'Once' I didn't like, the chorus was too repetitive. Preferred the follow up single.

'We No Speak Americano' was good at the start but I got bored of it being on the music channels too much.

10 minutes ago, Jade said:

'We No Speak Americano' was a fun and quirky chart moment! Love that you mentioned 'Why Don't You' by Gramophonedzie as well. Both of them scratched an itch for me before I'd properly delved into retro music, with those old school samples. I heavily associate electro-swing with 2010 and also 2015 due to Electro Velvet (!) in Eurovision and Caravan Palace being sent to BJSC at the end of the year too, 'Lone Digger' really expanded my horizons - absolute banger.

All those plus Doop - Doop obviously starting it in 1994!

Yeah I really liked that Caravan Palace song and wished it would have been a hit. Don't forget about Caro Emerald in the early 2010s too! Also Sailor - Girls Girls Girls is a song from the 70s I discovered that kinda had that sound too.

Edited June 3Jun 3 by TheSnake

I quite liked that Diana Vickers song. A forgotten gem.

She had quite a distinctive voice. However, I can't remember anything else she did.

'Once' is probably my favourite, it's such a truly unique pop song. She SO deserved better afterwards though - 'Music To Make The Boys Cry' is an absolute masterpiece.

f*** you , still ceelos best such a bop , and gwen paltrows cover of it on glee is iconic too

We no speak Americano i can take or leave

Once is such a bop a great introduction to Diana shame her career pretty much peaked here as she was so unique, the whole Music to make boys Cry era was criminally overlooked

'Once' would probably be top 3 for me in this countdown. It's excellent.

Oops at it going to ACR in its third week though 🙊🙊🙊

Seriously... FOUR WEEKS TOP 40?! I was certain this lasted longer than 'Dirtee Disco', apparently not. Seems it had the worst chart run of all the regular #1s. Absolutely blasphemy!

Just now, Juranamo said:

'Once' would probably be top 3 for me in this countdown. It's excellent.

Oops at it going to ACR in its third week though 🙊🙊🙊

Seriously... FOUR WEEKS TOP 40?! I was certain this lasted longer than 'Dirtee Disco', apparently not. Seems it had the worst chart run of all the regular #1s. Absolutely blasphemy!

oops, I missed out a week when transcribing out the chart run, it stopped at #18 on week 4 before going to #31.

Not that 5 weeks is much better.

13 minutes ago, 777666jason said:

f*** you , still ceelos best such a bop , and gwen paltrows cover of it on glee is iconic too

I only remember the 'whyyyyy' bit from the Glee version!

Once is a really nice pop song. I remember absolutely loving it and the album at the time it was released. Still quite good now as well.

Once is so stunning a huge fave of the year!

Gosh so many bangers this year, All Time Low, Promise This both top 10 in a Iz Countdown *.

I am so glad that shout horror is last. gross and just ew, I cant stand it.

'Once' is quite good. The chart run for it still looks pretty bizarre for it though.

'Forget You' (which is how I know the song, I've heard the explicit version maybe twice) is fun and deserves to be among the #1s of the year - the Xbox / Atari line is genius and Cee Lo's vocals throughout really sell it. I actually found 'Bright Lights, Bigger City' started to grate more over its shorter chart run, but 'It's OK' I liked.

Glad to see 'We No Speak Americano' in the top 10, such a fun one of a kind #1 (further immortalised by The Inbetweeners Movie). I wouldn't get massively into electro-swing as a genre, although Caro Emerald's album the same year is among my favourites of the decade.

Diana Vickers had some of the most promising contestant performances on The X Factor, but I'm afraid I found 'Once' a bit underwhelming and it felt like her short chart career didn't live up to her potential. Although I was under the impression 'My Wicked Heart' had unintentional similarities to 'Under The Bridge' (following which the songwriting credits may have been adjusted, albeit I haven't tracked the story) rather than a planned interpolation of it.

I really like Once, I heard again it in the ‘real world’ at a party a couple of weeks ago and it sounded great. I thought Diana was one of the best X Factor offspring with her distinctive voice, it’s a shame her career really didn’t take off after this.

Diana Vickers very much forgottent these days, sadly. Including by me as this is a great pop song, went top 5 for me and a much-more apreciative 16 week chart run, with those songwriter credentials I was bound to appreciate it. I havent heard it in 16 years though, and same for the follow-ups, The Boy Who Murdered Love went top 10 and 12 weeks, My Wicked Heart number 12 for 5 short weeks though. I was watching X Factor around this time, at least the last few episodes of each series, so that might have coloured my support for Diana as doing something different. She did pop back in 2013 with Cinderella to bother the lower end of my charts but nothing since - a shame!

“Once” passed me by at the time but it is a really good pop song that’s free of the stifling Cowell effect.

Great that “We No Speak Americano” is top 10. Think it would be even higher for me - I love the quirky interaction between the dance track and the old Italian song that’s sampled, and the black and white silent film feel to it.

Diana she had an interesting way of singing 'Once', this was one of the better debut X Factor alumni singles quite shocked that this only had 5 weeks in the Top 40. One that I quite liked at the time, wasn't she involved in some lawsuit that I don't happened to 'My Wicked Heart' sounding very similar to Red Hot Chili Pepper's 'Under The Bridge'?

5 hours ago, Mack. said:

Diana she had an interesting way of singing 'Once', this was one of the better debut X Factor alumni singles quite shocked that this only had 5 weeks in the Top 40. One that I quite liked at the time, wasn't she involved in some lawsuit that I don't happened to 'My Wicked Heart' sounding very similar to Red Hot Chili Pepper's 'Under The Bridge'?

11 hours ago, jimwatts said:

Diana Vickers had some of the most promising contestant performances on The X Factor, but I'm afraid I found 'Once' a bit underwhelming and it felt like her short chart career didn't live up to her potential. Although I was under the impression 'My Wicked Heart' had unintentional similarities to 'Under The Bridge' (following which the songwriting credits may have been adjusted, albeit I haven't tracked the story) rather than a planned interpolation of it.

So with 'My Wicked Heart', I only briefly mentioned it in the commentary but as far as I remember, it came out, much of the discussion on it was on the chord similarities, and there was a brief media round over Warner Music/the RHCP potentially planning to sue, in the end, there wasn't any formal lawsuit over it. I think I remember 'My Wicked Heart' disappearing from streaming services for a little while too, though of course it's back now. It's listed as a sample on WhoSampled and I'd consider it one as the chord progression is pretty much the same, but yes, it was 'unintentional'.

On the subject of undisclosed samples, around the same time Chris Brown's 'Yeah 3x' was ripping off 2009 #1 'I'm Not Alone', in that case Harris got added to the credits post-hoc (and JLS - Eyes Wide Shut skirted very close to doing the same thing IMO).

We No Speak Americano is an aboluste tune, love it as a song (and when I downloaded the song I made sure to download the extended version as the original was too short!)

Once is a song I came to much later than when it came out when I had it on a playlist of randomly-selected #1s in early 2019, I enjoyed it quite a lot as it was something a bit different (pleasantly surprised actually given my 9-year-old brain decided to really dislike her on the X Factor for no apparent reason!)

8. Tinie Tempah – Written In The Stars (feat. Eric Turner)

1 week at #1 (entered 3^rd October): 01-03-05-08-10-15-21-26-23-35-39-44-35-25-36-41-49-56-56-57-33-40-47-56-71-74-69-59-84-90-94-99

Kept off #1: none

EOY #31

If there was one person who best represented the charts of 2010, it would be Tinie Tempah (real name Patrick Okogwu). It feels like a long time coming (fam), since I first mentioned him right at the beginning of this thread, when his second single ‘Frisky’, with his friend and frequent collaborator Labrinth, fell short of getting to #1 in favour of the despicable ‘Shout’. Forward on a few months, and Tempah is preparing to release his third single, ‘Written In The Stars’. At the same time, Labrinth debuts a solo song, ‘Let The Sun Shine’. Chart battle set. While good enough and very catchy, ‘Let The Sun Shine’ came right at the end of summer and could only manage #3, and perhaps rap’s hottest property at the time was the reason why, eventually, it was ‘Written In The Stars’ that triumphed and went on to have a very respectable chart run.

 

I will have plenty more to say about Tinie Tempah’s impacts on the popular music of 2010 and beyond at a later time, but in terms of its contribution to his story, ‘Written In The Stars’ is one where despite being released later, I think it’s better placed to talk about who he was to the music industry as it expected him to be when he broke out, based on its past experiences with rappers. It shows off his ability to deliver a fairly epic rap rock tune laying down pretty familiar lyrics about struggling and striving towards success. A good thing, because it sounds fantastic throughout.

The song features ‘iShi! Eric Turner’, and though those two names are new to the top of the charts, they have a bit more of a connection than just being the producer and featured singer here, the two met after one of iSHi’s sound engineer friends recommended Turner to him, and they formed a working connection, again the sources for these stories have died and Wiki is the only remaining source I can find (stop the old Internet rotting). iSHi would produce a number of Tinie’s songs, including the next single ‘Invincible’, but he had also produced a number of songs that year for Tinchy Stryder, two of which also featured Eric Turner. Turner, by the way, absolutely no problems with his feature here and he sings out that huge chorus fantastically, but he feels more like the studio’s easy call than anyone with an identity you'd remember, as is shown by his complete lack of known solo work.

With 2 #1 singles the year before, each featuring big chorus and rap verses and very comparable names, Tinchy feels like, just a bit, like he was to 2009 as Tinie was to 2010, the flavour of the month rapper. Indeed, Tinchy's own singles around this time, 'Second Chance (feat. Taio Cruz)' and 'Game Over (feat. a whole bunch, including Tinie)' were failing to hit in the way he'd done just 12 months ago. Radio's chances in the sun for grime were a harsh mistress indeed. That said, Tinchy was a fine rapper, but he's not as talented at attracting a wide audience as Tinie was on his first album. Tinie was meant to step into those shoes and give a new and exciting name to lead off the homegrown UK rap scene. Not so much 'written in the stars' as 'written in the quarterly report', I think Parlophone spotted there was a gap, somewhere in between Roll Deep, B.o.B and Eminem's return anyway, and promoted him all out with a big round of material.

So what I'm saying here is less that the music industry discarded rappers as soon as they were even slightly old news, but Tinie Tempah had exactly the right kind of juice with all of the songs on DISC-Overy to fill in the UK demand for what was very briefly an golden airplay era of rap... soft-rock. Rap is not a genre often meant to be played on mainstream radio. 'Written In The Stars', however, is a song that fits so well in with even anti-rap stations that I was hearing it everywhere at the time. Couple that with the huge demand this year had for epic-sounding rap with huge choruses, and victory in the arms race was assured.

I've already said how brilliant I find the base parts of 'Written In The Stars', a strong powerful chorus, an uplifting progression that really makes you feel good, only losing a few slight marks for not being as challenging a song as I know Tinie could create. The lyrics are great and fit right in with that vibe, I still recalled them clearly before listening: 'I cried Teardrops over the Massive Attack' is one obvious fun reference, 'people work hard just to get all their salary taxed' as relevant as ever, but most prominently and with the message of the song 'everyone's the kid that no one cares about, you just gotta keep screaming till they hear you out'. Tinie was now in a position where the whole of the UK and potentially the world was listening to him, this would even do decently as a song in the US. He cracked the formula, just very briefly, to make everyone feel uplifted by rap, and whether that was written in the stars or not, it's a song on this list that I'd happily call awesome.

Tinie Tempah had a hold over the early 2010's that needs to be studied

Oh I really liked this at the time and I have a memory about it. At the time I saw it on the music channels for quite a few weeks, looked at the top 40 chart and it wasn't there. I thought it had left top 40, which was a shame.

It entered at #1 the following week. The held back release confused me!