Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)

"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)"
Single by Spiller with Sophie Ellis-Bextor
Released14 August 2000 (2000-08-14)
GenreHandbag house[1]
Length
  • 6:16 (original version)
  • 3:47 (radio edit)
Label
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Spiller singles chronology
"Mighty Miami EP"
(2000) 		"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)"
(2000) 		"Cry Baby"
(2002)
Sophie Ellis-Bextor singles chronology
"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)"
(2000) 		"Take Me Home"
(2001)
Alternative cover
French CD single cover
Audio
"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" on YouTube

"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" is a song by Italian electronic music producer Spiller with lead vocals performed by British singer-songwriter Sophie Ellis-Bextor.[1] Various versions of the single were later featured on the German reissue and some UK editions of Ellis-Bextor's debut solo album, Read My Lips. The single was released on 14 August 2000 by Positiva Records and was involved in a highly publicised chart battle against "Out of Your Mind", the first single by Victoria Beckham outside the Spice Girls, in the United Kingdom.

In addition to receiving critical acclaim, "Groovejet" became a hit in Europe and Australia, peaking at number one in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Ireland, and Australia, and it reached number three on the US Billboard Dance Club Play chart. On 22 July 2013, the song was certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI), and it has sold 642,000 copies in the UK as of March 2019.

Background

[edit]

The track was originally created by Spiller in early 1999 as an instrumental, with no singing, and was included on the Mighty Miami EP. It is mainly built upon samples from "Love Is You", a disco song originally performed by Carol Williams with the Salsoul Orchestra. The origin of the song title is taken from the name of South Beach, Miami nightclub 'Groovejet', where the song was first played (as an instrumental) in 1999.[2]

In order to make the track more palatable for airplay, as the instrumental is somewhat repetitive, Positiva Records asked British singer Sophie Ellis-Bextor, formerly with indie rock band theaudience, to provide lyrics and vocals for the song. Before recording, Ellis-Bextor's lyric was partly reworked by Rob Davis, who replaced her hook "And so it goes... how does it feel so good?" with "If this ain't love... why does it feel so good?", thereby providing the song with its subtitle.[3] Boris Dlugosch produced the vocal portions added to the track. Sharon Scott is the back-up vocalist.

The track has been remixed by Boris Dlugosch and Michi Lange, Todd Terry, Solar, Ramon "Ray Roc" Checo and Ernest St. Laurent. "Groovejet" was the first song ever to be played on an iPod, specifically on a prototype unit in August 2001.[4] Upon its inclusion on Now That's What I Call Music! 46 in the UK, released a month before the single, the booklet write-up correctly predicted it to be a hit.[5]

Critical reception

[edit]

"Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" has received critical acclaim. Piers Martin of NME was favourable, saying "this is a slip of irresistible ice-filtered summer funk. This year's 'Sing It Back' and 'Music Sounds Better with You', if you will."[6] Stylus Magazine's Dom Passantino rated the single 8/10, describing the song as "handbag house's last hurrah, except we'd stopped drinking Hooch by then and it was all about sambucca..."[1]

Tom Ewing of Freaky Trigger rated the single 9 out of 10, saying: "There's a beautiful tension in 'Groovejet', an apt flirtation between Bextor’s languid, cut-glass vocals and the delightful indulgence of Spiller's music. It’s not just any disco he's reviving, after all. No Chic for Spiller, none of that poise or aspirational elegance. The sounds 'Groovejet' loots are the syn-drums and ray-gun synths of disco's overripe peak and decline, when it was corny, wonderful, mass-market pop music: you can hear hints of Kelly Marie or Amii Stewart in the song, before that sweetness falls back into the dreamy groove. 'Groovejet' is a fond tour of disco when it ruled the world, and proof that it still could."[7] He described the music's sophistication as coming from Ellis-Bextor, who "offsets the track's bubbly repetition, adds a bittersweet note without ever sounding like she's above it. In fact she sounds carried along by it."[7]

The song was ranked at number 486 on Pitchfork Media's list of the "Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s".[8] Mixmag included "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" on their list of "The 30 Best Vocal House Anthems Ever" in 2018.[9] In 2003, Q Magazine ranked "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" at number 782 on their list of the "1001 Best Songs Ever".[10]

Commercial performance

[edit]

In the United Kingdom, the single was first released in the same week as "Out of Your Mind", Victoria Beckham's first single outside the Spice Girls. "Out of Your Mind" held the midweek number one in the UK singles chart until Saturday, when "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" overtook it in sales; it was hyped by the media as a personal battle between the two artists.[11][12] The song was the eighth best-selling song of 2000 in the UK.[13] A live version of the track appeared as a B-side to Ellis-Bextor's single Music Gets The Best of Me, and in 2003, "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" was re-released as part of Positiva Records 'Remixed' series. In April 2015, the Official Charts Company announced that "Groovejet" was the biggest-selling vinyl single of the millennium in the UK.[14]

The single also found success worldwide. It reached number one in Ireland (two weeks),[15] Australia (three weeks),[16] and New Zealand (seven weeks).[17] In mainland Europe, it charted within the top five in Iceland,[18] Norway,[19] and Switzerland[20] while becoming a top-ten hit in Denmark,[21] Finland,[16] Hungary,[22] Italy,[23] the Netherlands,[24] and Portugal.[25] On the Eurochart Hot 100, it peaked at number 12 on 21 October 2000.[26] In the United States, "Groovejet" peaked at number 27 on the Billboard Maxi-Singles Sales chart and number three on the Billboard Dance Club Play chart.[27][28] The track has earned platinum certifications in Australia,[29] New Zealand,[30] and the UK.[31]

Music video

[edit]

The music video for the song shows Spiller and Ellis-Bextor making their way separately around Bangkok. Spiller meets people and signs autographs, finding his height makes life there difficult; Ellis-Bextor sings wistfully at various tables in bars. Spiller takes a taxicab while Ellis-Bextor takes a tuk-tuk, and eventually, they meet at a nightclub.

Track listings

[edit]

Charts

[edit]

Certifications

[edit]
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[29] 2× Platinum 140,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[30] Platinum 10,000*
United Kingdom (BPI)[31] Platinum 642,000[62]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

[edit]
Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref(s).
United Kingdom 14 August 2000
  • 12-inch vinyl
  • CD
  • cassette
 Positiva [63][64]
New Zealand 25 September 2000
  • CD
  • cassette
 [65]
United States 8 May 2001 Rhythmic contemporary radio Atlantic [66]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c ""Gotta Get Thru This": Dom Passantino's Survey of the New Millenium's UK #1 Singles". Stylus Magazine. Archived from the original on 24 June 2006. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  2. ^ Aubrey, Elizabeth (8 September 2020). "Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Spiller: How We Made Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  3. ^ "SPILLER – "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" – FreakyTrigger". freakytrigger.co.uk. 28 September 2024.
  4. ^ "Wired 14.11: The Perfect Thing". Wired.com. 4 January 2009. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  5. ^ Now That's What I Call Music! 46 (Liner notes). Virgin Records. 2000. CD NOW 46, 7243 5 27822 2 2.
  6. ^ Martin, Piers (2000). "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". NME. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  7. ^ a b Ewing, Tom (22 April 2015). "SPILLER – "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)"". Freaky Trigger. Retrieved 12 April 2017.
  8. ^ "The 200 Best Songs of the 2000s – Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Archived from the original on 20 December 2014. Retrieved 21 April 2020.
  9. ^ "The 30 best vocal house anthems ever". Mixmag. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  10. ^ "Q – 1001 best songs ever (2003)".
  11. ^ "Spiller star slams Posh campaign". BBC News. 18 August 2000. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  12. ^ "Posh suffers chart failure". BBC News. 20 August 2000. Retrieved 1 April 2014.
  13. ^ a b "Yearly Best Selling Singles" (PDF). British Phonographic Industry. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2010. Retrieved 24 May 2019.
  14. ^ Copsey, Rob (16 April 2015). "The Biggest Selling Vinyl Singles and Albums of the Millennium". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  15. ^ a b "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  16. ^ a b c "Spiller – Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". ARIA Top 50 Singles.
  17. ^ a b "Spiller – Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". Top 40 Singles.
  18. ^ a b "Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 (Vikuna 14.10. – 21.10. 2000 41. Vika)". Dagblaðið Vísir (in Icelandic). 13 October 2000. p. 12. Retrieved 15 July 2018.
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  28. ^ a b "Dance Club Songs". Billboard. 19 May 2001. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
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  31. ^ a b "British single certifications – Spiller – Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
  32. ^ Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (European CD single liner notes). Spiller. Edel Records. 2000. 0113585 ERE.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  33. ^ Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (UK CD single liner notes). Spiller. Positiva Records. 2000. CDTIV-137, 7243 8 89119 2 4.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  34. ^ Groovejet (If This Ain't Love) (UK 12-inch single vinyl disc). Spiller. Positiva Records. 2000. 12TIV-137, 7243 8 89119 6 2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
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