07 Kylie Minogue - Spinning Around

avg: 8.3

👑 Pop Royalty: 11 (Padamic_Tension, Nina West), 10 (...ready for it)

❌ Pop Flop: 6 (Julian_), 7 (Scene, Lee_J11, lewistgreen, Chez Wombat, AllStarBySmashMouth)

Pop princess Kylie Minogue asked "do you like what you see?" and BuzzJack has indeed been pretty receptive, as the average for 'Spinning Around' jumps up to 8.3.

Minogue spent much of the 1990s experimenting with a more leftfield style after starting out with poptastic, synth-heavy SAW material. This swerve had its moments commercially, such as much lauded 'Confide in Me' reaching #2, but also produced several underwhelming chart placements compared to what came before. Some corners of the press dubbed her career as "over" when 1997's Impossible Princess (also known as Kylie Minogue) could only peak at #10 in the U.K. albums chart. However, little did they know what was around the corner...

Kylie Minogue returned to the charts in 2000, now in her early 30s and signed to Parlophone, with a dance-pop reinvention that felt more mature and sensual compared to her pop material first time around. 'Spinning Around' was chosen as the lead single from her seventh studio album Light Years. It was produced by Mike Spencer and written by Ira Shickman, Osborne Bingham, Kara DioGuardi and Paula Abdul. The track was originally intended to be recorded and released by Abdul, who poured feelings of her divorce into the writing process, but was picked up by Minogue's team after her project fell through. The accompanying visuals for 'Spinning Around' marked an iconic moment in Kylie's career thanks to the decision to put her in some gold lamé hotpants. This item of clothing was reportedly bought for just 50p from a flea market and only chosen for the shoot the night before. But this certainly paid off as the press went wild and continue to bring them up now.

'Spinning Around' was a commercial reinvigoration for Kylie and became her fifth U.K. #1 single, the first in a decade. This 2000 smash also earned Kylie the accolade of achieving chart-toppers in three consecutive decades, from the 1980s to the 2000s. This streak was broken in the 2010s but she can now add the 2020s as a non-consecutive decade, thanks to the success of 'XMAS' last year.

This song received multiple 11s, from Padamic_Tension and Nina West, who liked it like this. I'm breaking it down; Kylie can boast a clean sweep of above-average scores! The lowest came from Julian_ who gave 'Spinning Around' a 6.

Whoopsie at being featured at the Pop Flop. That's a lot of names though!

Spinning around is definitely 1 of kylies weaker hits tbf

“Spinning Around” is pretty ordinary: she did have a very strong run of singles to come though.

Glad it got her back to No.1 after all that time and it’s super catchy and iconic with the video but I don’t really play it that much out of choice. I see why it was the right comeback single though completely.

I absolutely love Spinning Around, not enough to give it a 10 though apparently. 😂

34 minutes ago, Paddington James said:

I absolutely love Spinning Around, not enough to give it a 10 though apparently. 😂

I prefer walking or going by train myself 🤭

1 hour ago, 777666jason said:

I prefer walking or going by train myself 🤭

Nothing beats a Big Jet Plane or even a Big Red Car. (ok that last one may be lost on most people).

1 hour ago, Paddington James said:

Nothing beats a Big Jet Plane

...and right now, you can save fifty pounds per person
That's two hundred pounds off for a family of four

My current WFH soundtrack is this compilation on a light up pink CD player, which feels so correct x

#6 coming this evening

06 Rachel Stevens - Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex

avg: 8.48

👑 Pop Royalty: 11 (JosephStyles, HarryGarfield), 10 (Scene, Mango, Billy., Nina West)

❌ Pop Flop: 3 (Roba.), 6 (DaTilt, Chez Wombat)

BuzzJack members have had their say and now it's my turn to deliver the verdict. Rachel Stevens just misses out on a top 5 placing, with an 8.48 average.

Stevens wasted no time getting started on her post-S Club solo career. The group released farewell double-A side 'Say Goodbye' / 'Love Ain't Gonna Wait For You' towards the end of May 2003, with Rachel's launch following less than 4 months later. 'Say Goodbye' was penned by pop genius Cathy Dennis who kept Rachel in mind for her fellow composition 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex'. Dennis was inspired by Justin Timberlake's 'Cry Me A River' when writing the latter and envisioned his ex-girlfriend Britney Spears singing it. However, Spears did not approve of the content and rejected it, instead keeping fellow Cathy Dennis track 'Toxic' for herself. So this opened up a window for Rachel Stevens to kick off her solo career with 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex'.

The music video for 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex' was directed by Tim Royes who was also behind Holly Valance's 'Kiss Kiss' video earlier in the countdown. Stevens was initially hesitant to carry out this video, most memorable for the choreography with red ribbons, but warmed up to it in the end.

Stevens' solo career was off to a storming start as 'Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex' peaked at #2 in the U.K., only blocked here by 2003's biggest seller, the also Timberlake-adjacent 'Where Is The Love?' by the Black Eyed Peas. This song bagged Rachel a BRITs nomination for Best Single but lost out to 'White Flag' by Dido, which also settled for #2 in the charts behind the Peas.

This song was the sweetest dream for both JosephStyles and HarryGarfield, who gave Rachel the best possible score of 11. Meanwhile, Roba. was ready to stop playing this record again, scoring it a lowly 3.

Decent track but much prefer Some Girls which came after.

I think you got me and Viper mixed up there on the 3 score 🤭

I can respect it's slick production but it's not done much for me. Do like one or two of Rachel's other singles after though. Enjoy both 'I'm Outta Love' and 'Spinning Round' though for the latter I was always into and do prefer the sublime 'On A Night Like This'!

A true pop classic

11 minutes ago, Roba. said:

I think you got me and Viper mixed up there on the 3 score 🤭

Ahhh my bad, you two are next to each other on the spreadsheet so I assume that’s how I made that presentation error fixed, thanks!

With 'Spinning Around' I feel like I like the story of the "comeback" surrounding it more than the actual song, although I do still really like it. That's how you smash a comeback!

Sweet dreams my LA ex should absolutely be number 1 so not even being top 5 is a bit of a travesty

It was robbed of an official number 1 too , Rachel should of absolutely got more solo parts in SClub, too many people sleep on natural

Never was much into it. Is in the bottom 5 for me.

'Sweet Dreams My LA Ex' is such an iconic pop song. In a compilation where every song is a highlight, this somehow manages to be an actual highlight...

Me and Joseph showing taste with our matching 11's for Sweet Dreams (My LA Ex)

I adore I'm Outta Love and Spinning Around too so glad to see them top 10

I do Like Get The Party Started too, P!nk has better hits around the same time