Hits 21 - 2010 (1): Joe McElderry, Iyaz, Owl City, Helping Haiti

Episode Date: September 3, 2026

PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/cw/Hits21UKBLUESKY: https://bsky.app/profile/hits21podcast.bsky.socialINSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/hits21uk/We're back! Hits 21 has jumped 11 years into the future from 1999, landing in 2010. Things are different. There's autotune now. X Factor contestants dominate the charts. Celebrities are doing charity singles-- okay, maybe that last one isn't quite a new feature of this new decade.Rob, Andy, and Ed take their first steps into the 2010s.

Hits21. Oh, hi there, everyone. It's been too long. Welcome back to Hits21 this time in the 2010s where me, Rob, me, Andy and me, Ed, are now going to be looking back at every single UK number one of the 2010s. Email us at Hits21 Podcast at gmail.com. You can also follow us on Instagram and on blue sky. You can find links to those in the description and announcing that you can now subscribe to the Hits 21 Patreon page. Yes, we have one of those now. As I said, all the links to everything you need in the description. Thank you ever so much for joining us again. You all know the drill by now.

We are currently looking back at the year 2010 this time and this week we're going to be covering the period between the 1st of January and the 27th of February. so about six or seven weeks at the start of the new decade. Andy, the UK album charts, how did we bring in the 2010s? Well, I've got two questions for you. What's the most Italian sounding name you can think of? And how do you like your eggs? The answer is Paolo Nutini and Sunny Side Up. That's how we go into the 2010s.

You'll get more partridge-like humour from me as the decade goes on, I'm sure. And that goes number one for two. weeks and go six times platinum. That's a re-entry from 2009, if you cast your minds way back to that. And then the first new number one album of the 2010s. It's one of my favorite artists ever with one of my favorite body parts. It's Florence on the machine with lungs. But went number one for two weeks and six times platinum again, before Paolo Nutini fried one more egg for one more week, six times platinum again. And then Alicia Keys comes in for two weeks and She doesn't care about oxygen.

She doesn't care about nitrogen. All she wants is the element of freedom. Well, I enjoyed it. They'll get better, I promise. That went number one for two weeks and went triple platinum, largely propelled off the back of her piano cover of Empire State of Mind, I seem to remember. And then finally seeing out this period,

you're in the 2010s now, everybody. It's the Glee cast with Glee the Music Volume 1, which went single platinum, which really surprised me that only went single platinum because literally everyone I knew had that and that went number one for just one week. In UK news, the country is hit by its worst spell of cold weather for almost 20 years.

Travel closures and severe power cuts are caused by heavy snow and at least 25 deaths are attributed to the severe drop in temperature. Elsewhere, British chocolate manufacturer Cadbury is sold to American company Kraft Foods. In international news, up to 160,000 people are believed to have died following a 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Haiti. Total damage costs reached $8.5 billion. In America, the New Orleans Saints beat the Indianapolis Colts by 31 points to 17 to win their first and only to date Super Bowl Championship. In TV news, Jonathan Ross announces his departure from the BBC,

despite being their highest paid star, Cheryl and Ashley Cole are divorced after four years of marriage and an injunction brought forward by England men's football captain John Terry to block media reports of an affair in his private life is lifted. The number one films in the UK were Avatar for a very long time and then Valentine's Day. So Ed, America, 2010. I think they're just about free of the. the shackles of I Got a Feeling and Boom Boom Pow, which I think were number one for a combined 26 weeks in 2009. So how's 2010 beginning?

For the time being, it's black-eyed peas free for whatever that's worth to you. But yes, Susan Boyle dreams a dream. Ah, yes. For three weeks. I didn't know she was big in the States, to be quite honest, but I guess she was big everywhere. Kesha is here. she strives him with her debut

Animal for just one week actually which is a little bit surprising when we look at the singles charts and then this did surprise me because I thought they were well cult at this point but evidently not vampire weekend of all people are back with their sophomore album Contra which is a number one for a week

but still it's a bloody number one and did you know that if you play Contra using the PS3 CD player and press up up Down, down, left right, left right, B, A on the first track, you get a more annoying version of the debut album. Help for Haiti Now is at number one for a whole bloody week. Yes, there was an album.

Yes, it was 80 minutes long. And yes, it was full of guest stars from Coldplay to Rihanna to JZ to U2. Lady Antebellum, or Antebolum, depending on how you want to pronounce it, is on top for two weeks with Need You Now. Oh wait, no, sorry, I think I'm looking at the wrong. No, no, I'm not. Sharday is at number one for three weeks. What the fuck?

Sharday, not even with a re-release a diamond lie for anything. Sharday with Soldier of Love was at number one on the US Billboard album charts in 2010 for three weeks. There you go. Anyway, singles, this will take fucking ages. That's a lie because it's the same song at number one for, nine straight weeks. Can you guess what it is you two? Well, you mentioned Keshe before. Is it TikTok? It is. It's TikTok the nine straight weeks. 2010s, ladies and gentlemen. Can I just mention one more

thing just to add to Rob's news before? So I feel like everyone who was at school and college age during this time remembers this exact period, because we all got an extra week off after Christmas. Yes, we did. I was in the middle of a long-distance relationship at the time and when all the trains got when all the trains were shown. Oh, that was long. It's like Scotland, wasn't it? Oh, fuck. Yeah. One of my favourite kind of memories of being a kid was actually that train journey actually going ahead about two or three days later and traveling up on a Friday night. And it was pitch black for miles and miles and miles between Oxenome Station and Carlisle. And I remember pulling into Carlisle Station and it was the first lights we'd seen in absolutely ages. And

the snow was absolutely throwing it down and all of us in the carriage looked at each other like well I hope we're getting to Glasgow because this is the last stop this is it because if we get stuck here then we're screwed and yeah we made it and it was fine and then all the snow had gone by the Sunday but yeah that was a very worrying week I did myself a really funny injury during that we had to go to a family party in the midst of that weather but anyway I had to go out on the ice to get to run to the taxi on the way home Silly idea. I slipped on the ice, landed on my elbow,

which sort of didn't quite break, but it shattered to some extent. And I hit my chin on the bonnet of the taxi. Wow. On the way down. Proper sitcom fall, but it was, yeah, it was painful. Oh, dear. So, the first new number one of the 2010s was this.

But there's a voice inside my head saying you'll never reach it Every step I'm taking Every move I make feels lost with no direction My faith is shaken but I I gotta keep trying Gotta keep my head held gonna be another mountain Okay, this is the lead I'm going to have to lose.

I'm waiting on the other. It's the Climb. Okay, this is The Climb by Joe McEltery. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album titled Wide Awake. The Climb is Joe McHeldry's first single to chart in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is his last. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded

by Miley Cyrus, which reached number 11 in the UK in 2009. The climb first entered the UK charts at number two, reaching number one during its second week. It stayed at number one for one week! In its first and only week atop the charts, it sold 196,000 copies in a week where there were no new entries in the top 10. After one week at the top, the climb dropped one place to number two. It stayed inside the top 104, nine weeks. The single is currently officially certified platinum in the UK.

As of 2026, Andy, Joe was your favourite, if I remember rightly. How did we feel about the climb getting to number one and how do we feel now? He was. I mean, those are three very different questions for me to answer there. He was my favourite on the X Factor. He was one of only two people I ever voted for on the X Factor. The other one being Stacey Solomon. who I also really liked because I just thought she was really likable

and then when it got down to the final I had to choose between one or the other and it was Joe I had the hugest crush on him I really did I'm not quite sure why I think maybe it was because he was just a twink who was clearly gay and seemed very nice

and had a lovely voice I remember later in 2010 at uni in my room staying up late to download the album wide awake as soon as it came out because I still had a or shall he move in there?

And I bought Ambitions and I was hoping it would get number one. It didn't get number one. And me and my, I'm not going to say boyfriend, but we were sort of

like, sort of casual, flirty thing going on at the time. We both really fancied him and that's the fun thing about being gay, is that you can fancy the same people

and fancy them together. And so we both sort of got to know each other through our love of Joe McHaldry. Looking back, Ambitions is not good. The album Wide Awake, I had to revisit

it because I listened to every album I ever own a few years ago, and I'll get more to that later. And the climb, well, that's just, it's your typical X-Factor winner single in the sense that it ends up being completely unrepresentative of them, and so you might as well just ignore it. It's like a trailer for a different movie. Because thinking about all of them, thinking about, I mean, with the possible exception of like Steve Brookstein, who we never really got to know.

But like, Shane Ward, Leona Lewis, not sure about Leon Jackson, actually, Alejandra Burke, and now Joe McHeldry, the work they later went on to release was nothing like this. So I think at this point we all kind of understood that, and why should we care about these winners singles? Because they're nothing like what's going to come of them in the future, which is perhaps why this was the year where Rage Against the Machine happened, because we all got so used to these singles are just nothing. They're completely worthless.

And actually, when Alexandra Burke came out with her first album, which was so different to Hallelujah, I think that really made that extremely clear that actually you can stop completely ignoring this Christmas number one thing now because they're just pointless and I feel quite sorry for Joe and all that because he was blameless for that trend

and you know in the rage against the machine whole phenomenon I think he was collateral damage essentially he was the one who was held off the top was he yeah that happened the week before this and he was collateral damage I think he got completely caught in the crossfire of something that was nothing to do with him

I think you know if people had to choose which one of them you want to hold off number one. I'm not really sure people would have chosen him specifically. He just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, and I'm glad he got his number one in the end. But having said that, this is a particularly bland, unmemorable winner's single. He's got one of those voices that can kind of sing the phone book, and he's always likable and nice.

And so it's harmless, but harmless is not a good thing for pop music. Like, harmless is kind of death to me, to be honest. And, yeah, it's not exciting. it's very lazy and I'm not surprised that this was the moment where the people who were against the X-Factor pounced to get their moment

and dare I say that if this was a little better I think Rage Against the Machine might not have been able to do it because a lot of the X-Factor number ones were absolute monsters on the charts and I do think if this had been at least somewhat inspiring if this had been I don't know I'm trying to think of

there aren't really any good winners singles but maybe a moment like this you know, something like that might have actually done it. So I feel sorry for Joe, but this is pretty rubbish. It doesn't go anywhere. It has a horrible key change. It's already a bad choice of song, because what's you doing covering a Miley Cyrus song?

He's supposed to have some credibility, and at this point Miley Cyrus does not have credibility. She's had a Montana. So, yeah, ill-conceived all around. A very bad start for Joe, unfortunately. And I don't think he ever really got out the shadow of this. But nice boy. I don't fancy him anymore,

but he'll always have a special place in my heart, yeah. Yeah, I think from listening to you there, Andy, and sort of looking at my notes, I will sort of, you know, be honest, like with the listeners that when we were in the 90s, you know, we were thinking like, you know, what we're going to do next. And in my head, I was like, well, you know, we could do the 80s or we could go all the way back to the 50s and just start then. But then I thought, I looked ahead at what we would have covered had we not broken off at the end of the 2000s. And I was listening ahead. And, you know, as much as I went back and forth about it, I think. listening to this recently again I think we've made the right decision but I kind of felt that as soon as this started because having not experienced about 40% of the 90s and only

remembering about 20% of the 90s it's been a while since a song has started and I've immediately gone back to where I was when I first heard it where I was at that time in my life and you know the thoughts and feelings going through my head and heart in relation to the the song you know like my plan long term is to eventually on the this podcast, discuss every single UK number one there's ever been. But I think alternate in between decades we've lived through and decades we've only got access to, thanks to archives and the internet and stuff, it ends up being quite a nice balance. And it means that even with a song like this, which is a fairly, I say fairly, a very pedestrian cover, an incredibly safe

rendition of a ballad that's barely six months old at this point in time, even in its original form and another example of Simon Cowell testing the waters with a potential American spin on the X factor and another spin, another go at trying to land an American audience for the X factor. I do still feel something with this because I remember this as being the point that when this got to number one, this was probably the point where I really fully almost completely like stopped caring about the charts. I remember practically like dancing around the living room when rage got to number one and thinking that like that's it

the public have rejected the X factor that this you know this growing sense of cultural death that I've been feeling that feels like it's been creeping up on me has been abated temporarily that maybe some alternative music that I liked would come back to the charts in 2010 maybe there was an appetite

for it but then before 2009 was even finished Joe McHaldry went to number one anyway and I didn't even think Joe was the enemy. I did always feel a bit sad for him because I agree was collateral damage. It just happened to be his year that people got sick of the X factor enough to start a campaign, but I was obviously very anti-X factor at this point. Like I bought the rage single from memory, but this top in the charts was a real sobering come down. You know, it was a reminder that we hadn't really won. We'd just

like, you know, deferred loss for the space of a few days. You know, the cultural dominance of the X factor would carry on once the rage novelty wore off. and next year's winner will probably get Christmas number one as well. So I just kind of turned away from the radio for good. I just kind of retreated into the internet. Because, you know, as much as I remember, a lot of the songs from 2010 really well that we're going to cover, I don't really remember them going to number one.

But looking back, this isn't too bad. The auto tune and vocal polishing on Joe has aged really poorly. I think it's really obvious. The fact that they're doing it in a lower key than the original, that's a few semitones down from Miley Cyrus, It still doesn't seem to make it easy enough for Joe to put some gusto into it. And I think that the tweaks they make to the arrangement, like removing the kind of guitar directed bridge section

and shortening all the keep the faith stuff in the outro, it removes a bit of power from this power ballad. And it kind of goes from being a decent country-style power rock ballad with a young kind of naive girl singing it, starting out on a big journey. it sort of tries to posit itself as this big finale song but not quite nailing it because of the way the song feels sort of reduced in scope.

And I don't think it's an example of them exercising restraint either because they take away all of the kind of guitars and the big kind of stadium-filling aspects of it. And then they just throw on all of these strings and the choir, but it all feels very lightweight and middy in comparison. But with that said, I think this is still a relatively, safe distance from the pie hole because I don't mind the climb really, like as a pop, if it were to be a pop standard, I don't think I would mind any version of it.

And keeping the broad structure of the original means you're never going to go too far wrong. And underneath the auto tune and vocal polishing, I think Joe sounds quite sweet and approachable. And there is a little bit of punch in there somewhere. It's just kind of difficult to find. but it's not a pie-hole job at all. Ed, the climb, as I keep thinking when he says it. Oh, here comes granddad with his opinions to trample all your nostalgia

and fond childhood feelings about Joe McEldebury. Yeah, oh, the pitch correction. That's seriously jumping from the 1990s. I mean, I already, it took me a while to get. get used to auto tune and pitch correction just being part of the whole thing through the 2000s. Eventually, I kind of, I've made my piece with it somewhat. But when it's done badly on a song which doesn't really need it, it's not using it stylistically. And he doesn't need it.

He doesn't need it. I'm about to say, I bet you he can sing. I get the impression that this is just needless polishing. He was genuinely the best singer that year. He didn't need it at all. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I originally put a clip of the Kipper Kids from UHF on the chat,

which is just, it's a random scene from a relatively unseen comedy film from the 1980s with a couple of guys going, yeah, because I was like, oh, this reminds me with that. They'll proper laugh when I say Kipper Kids. But you know what? Oh, how they did laugh. But no.

Yeah, oh, this is one for you. I was just thinking, do you know what? It does kind of remind me off. You may be familiar with the third doctor story, The Curse of Peladon. Do you know, you're the Harkturus. Oh, God.

Anyway, that's just one for Andy, and it is a little bit harsh. Told you all's going to tread on your nostalgia. But, look, I'll be honest. I don't know the original of this. I didn't know that until Rob pointed out. out to me and I'll be honest I've not got around to listening to it but perhaps that helps because I don't hate this I actually I think it's a decent enough song I think it's well structured it's not

tremendously resonant or imaginative but you know it's quite dynamic it has some drive to it it does grow and yes it's got the the nath chord change in it but to be honest this does feel like it has a bit more shape and flavor than your bozoines or your west life Not that that's saying much, and maybe this is just the shock of the new, because it does feel like I've been catapulted to a different dimension of balance. A parallel universe, perhaps, where the superficial similarities and things are slightly uncanny. But yeah, I think it's fine, basically, until you get the don't upset the Bible Belt kind of country electric guitars coming in. Do you know that way that they... A lot of the kind of mainstream American country stuff I've heard likes to record guitars

where they obviously don't like them being electric guitars. They want to represent electric guitars and power, but have none of the volume or edge to them. And I think Lizzie might recognise and perhaps appreciate this. It's basically the same way they deal with electric guitars on that first take that comeback album, which is a good album. but it's a power pop album that is

treated like some sort of mainstream American country country record if you know what I mean it's like oh just give it a bit of wellie what are you afraid of unless there is more at play as I'm sure Lizzie might

suspect in the circumstance but all of this slight baggage aside as these things go recently or so it seems suffer through all of that Westlife and Bozoins shite as we said this isn't bad. It isn't bad at all. It's fine. It's just I could have done with, without all of the treacle,

without the compressedness of the vocals on it. I just, I've never noticed before that aspect. You can hear the pitch correction quite clearly nowadays. It was probably fairly transparent at the time. But just the fact that all of the vocals are of an equal density and volume throughout the entire song, makes you realize like, wow, in those intervening 10 years, They have ironed out any dynamic variety from just the recordings of voices and instruments and completely flattened them. And I'd not noticed that aspect before, but hey, as I say, here comes Grandad. Then these are my thoughts. Before we move on, we're going to have to go back in time very briefly to 2009, because bad romance by Lady Gaga went back to number one for one more week.

In its second non-consecutive week atop the charts, it sold 76,000 copies, beaten competition from Look for Me by Chipmunk. After one more week at the top, bad romance fell three places to number four. It stayed inside the top 100 for 57 weeks. The single is currently officially certified four times platinum in the UK as of 2026 and moving on to the proper. second song this week, which is this. me a chance. Who would have ever knew that we would ever be more than friends?

Okay, this is replayed through my mind. Okay, this is replay by Ayaz. Released as the lead single from his debut studio album, entitled Replay. Replay is Ayah's first single to chart in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, as a 2026, it is his last replay went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 106,000 copies, beating competition from Riverside by Sidney Sampson. You've Got the Love by Florence and The Machine. ego by the Saturdays and in week two it sold 87,000 copies beating competition from

Fireflies by Al City. Don't Stop Believing by the Glee cast, stay too long by Plan B and Broken Heels by Alexander Burke. After two weeks at the top replay dropped one place to number two. It stayed inside the top 100 for 24 weeks. The single is currently officially certified three times platinum in the UK. As a 2026, Ed, you can kick us off with Ayaz. I bet this was a shot to the system. Yes, this feels very modern, even now, actually. I was quite surprised for me 2010 that's like, well, this isn't that dissimilar to something they'd be playing on the radio charts now. Admittedly, I'm a little bit gutted that we're not covering bad romance, because while I'm not the biggest Lady Gaga, band in general. I think she's very talented and certainly a very good singer. I do think that's a

great song. That's my favourite of hers. I think bad romance is excellent, particularly when they mashed it together with the flying battery zone music from Sonic and Knuckles. A thing of beauty. But anyway, yeah, this though, it comes straight out the gate. Right, right, this is the melody. You're going to remember this. We're going to play it seven trillion times. So you're definitely going to Fortunately, it's a really fun melody. It's a big hook, it's a good hook. There's not too much else here. Other than that, they do a bit of sort of scatting about the point with it, really,

but there's not that much differentiation. They turn the volume up a bit. They take some of the instruments out. They put them back in. But it's all about that hook. And that hook is basically enough for two minutes. Unfortunately, this is three minutes. However, I will say this. If this were a 90s song, it would be four minutes. So I'm very grateful for that. Yeah, it doesn't really go anywhere, but I do think it's, I understand why it was a hit. That is a good catchy melody. There's not that much more I have to say about it than this, to be honest. For me, this is a weird one. I think looking back, because this entire thing was presumably done on a computer and because it involved rappers and lyrics about short.

and young men allowing baggy jeans to slip below the conventional waistline, I presumably shot this on site and gave it next to no chance. At the time, I had ideas about the things that me and my emo girlfriend, who I travelled through the snow to sea, liked and were allowed to like, and occasionally she would slip off those ideas and listen to something she'd heard on the radio, because she really liked all of the same kind of Myspace, emo, pop punky stuff that I was into

but she also liked Jason Derulo and Tinchy Strider and all the stuff that Eminem was doing as part of his recovery comeback and I always kind of furrowed my brow and pretended it wasn't happening and I recall Ayaz being one of those artists that she listened to as she had every right

to and I remember seeing it pop up you know when on Windows Live Messenger or MSN where you could put the song you were listening to as your personal message and it would update automatically from iTunes and I used to bristle and try and calm myself down before I said anything to her.

But secretly, from memory, I think I quietly liked this one. I could just never actually allow myself to. It's very thin and tinny to the ear. You know, I've mentioned before on this podcast that sometimes the most popular format influences the creation of the song itself. And I think this was on,

if this was on anything heavier or more substantial than a CD, that would feel wrong. This is designed to only exist as an MP3. a thing that's not even physical and doesn't actually really exist. It's just like digital megabytes. You know, you can't imagine putting the stylus down on a record player and having this come out of it.

But this is made for like those shitty skull candy headphones that they used to sell in HMV. But with that said, I think in this era of like fast pop where it's iPods and stuff above everything else, but the radio still matters. I think this is ideal for the time because IAS sort of comes across like, he's the sensitive alternative to things like Soldier Boy,

although Soldier Boy was doing things like Kiss Me Through the Phone by this point. He dresses that way, but he's slightly shy. He's sensitive, maybe even in touch with his feminine side. Lyrically, it's actually a little boys to men, but for the iPod generation. It's not doing much in terms of like moving around harmonically or anything. I don't think it rephrases any of its ideas, and I don't think it's interested in complexity. But there are occasionally nice shots of,

like vocal harmony and they emphasize the cadence in each of the lines in the verse. The chorus does its job and leans on the kind of, you know, the replay a gimmick in a way that makes it memorable but not like too overbearing. It's pretty much out of new things to do after two

minutes but IAS is easy company I think and it's nice to listen to this era and this genre and listen back to it and have it actually be quite like a sweet little declaration of affection like I wouldn't mind if it went to sex in the later verses, but I think it's quite suitable that it doesn't. It's all very awkward

handshakes and hugs and giggling, you know, and the punchline, I guess, is that he's actually become quite domesticated in her presence and he's preparing meals for and things like this. And I don't know, there's something very 1950s in its lyrics, despite all of the, you know, naughty's 2010's presentation, which makes for a contrast, you know, and it's not exactly interesting, but it does make me think, like, you know, oh, you know, I don't know if I has once, to be seen as being that innocent and cute, which is maybe why they got him dancing next to like scantily clad bikini models in the video and stuff.

But that's the effect he has on me, I think, as someone who's now 10 years older than I as was when the song came out. Just as a side note, this was written by Sean Kingston and Jason Derulo and was originally going to be recorded by Sean Kingston. There is a remix involving Sean Kingston, but he ultimately passed on it. And Lil Wayne was involved in this. So it's like, okay, there's a lot of big label heads

and emerging talents involved with this. So it's not going to go too far wrong. Lots of big, you know, like, you know, there's a certain industry that Ayaz is being helped into here. It's got airtight precision and maybe the coldness of something like that in places. But this isn't too bad.

Really not too bad. Andy, what about you? I agree with a lot of what you've said there. I definitely agree that this has a weird kind of modern day buddy holly kind of quality through it, which is very unusual. that he does seem like a crooner who's just been put through like a 2010 sound and 2010 sensibility. It's very unusual.

It's sort of in the same category as like lonely by Acon, I guess, and some of the later naughties timbreland stuff as well. And I generally don't care for that. And the other point I agree on with this is that this is extremely lightweight, that it is made for those titty headphones. I mean, I went on about this in the late Nauties so much back in there. those episodes about how there's no mids, because it's all high as and low frequencies, because cheap headphones and playing out loud on your phone doesn't give you the mid-frequency,

so everything has to be really tinny and really wide and really empty. This is a good example of that. That's still a big problem in the 2010s, and this does actually make me realize how long ago 2010 was, because that's when I went to uni. It was a big transformational year for me, which I'll probably talk about a lot as the year goes on, and so I tend to fool myself into thinking,

Oh, 2010 feels like yesterday. Not so much with this. No, this does feel like a long time ago. A proper one-hit wonder here with Ayers. Real one-hit wonder. Like, he had one more top 10, one more in the top 40, and then that's it. And his Wikipedia page ends entirely at 2015.

Isn't that sad? Before he was 30. Like, what's he been doing for the last 10 years? I have absolutely no idea. So yeah, a real one-hit wonder here, more than almost anything we've had before. I can see why, though, because it's ultra gimmicky. It's, you know, it's got the iPod thing. It's got a very, very annoying earworm, but, you know, begrudgingly quite good melody with the na-na-na-na-na-na-every-day.

And although I do find this very annoying and extremely cringy and, like, of its time, you can tell that this microgenre that's come about in the last year or so of like extremely electronic, you know, that no real instrument has ever been in the same room as extremely electronic, extremely manipulated, male, catchy, quasi-ballads, you can tell that there is some good music trying to get out here, which is not quite there yet. Like a lot of this, especially the nana-n-n-n-n-n-n-as and the kind of different nana-nan-as he does in the bridge, because trying to make a sort of clap-along anthem out of it.

Sounds quite a lot of, like, frisky by Tiny Temper, just not as fun. And, like, that I really like, and I really like Tiny Temper at the time in general. And, like, there's stuff coming later down the year with, like, Tio Cruz, who would do stuff like this much better as well. Like, we're getting there. There is a good genre trying to come out of this.

It's just the other side of the coin is really cringe and really ephemeral and really, like, of the moment and never of any moment again. Like, I'm still a saddo who loves iPods and listens to iPods. And that's because the iPod is the greatest music player ever created. And if you had one of those massive 160 gig ones, you'd never need a music player ever again. And that's why Apple stopped making them, I think, because they realized you'd never buy anything again because they'd sold you the perfect products.

But that's a story for another time. I still treasure my iPod, which my husband recently filled with everything we own and refurbished it with a new case for me. And I listened to everything I own and documented it all on the Hits21 Twitter. please feel free to have a look at that. So other than finding it nice to have iPods recorded in the song, it's not a whole lot that I like here. This is extremely throwaway.

It's not garbage, but it's junk food. It's your equivalent to the McDonald's in the charts this. All right, so, song three this week is this. Okay, this is Fireflies by Owl City. released as the lead single from his second studio album titled Ocean Eyes. Fireflies is Owl City's first single to chart in the UK and his first to reach number one. However, as of 2026, it is his last. Fireflies first entered the UK charts at number 50, reaching number one during its third week.

It stayed at number one for three weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 72,000 copies. beating competition from Won't Go Quietly by Example and One Shot by JLS. In week two, it sold 80,000 copies, beating competition from Empire State of Mind Part 2 by Alicia Keys and Young Forever by Jay Z and Mr Hudson. And in week three, it sold 78,000 copies, beating competition from Under Pressure by Jedwood and Vanilla Ice, and if we ever meet again by Timberland and Katie Perry. After three weeks at the top,

Fireflies dropped one place to number two. It stayed inside the top 104. 38 weeks. The single is currently officially certified three times Platinum in the UK. As of 2026, God, you can feel that iTunes store and streaming push, can't you? Ed, Fireflies, Owl City.

I'm going to minute. I think my alarm's going off. Oh no, it's just the introduction. Hey! Fireflies by Al City Or should I say Feuerflies by Slay Coach for Sweetie

See what I did that See I had another one It was like the loyal male But I didn't think that was as good You know like postal service Loyal Mail Anyway Slay coach for Sweetie

Yeah Now that I've Exhausted that snarky hilarity I think this is a good song I do I particularly like the bridge I think it's very dynamic and pretty and there's a lovely little step up

before it goes back into it. I like it. I like the dreaminess of it. I like the sparkliness of it. There is a big thing that holds it back and unfortunately I think this might be a big problem for granddad in a lot of these early songs in the 2010s. I'm really not sure how I feel about the kind of speak

and spellish treatment of the vocals because I'm fine with there being a bit of artifice, but they sound like they have crispy edges somehow. And that with the accent, I find quite obnoxious. It's a lot to take. But if Grandad is getting real, I do think it's a nice song. I am just concerned that I'm just going to be talking about the bloody production of the vocals. As we go through these, and I really don't want that to be the case.

I'll be honest, I'm genuinely buzzed. and excited to be exploring an era of music that I don't know very well. I've only vaguely know this song somehow, even though it was evidently huge. I don't think I knew the previous one. I didn't know, well, to be honest, McGelderbury's one is basically,

it's one of those songs where it's hard to know if you've heard it before or not. It does that kind of vibe. No offense to lovely little Joe, but is he little? Song, good, like it. Vocals, it kind of has, like, There's an ice cream box stuck in the back of a freezer,

and I'm trying to go like, has that kind of effect. So, yeah, a subjective and hesitant. This is decent. Oh, I have a bit of a story to go with this one, so I'll be as fast as I possibly can because I fucking love this. I think this is brilliant. But I'll be quick, because I'm going to go into detail about why from a compositional and aesthetics point of view.

But yes, first the story. So, like I said before, when we were covering Ayaz, that, you know, me and my girlfriend at the time, we were kind of buried in this little MySpace emo rabbit hole. But occasionally, there would be artists from other scenes and other genres that would have loads of appeal to emo kids and scene kids who were on MySpace, acts like, who made it famous later, Cobra Starship, or 303, or from the sort of indie NME crowd, it was groups like Crystal Castles.

And via MySpace, it was acts like Owl City. They were kind of floating around. I was never a huge fan of his, but his first, album, Maybe I'm Dreaming, and his first EP, which was just called Of June, they were online and we kind of traded his songs back and forth. You know, he released music on his own label, which was called Sky Harbor, presumably in reference to that amazing Jimmy Eat World song. Yeah. So you can see why and where he translated over to us. So, you know, in the summer of 2009, Fireflies gets put on MySpace and on YouTube and stuff, about six months before it gets to number one over here. And I'm just a number one over here. And I'm just a lot of the summer. And I'm just a lot of the first. And I'm just a one over here. And I'm was already sort of aware of his name and I really liked fireflies basically straight away. I hadn't loved an Owl City song anywhere near as much as I loved fireflies, you know, and I loved it so much that I immediately hunted down an instrumental version so that through the back end of 2009, I could practice it in my singing lessons. And in October slash November 2009, I sang it

for a GCSE music performance exam in front of about 15 people who were in my class. And and we all had to perform something and I chose that. And I remember doing fairly well. I think I got a good mark and stuff. And I just sort of expected it to, you know, that was expected it to be it for Fireflies in terms of me ever being able to have a conversation about it with people that I knew.

I just expected it to be like another one of those acts from around that scene who would be very, very famous with about, you know, a very, very small select group of people who were on MySpace. But then the next thing I know, we come back from the Christmas holidays and the days that we had off in the first week of January because of all the snow and stuff,

you know, we're all a bit delayed. And so we all come back. And there were people coming up to me going, who had been in that class going, oh my God, that Firefly song that you did in October, it was, I heard it on the radio the other day. And I was like, I'm like, I am so fucking cool right now.

This is like the coolest I've ever felt. And I watched it climb the charts over a couple of weeks. And I honestly never thought I would see it get to number one. And there it was. And 303 are in the charts soon as well with Starstruck. And I thought like my iPod from 2009 was like finally going to dominate the charts. It was like, yes, this is it. You know, finally the emo kids are taking over again after the original peak in the mid-2000s.

But that didn't happen. But it was nice to dream for a week or so. On to the song itself, I want to get my quibbles out of the way. There are two. One, I suddenly love this a lot less when I listen to the 2003 album Give Up by the Postal Service because wow talk about wearing your influences on your sleeve the other quibble I have is that I think the final like go round of the verse could do a little more I feel like settling on that cadence that I keep them in a jar you know like

all it's like there's like there's a gap and it's like right okay but elsewhere oh wow the writing in this song is fucking brilliant I tell you by the middle of this series of the 2010s, we will be begging for songs that have this much honest to God writing going on. At this point, I would like to shout out its co-writer and backing vocalist, Matt Thieson, who was the lead singer and writer in the band Reliant K. And Reliant K's Forget and Not Slow Down was a massive influence on the album I've just put out. And I'd even say Owl City was a minor influence on it as well. But I think very quickly you are transported into visions of childhood with the late kind of

2000 style phone ringtone intro, the little MIDI chimes. I was taken with the way that Adam Young applied the vocal treatment, to be honest, because it doesn't have like the warble of auto tune. It's sort of a smoother and a compressor and sort of like, it's not auto tune. It's like, I know, I know it's a distinct artistic feature because he does it in all of his songs. But I've always, I grew up with auto tune, so I understand that like my experience of it, Ed, is completely different to yours because at the time I was like, yeah, I'm accustomed to this.

This sort of fades into the background for me. But then, you know, you get the atmosphere set open immediately in the verses. The mix is quite busy, but there's a lot of room to breathe, and you get a little snapshot, the chorus, but everything's stripped back. So you get a teaser of the main event, which kind of resolves way you'd expect, and it sits on that deep F octave chord as he sings, you know, because everything is never as it seems. and then more instrumental counter melodies are thrown in

with the strings that come in for the second go-round of the verse, you know, the please take me away from here. And then you're thrown into a big version of the chorus and you realize that it's a linear chorus in this day and age. And underneath, you've got so much movement, that sudden ascending scale, you know, the don, dun, dun, and then that second go-round of the chorus leans on that weird B-flat octave at the end,

which changes the instrumental harmony that's underpinning everything else and you gesture towards the next verse and then you get all the snapshots of things happening in the background that rest between the spaces of the main melody and I think you get the picture lyrically as well that it's a song about how suffering from insomnia

as an adult takes you back to when you couldn't sleep as a kid and you were hoping that your toys would like come to life and play with you for a bit and then kind of gently took you in or maybe that was just me. But I've explained my quibble with the third verse. It's the one time the song doesn't like move forwards compositionally but then in the final chorus

Oh, you get that like Because everything is never as it seems And it leans on that F octave again From the first go round only this time It's suspended beautifully like by this right hand melody And it's like, whoa, there's like there's so much going on here It's very busy, very memorable And I think it's thematically potent

And I think it's innocent in a way that just about manages to avoid being a bit cloying. I can definitely see though why the heavily accented voice and very squeakly, clean vocal smoothing could get on people's nerves. But I've never quite understood the hatred that this seems to inspire in people.

And like, yeah, you know, I did love this as a teenager, so I'm going to forgive it. But I also loved 303. And if people want to shit on them, then they feel free, you know, they can do that because I reckon 303 were basically these deaths, I think they were awful. But, like, I wasn't even

really an Al City super fan. I just liked this song. And I think a fair chunk of it has to do with Matt Thierson's involvement because, like, I don't really like any other Al City song this much, whereas I love bits of what Reliant K have done. And that forget and not slow down that I mentioned, like, you know, this was written around the same time as that album. They were both released within about six weeks of each other. So I think he was on a bit of a hot streak. And I think you can hear this songs influence in a number of acclaimed artists. Some of them are on the PC music set up, but you listen to someone like Porter Robinson and tell me that he wasn't listening to Fireflies in 2010. And everyone fucking loves Porter Robinson, like Pitchfork gave his second album a 7.6. And so

he's very acclaimed. And I want some of that for Fireflies. But Andy, I get the feeling you're about to argue the case as to why that shouldn't be the case. It comes down to some very simple things, to be honest. I mean, my history with this is that I originally liked it. I remember buying this on iTunes. Everybody was talking about it. I'd heard a lot of the radio. I particularly liked that

odd cadence at the end of the second chorus, where it's sort of deliberately incomplete and moves you into another part of the song. And I thought, yeah, I thought it was interesting. And then sort of pretty long number of years went by, looked back on this,

and thought, oh my God, this is the cringy, awful thing ever. I absolutely detest this. And then even more years went by, and we can look at this from a proper distance now and look at it with a little bit more objectivity. And I think it's incredibly of its time, like, extremely like identifiable as early 2010s for reasons both good and bad. But I don't hate it. I don't absolutely despise it, but there are things in this that are so fundamental that it ruins the whole song. And I will say I really do like the production on this. I like the whole

kind of vision of it where I generally, I really like music. That's all like kind of big thoughts, you know, existential, like source of thinking about space and looking out at the world and stuff like that, that kind of awe-struck thing. I quite like that. That's kind of why I like Spielberg movies

and like John Williams scores so much because I love that sense of awe and like, wow, isn't that amazing? And sort of childlike glee and things like that. The problem is the voice. And you said, Robbie said, oh, I understand people might find his voice, you know, like it gets on people's nerves, but you don't really understand the hate this song gets.

But that's why, for me, this song gets that level of hate, because I cannot overstate just how much I hate that vocal. Like, it's, it's, I get secondhand embarrassment from listening to it, to be honest. Like, it really is just, that era had quite a little bit of this, where there was that song here in my arms that, I like where you are

when we dress in your car that had that same kind of like incredibly earnest, incredibly like, like you feel like someone standing right at front of your face with a big smile on their face. Like,

George, will me tell you something, Andy? I know you love that too. I know you do. And it's like, that whole thing that was sort of fashionable at the time, even at the time I didn't like it. And now I look back at it and think,

oh my God, it's so seeing kid. It's so early tens, late naughties. It's so, like, I'm so random catface. Like, it's really, really just, it reminds me of the cringy side of being a teenager and not the cool, happy memory side of being a teenager. Just the stuff that's, like, really trashy and really bad, and you wish you could move on from.

And this, I think, yeah, that vocal is just so, so annoying that it makes me dislike the whole song and get irritated by the whole thing. Despite the fact that I do like a lot of. of the choices that the song makes and I agree that it's certainly imaginative and it's got a lot of effort put into it but I feel like it's polishing it turns to be honest because you cannot for me I cannot look past how much I hate that vocal performance and you give this to someone else I might love this but it creates the overall effect of the song as like I say this extremely earnest extremely wide-eyed, like faux innocence, like,

oh, isn't everything amazing? Aren't cheese lovely? It's really funny because that is basically his whole deal. It's not for me. It's too childish, it's too twee, and it sings the whole song for me, unfortunately. So I don't absolutely hate this, but that's only because there's enough pulling up against it

that, like, yeah, there is actually some really good stuff here, but it's a short thing between this and the pie hole because oh there's few things that irritate me as much as that man's voice honestly yeah but what do you think about the vocals Andy I feel bad because I'm criticising someone's like their sincere artistic ability and like it's not bad it's just not for me it like I say

it's very very of its time like this was the style at the time and it shouldn't have been it really shouldn't have been. I will say that I think I coming into this basically afresh I do like the song and I even like the you know even if it's

sort of faux naive I like the sentiment like the fact that it's you know it's not it's not being it might be a try hard in another way but it's not trying to look tough or look street or anything like this it is a bit twinkly it is a bit dorky I don't have a problem

with that I think for me it is a song that I like and I do appreciate the childlike aspects of it quite a bit even as a fucking 40 year old. I'm like, oh no, that opens up something very innocent. I appreciate that. But the way it's sung and the way it is flattened out in that it does just spin that dial over from earnestness,

which I love, into a kind of stylized twee. And it's a delicate balance, but I always have this thing that I say to people. It's like, I love earnest music. I love music that's open-hearted and childlike, but is not pretending to be childish. And I think that's the difference with some of those things in here. They've squeaked it up.

And I, again, but it for me is literally, it's just a subjective amount of a subjective production choice that turns me off. And it's one of the things that loads of the music from that scene that you've introduced me to, Rob, I really like the music and the songs. But sometimes, just the vocals and the way they're dealt with, just I do struggle with them a little bit, just because it's not, you know, it's a little bit alien to my sensibilities in terms of the way they're handled. But again, it says it is a subjective kind of appraisal of what makes a strong vocal for this kind of music, because there's technically nothing wrong with it, if you get me. And

It isn't auto-tune to try to disguise flaws. That isn't the case. I agree with you, Rob. That's not what it's trying to do. It knows it's stylized and synthetic. But yeah, anyway. So, the fourth and final song this week is this. Okay, this is Everybody Hurtz by Helping Haiti.

Released as a standalone charity single, Everybody Hurtz is the first and only single released by Helping Haiti to chart in the UK. The single is a cover of the song originally recorded by REM, which reached number seven in 1993. Everybody Hearts went straight in at number one as a brand new entry. It stayed at number one for two weeks. In its first week atop the charts, it sold 453,000 copies beating competition from Halo by the Glee cast and Rude Boy by Rihanna. And in week two, it sold the 103,000 copies beating competition from You Got the Dirty Love by Dizzy Rascal and Florence The Machine and the way love goes by Lamar. After two weeks at the top, everybody hurts fell eight

places to number nine. It stayed inside the top 104, six weeks. The single is currently officially certified platinum in the UK. As of 2026, Ed, you can go first with this because I I know you're a big REM fan, so you can judge the cover of it. I know what I hate it. And I don't hate it this. I feel like I should really, really dislike this. I don't like it, but I just have no particular feeling about it. At least there's some variety in the voices.

You know, it's like, oh, that's that person just trying to identify who it is. I didn't bother watching the music video, because I bet it's all them standing around in a recording studio. Yeah, it seems to remember it is, yeah. All right, no, just, but I mean, they'll do the staged. video with the kind of one hand on the headphones sort of shit if they have time. But yeah, it's fairly flat. It's very faithful in a kind of by the numbers sort of way. It doesn't mix the arrangement up at all.

Very low effort, really. It just does what it needs to do. Probably made a good bit of cash. Whatever. But I'll be quite honest. I can't find this too sacrilegious because I'd be honest, there was never a massive fan of the original. I like the sentiment of it

but it felt oddly contrived in its broadness and its kind of holding a hand-outness in a midst not just automatic for the people but REM's entire catalogue I'm like I like the fact that they tried something different but it does come off as simplistic on an album that's full of such gorgeous resonant imagery

that sort of its redolent of death and things like this. but it doesn't hammer you over the head with it. It feels sort of... This feels more creachy and talking down to people in a way that ARIA never, ever did. That said, as a piece of music, I think it's a very good and very effective song

with a good use of strings. So I can't say it's bad. But at the same time, I'm not particularly offended if someone just wants to come, do a slightly flatter version, make a few above charity. I don't care that much. Now, if they'd taken something like, like, I don't know, the one I love or something, or I don't know.

Oh, why can't I think of it, even bloody strange currency, the song that sounds like everybody hurts off the next album, but I perversely enjoy more, because I'm freak. If they'd done that and done it as a Haiti single, I probably would have just, actually, to be honest, I would have just said, well, deep cut, respect. But no, it's a charity single with a load of people on it doing a cover version. I mean, it's, mileage may vary, and have a feeling that it does vary.

What do you guys say? I think you have four more to say than I do. I don't like this. I think it's a pretty flat rendition of the original. Quite a lot of life gets removed. Quite a lot of saccharine sentiment gets loaded in. Again, that comment comes back to me about this particular section of pop, that these songs always seem to presume that we're always on the verge of tears about everything. But beyond the compositional performance and aesthetic stuff, I find this to be a bit hollow and a bit gross in retrospect.

Whenever I listen to this and I think about the fact that they did have to quickly assemble a bunch of celebrities because the disaster in Haiti was an urgent and ongoing crisis and money needed to be raised quickly and all that, you know, but having seen the other side of the curtain in my job at Metro for a few years and the fact that celebrities only ever choose to get involved with things like this because of how much they're standing with the public will improve by association, that's when I start to feel a little nauseous. I think about the email. that their PR people and their agents send to them like, come on Leonor, come on Mariah, come on Rod Stewart, come on JLS, come on Susan Boyle, come on Gary Barlow, because of fucking courses on this. Do this, it's for charity, for the people of Haiti, they need your star power

to raise money and I think, ah, maybe I should give them a break, but I just know it. I just know deep down because I've seen these types of fucking emails that all of these emails end with the line. Plus it'll make you look really good. It's a vanity project disguised as humanitarianism and I feel uncomfortable with it. And yes, so was Band-Aid. So it was last Christmas. So are basically all charity singles in a way. Celebrities play the game and we go along with it.

But if you're going to do something like this, don't waste my time. Give me a song I'm going to want to play again in a few months or a few years. Don't give me this kind of spur of the moment, half-ass nonsense that's going to be out of the charts by the end of the month. And right, so this single sold about. 600,000 copies at a pound each and there was no tax on it. The tax was taken off. Gordon Brown agreed to that. So around

600,000 pounds and you know the artists involved with this song were as follows. Leona Lewis, Rod Stewart, Mariah Carey, Cheryl, Mika, Michael Boubley, Jonellery, Cyrus, James Blunt, take that. John Bon Jovi, James, James, Joseph, Moinesham, Alexander Burke, Susan Boyle, JLS, Westlife, Kailmanogan, Robbie Williams. That is 18 acts. That's

33,000 pounds per act. Did they not have that. Okay, Joe, Joe, Joe, Michael Drey probably didn't, so we'll let him off. But celebrities are just like this. They can't do nice things without emoting to the camera and being seen to do it. Everyone

always rags on that, you know that Imagine video that Gal Gadot did during the pandemic, where all those celebrities were like singing imagine as if that would help somebody. But nobody seems to remember the I take responsibility video that was just as bad for all the

same reasons. And it was like genuinely respectable actors and respected actors. Aaron Paul was in it. Sarah Paulson was in it. You know, like actors that people really respect and have like, you know, legitimate credits in their stuff. Looking into the camera in black and white going, I take responsibility.

And it was like after George Floyd's murder and their response to it was like, well, I'm stuck inside and it's the pandemic. So I need to do some acting. It's a Facebook filter. Yes, I'll do some fucking acting. and it was just as bad for all the same reasons. These people are addicted to members of the public fawning over them for being, oh, such good role models.

And they will do literally anything to have that feeling. That's why they, that's why they are famous. Their agents will tell them, look, it's either doing shameless things like this or it's stacking shelves in ASDA, make your choice, and they always, always go for the option that allows them to get a bit teary-eyed in front of the camera and have Doris, age 67, from Cleethorpe's going, oh, isn't he a nice man?

Oh, isn't he, oh, he's such a nice man. And especially if their agent thinks it's a good idea. Andy? This is complex. This is complex. I've been thinking about it quite a lot and why does it make me feel a bit weird. And, well, it's certainly not complex as a piece of music.

I don't mean that. Like, obviously, it is what it is. It's a charity single. People will be thinking, what, why have you got such complicated thoughts about this? but there's something else going on here. And it's doing something to me as a listener that I don't like. And I think it did something to us as members of society

dealing with the aftermath of Haiti earthquake that I don't like. I mean, it's... I'm certainly not going to make any fun of this as a song, as anything that, you know, of artistic value. Because, of course, it doesn't really have any artistic value, but it's not meant for that. It's meant to help people feel like there's something they can do. to help in this awful situation, put a bit of money towards this on your laptop,

cool, you've given a pound to help Haiti, here's something in return, you know, it's transactional and it makes you feel a bit better about yourself, and it does go to help in people who need it. And, you know, the song is the least of it, really. Taylor's all the time, I have no issue with that at all, and I'm not going to, you know, kind of go in on the song particularly. Yes, it's a pretty bland, lifeless version of the original, but by its nature of what happened in Haiti, it was extremely sudden, extremely unexpected. They had no time to do this.

They just whipped it up in a couple of days, a couple of hours, probably. And whatever, that's fine. And I think it's right that they did something for this. This is the kind of thing where charity singles probably are needed, because they do genuinely raise money, they do genuinely help a little bit, just a little bit,

and people feel like they need to do something. So no problem with it existing at all. the problem is the psycho effect around this by which I mean the Simon Cow label not Psycho with a P psycho with an S-Y-C-O around this because obviously this is his doing

putting all this together and it never moves out of the Simon Cowell of it all and when he juxtapose that against a very real, very serious tragedy that's happening here that I mean, not to go into it but from what I know about Haitian society

and Haiti since this, it's never really fully recovered from this. No, it's never been allowed. This was like a nuke going off in terms of the sudden and total destruction it caused, and they've never really recovered from it. So, like, put something as serious as that against something like this, and Simon Cowell overseeing this project, you're going to get a sense of inappropriateness, a sense of awkwardness, and I'm trying to figure out where that lies,

and I've realized what it is is the song choice. That's my problem with this. this because I love the original. Absolutely love the original. I'm a sort of medium-level fan of RAM. It's definitely first few albums or so. I really, really like. And then I kind of don't really know much beyond that.

But I really, really will go to back for this song. I love this song. And I'm interested in what Michael Stipe has to say about it, that he's said, like, he doesn't really like it. And he's sort of bored of it. But he said there's absolutely no denying how many people, you know, have written to whatever saying it saved their life. Like, this song, like, does literally.

saved lives, it stops people with the knife in their hand, you know, and so he said, it's not my song anymore, it belongs to, belongs to the people, doesn't belong to anyone, it's, you know, it's something that I get to sing, but it's not mine, it's, you know, because of the people that it's helped. Lovely attitude, nice guy.

Really, really, really lovely attitude to it. And I think the reason why it's so effective and why the original is so wonderful and genuinely does help people is because it's so sort of nakedly and specifically about what it is about, which is it's about mental health.

It's about sort of picking yourself up and finding the will to keep going, the will to live on in really dark times. And that is far more universal than people tended to think, because obviously we live in relatively enlightened times now where people talk a lot more about mental health. Back in the early 90s, certainly not the case. And it was a more universal feeling than I think anybody really understood.

And having something like that, song that had a funny we talked about vocal performances before Michael Sykes vocal really feels so pained and so genuine and so authentic and getting this really genuine sense of hope out of it as well it does feel like it's talking you off the ledge and it's very honest about that's what the song is doing and I think it's really really powerful and yeah I think I think it's wonderful putting that song into this context doesn't work at all for me because The lyrics, right, everybody hurts sometimes, everybody cries, and the sort of deeper kind of idea behind us that everybody goes to really dark times in their life. True. Yes, that does apply to everyone.

Not everybody has their country destroyed an instant by an earthquake. That's not universal. That's not something that we can relate to. We're downloading this off iTunes in our comfy, comfy beds and, you know, go into bed with the heating on and having a week off school because of the snow and isn't that fun? and meanwhile there are people who like can't find a building with a roof for the night like it's horrendous what was happening there and it's not universal so saying everybody hurts sometimes feels incredibly dismissive of what's happening dumps it down to oh we all go through hard times you can get through it and I think the reason why I find that's so gross

and why I think that's so kind of weirdly offensive even if it wasn't intentional is that it plays into this thing that Simon Cowell's music does and this kind of thing, this kind of charity single tends to do, in that it creates a media narrative. And I'm very minded to think about Charlie Brooker's segment about this on NewsWipe as it was happening, about the Haiti crisis, as it was happening, which I've watched back and it's fantastic. And he talks a lot about how there was this news obsession with like finding heroes and villains, finding subplots, finding like things to strive for, obstacles, successes, like making a story out of this. It's not a story. It's a singular event that happened and it's just shit. Like, that's it. It's just really shit and that's it. And, you know, here we are 17-ish years on. They've not really got past it yet. Like, it's just, there was no story there. It's just awful. And, um, but the media were obsessed with finding like, oh, look at this

inspiring story. They're getting through there. Oh, but look at these bad guys stealing stuff. They're the villains. Boo! Let's help Haiti. You know, determined to find a story within this and there isn't one. And that's what this song is doing really. It's like it's implying that, you know, this is universal. Like, oh, these people in Haiti, they're having such a bad time. They'll get through it. Just like you got through your thing years ago. And it's like, that's not the same at all. It's not the same at all. We're watching a nation collapse in an instant. And it really kind of involves people in a thing that's nothing to do with them. Like, I feel like we as Westerners and we as a nation who's on the other

side of the world, not the other side of the world, but a very, very long way away from where this happened, kind of need telling, like, this is not, this is not, nothing to do with you. This is not your moment. Like, give money if you want to, but like, this is not something that we can connect to. We can't relate to this at all. And it makes me think about the other charity singles that Simon Cowell was behind, especially the one later this year, which I won't get into too much because we'll have the whole discussion, but we've mentioned it before, I think, about heroes, the Bowie cover, and also hero, the Mariah Carey cover, they did a few years before that,

where it's like, yes to the army, yes to the military, don't we love them all, they're heroes, let's give money, yeah, they're all heroes. And I'm not saying the soldiers aren't heroes, but that's not universal. Not everybody agrees with that, that the military is a good thing. Not everybody agrees that we should be, you know, morally and ethically supporting military engagement, and it has this weird kind of soft power that I don't like where it's like, okay, this is the thing of right now

and you must support this or you're a bad person and it kind of feels a bit like that, to be honest. And it's like despite the fact they've put this song on it that's really generic for the subject, it feels like a thing that it's like sort of taboo to say is crass and is maybe not the nicest thing. And yeah, it makes me feel weird. and I really, really don't like the overall thing that comes out with this.

Like, as a song is fine, and it did raise money. And, like, I'm sure most people's heart was in the right place. But there is a media narrative behind this. This isn't happening in a vacuum. And, like, there's a thing that I always remember with this song, with someone who I won't name, because I'm still friends with him now, and he would cringe his head off if he knew about, if you remembered that this happening. But I remember talking to my MSN at the time.

And he was saying, what you're doing? And I said, oh, I'm on iTunes. Just going to buy some songs. He said, oh, what you're buying? And I said, I'm going to buy. help in Haiti. And he said, oh, no, I've got it. I'll send it to you.

And I thought, that's always stuck with me that. Of like, oh, hmm, right. So, like, you didn't care about the charity aspect there. It's like, this is just the thing. Like, it's a thing of, well, we must catch on to this. I said, you don't care, do you, David Croft? No, I did say to him, like, it's not really the point, is it? But, like, it's always stuck with me that.

as like, that's necessarily not putting him on the spot. I think a lot of people kind of felt that way where it's like, you do remember this is for charity, right? Like, this isn't a thing in itself that we should be engaging with. This is supposed to be just a proxy for helping Haiti. So yes, I've rambled on a lot, but I hope my point comes out in some kind of clarity that, like, these things don't happen in a vacuum.

These things still wield the soft power and the media influence that I don't like at all. And you can't put something as, something that's such a bad match. for the topic as this and not feel really, really gross about it, despite the good intentions. So, yes, like I said, it's complex. So, we've had complex. Now we'll have nice and, nice and simple declarations from you both.

Ed, the climb, replay, fireflies, everybody hurts. Are any of them going anywhere? And if they are, what are you going to say? Well, first off, I'm just going to say, fucking David Croft. I never liked him. And it involves people in a thing that is nothing to do with you, he said Andy, and I'm like, oh, why does that feel so much like 2026? It really, really hurts. God, everybody hurts, though, sometimes.

Anyway, if you think that's the last of my fucking R&M puns, you're dead fucking wrong, because here we go. Here we go. McEldebury gets further than I thought, but the thin oxygen makes his voice go. funny and he dies of exposure. I wouldn't buy the climb. It is a bit steep. Hey. Yeah, it's not going anywhere.

It's not bad. It's not great. I have no feelings about it. It's fine. Replay. Well, he said it. They knew they had a good hook on their hands, so they milked it to the point that three minutes does feel slightly protracted. It is a good hook, though, and I've got to say, I think you're both right.

I hadn't point out the fun. That it's quite sweet, isn't it? It's not vault-worthy. at Foyer Floyd aims for such great heights and gets further than McEldebury on recycled air but I ultimately say

come down now and finally it's a bunch of artists on automatic albeit automatic for the people Oh nice Not remotely vault worthy At all Not even close

But help for Haiti's charity Drive Can at least sleep standing up It goes on for a while, so sit down. It might bother my dog with its audio blandness, but at least it doesn't fuck me kitten. It's not going in the pie hole, though. This decision is mine.

It has lived a poor life. But I find the river of kindness in its cynical flatness. You know, the song was actually supposed to have a much bigger role for a certain ex-Disney Channel star, but Miley got a raw deal. Not everybody's going to know all the album tracks. Grandad's making jokes, everybody. Andy.

Did you hear about this one? Tell me how you're lucked in the punch. Look, I've been away for a long, long time. 40 years, seemingly. So just please let me get this out of my sister. But yeah, it's not going anywhere. It's worthless. It was obviously honed by a media-savvy sociopath, really.

And that seems to be the case, as you imply, But yeah, fuck it, it's not even worth the effort of digging a hole. As for me, fireflies, that's a volta, everybody hurts, that's a pie hole. Joe McElroy and Ayaz escape both. Well, they escape punishment, but they're also not rewarded. Andy, Joe McEljury, Ayaz, Owl City and Helping Haiti. Ed, can I ask you a question, just for clarity and for the sake of the listener?

Do you think his name's McEldebury? No, that's a... Or is it just a joke? Because you've said it enough times that I was like, he knows that isn't his name, right? I'm going to make it his name. No, I did. That was a desperate first attempt to try and ring some humour.

No, it did get a laugh. But then you said it enough times that I was like, I don't think I've heard him say, Maceldry at any point. Does he think it's actually in McElderbury? Well, look, we're not going to be talking about him again. You never know. Did he ever have another hit? He had another song in the top ten, I think.

Oh. To be fair, he was nudged. out of getting his Christmas number one. And here he is in the first episode of the 2010s and he's got two. So, you know, worked out well as we end. That's very, very true. He had one more song, Ambitions later this year.

Oh, yes. It's in the top ten. Which I used to love, but it wasn't very good. It wasn't very good. Yes. Anyway, so, okay, where were we? So, Joe McHeldry, the climb, more like the fine. That's not going anywhere. That's saying exactly where it is.

I won't be replaying. I as, but neither will I be skipping it and going oh, that's horrible. It's staying exactly where it is in the middle. Oh, Owl City. Well, owl city luckily isn't located

in the pie hole, but nor is it located in the vault. It was a close run thing. It touched the crust of the pie. It really did. It nearly breached the pie, but it's not quite getting in there. And everybody might hurt, but not everybody vaults.

but no I'm certainly not pie-holeing it because like I say the tart was sort of in the right place but where was its brain yes so that's staying where it is as well alright then when we come back next time

we will be continuing our journey through 2010 and we'll see you for it bye bye now bye