mis-teeq - scandalous


radio edit

to check for only one mix of a mis-teeq single would be to miss the point - a big part of their genius is the ukg or dancehall or rnb (or even miami fucking bass!) remixes, which are just as good or better than the original, and which are all given a fair chance of blowing up on the radio (= they aren't like eight-minute dance mixes for awful house djs down your local to play, they're pop!). this is kind-of a british thing now; american acts couldn't pull off multi-genre mixes, maybe because of us radio or maybe the way remix is defined as either 'let some other mcs tackle the same beat' (also good!) or that part-two thing where everything is different except the narrative (different to what mis-teeq are doing - the fact that the vocal remains similar is important!).

however, bad boy records and mary j and super cat were regularly putting out equal-billing dancehall/hiphop mixes in the early nineties, in fact loads of them still sound amazing, so what a great idea to revive this after the ukg-inspired tremor in brit-urban music. also it means every mis-teeq single is like biggie's amazing one more chance 12 where you got the sweet r'n'b mix which ashanti stole, and the pretend-ruff nubian hiphop mix, and "the whut" as an added bonus! this is called value for money! its enjoyable partly cuz of the attitude - it makes me want to shout "omg yes!" when mis-teeq do the rewind sound effect and switch to the remix in a couple of their videos. (they did this even on their first tune, "why" - they were setting us up to accept the equal importance of all mixes from the beginning! and it means they invented 1xtra.)

"scandalous" the proper version is on a sleazy squelch-bass-and-sirens r'n'b tip, i assume it sounds like this because mis-teeq are having scandalous, unlawful sex with some ruff dude (harvey?? gross!) and... look, ok it sounds a lot like "one night stand" but not as good. this doesn't make it bad or anything, since "one night stand" is the best fake destinys child song ever (far better than a lot of actual dc!), and it's actually referenced in the lyrics on "scandalous" so it's probably meant to sound similar. it's just perhaps less earth-shattering as a result. key point: it's better than big brovaz so who cares!

oracles ukg mix

one of my favourite (quite possibly era-defining!) moments from 02 was heidi singing the torch-song breakdown on "round round" on record and live (sugababes are also pretty good at the remix thing, like that soulwax mix of "round round"), i mean have you ever seen people not sing along to it, even in virgin or something?? it's so theatrical! and heidi has a wicked voice. this oracle dude tries something vaguely similar on the ukg mix, which sounds like the one that should blow up. its more addictive, it makes the b-line sound like the fiesta riddim, and of course allleeeeeeeshhaa only ever sounds good mcing over ukg. and yeah, the breakdown almost brings the song to a brilliant, stuttering full stop... but then off it goes again only sounding even more great! they don't do much with the breakdown in the radio edit.

blacksmith r'n'b mix

oh blacksmith man, how many times must our paths cross?! this is the dude who's had the uk r'n'b remix locked down for as long as i've been buying 12s! him and motherfucking desert eagle discs (the second-rate jam and lewis to blacksmith's second-rate trackmasters)! and they're pretty much all mediocre-to-shit except for that achingly good remix of craig david's "rendezvous" where all he did was put premier's "boom" beat over craig's speeded-up vocal (to be fair, dude deserves credit cuz that was an amazing idea!). what does he bring to this mix? ehhh, a slightly lighter, less sleazy vibe, some decent tinkling in the chorus. but like i can't imagine bothering to play this over the original in a club situation; so dude, what is your point exactly??

jazzwad mix

yes, that's jazzwad! i was going to say i liked this anyway cuz jazzwad is a good name but it turns out to be great in a reasonably fresh analog-bleep dancehall style, and it makes allleeeeeeeshhaa sound nearly as good as on the oracles mix. like maybe this is the key thing behind the best mis-teeq moments: making her sound good because she is so intent on being lead teeq! the tension between her mcing and sabrina's quite traditional r'n'b-ness (don't forget to not check for her solo career!) is also most effective on this.