2001 S Club 7: Don't Stop Movin'

After the more furrowed browing of 'Never Had A Dream Come True', S Club 7 head back to the pop factory for a career defining floor filler with a slowburn build to a sunburst chorus that's as catchy as the catchiest Eurovision entry but with none of the cheese. All of which means 'Don't Stop Movin'' falls squarely into my definition of 'good pop'; the seven clubbers combined stamp no discernible identity onto it, but it doesn't matter - it sells itself on the back of its own robotic groove. And to prove it, it already has once before. Sort of; the sunshine of 'Don't Stop Movin'' is darkened to an extent by the shadow cast by 'Billie Jean', a song to which it's oh so obviously in hock.

If you don't believe me, listen to the evidence - the creeping stealth of the introductory bassline giving way to a tension relieving chorus of both is such that they could be split from the same zygote, with 'Don't Stop Movin'' the good twin and Jackson's song being the bad seed that offers up the nervy twitch of the glance behind to the former's straight to the face welcoming smile. In the absence of such purpose being deliberate though (and I don't for a second believe it was), then like finding out your child scored an A in the test by cheating, the bare faced borrowing of 'Don't Stop Movin'' finds a bit of its surface shine tarnished by the cheeky plagiarism. More than a bit actually; 'Don't Stop Movin' is sometimes hailed as a 'guilty pleasure', but it's got more to feel guilty about than its kid friendly pop-ness.