Welcome to Poptastic Confessions! This blog is dedicated to glorious, unashamed alternative pop music! We hope to share new music with you that you might not have heard before because it is usually overlooked by the masses. Of course, we'll always encourage you to buy the music legally to support the artists. Enjoy! —Davearama, editor of Poptastic Confessions
Dear Poptastic Readers, Shura is back with a fabulous summer song called “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” and yes, it is stylized in all lowercase letters for reasons unknown to us.
The new song “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” is a breath of fresh air. It’s a bit soul pop with a hint of glorious strings. The melody is lovely. It is relaxed. It is sexy. The video is about young nuns in love. Check it out ...
Wasn’t that fab? Yes, it was. “religion (u can lay your hands on me)” is available on digital outlets everywhere. Buy your copy today. We’ve added it to our 2019 Poptastic Confessions Playlist on Spotify. We’ve also added her song “BKLYNLDN” in the mix, too. Enjoy!~
Cheers then, —Davearama P.S. Please follow Shura and Poptastic Confessions on social media ... Shura Facebook Instagram Twitter
English singer/songwriter and former pop star Cathy Dennis performed her first live show in over 20 years this past weekend. Cathy reminded the audience that while she hasn’t continued releasing hits herself, she sure has continued writing them! Could this be the return of her singing career? We certainly hope so.
If you aren’t familiar with Cathy’s previous work, here’s a walk down pop memory lane: The year was 1989 when the world first heard of Cathy Dennis. Her first single was with the British house music producer D-Mob. The song was called “C’mon And Get My Love” and it was credited to D-Mob introducing Cathy Dennis. It was a top 10 hit in America, as well as going to #1 on the US Dance Chart. It was a fabulous dance pop song!
At the end of 1989, Cathy released a solo song called “Just Another Dream” and it was produced by D-Mob. It only charted at #93 in the UK. It flopped big time.
Cathy had sang vocals for another D-Mob song called “That’s The Way Of The World” on his album A Little Bit Of This, A Little Bit Of That. It would be the next single in 1990. While it went to #1 on the US Dance Chart, the song was largely ignored by radio and didn’t do well on the pop charts.
Cathy’s next single at the end of 1990 would be another attempt at her first solo single. It was a new version of “Just Another Dream.” This new and improved version would be the first single to launch Cathy’s debut album Move To This. It worked. The new version of “Just Another Dream” was a hit! It was another top 10 hit in America, and the song just missed the #1 spot on the US Dance Chart in 1991.
Cathy’s album Move To This was also released shortly after the single for “Just Another Dream.” The album included the hit “C’mon And Get My Love”, but “That’s The Way Of The World” was left off. The album got great reviews. Her album did better in the UK than the US, but her singles did better in the US than the UK.
Move To This in 1990
(UK #3, Australia #32, Canada #44, US #67)
Her next single in the spring of 1991 was cover of “Touch Me (All Night Long)” originally recorded by Fonda Rae. Cathy only used the original chorus and she wrote new lyrics for the verses. This would be her biggest hit of her solo career. The single version was new new mix from the album version. It was top 5 in both the US and UK, and another #1 on the US Dance Chart.
Cathy’s next single at the end of summer in 1991 was her ballad “Too Many Walls” that she wrote with Anne Dudley, who provided an amazing string section. Cathy proved she was more than a dancefloor diva. She was a credible pop princess. Just like the previous single, this single was also slightly mixed from the album version.
The last single from her debut album was “Everybody Move.” It was given a new single remix by Shep Pettibone. The single came at the end of 1991 it didn't set the charts on fire. The music video was funny, though.
Cathy went back to the studio to write and record her sophomore album Into The Skyline. The first single “You Lied To Me” would be released in August of 1992. It was a bombastic pop song, but maybe suffered from having the wrong title, as a lot people thought the song was called “You Got Another Lover” or “Another Lover.” It was a moderate hit in both the US and UK.
The album Into The Skyline was released in September of 1992. It was another top 10 album for her in the UK. Unfortunately, it didn’t chart in the US. There were decent reviews written about the album. It was a more mature outing as there were fewer dance tracks and more mid-tempo numbers. The album opened with a longer version of “You Lied To Me” and the second track was another fabulous song with D-Mob called “Why?” So many people thought “Why?” would be the obvious next single as it just sounded like a huge hit.
Into The Skyline in 1992
(UK #8, Australia #135)
Instead, the next single in November of 1992 was piano-led radio-friendly “Irresistible.” It had a slight radio mix and it did well with adult contemporary radio stations.
Also in November of 1992, singer Dannii Minogue released a song in the UK that Cathy co-wrote with D Mob and she provided backing vocals for it, too. The song was “Love’s On Every Corner.” It was a minor hit.
In the UK, the next single was “Falling” in February of 1993. The album version had music that sounded similar to Madonna’s “Vogue.” The single version was give a radio remix by RNB group PM Dawn. It was a moderate hit in the UK.
Cathy then provided uncredited vocals to PM Dawn’s single “Looking Through Patient Eyes.” The term uncredited only means that it wasn't billed as PM Dawn featuring Cathy Dennis. If you looked on the record information, you would see that Cathy was the female singer on the record. It was a top 10 hit in America, and it just missed the top 10 in the UK. It went to #1 in Canada.
In the late spring of 1993, North America got the ballad single “Moments Of Love.” It was a top 10 hit on the adult contemporary charts, but didn’t make much a splash anywhere else.
In January of 1994, UK fans finally got the D-Mob single “Why?” However, the music for the single version was drastically different from the glorious album version. It became the highest charting single from the album. Although not released in America, Cathy did perform the song on the TV show Beverly Hills, 90210 in 1993.
In February of 1994, Cathy released a new single only in Japan called “It’s My Style.” The track was added to the Japanese version of the album Into The Skyline. It was another pop bop.
Cathy began work on her third album tentatively titled Inspiration. A song from the forthcoming album was put on the soundtrack to Beverly Hills, 90210: The College Years. The song was called “SOS.” But Cathy's album never surfaced.
In March of 1995, Cathy released another Japan-only single called “Love’s A Cradle.” It was ballad-esque track with a 60s-retro feel. She performed in on a TV show in Japan. The video is below.
Shortly thereafter, Cathy changed musical directions. The album Inspiration was scrapped. Cathy steered her career away from dance pop and in the direction of pop rock. The first single in this new direction was “West End Pad” in the summer of 1996. It was a moderate hit.
Also in the summer of 1996, Cathy ended up with quite a bit of royalties for a b-side she wrote for a then unknown girl group called the Spice Girls. Yes, that summer the Spice Girls released their debut single “Wannabe.” For the b-side, they recorded the song “Bumper To Bumper”, which Cathy co-wrote. “Wannabe” went to #1 in 10 countries. Each CD sold had the song “Bumper To Bumper” as the b-side, so that meant royalties for Cathy.
Cathy’s next single was a cover version of The Kink’s “Waterloo Sunset” in February of 1997. It just missed the top 10 in the UK. The music video featured Cathy singing along in a taxi cab while The Kink’s singer Ray Davies had a cameo as the taxi driver. Watch it below in a split screen with a performance.
Cathy’s third album Am I The Kinda Girl? was released in March of 1997 in the UK. However, it had been released in Australia in October of 1996. It had good reviews. Fans were mixed about it. The fans who loved her dance-pop albums felt disappointed. While other fans embraced the new Britpop sound.
In June of 1997, Cathy released her third and final single from album. The song was called “When Dreams Turn To Dust” and it was a minor hit. Little did we know, that it would be Cathy’s last solo single to date. That’s right—it’s been 22 years since Cathy’s last solo single. But she hasn’t ever really gone away as she shifted from pop star to songwriter.
It wasn’t only the S Club franchise that Cathy was writing hits for. In 2001, Kylie Minogue scored the biggest hit of her career with a song that Cathy wrote called “Can’t Get You Out Of My Head.” It was #1 in 10 countries. Cathy also wrote “Come Into My World” (UK #8 in 2002). Both songs were on Kylie's Fever album.
(It went to #1 in Austria, Australia, France, Germany, Ireland, New Zealand, Switzerland, UK, and the US Dance Charts. US #7)
In 2001, Cathy wrote the theme song for the British TV show Pop Idol. The theme song would also be used for the US version of the TV show American Idol.
In 2002, Cathy wrote two #1 songs on both sides of the Atlantic. And both were songs for the Pop Idol/American Idol winners Will Young and Kelly Clarkson.
In 2003, Cathy wrote a song for Britney Spears called “Sweet Dreams My L.A. Ex.” The song was a response to Britney’s ex-boyfriend Justin Timberlake who had a song about Britney called “Cry Me A River.” Unfortunately, Britney turned the song down. However, former S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens took the song and it went to #2 in the UK.
(#1 in Australia, Canada, Ireland, and the UK, #2 in New Zealand and Sweden, #3 in France, #4 in Germany and Switzerland, and #9 in the US)
In 2007, Cathy had two big hits in the UK for Sophie Ellis-Bextor and the Sugababes. Cathy also wrote other songs for both artists that weren't singles, but album tracks. Glorious ones, at that.
In 2014, Cathy co-wrote and sang the verses on the Galantis single “Runaway (U & I).” She was uncredited vocalist at the time. It went to #4 in the UK. In 2018, she also co-wrote and sang on the Galantis single “Emoji.” This was also uncredited.
(Netherlands #3, Australia and UK #4, Belgium and New Zealand #6, Norway #12, US Dance #9
So that leads us to 2019. Earlier this spring, she announced she would be returning to the stage at the Mighty Hoopla festival in the UK. It was this past weekend, and her setlist was this:
Wasn't that fun? Yes! We really hope we get new music from Cathy this year. It appears that she is signed to the Fascination record label, so stay tuned.
Welcome back, Cathy!
Love,
—The Poptastic Confessions Collective
P.S. Please follow Cathy Dennis and Poptastic Confessions on social media … Cathy Dennis Facebook Instagram Twitter
Dear Poptastic Readers, Almost a year after their last single, synth pop group Information Society is back with a new single called "Bennington." If you aren't familiar with the group's history, please check out the feature we did on them last July with their song "Nothing Prevails."
"Bennington" is a bit dark slice of electro pop. It is actually a remake of a song by John Maus. This remake changes some of the words, including the title "Bennington." In the new song, singer Kurt sings "Hennepin" as a nod to a place in Minneapolis where the group grew up. Also, the F-bombs in the original have been replaced with more colorful adjectives. Have a listen ...
Dear Poptastic Readers, Fresh off her updated version of "I Think We're Alone Now", singer Tiffany has re-released an original song called "Beautiful" that she released last year, and we are glad she did. We are sorry we missed it last year.
"Beautiful" is a rock pop song with a great rhythm section with a chorus that hammers in "Can't seem to get you off my mind." Tiffany big vocals soar on this track. Check out the new music video here ...
