Jade

Oh wow an actual medal?! Thanks Brer 🤩 & gracias to Jim as well <3

Julian saving the day (thank you for my highest points so far <3)

Coming for blacksquare's wooden spoon

02 t.A.T.u. - All The Things She Said avg: 9.21 👑 Pop Royalty: 11 (Scene, Julian_, Roba., Dobbo, Chapman, blacksquare, Chez Wombat), 10 (gooddelta, Mango, leww, Billy., Tafty, Jade, lewistgreen, Nina West) ❌ Pop Flop: 5 (Brer), 6 (vibe) An 'All The Things She Said' victory may have been the perfect surprise for some but instead it settles for the runner-up spot, with a strong 9.21 average. Russian duo Lena Katina and Julia Volkova originally started out as part of a children's group called Neposedy, which also featured Sergey Lazarev, of two bronze medals at Eurovision fame. The t.A.T.u. project was later formed in 1999 by producer Ivan Shapovalov and his business partner Aleksandr Voytinskiy, who held auditions in Moscow for teenage girls. The two eventually successful applicants Lena and Julia had their previous band connection but did not know that the other would be auditioning. They initially released Russian-language music including the original version of 'All The Things She Said', titled 'Ya Soshla s Uma'. This iteration was written by Sergio Galoyan, Martin Kierszenbaum, Valery Polienko and Elena Kiper. Kierszenbaum may not look familiar on the surface, but his alias is Cherry Cherry Boom Boom, which Lady Gaga sings as a producer tag in several tracks on The Fame - including 'Eh, Eh (Nothing Else I Can Say)'. Elena Kiper found the inspiration for this song when she dreamt of kissing another woman while at the dentist. The original production for the song was handled by the girl's aforementioned manager, Ivan Shapovalov. The original dates back to 2000 and an English-language launch was eventually planned a couple of years later, with the album 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane. 'Ya Soshla s Uma' was rewritten as 'All The Things She Said' by Trevor Horn, the man behind several innovative, impactful production contributions during the '80s, such as for the controversial 'Relax' by Frankie Goes to Hollywood. On top of writing, he also provided updated production for this English-language version of t.A.T.u.'s song. 'All The Things She Said' was released as the lead single from 200 km/h in the Wrong Lane and caused a lot of controversy, due to its music video. This promo shows the two then-teenage girls behind bars in school uniforms, also sharing multiple kisses. Several corners of the media were outraged, including British television presenting duo Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan, who dubbed it sick and paedophilic. Much like the aforementioned 'Relax', this song rose above its controversial status and went on to be an enormous hit. 'All The Things She Said' came close to charting in the top 40 based on imports alone, in the weeks leading up to its official release in February 2003. It then spent four weeks at #1. In the process, it blocked Kelly Rowland's 'Stole', Sinead Quinn's 'I Can't Break Down' and Justin Timberlake's 'Cry Me A River' from the top. The girls achieved a landmark feat as the first Russian act ever to achieve a U.K. #1 hit. It later placed at #6 in that year's EOY chart. The track remains popular, even recently appearing in the U.K. Spotify top 200 chart due to its use on hit TV show Heated Rivalry. It currently has 856 million+ streams on Spotify and 518 million+ YouTube views. 'All The Things She Said' was the closing track on Pop Princesses and certainly ended the compilation on a high for many. t.A.T.u. received an impressive 7 top scores of 11, more than any other act in the rate. These were awarded by: Scene, Julian_, Roba, Dobbo, Chapman, blacksquare and Chez Wombat. However, the possibility of this winning may have driven Brer mad, as he gave the song its lowest score - a bang average 5.

No problem, thanks for the great discovery - just realised this contest was book-ended by my 12 and my own entry in the running order

Oh wow a quick reveal - just been catching up so thank you: Chez, Nine, Mattias (ooh it was you behind my fave <3) + Rollo for the points so far :) I mentioned that Anna Van Hausswolff was on the soundtrack for The Substance the other day (due to Dan sending her to BJSC) but overlooked your song here being in that film, oh my *.* great pick!

The schedules have updated to include the TOTP line-up for Friday 17th April: 10th September 1999 17th September 1999 So, unsurprisingly, that time jump suggests most of August is being canned indeed. 10th April still has 2x Scott Mills episodes listed so this presumably needs to be updated to 26th August and 3rd September Really struggling to get my head around this news story 💔

SO pleased that my +50 'Fade to Grey' made the top 10 here 🥰 I thought it could be a winning contender until I noticed it getting a +1 score, in addition to further small points, so lowered my expectations a bit. It's one of my all-time favourite songs as a total early '80s dark synth loon. That intro and the drums are particularly breath-taking. The deadpan male vocals and sophisticated French female ones are an intriguing mix. The whole thing feels very mysterious, hypnotic and out of this world. What a striking music video as well. I still have two of my top 5 left so rooting for one of those to win now.

Rob indeed making me feel like a flop by inventing an imaginary DNQ xx tbf my last four performances have been DNQ-Q-DNQ-Q so quite a spotty period nevertheless

Yay, well done John and Rollo for top marks in round 2 yesterday! today's game: Round 1: 36 (didn't get: Smokie - guessed the same as the contestant) Round 2: 30 (didn't get: ZZ Top, The Brothers Johnson) 3-in-10: 3 (Hello, Dancing On The Ceiling, All Night Long (All Night))

Ariana has more than one 'Intro' too

Expected but brilliant winner and a 10+ average is incredible! As for my own 11... 2000 really delivered with its many U.K. #1s as I'd say 'Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)' is my second favourite hit of the entire year, only behind fellow chart-topper 'Pure Shores'. Love the house grooves, strings, percussion and of course Sophie's charming vocal performance. As you mention, 'Groovejet' of course started life as an instrumental, yet this mash-up feels like one of those combinations that was meant to be - a bit like 'Toca's Miracle' from the same year, with components that also fit together perfectly. It has built a fun legacy for itself with the aforementioned chart battle and also being the first song ever played on an iPod. Thank you for running this rate, Nina West! ❤️

Robbie has 'Kids' and Take That have 'Kidz', close enough

What a pair of qualifiers to end on *.* All of my semi 1 top 10 made it through 👏 Aelandor 11th though aw. I only lost my 1 pointer in semi 2, albeit a very good one (Land of DW) and a few others e.g. Abeltesfayeton and Elëdan weren't far off These outcomes were quite the upgrade from last month. Thanks John!

!!!!! Hand on heart my expectations were pretty much non-existent when confirming this. I think last month probably knocked my confidence a bit! Thank you for the support - delighted be back in the final and with an artist that has 30 monthly listeners at the time of typing.