19 Pixie Lott - Mama Do (Uh Oh, Uh Oh)

1 week in June 2009: {1}-2-7-9-16-22-25-27-36-41-47-37-40-46-45-53-64-74->18

Kept off #1: none

#56 in EOY 2009

Another first #1 for an act who has already appeared in this countdown, and a debut single in this case going straight in at the top for the British singer at the age of 18. Pixie had appeared in the West End and had written many of her own songs as well as for other artists, however the song that would launch her came from the co-writers of Natalie Imbruglia's 'Torn' (Phil Thornalley) and Natasha Bedingfield's 'Soulmate' (Mads Hauge). Although ostensibly a pop song, its arrangement builds around a clapping track and leans heavily on the soul sound that one might have associated with Amy Winehouse at the time, while Pixie delivers a deep soulful vocal to match. The backstage themed video helped it pick up traction, and the single opened with 58k, making Pixie the first female artist born in the 1990s to have a UK #1.

I thought this sounded distinctive among pop songs at the time, the "uh oh, uh oh" hook of the chorus is catchy, and Pixie's vocals are strong - it sounded like she was shaping up for more of a soulful lane than the way later her hits went, certainly after her debut. What hadn't crossed my mind until relistening for this rate is just how close the arrangement goes to Mark Ronson's productions for Amy, as it's really not far removed from 'Back To Black'. For whatever reason, it doesn't seem to be quite as well remembered, or indeed as big a seller during 2009, as I thought it might have been, but to achieve everything it did for the launch of a new artist was no mean feat.

At the time it was quite a surprising, but different and refreshing #1. As it stands it's a serviceable enough, catchy pop song but not one I revisit that often.

I never knew that about her being the first person born in the 90s to achieve a #1!

As much as I would love to retcon 'Beautiful Girls' getting to the top of the chart ()... wasn't Sean Kingston the first artist born in the 1990s to reach #1, a couple of years earlier in 2007? I guess Pixie can still be the first woman born in the 1990s to get there. As a 1997 girl, I had to wait until 2016 for an artist younger than me to achieve that for the first time... not quite Sean, but instead an alternate spelling - Shawn, of the Mendes variety!

A song called 'Number 1' getting to number 1 was pretty neat (Tweenies of course robbed) but can't say I'm too crazy about the contents of the track. I'd agree that the strings are the highlight. N-Dubz were absolutely massive with my age group at the time - always played in form parties! Love that you mentioned the Facebook line from 'I Need You', definitely top 2 most memorable N-Dubz lyrics for me along with "my name's Shaniqua and wot?!" from 'Ouch'.

I really liked Pixie's first era at the time, I had the album on repeat at different stages of 2009 & 2010.

This isn't one I got back to as much though, it is still an enjoyable listen though.

I can see the Amy Winehouse comparisons and I could've seen Dionne Bromfield singing this as well.

I agree Pixie’s debut is my favourite, I hadn’t realised the Amy similarities but I see that now.

7 hours ago, Jade said:

As much as I would love to retcon 'Beautiful Girls' getting to the top of the chart ()... wasn't Sean Kingston the first artist born in the 1990s to reach #1, a couple of years earlier in 2007? I guess Pixie can still be the first woman born in the 1990s to get there. As a 1997 girl, I had to wait until 2016 for an artist younger than me to achieve that for the first time... not quite Sean, but instead an alternate spelling - Shawn, of the Mendes variety!

A song called 'Number 1' getting to number 1 was pretty neat (Tweenies of course robbed) but can't say I'm too crazy about the contents of the track. I'd agree that the strings are the highlight. N-Dubz were absolutely massive with my age group at the time - always played in form parties! Love that you mentioned the Facebook line from 'I Need You', definitely top 2 most memorable N-Dubz lyrics for me along with "my name's Shaniqua and wot?!" from 'Ouch'.

Ah yes it was Sean, I had some idea someone had got there first but didn't check back that far. Fairly sure Pixie was the first 1990s born woman to have got there, so have edited.

Haha I remembered the line in 'Ouch' about climbing the stairs, but not the reveal after *_* truly the high watermark of musical storytelling.

‘Numba’ 1 is dreadful. Everything I hated about music in 2009.

Ooh pixie lotte not a bad song but definitely the weaker of her number 1s but also one of the better number 1s of 2009

Was also suprised to see her release this week thought she'd long given up its an interesting ballad

Break Your Heart was that considered an surprise #1 at the time?

20 minutes ago, Mack said:

Break Your Heart was that considered an surprise #1 at the time?

I remember it seeming like it came out of nowhere to smash its way to the top. A bit like 'American Boy' in that sense.

18 JLS - Beat Again

2 weeks in July 2009: {1}-1-2-4-7-12-13-17-23-26-33-38-36-28-31-35-41-33-41-47-55-60-57-49-34-54-73R(6)->27

Kept off #1: Mr Hudson feat. Kanye West - Supernova

#16 in EOY 2009

Another debut song now, and the third in a row in this countdown for an act whose second #1 has already appeared. Just seven months after finishing second in the 2008 series of The X Factor, JLS were launched outside of the franchise with an original song, albeit produced and co-written by a safe pair of hands in Steve Mac. Apparently 'Everybody In Love' was lined up to be their debut, but when their management heard this the plan was changed and this was the single. It sold 106k in its first week to go straight to #1, and stayed there with 67k in its second - the only of their six UK #1s to have two weeks there.

I think this was a convincing debut hit, and if they had been given more songs as good as this, they may have had a little more success down the line. Lyrically it's a little cloying in places - the emotional blackmail of it all! - but neatly delivered in an uptempo R&B style that flows effortlessly between verses, bridge and chorus. Each of the quartet get their own lines somewhere, and there are little switch-ups on the middle eight and outro, but most of all it's the chemistry between them that makes it work as well as it does. The song that came closest to denying it a second week marked a brief period of chart success for Mr Hudson, with the well-spoken singer bagging a collaboration with one of the biggest names in hip hop (I would add the less said about this name the better now, though I might have to say a bit more about him at some point soon). Qualms about that aside, it's not bad really, and (despite / because of the efforts of Chappell Roan and the OCC's ambiguous reset rules for Oasis) it remains to this day the only Top 30 hit with "Supernova" in the title.

Beat Again is ok, an average song from an average band.

I wasn't really a JLS fan at all, but in fairness this was a fairly decent debut single.

Beat Again is quite good especially when compared with some of the X Factor debuts, I agree they were one of the few group acts who were convincing as a unit.

Excellent fact about the Supernovas too!

I agree that 'Beat Again' was a pretty decent debut single from JLS. One of them doing a back flip in the music video has stuck in my head too.

Marvin's ex (or 'ex', who knows x) Jaime Jay actually released a response song called 'Cheat Again' at the time but it didn't quite do a Frankee

A Starz TV music channel classic

The more I listen to these #1's I must admit that 2009 was a relatively weak year chartwise. Indie rock completely faded and the big euro revival bangers were much better the upcoming years. Not that much pop bangers. Thankfully one big singer broke through that year and her #1's are places 1-3 for me.

'Mama Do' is a solid debut for Pixie. Nothing too special but does the job as far as a pop song goes in 2009 standards.

I get 'Beat Again' has something to it but I've never been a fan of it personally much like their entire output. That's the only other one I don't care for out now too.

Beat again was a fun enough debut but they had better

17 Cascada - Evacuate The Dancefloor

2 weeks in July 2009: {1}-1-2-4-5-7-11-17-20-27-36-39-40-53-56-63-74->17

Kept off #1: Michael Jackson - Man In The Mirror

#31 in EOY 2009

German dance act Cascada were formed from DJs Manian and Yanou (of former UK #1 fame in 2002 on DJ Sammy's 'Heaven') and singer Natalie Horler. Their first hit 'Everytime We Touch' made #2 in the UK in 2006, and even cracked the US Top 10. In 2009 they launched their third album, of the same name, with this song which saw a slight departure from the Eurodance formula of their previous five UK Top 40 hits with an electropop shift in sound, and included a few bars from guest rapper Carlprit (who sounds a little like Eminem). It was somewhat a surprise when it debuted at UK #1 with sales of 61k, and stayed for a second with an improved 64k, however the big story in that first week concerns the song it came from behind in the midweeks to finish 5k ahead of.

As mentioned in the original post, Michael Jackson died on 25 June, and sales of his back catalogue very quickly took off. Whether due to fan campaigning or some other reason, the song of his to gain the most traction was 'Man In The Mirror' from his 1987 album Bad, a song which had been a US #1, but had only peaked at #21 on its original UK release in 1988, although had returned at #55 in 2008 due to The X Factor. Following his death, it made a new peak of #11 from little over two days of concentrated downloads, and as these continued into the following week, it had been projected to become his 8th UK #1, until it fell behind Cascada late on. In fact, it only held on to its Top 2 spot by virtue of ending the week one sale ahead of the song at #3, the outgoing #1 from the previous week which has yet to appear!

I had been rooting for Michael Jackson to have a posthumous #1, although the song isn't one of my absolute favourites of his, and as well as overcoming this disappointment, I wasn't too keen on the song which beat it (oops) at first - while 'Everytime We Touch' was and is one of my absolute favourite songs of 2006, and the following year's 'Miracle' I like too, I lost a little interest in Cascada afterwards with all the cover versions they put out in a similar style. However I do kind of enjoy this one of theirs now, as a bit of a bop not to take too seriously. It has a slightly off-the-beat bassline in a similar way to a song higher up the countdown, while the idea of the chorus asking punters to clear the dancefloor is quite funny, but an earworm. Also, following JLS telling us "put your hands up" earlier on, we continue our lyrical clichés of the era bingo with a visit to the clurrrb ("Everybody in the club!") Honourable mention also to Dave Henson's punditry pastiche for the World Cup in 2010, 'Evaluate The Last Four' https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNFpwBlxTjE which was aired on Radio 5 before the semi finals, and arguably displays more creativity than the England squad did in that tournament.

Cascada were one of those acts most people thought were one person but actually a group although ironically, the general misconception proved to eventually be correct as the two producers departed a few years ago with Natalie now using the name as a solo artist !

(Everytime We Touched deserved #1 more clearly as it was a far bigger and better hit)