55. Spiller feat. Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Groovejet (if this ain't Love) (2000)

The wave of young pop princesses of the beginning of the decade included some British girls as well, who also presented a fresher and more liberated attitude than before. The case could actually be made for England as the birth-ground of this wave, which could be dated to the rise of the Spice Girls in 1996. In the beginning of the new millennium, the princesses started to emerge out of the bubblegum pop of the Spice Girls and explore new directions, and while the Americans turned to funk, the Brits connected mainly to dance. In retrospect it was a mistake, because dance faded away, and did not provide them with the power needed to battle the Americans. This failure is one of the reasons that the British girl singers who came in the second half of the decade (Amy Winehouse, Adele, Duffy etc.) shunned dance, and returned to the safer grounds of rock and soul. For those of us who look for innovations, there were too little good records from female British singers this decade, mostly from its beginning. But those who were good were special and worthwhile, and 'Groovejet' is the one I like the most.

Christiano Spiller is an Italian DJ who created the original house track back in 1999, and like most house numbers, its repetitiveness may work alright on the dancefloor, but makes it too boring for radio play. But a year later, Sophie Ellis-Bextor added her vocal, and turned the numbing monotony into a sweet dream. Since she draws our attention, we pay little notice to the repetitive main riff, and more to the variety of electronic sounds that wrap her voice like cotton-candy. Thus, Sophie also gains from the collaboration, the house track giving her a more exotic and interesting backing than the rock numbers she recorded prior to that. The outcome is an airy, floating record, and it makes me feel so good.