Lopez Blogs

Click here for Part One ~ May 2001 :)

Remember September 2003? I was less young and hunky than I was in May 2001. Darren and I were moving into our second home together - a gorgeous little cottage surrounded by green grass and parklands. Buffy was finishing a stellar 7 year stretch of amazing television and The OC was about to grip the world before it got crap and the superior Gossip Girl would replace it 5 years later. And yes, it was another stunning month for great pop music. S Club had finished, but the juniors were carrying the torch forward, while Rachel Stevens went the solo route and Bouncy Beyonce launched her solo album. There was great pop - a - plenty to be had for everyone. Here again, in no particular order, are 8 songs that had me humming all month and many years into the future...

Rachel Stevens ~ Sweet Dreams My LA Ex: Who knew Rachel would come back with something so entirely amazing as this debut single? Written by Cathedral Dennis and produced by Bloodshy and Avant, this was a percolating frothy groove of a tune that was tastily produced and delivered with enough sass and verve to give it real personality. The video (top of the page) saw Rachel prancing around with ribbons and giving hope to the world that a new pop princess was about to launch. Sadly it was not to be, and frankly it's quite criminal that her second album didn't set the pop world alight. Don't get me started, because i'm still proper miffed :(
Gareth Gates ~ Sunshine: Sigh. It should have all been going so well. He had the second best selling single of the year (the camp as christmas Spirit In The Sky) and was launching his second album with much improved hair, a buffed up body and a sleek, flawless midtempo pop tune that dripped like a melting ice lolly with hooks and beats that should have netted him another number one. Damn those Black Eyed Peas. Like Rachel, it never really happened for Gareth after this single but there were plenty of ignored hits in his ace of base Go Your Own Way...
Mark Owen ~ Four Minute Warning: Ok ok, technically this was released in August 2003, but it lingered like the last gasps of Robbie Williams sanity into September, and still remains the best pop song ever with Four Minutes in the title :P Mark's first release since Celebrity Big Brother, it was a quirky guitar driven pop tune that counted down the last four minutes before the big explosion takes us all out, and gave us some stories of folks last moments. Totally riveting pop music and proof that Gary B wasn't the only talented songwriter in the soon to be reformed TT...
A*Teens ~ One Night In Bangkok: Ok, this technically wasn't a single at all, but I was so obsessed with it at the time that I think I put it on every compilation cd I made for friends at the time. Always a favourite of mine from the musical Chess, combine it with the last vestige of early 00s pop (The A*Teens) and it became an instant classic for me. I'm not really sure why this works for me, because i played it for a friend today and they were absolutely repulsed by it, haha! Oh well, different strokes for different folks. I think actually that September 2003 may be cursed because soon after this song, the teens released a greatest hits and split :( Good gravy!
Mis-Teeq ~ Can't Get It Back: I was a little late on the Mis-Teeq train so didn't catch on to this super Salt'N'Pepa for the noughties track til a couple of months after it had charted, and then I couldn't stop playing it for weeks on end. As it turned out, this song would prove to be sadly prophetic as it is about a philandering no good dude who ends up tied and taped in his undies. Great court room video and excellent rap in the middle 8 (that tragically I still know all the words to today), the poor bloke ends up molested by a tranny cleaner at the end, which is almost worse than ending up riddled by sleeping with evil Javine. Team Alesha!!
Kym Marsh ~ Sentimental: Ooo she ditched Hear'say before they went crap and released a solo album that was ridiculously underrated and classed as sub Natalie Imbruglia nonsense. Well screw that. Cry and Come On Over were ace enough, but this gorgeous third single is an ideal showcase for Kym's warm vocal style and has rather understated verses before she lets soar with the lovely chorus (and listen closely to the euphoric piano tinkling in the background of the chorus. It just makes it so delish). Surely she is re-famous enough now that she can finally release a second album?
Dashboard Confessional ~ Hands Down: Oh my gosh I almost forgot about how amazing I thought this song was! Just freaking loved it when i first heard it and then couldn't get it out of my head for weeks and weeks afterwards. It was perky emo at it's very best, and helped me develop a rather unhealthy crush on lead singer Chris Carraba. Great vocal performance, frenetic energetic chorus into emotive middle eight that actually becomes the end of the song. Love it or hate it, this totally worked for me and I still listen to it fairly regularly today, though nothing they have done since has bettered this...
Play ~ I Must Not Chase The Boys: I was a bit late on Play as well, but i thought these saucy swedish sirens were utterly captivating. This was my favourite track of 2003 with it's down and dirty beats, thrashy pop chorus and a refrain that even good boys like myself must remember once in a while. Nothing more needs to be said :) (Video at top of this list!)