Pop!ular

Album: The Tension and the Spark (2004)
Charted: 12
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • This tongue-in-cheek send-up of celebrities and wannabes was the first single released from Darren Hayes' second solo album, The Tension and the Spark. The former Savage Garden frontman wrote the song with his producer Robert Conley.
  • Hayes told the story of the song in the album's track-by-track notes: "Robert had played me a five second riff from a piece of music he had written a while back. It was just one keyboard hook and I was obsessed with it. We wrote a whole track based around that vibe and created the craziest and most schizophrenic programming. There was so much editing and processing of the drums. It was laborious but such a challenge."
  • Hayes explained the song's lyrical content: "Lyrically it's me addressing the fact that I've made the most personal album of my career in the most fickle climate. We are obsessed with fame.. it has become a vocation we now train for and people are literally willing to do anything to get it. At the same time I was feeling completely bored with my persona and the corner of musical direction I'd painted myself into. I was bored with pop music, bored with the radio and really wrote this song as a way of poking fun at myself and the conveyor belt that brought me to this point in my career. It's ironic because in the song I'm proclaiming all the things I am not. And yet it rings true because I'm sure deep down there was and some days still is a part of me that is tempted by the devil that is fame."
  • The song reached the top of Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Songs in March 2005. It was Hayes' first #1 on the US Dance chart, either as a solo artist or with Savage Garden.

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

90s Music Quiz 1

90s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

First question: Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson appeared in videos for what artist?

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine Band

Harry Wayne Casey of KC and The Sunshine BandSongwriter Interviews

Harry Wayne Casey tells the stories behind KC and The Sunshine Band hits like "Get Down Tonight," "That's The Way (I Like It)," and "Give It Up."

In The Cards

In The CardsSong Writing

Songwriters have used cards and card games to make sense of heartache, togetherness, and even Gonorrhea.

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Richie McDonald of Lonestar

Richie McDonald of LonestarSongwriter Interviews

Richie talks about the impact of "Amazed," and how his 4-year-old son inspired another Lonestar hit.

Best Band Logos

Best Band LogosSong Writing

Queen, Phish and The Stones are among our picks for the best band logos. Here are their histories and a design analysis from an expert.