iheartHazey's 90s EURODANCE PARTY: Wanna go for a rate? - THE END

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After eliminating some of my mediocre to low scores, we're sadly back to songs that both hosts gave 10s to..
















































































































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#62. Bambee - Typical Tropical - 6.303

After 5: #41
After 10: #62
After 15: #68
After 20: #64
After 25: #65
After 30: #57
Final: #62

Highest: 10 x 3 (@iheartpoptarts, DJHazey, @Aester) 9.5 (@31entrance)

Lowest: 0 (@geomixes) 2 (@CasuallyCrazed)

The anti-bubblegum brigade is at it again, ddd.

Album: On Ice (1999)

Producers: Honeycutt (Miss Papaya, Toy-Box) and Longhorn (Hit'n'Hide, Ni-Ni)

Desirée Sparre-Enger also known as Bambee is one of the more prominent artists in the bubblegum dance community. She chose the name 'Bambee' because people often said her eyes reminded them of the Disney character, but she changed it from 'Bambi' to avoid copyright issues. Legend states that she was born in a cowshed in the Norwegian countryside, though this probably isn't true. They are many cute little fantasy tales about her life because of how small of a person she was. She discovered pop music at the age of 2 and was very much into theater from early age. She always wanted to play the lead role, including plays like The Sound of Music and Les Miserables in grade school.

Working for a youth department of a national radio station, Desirée got her chance to become a star when a producer asked her to sing the chorus for a song, that song ended up becoming her first single: "Candy Girl". This is also where her trademark 'baby-voiced' style came to fruition, the mix that ends up on her debut album, the "Y2K mix" can be heard here:



Lines like "I'm no bimbo, boys love me!" and randomly interjecting "I love candy!" make this is a legendary bubblegum track.

Bambee had to fight hard to get heard as an artist, but quickly developed a public demand for her music as she did festival tours and played at small clubs - even though she had the position at a major radio station in Norway it did not give her the inside track one would think she'd have. Bambee became known as someone with an abundance of confidence and character, considered one of the sweetest personalities in Norway during her hayday. It reflected the music very well. One of her biggest hobbies off stage was playing video games and her favorite was apparently Resident Evil. Speaking of video games, her music became pretty popular in Asia and she ended up becoming a name in DDR. Probably her most well known song is "Bumble Bee' but I didn't add it to the songlist because I feared for it more than I did for "Typical Tropical". You can hear it here and decide for yourself.



After her two albums, On Ice and Fairytales, she was ready to make a third and even had demos but co-writer Linnea Handberg (Miss Papaya) grew tired of writing bubblegum-styled music and both projects were ended.

Now that you know who Bambee is let's find out why you had her miss the Top 60.

Typical:

@CasuallyCrazed (2) - Another Aqua imitation to my ears. I hate how obvious the chorus is.

Yeah her music is pretty straight-forward sometimes, but always 100% a bop.

@Empty Shoebox (6) - I don't love this, but it feels less phoned in than others, as if more time and effort has been spent trying to create this record.

Believe it or not, she was hard worker.

@Sprockrooster (6) - I expected more sunshine and breeziness from this song.

@ohnoitisnathan (5) - I think it's more than evident by now, if you're reading my commentary in the order that the songs in this rate are listed, that I am NOT a fan of eurodance from the point where it merged into being kiddie-pop. I don't consider this sort of music eurodance. Eurocheese, perhaps. That being said, it is kind of catchy.

Hate it all you want, but it's Eurodance all day!

@Cutlery (2.9) - This exudes a strikingly similar demonic energy than Bailando.

How long till that gets eliminated? This is certainly better in my eyes.

Tropical:

@phily693 (6) - I bop to the breakdown.

@One Stop Candy Shop (7.5) - Never heard of her before but it sure is instant.

Check out her albums if you get the chance.

@Ray (5.5) - Does “not that bad” count as a compliment?

I'll take it, just wish the score was higher haha.

@Seventeen Days (7) - The light touches of house piano and the whistle-like synth are pretty much cinching this one for me. Super catchy and fun.

Catchy and fun is all I ever need.

@31entrance (9.5) - I know I probably said this a few times here but what a bop!

That's why we did this rate, all bops and nothing else.

@sfmartin (7) - Typical Tropical summer bop. Cute, but heard it all before. I like the breakdown.

@berserkboi (8.6) - Lovely!

@WowWowWowWow (8) - I once gave Bambee my 12 points in a PJSC, and I was the only person to give it points that round. Sad! This covers alot of the same ground, which is ground that I enjoy being on.

I don't think that was me. Let's see here. Oh "Wham Bam Boogie", definitely a fan favorite. Not one of mine but still a bop.



What are my Bambee favorites you may ask? Well one of my all-time favorites songs period is this gem. Just listen to how sensual she sounds of the verses, everything about this will always be addictive to my ears. Plus you get to actually see who she is in this video.



Then "Boom Didi Da" from Fairytales which is 'Caution: extremely catchy".

"Gotta give me love-whoa-oh-oh-oh" = perfection


 
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That's right back-to-back eliminations. So what is the last song to miss the Top 60?



















































































Will Italy finally take a hit?











































































No we're going to start in on another of my personal selections.
























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#61. Emjay - Sound of My Heartbeat - 6.397
After 5: #55
After 10: #49
After 15: #60
After 20: #53
After 25: #55
After 30: #62
Final: #61

Wow, she was battling for the Top 50 for most of the voting period.

Highest: 10 (@31entrance) 9.5 (DJHazey)

Lowest: 1 (@Ray) 3 (@One Stop Candy Shop)

Emjay Is: Marie Josée Riel

Album: In Your Arms (1995)

Charts: #14 (Canada)

Producer: Jean-François Laprise (Solina)

Emjay first got into the music scene at age 12, when she was the backup singer for a local Ottawa band. I don't see the name of the band but apparently they won awards. It was her dream to one day be a lead singer though and she worked really hard. One of her first chances to be noticed was when she had the opportunity to provide the background vocals for Capital Sound's "Memories" on their debut album. (I didn't even know this).

Her debut album In Your Arms came off the back off a string of successful singles including Sound of My Heartbeat, Fascinated, Flying to the Moon, and of course In Your Arms itself. She won several Juno Awrads and MuchMusic awards during this time and performed at several live venues, including the MuchMusic's Winterlude, Energy 108's "Energy Rush", and at Kingswood Music Theatre. She also performed on Parliament Hill at Ottawa's Winterlude which was nationally broadcasted. She also appeared on many radio and television shows at the time. Emjay was a little bit of celebrity in Canada for a time. Maybe @iheartpoptarts has some more insight into it. If anything, she has a lot in common with Emjay who apparently loves to do a ton of shopping in her spare time, especially for shows, and buys anything with a sales tag on it even if she doesn't need it. She always said her one weakness is that she isn't a morning person.

After the success of In Your Arms, Emjay began working on her next album in 1997, signing with Tycoon Records. She had recorded the first single "We All Need Love" and was ready for an album release in mid-1998. In November 1997, she was chosen as an opening act for Backstreet Boys Canadian Tour. Then all of the sudden, as we've seen happy in the music industry many times, everything became quiet. She recorded two French songs for a French Tv show that were far from Eurodance and that's all we've heard from Emjay for a long time.

Now I know Emjay sounds like she is struggling to hit the notes on this song, which I figured would be targeted, but I chose this song because I figured it had a better chance than something like "Flying to the Moon" which I would consider to be my favorite Emjay song. That one is a bit slower to get going, while "Sound of My Heartbeat" comes right at you my a very recognizable eurodance flavor and it was her frist signle so it felt right. But yeah "my looooove" was always going to work against the 'vocal ability' critics, even though I swear she sounds great even listening to it now so I don't know what people are hearing. Also, I'm not really much a of vocal critic myself anyway. Let's get the hate out of the way first.

Listen to sound of her heartbeat again please:

@Empty Shoebox (6) - She's just trying a little too hard on the vocals here and it sounds screechy to me.

@Ray (1) - Not really for me. She’s off tune. Ugh.

Maybe more cowbell to drown it out then?

@One Stop Candy Shop (3) - Who is she? Why does she have to scream like that? Why am I listening to this?

I'm betting you'd love "Flying to the Moon" more, check it out.

@phily693 (5) - I don’t think her voice is right for this, it’s a bit thin.


*stops ducking and cringing* Wait, that could've been worse.

Won't you slide over here and groove with me:

@ohnoitisnathan (8) - Whigfield's sister.

Now the comparisons I made between her and @iheartpoptarts make so more sense.

@Sprockrooster (7) - Sounds like good filler to me.

All I saw was 'good'.

@Seventeen Days (7) - Okay, I’m liking this one. It’s got a solid melody, and I love the house piano.

@berserkboi (8.3) - Very pleasant

@CasuallyCrazed (8.5) - Incredible discovery. A+ synths and that wailing vocal. For some reason reminds me of Heidi Montague.

And yet Heidi is one bad vocalist that I don't stick up for. Oops.

@WowWowWowWow (6) - I feel like there's a better song in there crying to get out. Maybe that song is somewhere on an album. BTW howling at one of the comments on YouTube: "i met emjay in hull when this came out...she was very nice in person...i remarked at the time that she must be 5'2"....very sexy...she gave me an autographed picture that ten years later one of my exes found and destroyed...i wish i still had that picture...it reminded me of a great period in my life..."

OMG, I wonder if the ex was like "he loved Emjay more than me" or thought he had actually cheated on her with Emjay. This is grade A drama right here. Great find.



And the aforementioned ultimate fav of mine:

 
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Top 60

Netherlands/Belgium (9/12)

#??. 2 Unlimited - Get Ready For This
#??. 2 Unlimited - No Limit
#??. Alice Deejay - Better Off Alone
#??. Alice Deejay - Back In My Life
#??. Paradisio - Bailando
#??. T-Spoon - Sex On The Beach
#??. Vengaboys - We Like To Party
#??. Vengaboys - Boom Boom Boom Boom
#??. Vengaboys - We're Going to Ibiza

Italy (12/12)

#??. Alex Party - Don’t Give Me Your Life
#??. Ann Lee - 2 Times
#??. Black Box - Strike It Up
#??. Cappella - U Got 2 Let the Music
#??. Cappella - Move On Baby
#??. Corona - Rhythm Of The Night
#??. Corona - Baby Baby
#??. Eiffel 65 - Blue (Da Ba Dee)
#??. Eiffel 65 - Move Your Body
#??. Gala - Freed From Desire
#??. Whigfield - Saturday Night
#??. Whigfield - Think Of You

Germany/Switzerland (19/20)

#??. Amber - This Is Your Night
#??. Amber - Sexual (Li Da Di)
#??. Captain Hollywood Project - More and More
#??. Culture Beat - Mr. Vain
#??. Culture Beat - Got To Get It
#??. Culture Beat - Anything
#??. DJ Bobo - Let The Dream Come True
#??. Fun Factory - Close To You
#??. Fun Factory - I Wanna B With U
#??. Haddaway - What Is Love
#??. Haddaway - Life
#??. La Bouche - Sweet Dreams
#??. La Bouche - Be My Lover
#??. Le Click - Tonight Is The Night
#??. Mr. President - Coco Jamboo
#??. Real McCoy - Another Night
#??. Real McCoy - One More Time
#??. Real McCoy - Run Away
#??. Snap! - Rhythm Is A Dancer

UK/Canada (6/9)

#??. Berri - Sunshine After the Rain
#??. Emjay - In Your Arms
#??. Gina G - Ooh Aah… Just a Little Bit
#??. Koko - Open Your Eyes
#??. Livin' Joy - Dreamer
#??. Livin’ Joy - Don't Stop Movin'

Denmark (7/11)

#??. Aqua - Barbie Girl
#??. Aqua - Doctor Jones
#??. Aqua - Lollipop (Candyman)
#??. Daze - Superhero
#??. Hit 'n' Hide - Space Invaders
#??. Me & My - Dub-I-Dub
#??. Toy-Box - The Sailor Song

Sweden/Norway (7/11)

#??. Dr. Alban - It’s My Life
#??. E-Type - This Is The Way
#??. E-Type - Angels Crying
#??. Reset - Blue
#??. Reset - Calling You
#??. Smile.dk - Butterfly
#??. Solid Base - Come'n Get Me

@iheartpoptarts has a couple more coming for you today. The eliminations might be a little bit more sparse at the beginning the work week, but we've been blasting them out quickly up to this point.​


 
Her debut album In Your Arms came off the back off a string of successful singles including Sound of My Heartbeat, Fascinated, Flying to the Moon, and of course In Your Arms itself. She won several Juno Awrads and MuchMusic awards during this time and performed at several live venues, including the MuchMusic's Winterlude, Energy 108's "Energy Rush", and at Kingswood Music Theatre. She also performed on Parliament Hill at Ottawa's Winterlude which was nationally broadcasted. She also appeared on many radio and television shows at the time. Emjay was a little bit of celebrity in Canada for a time. Maybe @iheartpoptarts has some more insight into it. If anything, she has a lot in common with Emjay who apparently loves to do a ton of shopping in her spare time, especially for shows, and buys anything with a sales tag on it even if she doesn't need it. She always said her one weakness is that she isn't a morning person.

Okay, so I know exactly what all this stuff is.

Kingswood is the concert venue at iconic theme park Canada's Wonderland. (You know, where I practically grew up, like I told you.) Nobody really does shows there anymore but in the 90s (and apparently 80s, says my Dad) it was a thing. They did used to have the finale of The Next Star there (you know, that tween X Factor show that gave us PJSC icon Victoria Duffield and Alyssa Reid) but that's not a thing anymore either.

(P.S. I miss the iced tea flavoured popsicles.)

Energy 108 is a dance station I used to listen to on my walkman when I was in the fourth grade or so. It's long gone.

I've never been to Winterlude. Too cold for me!

In November 1997, she was chosen as an opening act for Backstreet Boys Canadian Tour.

I was there!
 
And so we bid an act farewell...





























































































































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#60. Smile.dk - Butterfly - 6.400

After 5: #53
After 10: #53
After 15: #62
After 20: #60
After 25: #55
After 30: #66
Final: #60

Highest: 10 x 3 (@DJHazey, @Ana Raquel, @31entrance) 9.5 x 1 (@rav4boy)

Lowest: 0 x 1 (@geomixes) 1 x 1 (@One Stop Candy Shop)

Album: Smile (1998)

Producers: Robert Uhlmann and Robin Rex (Dr. Bombay)

@DJHazey did a flawless job of covering Smile.dk when 'Boys' sadly left us. They're bubblegum dance legends. They're Swedish, not Danish—the ".dk" is because they were marketed in Denmark. They're big in Japan. They've got virtual butterflies everywhere.



'Butterfly', of course, is the Dance Dance Revolution song. And it's pretty much THE Dance Dance Revolution song. Here it is in all its DDR'd up remixed glory.



One of my university friends legitimately thought there was a Eurodance group called DDR and 'Butterfly' was their signature hit. So yeah.

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According to Wikipedia, 'Butterfly' was also misattributed back in the Kazaa days to Ayumi Hamasaki, presumably on account of the Japanese influences in it, and Aqua, like every bubblegum dance song ever.

After capturing the attention of DDR stans worldwide, Smile.dk continued to work the Japan angle with tracks such as 'Tokyo', 'Domo Domo Domo', 'Doki Doki', 'Tomoe', 'Moshi Moshi', and a predictable 'Japanese Boy' cover.

And at least as of last year, Smile.dk is still bringing the Japan-inspired bubblegum today! @DJHazey sent this to PJSC because he's awesome.



I 12'd it because I'm also awesome.

Smiling:

@Ana Raquel (10) - The other song which made me listen to eurodance nowadays, thanks to DDR. And the closest I've been to get a SS in the game.

I've DDR'd this one so much I've lowkey gotten tired of it!

@Sprockrooster (8) - Loving the chorus a lot!

@Ray (7) - Are you sure this belongs in the rate? It’s a goddamn ballad! *plays the video* …ignore me…

@Seventeen Days (7) - Another catchy track, though I would probably return to “Boys” first before this one.

@berserkboi (8.6) - Very good

@WowWowWowWow (8) - Look at that video budget! This was going to be a 7 but then I started Googling and found out that one of the smile.dk producers was responsible for songs by Dr. Bombay, Arash and Polish Margaret, and we love a legend! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Uhlmann_(composer)

I can't wait for Polish Margaret to go full bubblegum.

@rav4boy (9.5) - Very interesting production

@Empty Shoebox (7) - Not sure that this whole East Asian vibe they're trying to pull quite works here, but it makes the song stand out in this list, so credit there.

@CasuallyCrazed (5.5) - This is a clearly awful, but I also secretly enjoy the awfulness.

We've got some shout-outs to the 90s graphics...

@Eric (8.5) - The graphics in this video are something to behold - the hedges and spaceship reminded me of Steps's Here and Now / You'll be Sorry video.

@A$AP Robbie (9) - oh my god the 3d graphics in the video.

And 90s nostalgia in general...

@31entrance (10) - those toy phones that use to play these anyone??

Frowning:

@phily693 (3) - The chorus reminds me of Die Antwoord’s Enter The Ninja and that song just freaks me out so no thank you.

It was sampled in 'Enter the Ninja'! How about I be nice and not post it?

@ohnoitisnathan (4) - Not really my thing.

@One Stop Candy Shop (1) - My god these girls are annoying. Japan deserves better.

They saved their best for Japan! As it happens, my fave Smile.dk tracks forever are a Japanese bonus track and an obscure song off a Japan-only EP.



 
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