Hits 21 - 2007 (5): Sean Kingston, Sugababes, Leona Lewis, Katie Melua & Eva Cassidy

Episode Date: March 10, 2024

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] Vault: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/5O5MHJUIQIUuf0Jv0Peb3C?si=e4057fb450f648b0 Piehole: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2FmWkwasjtq5UkjKqZLcl4

Hi there everyone, welcome back to Hits21, 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 Hits21 UK, that is at Hits21 UK. and he can email us too to send it on over to hits21podcast.com Thank you so much for joining us again. We are currently looking back at the year 2007 is our penultimate episode of 2007 because this week we'll be covering the period between the 2nd of September and the 22nd of December.

We're taking you right up almost to Christmas Day. We're covering four songs this week as opposed to our regular three. So it is time to press on and get ahead with those four songs but before that we just have to check in with some news headlines from around the time the songs we're covering in this episode were at number one in the UK. Television presenter Michael Barrymore is informed that he will not face charges following the death of Stuart Lubbock, a man found dead in Barrymore's swimming pool six years earlier. Despite numerous arrests and police inquiries, the case remains unsolved as of 2024.

British teacher Gillian Gibbons is released from a jail in Sudan after eight days. Gibbons had initially been given a 15-day sentence by Sudanese officials after she had allowed her class to name a teddy bear, Mohammed. In sport, England lose to South Africa in the 2007 Rugby World Cup final, while the Boston Red Sox wins the World Series of Baseball over in America. And back here in England, the Bank Northern Rock collapses, leading to the first bank run in the UK in 150 years. Northern Rock was eventually nationalised before being gladly funked in 2012. The films that hit the top of the UK box office during this period were as follows.

Run Fatboy Run for 4 weeks, The Heartbreak Kid for 1 week, Before Ratatouille begins another 4 week run at the top. Then is Good Luck Chuck for 1 week, American Gangster for 2 weeks, Fred Claus for 1 week, American gangster for two weeks, Fred Claus for one week, the golden compass for two weeks, Enchanted for one week and then 2007 is finished when I Am Legend gets to the number one at the box office for one week. 15 year old X Factor contestant, Emelina Kander is forced to withdraw from the competition after footage of her attacking another teenager emerges. The so-called happy slapping video was accompanied by more footage which featured Emily

threatening to attack another student. This was a not a great time for X Factor. There is this is in this period there's also that first episode of the live shows of this season where Sharon Osbourne resigned live on the air during poor damn at O'Leary's first show where he had to handle that. So not a great time for them. Yeah. Yeah. Sharon always did handle things in a very level headed way. Didn't she? She's known for her tact, I would say. Yeah. Very poised. Yeah. And the righteous Guild of America goes on strike. The strikes lasted 14 weeks and affected production on hit shows

such as Saturday Night Live, Lost, The Office, Breaking Bad, Gossip Girl, How I Met Your Mother and Scrubs. The strikes eventually ended in February 2008. I have to say, having previously hosted a podcast about Lost, I really would not be forgiven if I didn't point out that two of the headlines you've read out, Lizzie, are actually related to each other, that the Boston Red Sox winning the World Series ends up being quite a significant plot point in Lost. Isn't that fun? Yeah. Andy the UK album charts, how are they? They are doing fine. Thank you Rob. Thank you very much for asking. We've got quite a few to get through this week and we are finishing off the year because of the biggie that comes to see us out at the end of the year. So we begin this period

with graduation by Kanye West which went double platinum and was number one for one week before Kanye is toppled by James Blunt of all people with all the lost souls which went number one and triple platinum. That's replaced at the top by Foo Fighters with their latest Echoes, Silence, Patience and Grace, four things which I would say are qualities that Sharon Osbourne holds. That goes to number one for one week and goes double platinum. Sorry Sharon. After that another one week run at the top for Bruce Springsteen with Magic which only went gold. It's a one-week run again for the Sugar Babes with their album Change which went single platinum. After that we

get the Stereophonics with Pull the Pin also one week and went gold. Then we get a favorite of both mine and my husband from the time which is very dear to my heart which is the Hoosiers with the Trick to Life which goes number one for one week and goes double platinum. Lovely album there, lovely. Then to see out the year we got three more. We've got the Eagles with Long Road out of Eden which went number one for one week and double platinum. Westlife with Back Home which went number one and triple platinum and then one other little album to see this year out, Spirit by Leon Lewis, which spent seven weeks at number one and took us all the way into January 2008

and went 10 times platinum. Quite extraordinary that one, that it went 10 times platinum but was not even the highest selling album of the year because of Amy Winehouse at the start of the year with Back to Black. So an stonkingly huge album, Faleona Lewis, who covers us through November, December and into January. So that's your lot for this year, you know. Okay, Lizzie America, how are they coming up to the end of the year? Yeah, well it's a long period we're covering this week but thankfully there are some long

stints at number one to fill in the space. First up this week we have Fergie and her single Big Girls Don't Cry. It stayed at number one for one week and was her third solo number one single. Back here in the UK it got to number two during Umbrella's reign at number one. Next up is debut single by Soldier Boy Tellen, Crank That, Brackets Soldier Boy, Closed Brackets. It spent 7 weeks at number 1 and was eventually certified triple platinum in the US. In the UK it spent 8 weeks in top 10 between 2007 and 2008, but just barely missed out on number one, peaking at number two in January.

After that, Kanye scored his third number one single with Stronger, which we covered on the previous episode. It was eventually certified Diamond in the US with over 10 million sales recorded. Finally for singles this week, we have Kiss Kiss by Chris Brown featuring T-Pain and not featuring Holly Valance. It was Chris Brown's second number one single and stayed at number one for three weeks, eventually being certified quadruple platinum. Back here in the UK, it only got as high as number 38 in November. As for the US Christmas number one of 2007, I will mention that in our next episode. So over to albums, let's

get kicked off. We have graduation by Kanye West one week at number one, also got to number one in the UK. Then we have Reba Jewettes by Reba McIntyre. One week, failed to chart in the UK. Then we have Still Feels Good by Rascal Plats. One week, failed to chart in the UK. Then we have Magic by Bruce Springsteen. Two weeks, also got to number one in the UK. Next up is Rock and Roll Jesus by Kid Rock. One week, peaked at number four in the UK. Then we have Carnival Ride by Carrie Underwood. One week, failed charts in the UK.

And then we have Long Road out of Eden by Eagles. One week, also got to number one in the UK as Andy just mentioned. Next up is American Gangster by Jay-Z. One week peaked at number 30 in the UK. Then we have As I Am by Alicia Keys. Four weeks at number one got to number 11 in the UK. And finally the Christmas number one album of 2007, Noel by Josh Groban, which spent five weeks at number one in the US and failed to chart in the UK. Oh dear, God. I'm thinking I need to start reading those like, you know that old football announcer used to do Stolten, yeah. James Alexander Gordon, yeah. Stockport One, Gilligan, Neil. Two pretty big albums in there in that list for me.

I mean, graduation, which we kind of talked about last week, crucially, not just number one, but crucially Curtis. Fifty Cent was at number two. And that was seen as kind of like a sliding doors moment where it was maybe not a sliding doors moment but more confirmation that gangster raps kind of stranglehold on you know sort of the second wave of gangster rap with like G-Unit and Master P and people like that you know it was kind of on the way out and this more kind of, should we say at the time, sort of friendly, pop-orientated hip-hop was going to come through in quite

a big way. It's just you, right? And I'm quite a fan of American Gangster. I think that's one of Jay-Z's probably sort of like his better sort of later career ones. But thank you both very much for those reports and we are going to get on with the four songs that we're covering this week and the first of those is this. That's why it'll never work, you have me Suicidal, suicidal When you say it's over Damn all these beautiful girls

They only wanna do your dirt They'll have you Suicidal, suicidal When they say it's over See it started at the park, used to chill after dark Oh and it took my heart, that's when we fell apart Cause we both thought that love lasts forever lasts forever

They say we too young to get ourselves drunk Oh we didn't care We made it very clear and they also said that we couldn't last together See it's very defined, you're one of a kind But you're my, you're my mind You are figure decline, oh lord My baby is driving me crazy Okay, this is Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album titled Sean Kingston, Beautiful Girls is Sean Kingston's first single overall to be released in the UK and his first to reach number one Sean Kingston. However, as of 2024, it is his last Sean Kingston. Beautiful girls first enter the UK chart at number 2, reaching number

1 during its second week on the chart, knocking Kanye West off the top spot. It stayed at number one for four weeks. During its four weeks atop the charts, it sold 155,000 copies beating competition from Shut Up and Drive by Rihanna. Big Girls Don't Cry by Fergie. The Creeps by Freaks. 1973 by James Blunt. Sexy No No No by Girls Allowed.

She's So Lovely by Scouti for Girls, Delivery by Baby Shambles and The Pretender by Foo Fighters. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Beautiful Girls fell three places to number four. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for just 18 weeks, which is kind of low when compared to sort of more recent singles. This song is currently officially certified two times platinum in the UK so double platinum as of 2024. So Lizzie you can open the show with Sean Kingston.

Yeah I mean it's gutsy if nothing else, Kingston himself was barely out of school at the time and for his big debut he's decided to directly sample one of the most well-known and beloved soul songs of all time. But not just that, he's also written some embarrassingly self-pitying lyrics to go along with it. And just for good measure, his voice is practically dripping in auto tune, which was the style at the time in fairness, but still. Credit to him for that, I suppose, but I'm not a fan of this one. It's all a bit too ploying for me.

The beat has that awful faux 50s thing going on that Megan Drainer will dredge up a few years after this and the guilt-trip nature of the lyrics becomes overbearing very quickly with that suicide line alone putting the chorus among the worst we've encountered on the podcast. I just find it quite an unpleasant listen overall which is a shame considering what a huge achievement this is for someone his age. Maybe with a few more years experience he might have realised that this could have done with the rewrite but you know he got a number one out of it. I just don't like it very much.

I'm sorry. Yeah, I have to also apologise to Mr Kingston here because I struggle to take this even remotely seriously, struggle to buy into the story at all. Like unfortunately I think it's part of that genre within pop sometimes where it kind of perpetuates a lot of grim kind of like stereotypes of like abuse in relationships where people, you know, the majority of whom are women, get trapped in these relationships because a man threatens to kill himself if she'll leave. It's not exclusively men that do that, but trying to pretend that the majority of

these cases aren't men, I think it would be disingenuous. I think that it's unfortunate this just because of the suicidal bit, actually actually because it's probably the only melody in the song that kind of like Makes me think yeah that melody is stuck with me. It's just a shame that it's like Suicidal so God I just I find it all so silly right down to the the vocized barbershop quartet that Sean has brought with him. I think I'm just kind of struck by how old the writers and producers want him to sound. Like, you know, they've nicked this Benny King sample from 1961.

They've used it as the basis for the entire track. You know, they're really leaning on the kind of do-op thing as well. And so many of the lyrics are trying to make him sound like he's about 50 when his voice makes it really obvious that he hasn't fully finished school yet. And then it comes the lyric, probably my favorite moment in the whole song where he says, when I went away for doing my first crime. And I'm like, it sounds like George Formby's popped in for a second, but also like, oh, just 16 when I went away for doing my first crime. I just find it old.

So I just giggle through most of this now, to be honest, and not for good reason. I just find it kind of silly and manipulative and a bit crass actually. You know, I thought that I would get kind of like a nice kick from the past with this because everybody at my school was obsessed with this. Not me though, even when I was 13 and I didn't really have much of a concept of things like taste or, you know, kind of like trying to discern between like you know the things I like and the things I don't I

Was buying some proper shit on iTunes as we've gone through But I never bought this This just wasn't my vibe and it isn't my vibe now. So yeah, sorry Sean nothing personal Andy how about you? Yeah, I was planning to go into this for most of this week as the person who would not exactly go to bat for Sean Kingston, but would slightly defend it, would be slightly warmer on it for a reason that I will go into. But just to say, no, I've changed my mind. No, I will not be more kind to this. It's not great to be honest. The reason I was going to be more kind to it is because I love Stand By Me.

I absolutely adore it. That song is a 10 for me, probably. Yeah, of course. I just think it's absolutely beautiful. It's got that wonderful bass line. It's beautiful lyrics, really nice instrumentation, a really soulful, heartfelt vocal performance that you can kind of transfer to any singer and pretty much anyone can do a good job with Standby Me, to be honest. Like it's just a absolutely classic that is perfectly executed and it's just full of

heart and full of kindness in it. And then you get this, which like of all the songs that you're gonna, you know, tear inside out and put a No mark naughty's teenager into you're choosing stand by me to do that too. Oh Yeah And the part all the parts of this literally all of the parts of this that I like are just stand by me but like that that baseline and the core progression and the strings in the background, it's because it's all just lifted from Stand By Me, so it doesn't actually get any points from me from that. I completely agree about the suicidal thing, it's really crass and it's really tasteless and really takes things to a level that it doesn't need

to be very quickly, like why? It kind of gives me the same vibes as that famous line from Rhythm as a Dancer where he says, I'm serious as cancer when I say Rhythm as a Dancer. It's like, you don't need to go to that place. Why do we have to talk about these issues in this silly pop song? Yeah, and it's funny because I have always I never knew Never knew until a few weeks ago that Shawn Kingston was a teenager when he did this I always assumed he was much older and that's because the song invites you to think that he's much older like it It's it's a trick like he sounds like he's some guy in his 30s looking back on a litany of lost loves when he's Same age as me

basically like he's only just in America he still should be in high school himself and he's talking about his first crime like he said Rob would he would have been nine years old in 1999 what was his crime like stealing penny sweets just it's just laughable really so it's got this horrible combination of taking a classic and absolutely desecrating it, putting really excruciating lyrics over it and applying things to it that are completely inauthentic and blatantly not real. So the whole thing is just this horrible corporate, like I say, desecration of a much, much better song. So yeah, I wanted to go into it defending it because I love Stand By Me so much

and anything that's associated with that kind of gets a little bit of a pass from me, but not this. Just horrible. It's horrible, yeah. Yeah, it's funny actually about the the suicidal line that there were certain radio stations particularly in Ireland who refused to play this song over the suicidal line and then Sean Kingston made a concession and changed

it to in denial instead of suicidal that doesn't really help to be honest it doesn't make sense. There's something about the way he's singing it as well. He's at the same level the whole time. He's a gigga every word like this. You don't get any sense of him actually being suicidal. Because he just sounds the same way as he always does. It really reminds me, like the whole song, everything about it really reminds me of Replay by Ayaz.

Which we will revisit. Yeah, we get to come to that, don't we? And the whole thing is just so similar. It's got that plaintive emotionless male honk all the way through it. It's got that horrible cliched little gimmick that's at the heart of it. So it's that little versus the iPod on replay thing. There's a little bit of a micro genre happening here which is not to my taste at all. Yeah. Yeah.

It's kind of like, how do I put this pop kind of borrowing from ringtone rap a little bit where it's just, you have this as your ringtone and it's the suicidal text alert thing that you used to be able to buy for, you know, stupid amounts of money. I mentioned my iTunes purchases before. I'll just do a quick roundup of my final purchases of the year. So we're bringing, did Rob buy it on iTunes way further forward. So Smokers Outside the Hospital doors, editors, I bought White and Nerdy, Weird Al Yankovich, two songs specifically from the hair spray soundtrack. I can hear

the bells and ladies choice, Stonehenge and Big Bottom by Spinal Tap. The View from the Afternoon and Fake Tales of San Francisco both both by Arctic Monkeys and then Jessica by Elliot Minor two left feet by the Holloway's with every heartbeat Robin stronger by Kanye West and then finished the year with Hey There Delilah by Plain White Tees I did not make another purchase through the rest of 2007 and to be honest I was looking ahead I thought I bought more things in 2008, but I actually didn't. I don't know why, but I just seem to, I don't know, begin to distance myself from the charts.

Maybe I was downloading things more, should we say, I was learning how to use the internet to access music instead of just going straight to iTunes. So yeah, in terms of relevant chart and pop concerns, my little sort of iTunes segment may well be over and may come back to it in the future. But meh, who knows. So, we will move on to our second song this week, which is this. It was so easy that night, should have been strong, yeah I lied, nobody gets me right, you Couldn't keep hold of you then, could I know what you meant? There was nothing to compare to I know everything changes All the cities and faces

But I know how I feel about you There's a mountain between us But there's one thing I'm sure of And I know how I feel about you Can we bring yesterday back around? Cause I know how I feel about you now I was dumb, I was fall, I layed you down But I know how I feel about you now Alright, this is About You Now by Sugar Babes. Released as the lead single from the group's fifth studio album titled Change, About You

Now is Sugar Babes' 19th single overall to be released in the UK and their 6th to reach number one. However, as of 2024, it is their last. And this is the last time we'll be coming to Sugar Babes on this podcast. Although it's not the last time we'll be coming to one of the Sugar Babes members on this podcast. About you now, first enter the UK chart at number 35 reaching number one during its second week on the chart knocking Shaun Kingston off the top spot. It stayed at number one, four. Four weeks! During its four weeks atop the charts it sold a hundred and seventy-nine thousand copies and beat competition from No You Hang

Up by Shane Ward. Let me think about it by Ida Kaur versus Fede LeGrand. Valery by Mark Ronson and Amy Winehouse. One-2-3-4 by Feist, goodbye Mr A by the Hoosiers, gimme more by Britney Spears, apologised by Timberland and One Republic, happy ending by Meeker and uninvited by Freemasons. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, About You Now fell three places to number four. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 104, 40 weeks. The song is currently officially certified two times platinum, so double platinum in the UK as a 2024. And I did not know that 1, 2, 3, 4 by Fyce got so high in the charts, but I guess it was on,

it was on an iPod commercial or something right yes it was yeah and they're just going past as well so begins my obsession with the one republic and Timberland that's kind of the true beginning to be honest that appearing in the charts and so Andy about you now sugar Sugar Babes, how are we? Well, I do really like this. I think it's really good. Yeah, kind of without caviar. Really like this. But not quite without caviar, because I happen to know, and I'm just setting this up immediately, because I need to explain myself. I know that I don't like it as much as you do. I really really like it but I don't love it. If I was you know sat down in a restaurant with this song going where are we? Do we love each other?

Be like no. I really like you but it's never gonna develop into more than that. Sorry. Yeah I just can't quite get myself there with it. Like it's a really really fun song. It's definitely one of the better Sugar Bebes ones of this era of recent years. But the Sunday that just never quite takes it over the line for me. And I've had to spend quite a lot of time thinking about what this is.

And it's the chorus, basically. It's too simple. It's too basic for me. It's just, it just, I feel like the gap from one line to the other in the chorus Just hangs like a sheer drop Like if I was to sing it well not saying it but if I was just do the kind of rhythm without the tune it's duh duh duh duh duh duh

duh duh duh duh duh duh Like just a really long gap of like the same little three note thing and it's just it's just there's just not enough meat on the bones there for me. It kind of has that problem that I have with the sugar babes in general is that it always just kind of feels a little bit soulless just not quite you know not quite enough on the table for me in terms of their personalities. But then I'm always a you know big girls allowed fanboy so I just can't quite escape that bias. But I do want

to emphasise that I really really like this. I think the production on it's really fun. I like that they're so up tempo and party time which a lot of the time they're not. Like sometimes they can kind of be a little bit off beat and this time they're going straight for a full frontal assault on the charts. I think the vocal inflections at the end are really nice on those last few choruses that back around. I just don't like how they're inconsistent. Like sometimes they'll do the harmonies but sometimes they won't and there's some lines that feel like they should be getting these big ad-libs at the ends and they don't do them which is a little bit strange. It kind of has a bit of a vibe like it's being ad-libbed on the spot live and not edited afterwards at the end which is a

little bit strange for me but it's full of energy really really like this. I may put it in the vault haven't quite decided yet just to be honest but it's not like the absolute zenith for me because I think the chorus just isn't quite interesting enough to take it over the top, but this is a good effort. I do like this, yeah. Would you say that you know how you feel about it now? I do. I may be wrong. I may be blind. I may have let it down, but I know how I feel about it now. Ah, I'm really sad to be saying goodbye to the Sugar Babes so soon, but what a way to

go out. I think other than that one comic relief misfire earlier this year, they've easily been one of the most consistent acts we've covered on the podcast. Yeah, up there with like McFly, I think. Definitely. It's also a shame that we're saying goodbye to them at this point because it's like this sounds like an entirely new direction for them.

After years of being the standard bearers of cool, sexy British pop that emerged in the new millennium. This new sound is admittedly much more American. It's not a million miles away from Kelly Clarkson and her more 10,000 songs. But like Sugar Babes are more than capable of carrying it off and this song is proof of that. I love that it showcases each member in turn, which was probably necessary given that they'd

just undergone their second lineup change in six years. I think Amelle Beriber fits so comfortably on this that you'd think she had been in the group since the very beginning, and she combines with Kiesha to create a beautiful bittersweet mood in the verse and the prechorus. I think Heidi gets her own moment in the spotlight too with that heart-wrenching bridge section. And even right at the end you get two blasts of the chorus and then they repeat the final line of the chorus twice to hammer it home. I don't know if there's a name for that gimmick but I always love when that happens. I do disagree with you about the chorus and the... I think the chorus is really exciting and I know what you mean about how they leave space in the vocals but I think there's so

much going on in the chorus because all the instruments ramp up and the percussion and the guitars and everything gets properly over driven. I think you need that space otherwise it would feel like all of those disparate elements would be jostling for quite a small space. And yeah, I think I appreciate that you have little pockets of space in between the vocal parts to kind of breathe and like drink in what they're actually saying. kind of breathe and like drink in what they're actually saying. Um, yeah, I, I do love this. I don't love it as much as freak like me.

I think that's still there. Agreed. But yeah, I, I like this a lot. I wish we'd had more of this sort of sugar babe sound on the podcast. Cause like I say, it does feel like a new direction for them. It feels like they were maybe trying to take America by storm, which makes it all the more depressing that their highest American position was only like number 93. Oh! Yeah. This sounds like it should be a hit over there, but anyway, they're missing out.

Is there a loss? We've got the sugar-es and yeah, I think like McFly, like we discussed a couple of episodes back, they're a group I've really gained like a proper appreciation for by doing this podcast. I knew I loved Freak Like Me, but everything else other than that comic relief song reveals them to be such a consistent pop group. And yeah, I'm very grateful for the podcast to be able to relive that all over again. Yeah, from the silly of Sean Kingston to the sublime of the Sugar Babes, eh? Oh, this is such a masterful bit of pop I really do think so like something that hit me this time with this regarding this and now I can't get it out of my head

is that this is essentially it's a girl group song like you know all the wistful longing and nostalgia you know it's all very when will I see you again? Yeah, yeah, be my baby and that one by the flirtations That this must be the end that this must be the end of the line I think It's amazing to hear such a modern Interpretation of a classic pop sound rendered so So so sort of spectacularly actually I think they've been able to do it because Muttia's no longer in the group because her role in the group was to bring that edge, if you will.

She was the one I think that really anchored the mood that they were going for, but now she's not there. She's gone now, she feels fine, 17 months ago she feels fine, as she said, so they bring in a mel and they go for something a bit softer and I think that they have produced their joint best number one, I think, which obviously I think the other one is free like me. We often talk on this podcast about how Sugar Babes number ones are great, but they lack that kind of, sometimes they lack that final ingredient just to push it over the edge into undisputed hits 21 classic territory. But when this drops out into that third verse and you have Heidi and a bit harmony, cooing that kind of like, Not a day passed me by, not a day. It was very breathy and kind of, you know,

kind of, the voice kind of floats on the wind sort of thing. And then it fades out and then you slam back into the chorus and you've got Keisha doing those high harmonies over the top. And it's just, oh, yeah, it's proper chef's kiss kind of thing. That final little ingredient that was missing from stuff like round, round and hole in the head, I think, you know, just to kind of elevate that final chorus and by extension the entire song up to a new level. I'm just so so taken by this.

I think it is sugary and intimate and for better or worse, I think it actually accurately sound accurately predicts how pop rock is gonna sound for female artists over the next five years. You know you're mentioning Kelly Clarkson, she's also in my notes, specifically My Life Would Sook Without You, is very, very similar to something like this. I think this is also what kind of really gets me about this and actually kind of contributes a little bit to why I'm not gonna give this a full 10. I think this is the sound of knowing that you have

one more text message to send before you run out of credit and you won't be able to top it up until the weekend. So you have one text to go and you send that hopeful text anyway with a lump in your throat and a doubt that the recipient will even respond. You know, the text is basically, you know, can we bring yesterday back around? I know how I feel about you now. But if I had one little problem, it's the very end. And I think it relates to what I've just said. Because if you listen back to songs that I mentioned before, like, When Will I See You Again? Be My Baby, you know, I think songs like this are supposed to fade out because the story's meant to remain unfinished. You know, it's When Will I See You Again? Not I'm Going to See You Again in Six Months. You know, it's When. There's no answer. It's just kind of

a hope put out into the universe with no real expectation of an answer. It's kind of like Be My Baby as well. It's like it's a request but we never hear the other side of the conversation. And it's like an ellipsis that a fade out would, I think it would provide a kind of this elliptical unfinished end to the story. Will she be his little baby? When will she see him again? You know, it's instead of just stopping on the hard stop of the, um, well I know how I feel, but you know, like it says at the end, I think it robs the song of some mystique at the end there. I think what they should do, not to rewrite it, but is is bring

the bridge back in the not de past me by just have that repeat until it disappears just run it round a couple of times and just have it fade out on that because that way we'll never know what the answer is you know but instead I walk away knowing that they got to got back together because the song clearly ends when the message I talked about before when it comes back when she gets the response the only thing that's missing is the cheap ringtone thing at the end, because even in the music video, the two people in the video who were kind of like walking to meet each other, they do, they stand in front of each other and it's clear they're about to have

a conversation where it's like, okay, yeah, let's make it work, let's try another time. I just think this would be way more powerful 10 out of 10 if we just left that text message floating in the ether. I think this is a song about waiting for an answer and I think it would be more impactful if we never got it. I disagree, but I'll let you finish. But well, I was only going to say really that I think so much emotion swells up over the course of the song that I am willing to forgive the ending. It is just a preference thing. But yeah, it's just... It is only a tiny little note on the end.

I just wanted to explain myself, which makes it feel like I've gone on for longer about a thing I didn't like, rather than all the stuff before it that I did like, because everything up to that moment is just like basically perfect. I do think that this is the Sugar Babe song along with Freight Like Me those two are the ones I go back to the most by a considerable distance actually. They were an excellent pop group despite all their lineup changes you know I think they had something from every era despite all the fallouts and you line-up changes and all of the issues that they had and that sort of thing. I think Keisha being the only constant member from beginning to end, I think that they really

introduced and brought something to British Pop in the 2000s. Because overload sneaks in just inside this side of the millennium And yeah about you now is it's sad that they're going out But it's a great way to go out but feel free to you know take the floor on this text message thing I was talking about I mean like you I have a soft spot for a fade out and I think it would suit this I might even try and edit it myself later on but I like the way it ends, because I think it's the narrator taking ownership of their feelings in a way.

It's kind of, because it changes from, but I know how I feel about you now to, yeah, I know how I feel about you now. It's kind of, she's taking a step back and saying, yeah, it's a satisfying feeling. It's like a weight's been lifted. She's not got these complicated feelings anymore. She has resolved it. And while there's still a long way left to go in that relationship, it's a moment of satisfaction where she can

kind of just sit back and say, yeah, I feel comfortable in the way I feel. Yeah, because that's my reading of it anyway. Yeah, because what comfortable in the way I feel. Hmm, yeah, cause actually... That's why I'm reading about it anyway. Yeah, cause what you just said there actually, has kind of made me think that like, in that case, it kind of doesn't matter whether there is a positive resolution to this or not because she's kind of, she's comfortable with her feelings about it. She's kind of taken ownership a little bit of her feelings.

Instead of hoping that they get back together, it's more of we are the will or we won't, but I feel the way I feel and I'm not gonna, you know, I'm not gonna beat myself up over it anymore. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. That's a curious read. Yeah, I like that. About the whole sending the text message thing. I kind of like, it's like throwing your phone down and just taking a breath. I finally sent that text. I thought I'd never do it. But yeah. Well, let us know what you think right in. Hit starting on podcast at gmail.co. Yeah. And to be honest, everybody lets us know on a Sunday. One of my favorite things

about Sundays is waiting for the episode to come out and then just having people put their thoughts to us on Twitter and stuff and it's always good picking out the ones to like, you know, retweet and stuff like that. It's so, it's so nice that we have like an actual community of people who bother to tune in all the time. Sorry. Yeah, just going off on a lovely tangent there, but we should, we should carry on. Does anybody else have anything more to say about Sugar Babes? No, but thank you Sugar Babes. And worth pointing out, they're still a touring concern. Like, chances are if there's a big festival happening this summer, they are probably going to be on it.

Yeah, they've had all sorts of copyright issues with the Sugar Babes name, but they're back together with the original lineup now, Chavon, Mutia and Keisha. It seems that they've kind of sorted out their differences because I know that Chavon and Keisha didn't get on at certain points. It's a bit of a shame that we don't get to discuss things like Too Lost in You, Red Dress, Overload, Stronger as well. Stronger's the closest I think that they get to something like, what if William Orbit had taken over one of their songs? Oh, imagine. Yeah, and Red Dress does that amazing thing where it's this thing that doesn't happen very often in pop where it's like two choruses.

It's not a chorus and a post-chorus, it's two very clear choruses where you get the cause I'm cooler than the red, I'd rather catch a guy on my own But then you jump into the Damn that candlelight to make it stay over Ah, so so good red dress, I absolutely love it It really is Yeah So, third song, up this week And it's this I'm not sure if you can hear me

I'm not sure if you can hear me I'm not sure if you can hear me I'm not sure if you can hear me I'm not sure if you can hear me Once or twice was enough and it was all in vain Time starts to pass before you know it, you're frozen But something happened for the first time with you My heart melted to the ground, found something true And everyone's looking round thinking I'm going crazy

But I don't care what they say I'm in love with you They try to pull me away But they don't know that you My heart's crippled by the pain And I keep on closing You come me open and I keep bleeding Keep, keep bleeding, love I keep bleeding I keep, keep bleeding, love Keep bleeding, keep, keep bleeding, love

You come here, baby This is Bleeding Love by Leona Lewis Released as the second single from her debut studio album, titled Spirit Bleeding Love is Leona Lewis' second single overall to be released in the UK and her second to reach number one, and it isn't the last time we'll be coming to Leona on this podcast. Bleeding Love went straight in at number one as a brand new entry knocking Sugar Babes off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for seven weeks. During its seven weeks atop the charts, it sold 693,000 copies and beat competition from

Rule the World by Take That. The Heart Never Lies by McFly. Lord Don't Slow Me Down by Oasis. Home by Westlife. Hot Stuff by Craig David. No One by Alicia Keys. Two Hearts by Kylie Minogue, Flux by Block Party, Lock Loamund, Hamden Remix by Run-Rig and the Tartan Army, Heartbroken by T2, Breakfast by Shane Ward, Call the Shots by Girls Allowed, All I Want for Christmas

is You by Mariah Carey and Crank That by Soldier Boy. When it was knocked off the top of the charts, Bleeding Love dropped one place to number two. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for 38 weeks. The song is currently officially certified three times platinum as of 2024, so triple platinum in the UK as of today. Andy, leading love. Leona Lewis, how do we feel? Well first of all not to throw immediate shade at Leona which I really didn't intend to do but from what you've just said there about this beat and all I want for Christmas is you to the top kind of feels like a really an actual literal example of a meme occurring there where people have decided we've got Mariah Carey at home with Leona Lewis because that's always been kind of how I envisioned her to be honest. She's someone who again this is not

meant as like a shady thing but to me she's quite a good demonstration about the difference between a great singer and a great kind of a pop star and mark as a book product because I don't think there is really any doubt that she's one of the best if not the best singers to ever appear on the X Factor and she is an exceptionally good singer. Is she the most interesting pop star in the world to me? No, definitely not. I think she's probably not even in the top 10 from X Factor to be honest. But I'm obviously wrong about that because this was a colossal hit. This is like massive, like almost like an umbrella level hit to be honest, in terms of how far this went around the globe and

particularly in the UK how big it was, it's a huge huge drunken hit. And unlike umbrella and a lot of the other long stays at number one that we've had I'm a little bit non-plussed by this I'm not quite sure why it was such the smash hit that it was and I can only assume that it just doesn't connect for me When it does for other people I mean I get it like it's got a really nice hook with the keep keep bleeding and it's a good pop song Is it anything special for me? No, to be honest, and there's some things about it which I actually really don't like. I don't like the percussion at all, all the way through. It's got that snare which

is really heavy in the mix, like louder than the vocals and I find it quite hard. I have to sort of turn the volume down because that snare is right in my ear and it does this weird thing in the bridge where the whole Without the whole rhythm of the percussion changes and it turns into like this chill out R&B beats like right there in a moment It just completely changes the the sort of mode of the song, which is really odd and I don't like that at all So it's not my favourite thing ever to be honest. This is just like a solid hit for me. So I don't know if either of you two can shed any light on this, but this is a bit of a mystery for me, this one. What am I not getting? I'm posing the question.

What don't I get about Leona Lewis and Bleeding Love? I don't know if I'm going to illuminate your perspective, Andy, to be honest. This is a big deal objectively because like you were saying, Andy, you know, the success of Leona after the X-Factor, it did prove that the show had star-making qualities for its winning acts, you know, and in order to, you know, make... And I think it makes a deliberate attempt to, you know, make an impact on both sides of the Atlantic, because I think if you're trying to do something like that, you've

got to land with something hard. And I think this appeals to sensibilities on both sides of the Atlantic, and is probably more evidence that the UK and US tastes are starting to align and concentrate ever so slightly. Because its success in America was like the UK saying hey we're still making relevant pop and I think the Americans really bought into it because it does have this big kind of like Oscar you know best original song kind of soundtrack ballad you know kind of I think it reminds them sufficiently enough of the

80s late 80s early 90s when like ballads were at like their their real high point. I think it's kind of something we've talked about before where Americans love stuff like, you know, my heart will go on, which I know was like 96 97 but also like one for all, all for one that Rod Stewart, Brian Adams, Sting thing. Yeah, you know the kind of songs I'm talking about. I think it kind of appeals to that side of it. But this was also written by two American fellas. You've got Jesse McCartney and a little name called Ryan Teder, who will be coming back to a few times. And it was handed to a British artist who already had done her best Whitney impression on the X Factor. And so it's kind of a match made in heaven.

I get like objectively, I can see why this was a big hit because I think it just ticks a load of boxes before it's even begun. If you know what I mean, I just think that over here it's the X Factor winner. It's a big follow up single. We've been waiting for this. Here we go. And because it makes a load of noise and because Leona's a very good singer, it's easy for the UK public to buy into it. It's like, oh yes, this is impressive, we'll buy this for weeks on end. And in America, you know, I mean, it was huge in America too, where it's like, you know, it's got enough American ingredients to still be huge. A few facts on this that I found, Leona was the first British artist

in 18 years to have a number one album and a number one single in the US at the same time although that doesn't happen until early 2008. I think she was tried on the US public after it was a success here. First British artist since James Blunt to have a US number one at all So that's nearly two years by the time it happens and the first solo British woman since Kim Wilde in 1987 to have a US number one. So I think this represents a bit of a moment. Like on many, many levels and also in the background you have like say Brian Teder getting his name on a number one single in the UK. Not the last time we'll be hearing his name. So it feels kind of momentous looking back

when you put the package together. And I think mostly Leona seizes her moment here as much as she can. You know, there's a lot of very convincing character work and storytelling going on in the song and Leona sells a lot of it. I've always loved The Organ to bring things in. I think it develops into quite a dramatic show that Leona is a match for and it's kind of refreshing actually to hear a talent show winner get given some proper material for once on this podcast. Makes such a change from like Gareth Gates being made to follow up his launch with all that stuff that we and like even the stuff that Will Young did that got to number one you know the stuff that didn't get to number one was the more interesting stuff I thought especially especially songs like Who Am I, which I don't

even think made the top 10. I think Will Young was marked out as an individual presence though at least, whereas you know Gareth Gates and like, you know, Michelle and maybe a little bit like Darius, you know, they just kind of get left on the scrap, it's like, oh yeah, you have that, we might give you a charity single if you want, but we're kind of, yeah, we're kind of done with you. Whereas Leona, it's like we're gonna put some effort into you. I agree though, Andy, that as good a singer, as good a singer as she is, Leona is only ever really been capable of one kind of song. One kind of like, she's only capable of being one kind of pop star. You don't see Leona, Leona's never someone who has struck me as someone who does reinvention very well. Whenever she

comes back on this podcast, it's just kind of like the same thing again. There's no major difference, there's no hairstyle change, there's no new image or anything like that. There's nothing particularly exciting about her, but I will say that she's, if anything, she's just likeable, very, very likeable in this current mode. And I think that they kind of realized that fairly quickly, which is why I think, you know, the next time we come to her, it's another ballad a little bit further down the line. And I mean, it's a cover, but it, you know, It's another ballad a little bit further down the line and I mean it's a cover but you know it is another ballad it's a slow song slowed down even further by the time she gets there

and with this song specifically my major point of criticism that I actually can't get over I think comes from the chorus I don't think it's enough I think the lead hook on the song the keep bleeding keep keep It's not big enough It's catchy yeah on its own, but that's what the backing vocalist should be singing as Leona does a bigger hook over the top Yeah, the keep bleeding thing. It's just an ostinato pattern. It doesn't it doesn't Illuminate the song on its own. I feel like it's a lovely backing and it's something that's understood I think towards the end when Leona's given something to do as the lead vocalist over this bit but she's mostly just kind of vocalising

at that point. You know the, you cut me open and uh and then you get the keep bleeding while she's going into whistle tones and stuff. I feel like you build all this tension into the chorus, but what should ordinarily be the backing vocalist part is just it. It's just the lead vocal line. It feels kind of flat. I think the biggest moment in the song, it just kind of goes, you know, it just, I think. And also, like after like the three minute mark,

I think they just do the you cut me open and die They just they say that line too many times. I think it runs out of material Towards the end like I say a lot of it is just kind of like they get to two-thirds of the way through and then Leona just kind of It just sort of like does you know melisma just sort of like until the end She does Mariah Whitney style vocal acrobatics and stuff. I think she's a really capable singer. And for a moment, a seven week moment, she was like, you know, number one in the world kind of thing.

And I just think that this is the peak of it really. And hey, you know, she's peaked later the most X Factor stars up to this point. In fact, she's peaked later than every X Factor star up to this point. Lizzie, bleeding love. Yeah I think you've pretty much summed it up. I mean just to go back to your point Rob about how Leon is the only one they really try with. I will say they have tried with Shane Ward more

than I had remembered. Like he's still having top 10 hits around this time. Diminishing returns is starting to set in a bit, like with no you hang up. But they're trying with him. It never quite took off. I feel like he was sort of, you know, shaking Jason Derulo, but they tried. With Leona though, it is clear that they know they've got a star on their hands and so they give her the big material and for the most part she pulls it off. I don't think any of us have faulted Leona's actual performance on this. It's more that, like you say, the song itself could be doing more in the chorus, I totally agree, and also runs out of steam towards the end. I totally agree. I think with the steam towards the end. I totally agree

I think with the end as well, you know the bit where Because for the whole for most of the song that the beat is boom boom boom and and at the end it's kind of boom But it's like they it's like they tried both and they couldn't decide which one they wanted to go with for the whole song So they just did both and then made it a hook at the end but it kind of feels like the song is about to slow down and just it's like it's going to stop on the record and then just start like playing backwards or something like it's grinding to a halt and it doesn't have the impact that it should because like you say this is a very emotionally charged song but there's not that big thing that really makes it take off.

You think of something like Umbrella where it does like it kind of slows down but then it soars again at the end and this doesn't really have that. I do like this a lot better than her previous number one obviously and I'd say I like this more than her next number one as well and I'm glad she got her moment in the spotlight because like you say it's not often the X Factor winners from the UK ever get that. It's usually just they are a UK concern, they have one or two hits and then they vanish. So I think it's necessary for the X Factor story to be able to say that they did have that one moment where a star that was created in the UK became one of the biggest artists

in the world. So yeah, to summarize, I think the song could be better, but it's probably my favorite of Leona Lewis's. Yeah, definitely the songs that we get to cover on the podcast as well. Yeah, in terms of her number one, definitely. I would agree with that, but it's a relatively low bar, but I would agree on that, yeah. Just a few things I wanted to say.

Just one thing you said, Rob, that's really interesting about how she's kind of fulfilling that gap of big movie credits and songs. And one of the ones you mentioned was My Heart Will Go On. Interesting that James Cameron's next film, Avatar, he chose Leo and Lewis. Leo and the Lewis. To sing. Oh, yeah. Which, you know, in another world,

I think maybe could have been imagined to have been the, my heart will go on of its day and could have been the biggest hit ever. But that song, I see you, just nobody knows that one. It just didn't really happen. But that kind of demonstrates how big she was for that brief moment in time. That she sings the song from Avatar,

you know, the biggest film of all time. She sings the end credits. So yeah, I think that actually is a good point now about how she sort of feels like a gap of big American balladiers. And I was thinking about that, and I thought the kind of stuff that Beyonce would release off I Am Sasha Fias a few months after this,

you could definitely see this as a single off that album. Something like Halo is not a million miles from this at all. So maybe she's more influential than I've given her credit for, but yeah, it still remains a little bit of a mystery to me, but that has illuminated me somewhat. Yeah. We will move on to our fourth and final song this week. And it's the penultimate song of the year. It's this. I see trees that are green. Red roses too.

I watched them bloom. For me and you and I think to myself what a wonderful world I hate babies cry, watch them grow And they'll learn much more than I'll ever know and I think to myself oh what a wonderful world Alright, this is What A Wonderful World by Eva Cassidy and Katie Melior. Released as the first and only single from her second posthumously released compilation album titled Wonderful World, What A Wonderful World is Eva Cassidy's sixth single overall to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one. For Katie Mellior, this was the first and only single from her compilation album titled The Katie Mellior Collection. It's her ninth single overall to be released in the UK and her first to reach number one. However, as of 2024, neither of them have had any more number one hits. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded

by Louis Armstrong, which reached number one in the UK in 1968. What a wonderful world went straight in at number one as a brand new entry, knocking Leona Lewis off the top of the charts. It stayed at number one for one week. In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 56,000 copies beating competition from Fairy Tailor New York by The Pogues and Kirstie

McColl which climbed to number 8 and What Hurts the Most by Cascada which climbed to number 10. When it was knocked off the top of the charts what a wonderful world dropped one place to number 2. By the time it was done on the charts, it had been inside the top 100 for five weeks. The song has never received any official certification from the British phonographic industry. Lizzie, Eva Cassidy and Katie Melior. How are we feeling? Yeah, I mean, it's worth mentioning that all proceeds from the sales of this single went to the British Red Cross,

which combined with its release in that pre-X Factor December Dead Zone, goes some way to explaining how a song like this got to number one. Also worth bearing in mind that you could only buy it at Tesco, which might explain why it vanished from the charts so quickly. Interesting. I know. Yeah, so now you know. When I was doing my write-up for this song, I had a flashback to getting in trouble at

primary school because I'd used the word nice too many times on a piece of homework. I had the same problem when attempting to write about this song. I think Eva Cassidy's voice is nice. The arrangement is nice. Some of Katie Mellie's harmonies are nice. The fact that it is for charity is nice, etc. etc. On a purely personal level though, its niceness becomes a problem on repeat listens and it crosses the line into boring territory.

It also suffers considerably when you compare it to the Louis Armstrong original, which is wide-eyed and open-hearted to an almost absurd degree. And I'm sure I'm not alone in saying that I can vividly recall every single beat, every single sound made in that version in my head. Yeah. Can you? Yeah. Yeah. Like that original version is two minutes and 21 seconds long, and it doesn't waste a

nanosecond of it. This cover version is almost double that runtime and is largely unmemorable, not helped by a lengthy instrumental part in the middle. There's definitely a place for this kind of soft adult contemporary vocal jazz, but this is a pop charts in 2007. It sticks out on the basis of being unlike most other pop from the time, but it doesn't stand out as a piece of music. It's nice, sure, but the best pop we've covered lately is so much more than just nice.

It's not enough. I'm sorry. Yeah, Andy, do you agree? Yes, I agree, but kind of more so. Yeah, you say nice, I say boring. This is a thing. Time enough. Yeah. And I know you did eventually say boring, but I've used the word boring too many times for this one, to be honest. Another thing worth pointing out is just a flashback to Christmas 2006 when I was going through my TV section and I mentioned a song from Duet Impossible

in which people dueted with people back from the dead. This was the number one, they got number one off the back of that and I just think this broke out, this, like really this. And if it's a charity single for Red Cross, like a sort of novelty thing, only available in Tesco, that probably explains it to be honest, but I mean what else would explain it? I agree completely that the Louis Armstrong version just can't really be bettered, it kind of does everything you can do with that song, and this is sort of nothing but a pale limitation to be honest. I have a thing with Katie Mellior in that she has always been a little bit of a whipping boy to be honest in both my family's household and my household with my husband these days of just like the ultimate like quintessential example of a boring singer. And that bias is unshakable.

Like, that's kind of been a running joke for the best part of 20 years, to be honest. But it's kind of deserved, I think, to be honest. Like, some of the songs she has with closest thing to crazy, I have ever been. Well, she's all sounds like someone slowed her down in the edit, where she's all sounds like someone slowed her down in the edit

where she's like just awful and then he's got the that one with the nonsense lyric there are nine million bicycles in Beijing that's a fact but I still love you which wasn't even mean and one that we always make fun of is, if you were a sailboat, I would sail you. Where she just like uses rhymes like that. If you were a sailboat, I would sail. We always make fun of it. That's like, if you were a mailbox, I would mail you. She's got sail, but she's not a sailboat.

It's just, I find it hard to take her seriously to be honest because she's just so, so dull. And I don't mean that as in her personally, but just this style of music is just like my kryptonite. I really can't kind of handle this to be honest. Maybe it says something about my sort of mildly neurodivergent brain that these four and a half minutes, truly it's tough for me to get through this. Like really hard for me to stay focused for four and a half minutes on this. It's not the worst song we've ever covered because it's delivered perfectly

nicely, you know, two nice singers. Nice, nice, nice, nice, two nice singers, but I think it probably is the most boring song that we've ever covered on the show, to be honest. I can't think of anything, well you wouldn't because it's boring, but I can't think of anything more of a void than this. Like there's nothing else that I've listened to that's like that's four and a half minutes I'll never get back. Like there's nothing else that makes me feel that like this that we've ever covered on the show. I mean any any advance on that? Do you think there's something more boring than this that we've covered? Go let it out by Oasis. I mean that's sort of up there but not quite as much as this. I mean

there's just so little to say. There really is so little to say. What this does do that one thing I have to give this credit for is that it gave rise to one of my favorite Amy Winehouse moments ever that she was on Buzzcox and as part of one of the questions on Buzzcox they played a clip of this so Simon Amstel said to Katie said to Amy Winehouse would you ever do it you were with Katie Mellie where Amy and just quick as a flash just replies with I would rather eat shit I would rather get cat aids Jesus I know it was just very very Yeah, so that's kind of the main thing I remember this for. But God almighty is this dull. Jesus, I can't believe I've managed to talk about it for

this long. I'm really proud of myself. I'm done. Yeah. Yeah. I sort of wonder if in a way Katie Meliwa got as much flack as she did because she was so clearly like a descendant of Eva Cassidy. It's like you are only popular because you sound a bit like this other singer who just happens to be dead. But like Eva Cassidy herself is not exactly a rollercoaster of an artist. Like it's just... Well no but it's the story that people buy into. Yeah, I get that, but if you want to make a song a bit more fun, I wouldn't like to add Eva Cassidy to it, to be honest. Nor would I think to add Katie Mellior, so it's kind of like boring squared, to be honest.

Yeah, I've gone in on this hard enough. I feel like I'm I feel like I'm sort of kicking a puppy, to be honest. Yeah, it's it's shit Tell us how you really feel sorry sorry Katie sorry Eva Yeah, do you know there is a person's name who's not come up yet who I think is directly responsible for this because as much as their cover of Over the rainbow on that do it impossible thing is You know probably like you know inspired the oh what if they did there is a person who is single-handedly responsible

for both of these artists well Eva Cassidy's was more of a posthumous success Terry Wogan yes Eva Cassidy CD was put on Terry Wogan's desk circa 2001, maybe a little bit earlier. And he kept playing. The 90s. Yeah, he kept playing Eva Cassidy's music on radio too. Sort of forced it through by sheer will because she dies in 96 and then there's an album of hers that is released posthumously in 1997 and it sort of does okay, you know, it gets, you know, charts in a couple of countries

I think it makes like the top 30 on the album chart here nothing major But then it's two or three years later than that So nearly like five six years after she's died that suddenly the album that her material has gone over the top And it's Terry wogan and he did the same thing with Katie Mellewa And I think that was why people got sick of her was it because it was very clearly like Terry Woegun was just obsessed with making sure that Katie Mellior had some success and so I think that whenever something like that happens there is always the opposition to that there is the counter to that and the counter is what I'm sick of hearing about her. This, I mean, crack open your thesauruses everybody, this is pretty,

I think. It's respectful and plaintive. I saw... Oh, I'm so thrilled. I know. I saw of the jazzy arrangements with the vocals where Katie and Eva are allowed to improvise tunefully in the large gaps that the instrumental leaves for them. But that's kind of where the positive stuff ends for me. I just struggled to feel any individual personality coming from either of these. I had to watch the music video to know which of them was meant to be singing at each point because they both sound so similar. I think if you just had this on the radio not knowing you just think it was one person and then you would get to the end and

that was lovely. I disagree but I'll let you finish. Well it just I feel like if I was listening to this on the radio and then like at the end it'd be like and that was Eva Casting and Katie Melia and like and there were two people what I? I just... I don't know, I just think they sound so similar. It's not necessarily a problem with either of them, necessarily. Because I think the way that this has been rendered is to be just so... it's so inoffensive and it's just so... it's been managed, like, just within an inch of its life. And I also think it just... 100% has been designed to take advantage of people's compassion.

And in a way that I can't ignore the slightly creepy edge to this in the way that it's like, ah, everything about it is just so like, it's like pulling your heartstrings out. I mean, I've got more to say, but so Lizzie, feel free to jump in on this, them sounding the same thing.

No, just really quickly, I think they're very easy to sell apart. Eva Cassidy's got sort of rich, full, warm voice, whereas Katie Melio always kind of reminded me of Bernadette Peters in The Jerk. She's got that kind of sickly sweet, very breathy voice that I don't I don't love. I agree I think their voices are quite distinct actually I mean Eva Cassidy sounds like she's Eva Cassidy sings at a normal speed so there's that. Yeah yeah the thing with I guess elsewhere on I admit I'm not a hundred percent familiar with Eva Cassidy's

material I've done that one live album of hers, but that was a long time ago. The one that is the last thing she recorded before she died. And she said that at the time that she wasn't happy with it, but it got released anyway. But I totally feel it what you've been saying about it on those kinds of recordings. But I feel like on this one specifically, I just think it's so polished that there's just barely any humanity left which is really strange and sad for a song which is all about being human and like living on earth and being like holy shit I'm alive you know like I just I don't really get that feeling you know at Lizzie you were saying you know the original Louis Armstrong was very wide-eyed and kind of in awe of everything it's like you know wake up in the morning it's like oh

and you know fair enough I don't live my life like that but it's a feeling that people have felt and it's fair enough to acknowledge it and it's a song I love but I just I just can't the thing that's actually not my biggest issue with it to be honest, that was just something I mentioned but... it just has this... the whole thing just has this slightly... it's just sickly and... just this thing that charity singles have kind of devolved into by this point. I just get this overwhelming sense as well whenever I listen to this, that people like death more than talent and that major labels and sort of the public too often don't care much about talent and they don't recognise talent before that talented person dies. I think you get this a lot in my line of work

where say if I go to somebody tomorrow, one of my editors and I say, hey, I want to write something about Weezer for example, you know, the thing around for you I say, hey, I want to write something about Weezer, for example. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Well, just pick, you know, my favorite thing in the world. I want to write about, you know, we've got this, this, there's a new album on the way. You know, they're doing a big tour around the UK and the US next year. You know, let me write about that.

And then they would turn around and go, no, I don't think many people would be interested. But if Rivers Cuomo were to die next month they would come to me and say oh could you do something on him please and I understand that that's just the way of the world But I think it makes me sad about the way that pop music gets treated sometimes It's like we're not in entirely capable of making a decision on something or feeling a certain way about something until we're told how to You know it took about six years like I was saying before for someone at radio to to put one of her poorly selling CDs From when she was alive onto the desk of the right person and hey presto

You have Terry Wogan and Paul McCartney like oh, yeah big fan You know get get it gets to number one and she's on top of the pops too and I don't know I don't fully know where I'm going with this. I just feel like Eva Cassidy never really got to be. She like, and everything that we actually know about her and the image that we have of her isn't actually a reflection of who she was. It's just an idea that was drawn up on some industry guy's desk. And all of her album covers are just like her standing about in

nature with the sun on her shoulders. And I just, I don't know, just but then obviously you know the flip side of the argument is that if she'd carried on living we may never have heard of her at all. She'd just be another sort of you know misunderstood songwriter who's known in certain circles, wins a few awards once in a while but doesn't really you know get any kind of general public attention. Kind of like, I don't know, people at my moment doubt have kind of picked up through following like live music stuff over the years like Ron Sexmith or Julian Taylor or Anayas Mitchell or David Olney that they mostly find these people through like really late night BBC

things on BBC4 or this thing they started watching during the pandemic which is called, it's this club, it's this part of this pub in London, it's called Green Note and they during the pandemic they did live streams of performances and stuff like that from people and so that these people that they found then you look into the careers of these people and it's like they've you know written for and then you look into the careers of these people. And it's like, they've written for, they've written like track eight on an album of somebody or other and you're like, oh, you know,

and I get the feeling like with Eva Cassidy, she would have made a nice little career for herself, I think, in the background. I think eventually she would have recorded like track eight on Lady Antebellum's more recent album or Lady A as I now called or you know, she might have worked with Casey Musgraves or you know, Laura Marling or you know, something like that. But I just don't ever feel totally comfortable hearing this

because like he was saying Andy a little bit ago about the duet impossible thing, it's just kind of a bit icky, the whole thing. And like doing all these sweet kind of sentimental covers and stuff like that. And they get it, you know, they wanna just raise some money for charity, but something you said, Andy, which I think is completely valid,

which is that if you're trying to raise some money for charity, why are you only selling it in Tesco? Why are you only having a song that lasts in the charts for a few weeks? Why not do something like bigger, better, you know, try, I just, I don't know, it just, it just feels like again it's just not enough, but because when we say it's not enough and then someone goes, well, but it's for charity, you can't criticize it and anything that absolutely cannot be criticized just makes me feel a bit

uncomfortable and I feel like it's designed in that way. It's made to be just like totally 100% inoffensive. I think this is the ideal kind of music which I think is perfect to put on in the background whenever your parents friends are over. Not even your own friends, your parents friends. I'm not pie-holing this because I don't think it's that bad in isolation. I just feel like there's something living under my skin whenever it's on, which doesn't, I can't release until it's over. This is coffee pop taken to its logical conclusion.

It is, but it's decaffeinated coffee pop because regular coffee you'd be like, oh yeah, I had a coffee. Whereas, you know, decaffeinated coffee is like, I just want to go to bed, but I want the flavor. I was going to say, right? Coffee, probably implies that this might in some way wake me up, which is certainly not what I would say

about this. The only thing I want to say is, Lizzie, when you were talking about, you know, covers of what a wonderful world and how there just isn't really anything that is worthwhile, to be honest. And I was really thinking about this, like is there any other versions I can think of

and funnily enough another either castee connection that she famously did over the rainbow and there is that cover of over the rainbow by Israel Kamiyav Kavi Voley I think you pronounce it who did that bit of what a wonderful world in the middle and that's like I do like that song you know that version of over the rainbow with the ooo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo of over the rainbow with the ooo ooo ooo ooo ooo at the start so I want to give that a shout out but I'm wondering about this is there any version of what a wonderful world apart from Louis Armstrong that is like any good I can't really think of any I don't know about any good but hopefully out there somewhere you know where Lemmy's remix of Vera Lynn?

Like, I really hope there's something like that of what a wonderful world that is just so crass and so tacky that it kind of flits around the other side and ends up being good again. In a way, there is. There was the meme like last year where it's like, apple bottom jeans, boots with the fur, the whole club was looking at her, and I think

to myself, shoulda got low, low, low. Also, couldn't agree more about the points about, you know, if it's for charity, like, you know, let's knock our socks off a bit. Like, there's this weird taboo, isn't there, that if it's for charity, it has to be all modelling and sad. Like military wives or something like that. I was gonna say it only gets worse in the early 2010s. There's nothing wrong with that because there's a place for you know like sort of you know wallowing in it a bit but also you know like Band-Aid was for charity who do you think you are by Spice Girls

was for charity, Chick-A-Tita was for charity you can make it a banger and make loads of money like for 50 years onwards. Like come on, you don't have to like just if you want to make money then let's have some fun. I don't think there's any need for that to be honest. So I propose the charity signals from now on should all be absolute festivals of camp like even if it's about the most serious topics because you'll raise money for those serious topics. So, yeah, that's the challenge I put to the pop sphere. Before we go, we are just gonna check. So, Andy, beautiful girls, about you now,

bleeding love, what a wonderful world. What's going in the piehole in the vault for you this week? Well, beautiful girls, didn't quite have me suicidal, but it does have me sewer piehole. Yeah, it's going in the piehole. About you now, I do know how I feel about it now, and I feel that it's going into the vault. I'm gonna do it. What the hell was that? Yes. Drif typical vaultor I think. Gone the cards. As for Bleeding Love, it's certainly not Bleeding Vaults, nor is it Bleeding Pies. That's not good anywhere. And finally, What A Wonderful World, what a terrible song.

Piehole. As for me, Sean Kingston, Pie Hall, Sugar Babes, Vaulting, Leona Lewis is going nowhere and Eva Cassidy and Katie Melior also going nowhere. So Lizzie, Sean Kingston, Sugar Babes, Leona, Eva Cassidy and Katie Melior. Sean, Sean Kingston, it'll never work by whole. Um, I also know how I feel about it now by about you now by sugar babes is going in the vault. Of course. Triple vault. Of course, had to be bleeding love. I don't love, but I don't hate either.

So it's going nowhere. And what a wonderful world is nice. So I'm not wondering either But it's nice and even castley is nice and Katie Miller is nice So that is it for this week's episode. Thank you very much for listening when we come back We'll be finishing our journey through 2007 and we'll be giving you the race for Christmas number one finishing our journey through 2007 and will be giving you the race for Christmas number one. Although it will be a little bit delayed because I'm gonna be away,

I'm gonna be in Florida for two weeks. So unfortunately, I was thinking about recording an episode out there, but I just thought that would be, I don't know, I feel like completely justifiably my parents and my fiance would stare at me for the entire hour and go what are you doing? Get him on! We're on a holiday!

Let's have him talk about Shaun Kingston. Get everyone in Florida on to talk about Katie Nellie on. So we will see you in a couple of weeks time for our Christmas episode and we will see you in a minute. Bye bye. See ya. Bye bye. a couple of weeks time for our Christmas episode and we will see you then, bye bye! वेहे याव प्रे रेगे तादवे याव वेहे याव रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे रेगे र