favourite number one of the 2000s, although there are a couple more to come that are really close contenders. And like Lizzie said, I think this is one of the genuine great number one singles ever. Out of the thousand plus that have been released still to this day.

I have a really intense reaction to this. And it's been part of my regular rotation for years. I think this is so powerful and so immediate as well. There's such a beautiful connection between form and content with this. The story of the two main characters is like instantly evocative, like I sympathize with them, I ache for them, I want the same things that they do, you know, the performances are both so strong and believable and real. And then the composition around them, mainly assembled by its original writing team,

but crystallized and polished to perfection by Trevor Horne, really sells the sense of alarm and panic and stress and angst but it also i think captures the moments of tranquility and beauty and peace in the relationship um i think as much as the music video was a bit you know creepy and a bit like sold to oh you see them like russian lesbians on the telly you know that sort of thing but the image of them kind of caressing and like cuddling in the rain in the music video comes through in the music and the lyrics in this there's this idea that like the world around them is the dangerous place but the space between them this tiny little space between them between their bodies is like a sanctuary it's like a place of peace and love and it's this idea that only they can protect each other

and by extension, protect the space. As much as this is obviously an explicitly, like I mentioned before, as much as this is obviously an explicitly, like a queer love song, I can't really speak to the reality of it because I've never experienced it. But with that being said

i feel the sudden sense of panic in this that's like shit i'm gay like this makes me think about dan howell's coming out video on youtube um i will leave a link to that where he talks about being 12 and 13 and realizing that he's the very thing that all of his friends say is bad you know it's well gay or etc etc and he him realizing that like oh i'm that thing and this song really speaks to that feeling like you're somehow infected and like as the song says you want to just wash away the shame um even the instrumental section in the middle with those blaring synth leads it sounds like some kind of panic alarm it reminds me a bit of um i don't know if you either of you heard this um nautilus by anna

meredith no oh yeah yeah yeah there's a really specific scene that it gets used in in bo burnham's film eighth grade when kayla the main character she steps out into a pool party but she just does not fit in like none of the kids there are friends she's just been told to go and that synth lead captures that same sense of panic this idea that you can't escape but even away from that i think this captures it like even just divorcing it if it's LGBT like content I still think this captures the highs and lows of a teen relationship in general the heightened melodrama the constant contradictions from one line to the next you know like in the first verse in the space of two lines you go from I'm in serious shit I feel

totally lost to being with you has opened my eyes, could I ever believe such a perfect surprise, and then you get, I keep closing my eyes, but I can't block you out, this idea of being in denial, but then that transitions right to, wanna fly to a place where it's just you and me, like, the lyrics in the English version are so much stronger, and take you through the whirlwind of emotions that the characters are going through um and all of this like you sort of said andy you went so deep into your analysis of the song like i did without mentioning and now i'm going to mention that this is just straight up like one of the catchiest fucking songs ever made yeah i really haven't done enough justice to that that it is just

genuinely absolute banger it's amazing yeah a four week number one in the early 2000s and you can really see why like I know that the music video and the initial shock of whoa lesbians what was like

you know that it played on like not just lesbians but schoolgirl lesbians and the whole thing with tattoo was like with thelma and louise but what if thelma and louise were lesbians instead of friends and and they keep doing that throughout their career but it never quite feels this good again you know not gonna get us and all about us and like they're decent but you can feel that there's something missing that this one has and knowing about um those later comments that julia made it leaves this weird mark on the whole thing because i feel like those comments are insane and like you could do a whole

study on how many utterly baffling conclusions she comes to in the comments that she made because it's not it would make more sense if she was just like a blanket homophobe across the board but it's all of this like well it's fine for women to be gay because it looks aesthetically pleasing but it's not fine for men to be gay because they were put on earth to procreate like does she not realize the words that are coming out of her mouth as she says them it just seems so utterly divorced from any kind of reality I've experienced before not to excuse it at all it's absolutely appalling what she said

but it's born out of naivety more than anything there's this assumption that it must be some kind of choice I used to work for a manager who really I wouldn't want to condemn for saying this because they really were the nicest person but they said to me once this offhand comment about a friend of hers who's like having awful trouble with her husband or something and she said you know the stuff we have to put up with for men i really understand sometimes why some women choose to become lesbians and go out with other women instead i'm like do you realize what you're saying here like there's so much baked into that statement you've just said to a gay person by the

way that you've just said that too but it's just delusion delusion this idea that anybody could have any control over it it's just an assumption that some people make that they never question never ever question i mean it's infuriating yeah yeah it's like in england at the time bear in mind we're still under section 28 yeah that's just what i'd say yeah no wonder nobody has like a full understanding of those issues and it's this kind of thing like the the press attention around it as well like what was it richard and judy wanted to have it banned because they said it pandered to pdfiles and like yeah it's like you realize what you're doing by saying oh we should ban this sick filth it's like obviously people are going to be somewhat intrigued by it

and yeah and of course this is where we end up it's number one and but But those sort of comments leave a mark. As much as it might not affect us because we have our own ideas about what it means to be gay or lesbian or bi or trans or queer, that doesn't necessarily apply to other people. Yeah. Yeah. And besides the fact that it's just a total double standard as well that you know that you're telling me

that no straight man ever got off to baby one more time you know it's just a total double standard and the fact that like you say that as soon as you queer code something it suddenly becomes a moral issue rather than just the fact that it's about sex and you know if this was a song that wasn't

at all queer coded and was just about male female titillation it would not be controversial at all it's not the sex that's the problem it's the sexuality and the the non-straightness of it all that's the problem and people can dress that up as much as they want but they're lying simple as that yeah exactly there's been so much more explicit like music videos or even songs that haven't made anyone blink in the last five years. And they get played on TV fine, but this one isn't okay. Yeah. I mean, again, it all comes back to the people who push these things.

They just use children as a thing. Like, oh, we must protect the children it's always about protecting the children and of course some of the children are gay that's the problem yeah and how you protect those children is you let them indulge in this stuff you let them see it you let them see that actually two girls can kiss each other and that's okay they can be in love with each other and that's okay two boys can do the same it's uh protecting the children assumes that all children are going to grow up to be straight and they're not it's this horrible thing it's like oh if she hadn't seen this video she might have turned out to be straight what crying like for fuck's sake yeah yeah um the last couple of things that i want to say about

this i think the combination of high pitched vocals and those really thick guitars that appear yeah in the song and the kind of laser electronics um hello hi pop-pop anyone like yeah i can hear it in this i when i listen to this i'm like yeah i can see 100 gex doing something like this and oh i mean yeah do you think so like if 100 gex decided to cover this would it sound out of place in there on any of their albums no no and i think i'm so glad that this actual song is being reclaimed by the pop artists of today who have taken the material and reapplied it to new context. Like, Lizzie, I know you sent me a video a little while ago of Olivia Rodrigo covering this live. Yeah, Poppy's really, really embarrassing and thankfully we should mention that the other performer responded

to that happening by sort of posting on Instagram or Twitter or something by saying well everybody's free to love who they love and that's all I'm going to say about that she was quite keen to put her foot down in the opposite direction and to give her due credit as well it must be said

that it's brave for a Russian artist to do that. Oh, for sure. So, yeah, to go public either way on this, obviously, you know, creates debate, particularly if you are Russian, and it's no excuse at all to be hateful, but to actually come out in support of the community and to say, actually, no, I disown what she said,

and love is love. It is actually very brave for a Russian female artist to do that because obviously we've seen how that tends to turn out with other artists who've rebelled against the ideological views of the state there. So it's, yeah, it is brave, and that deserves to be mentioned as well. So thank you for bringing that up as well, Rob.

Yeah. But to kind of round off, I think the main thing that really strikes me about this song years later is that this song is singing about something that as we've fully explored i could never understand and yet after three minutes with it i feel like i sort of do or at least i could you you know, like, and it just, it is so strong. The emotions in it come through so firmly that like, I will never understand. And yet just experiencing this, it feels like I've lived through something. It's yeah, it is a Titan. It really, really is. This will be so, so when we come to do like our year end and decade end and show end lists and stuff,

this will be so high, so high, and deservedly so. Yeah, absolutely. Okay, third up and last up on our show this week is this. Don't look at me. Every day is so wonderful And suddenly it's hard to breathe Now and then I get insecure From all the pain. I'm so ashamed.

I am beautiful no matter what they say. Words can't bring me down. Can't bring me down I am beautiful In every single way Yes, words can't bring me down No, no So don't you bring me down today Okay, this is Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. Released as the second single from her fourth studio album, entitled Stripped,

Beautiful is Christina Aguilera's eighth single overall to be released in the UK and her fourth to reach number one. However, this is the last time we'll be discussing Christina Aguilera on this podcast. Beautiful first entered the chart at number 51 and went straight to number one in its third week on the chart, knocking Tattoo off the top. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week on the chart, knocking Tattoo off the top. It stayed at number one for two weeks.

In its first week at number one, it sold 60,000 copies, beating competition from The Boys of Summer by DJ Sammy, which got to number two. Move Your Feet by Junior Senior, which got to number four. That's a shame. Keep Me A Secret by Ainsley Henderson, which got to number five. And Here It Comes Again by Mel C, which got to number 5 and Here It Comes Again by Mel C which got to number 7. In its second week atop the charts it sold 43,000 copies beating competition

from I Begin To Wonder by Danny Minogue which got to number 2, Sing For The Moment by Eminem which got to number 6, Work It by Nelly and Justin Timberlake which got to number 7, Incredible by Darius which got to number 7, Incredible by Darius, which got to number 9, and Don't Think You're the First by The Coral, which got to number 10. Coral, that's early for them. Yes, The Coral. Yes, I was surprised to see them too. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Beautiful fell four places to number 5.

By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 14 weeks and the song was certified platinum in the UK in November 2019. So I'll field this one first because I have the least to say about it I think. I am just making an assumption there. But yes

I'm giving this a mild thumbs up. I appreciate the meaning that people have attached to this song, and I think that's totally fair enough. I think the content is there in the lyrics and the performance, and I think this shows off Christina's range better than Dirty did, because she's more exposed here, and her voice is quite naked against the comparatively sparse backing.

And she really uses that space well, I think. I love the descending chords played on the piano, the way it builds and gets louder without ever being too overbearing. But my issue with it is I think it's a bit too broad for me to connect with lyrically and to find much in it emotionally I can sit back and appreciate this and I totally accept what other people get out of this um I definitely like it just about but I find it hard to get like an emotional handle on this whenever I listen to it I don't know if it's something to do with Christina or something like that, or I don't quite know what it is. Maybe if I had a connection to Christina's music, this would be something that really sticks out to me as like a defining

recording of hers. But my favourite moment is right at the very, very, very, very, very beginning, almost before the song even starts which is just the don't look at me thing in the recording that's a nice little you know easter egg that you get if you like put some headphones on and listen to it in a quiet room and stuff um and i wish there was more of that kind of like personal and intimate content within the song but i definitely like this um i wish i had more to say about it hopefully you guys can compensate for that but yeah i'm i'm into it just about so it's a shame and it's such a surprise that christina will not come up on this podcast again because she releases some good

singles after this um it's a shame they don't chart as well. But Lizzie, how are we feeling on Beautiful by Christina Aguilera? I mean, I'm also surprised that this is the last time we'll be covering her. But she is still plugging away, right? She's still releasing singles. Yeah, still going, still going. So she could be on the show again. Yeah. But yeah, I agree with a lot of your points.

This is, I do like this one. Obviously don't love it as much as tattoo but then i don't love many things as much as that song so there you go um to me i if i was to like close my eyes and picture this song i see it as like a big number in a musical i don't know if it would be something like towards the middle before the intermission or if it'd be like the big closing piece. But it's where you'd have like the star of the show, in this case, Christina Aguilera, like centre stage spotlight on her. Nothing else around her on the stage, apart from when like the sort of choir joins towards the end and sort of brings the whole thing to a close.

and sort of brings the whole thing to a close. And yeah, I agree with you, Rob, that I like that it sort of shows a different side of her. It shows that she can do both of those things, like, you know, dirty and then this, in a way that I think a lot of artists that are like, who do this sort of thing, if you say someone like Adele, I can't picture

her doing dirty and it's that's fine but it kind of people maybe don't give christina aguilera and also britney spears credit that they can do both of those things and fit in quite comfortably in both yeah um but yeah the the actual um lyrical content i agree it's it's maybe a little bit broad but that's what makes me think that it would be sort of suited to like um a stage production because it's one of those things where you're supposed to listen to it and think yes this this applies to me it's not this hyper-specific fixated thing. And also, since we're talking about queer themes quite a lot this week, I also said to you that it's a shame we didn't get Danger High Voltage

at number one in January, because we could have had three sort of queer-coded songs in a row. Yeah. Would have been quite nice. But anyway, i had completely forgotten about the video where you know there's a gay couple kissing there's a trans woman looking in the mirror i this completely slipped my mind until i went and revisited it because i just remembered it as christina aguilera like everything's kind-brown and she's just sort of on the floor

looking a bit defeated. So yeah, props to her for that, especially again because bear in mind like England at the time anyway, still living under section 28 and it's quite a bold statement to put that in a video and not really think anything of it and yeah I think this has survived as a result as kind of a bit of a queer anthem I maybe I'm not saying I don't agree with it I think it's just like you Rob I think it's maybe a bit broader than that but it's fine I you, you know, I, I do like this. I think it deserves to be number one. Um, I'd obviously have loved to have, you know,

be able to talk about move your feet, but yeah, this is, this is good. Yeah. And Andy, you can, you can round us off this week with your thoughts on beautiful by Christina Aguilera.

I agree with a lot of the points both of you have made, but I think I like it a bit more. Certainly a bit more than you do, Rob, and probably a little bit more than you do, Lizzie. I think the point about it being broad is an interesting one because it is quite broad and you can attach quite a lot of different meanings to it. And I think there's good reason for that, which I will come to.

But for me, it's not as all-encompassing as something like born this way by lady gaga or firework by katie perry i feel like this is a little bit more targeted in specifically to young people and it perhaps this is perhaps there's a reason why for this which i'll get to in a second but for me this always seems to be particularly about body image um maybe the reason for that it's funny you mentioned musical theater lizzie because perhaps the reason for that is that i used to be a big fan of glee when i was a teenager and they did yeah yeah they did an episode that had a storyline about um a character who was going through serious body image problems was starting to develop signs of bulimia and then at the end of the episode this song gets wheeled out and as is the way in glee that magically cures

the issue but it was used for that purpose um and maybe that's why i was associated with body image but i do think it's sort of about that because it's about feeling beautiful even if you don't particularly even if other people don't particularly see your beauty or don't call out your beauty you know so I think maybe it's a little bit less broad than those but I think the fact that you can attach different meanings to it is a good thing certainly it's an intentional thing because it helps the record sell obviously but I think it's a good thing in that there are many different reasons why people might sit down put their headphones on and cry and want someone to just tell them that they're beautiful and it's okay and it's nice that people can just apply any particular reason into this.

It's very different to tattoo in that in tattoo with all the things you said, it's, you know, obviously you can attach different meanings to it. That's how music works, but that is very much about a particular issue as far as I'm concerned. Whereas this, you know, whether you're going through issues with body image, whether you're going through issues with bullying at school or whether you're going through issues with mental health or anything you can kind of find comfort in this song and i do appreciate the fact that i can imagine that millions of people you know throughout the last 20 years have at some point sat down and listened to this song to make them feel better I've at some point sat down and listened to this song to make them feel better,

which is nice, and I've got to give that credit. I think I completely agree with Lizzie's point about how this is harder than it looks to do a song like this, Christina and Brittany and a few others, that to do a song that is possibly seen to be cashing in on quite an obvious, easy subject, but to do it in a sense that doesn't look like that, looks credible that looks like it's coming from the heart that's a lot harder than it looks other artists have done that less successfully again i would say katie perry jesse j a few others it's looked a little bit insincere whereas this looks sincere to me i feel like it's coming from a genuine place and whether it is or not it's harder than it looks to make it look that way um and i give it credit for that i like the fact funnily enough

just like all the things she said that it doesn't actually try to ignore the sadness of the situation that it is quite a bleak song it never really rises up out of that descending couple of chords that sort of the the third the fifth of the chord just keeps kind of lowering and and that never really changes it stays in that kind of bleak sad place as if to say it's okay to be sad we're not trying to cheer you up with this song it's just to sort of give you a hug you know and i and i like that that it's not about sort of saying um oh put a smile on your face you know it's not about that it's about yes this is sad and this sucks but it will be okay and i think that's nice that it doesn't attempt to make light of something that's there's not much light to be found in particular you know probably when you're in those

moments um but the other thing as well that i really like about this i've said this before about a few of the songs that one thing for me that always elevates a song that always gives it an extra point or two for me is when it executes a killer bridge. And this is a really good bridge just at the point where it might be starting to get a bit generic ballad a little bit like

oh when's this going to finish? It kicks in with that no matter what we do no matter what they say which is just oh really really works. It's like the big rousing moment where if it was musical theatre

the choir would stand up and start piping in those bits. Yes it's cheesy but it's okay to be cheesy in a song about this sort of thing and it does lift the song um so yeah as you can tell i actually really like this one thing i don't like about it is that the production maybe it's just spotify i don't know but the production seemed really tinny seemed really tight and closed in a way that I didn't expect. I felt like she was right in my head in terms of Christina's vocals. It seemed like she was very, very close to my head, and I didn't like that. We kind of said this about Dirty, and I wonder if it's just an issue with the album.

Yeah, it seemed like it was very, very tightly panned in the middle. I don't really like that production. like it was very very tightly panned in the middle it's just i don't really like that production um but other than that yes it's a bit cheesy and a little bit generic at times but i think that's kind of okay considering what this song is going for i really enjoy what it does musically um i love that bridge and she's got a hell of a voice she executes it really well as well i kind of do without all the runs at the beginning in the end that's a little bit unnecessary maybe with the all that stuff

maybe a bit not needed, you know knock a point off of that. Taking a cup of tea down the stairs like Destiny's Child. Sounds a bit like the incidental music that they play between scenes in the Hannah Montana TV show where she's just like oh oh oh yeah, oh, yeah.

The thing is, it's become her kind of calling card by this point, hasn't it? But nothing will ever beat the one at the start of Ain't No Other Man. The hey, that's like the one. But she does it in every other song, and it's like, no, no, you're not going to be that one. But yeah, I actually like this quite a lot. It's nowhere near as good as Tattoo, obviously. So it looks like we're kind of damning it with faint praise, I think.

But I actually think this is really nice. Another song that is kind of one of those songs that matter. You know, it does help people. So I give it a point for that. Yeah, it's nice. Yeah. I'm glad you mentioned that it's not really much of an uplifting song. And, like, because, like, when you listen to even the chorus, even,

those lines, like, words can't bring me down. But it's not like words can't bring me down, so go sling your hook. It's like words can't bring me down, so don't you bring me down today. It's like a sort of quiet confession of, like, actually words can bring you down and they can seriously hurt and they can do damage. Yeah. So like,

like don't do that because you have no idea of what kind of damage it can cause. Yeah. And it's okay to be hurt by them. Yeah. No, that absolutely is a really good point. Cause I forgot to mention actually that it does kind of read a bit like an

inner monologue. Like you're convincing yourself more than anyone else, because I like that change in the choruses that it goes from like you are beautiful to i am beautiful to we are beautiful that's nice that it kind of feels like you're working through a process of convincing yourself um rather than anyone else that you know that this is an inner monologue and i like that yeah yeah yeah the directions that the piano takes in the chorus are quite interesting as well because on that line the um words won't bring us down or words can't bring us down and stuff the the chords go from they stay in like a minor tone where they go the where you'd think that the piano would do a bit of an uplifting thing and it would lift upwards

with words that are quite defiant like words won't bring us down the bass notes just go boom boom boom boom boom boom boom and it goes down each step each time and like you say it doesn't turn into like an uplifting song it's more of an acknowledgement song if you know what i mean it just kind of acknowledges the situation as it is and communicates a feeling but then before it goes everything's fine now it just kind of acknowledges the situation as it is and communicates a feeling, but then before it goes, everything's fine now, it just kind of goes, ah, no, this will just carry on, won't it? And yeah, no, I'm, I'm, like I say, I appreciate everything that goes on with this. I wish I could emotionally connect with this more, uh, than, than I, than I do. I've just thought of something, you know what it kind of reminds me of? When you were talking about that bass

thing, it's a bit like The Long and Winding Road Yeah, and the other the Beatles song that it gets compared to quite a lot as well is While My Guitar Gently Weeps just because it has the descending chord sequence, but yeah

so it does have that kind of atmosphere where it's kind of downtrodden and everything's heading towards deeper bass notes and stuff yeah no i've seen it compared to that before in the past if i can just give one final random comment on this that's not connected to anything but you know when you listen to a song and there's just one bit that you always sing along to just like because it's just that you just like that bit the bit that i always sing along to with this is that one there's one line in one verse that has a harmony and most of the other song most of the other lyrics in this song

don't have a harmony but there's that bit that you're delirious with that you're delirious and i always sing why does that one line have such a lovely harmony but all the others don't it's nice but it's like why is that in there because it's really good well okay that is it for this week's episode but before we go we just have to check whether any songs that we cover this week

are going to be going in the pie hole or into the vault so Stop Living the Lie by David Sneddon. Is that going down or up for anybody? No, sorry David. It's a big week. Sorry David. No, but there's a lot more coffee pop

to come. Yes. And a lot worse coffee pop as well. A lot worse. Yes. So, All the Things She Said by Tattoo. Of tattoo of course vault vault for me too it's going right up there and beautiful by christina aguilera uh vault come feeling friendly i'm feeling generous um and again i just think it's a song that i like to revisit and a song that pulls at the heartstrings.

And as you may have gathered from this episode, I'm an emotional, sentimental old sap. So yeah, put it in the box. Why not? Yeah. I also am, but not about this song. Yeah. It narrowly misses out for me, but I do really like it.

Yeah, fair enough. All right then, that is it for this week's, well, this week's main episode, because we have a bonus episode featuring our interview with Mr. Brian Caffron, who played Richard Hillman on Coronation Street. Not mentioned it. No, no we haven't. If you want to get the inside scoop on the biggest TV story of 2003,

then go ahead and listen to our bonus episode. When we come back, we'll be covering the period between the 16th of March to the 3rd of May, 2003. We are blitzing through this year because the number ones are really sticking around. So we will see you next time. Thank you very much.

Thank you very much. It was always you and me always see you later everyone see ya