Official Charts Pop Gem #84: Amerie - 1 Thing

We're all about counting at Official Charts. Adding up the numbers is what we do. In celebration of our mad maths skills, we decided this week's Pop Gem theme should be NUMBERS.

You remember what a Pop Gem is, right? It's an overlooked classic or a huge hit from yesteryear that deserves a little more love, and admission into our Pop Gem Hall Of Fame, an elite line-up (sort of) featuring some of pop's most perfect moments.

We got your suggestions down to this Top 10 of amazingness.

So after much deliberation, we thought about our favourite number, which is, of course Number 1, and awarded it to 1 Thing, Amerie’s stonking Top 10 from 2005.

Why it had to be Amerie

Pop Gem isn’t just about music’s huge megastars – we like to celebrate pop perfection in all its forms. Amerie – now knows as Ameriie – tends to be one popstar who might slip under people’s radar as it has been a while since we saw her in the Official Singles Chart. Amerie may not have a list of hits as long as your arm, but the ones she does have are pretty impressive, and 1 Thing is a song that Beyonce and J-Lo would probably quite like to have in their record collection, thank you very much.

The song

Who better to talk us through her very own biggest hit than Ameriie herself? So we gave her a call.

• Hey, Ameriie, when did you realise 1 Thing was going to be a bona fide Pop Gem one day?

“I knew that it was special, that’s something I definitely knew. I didn’t know how it was gonna be perceived necessarily, but I actually had a feeling people would like it. Even though at the time it sounded different, I felt like it was something special.”

• It’s a pretty frantic song to sing – how did it feel to perform it?

“I don’t remember the first time I performed it, but I remember I was super young and intimidated! It’s so fast and high energy and I wanted to be able to move to it. I was used to singing in that high register in moments of a song but when the whole thing was like that I was like ‘I don’t know if I can!’”

• We reckon you did pretty well! What about the video? We’ve tried to recreate the dance steps but we keep having to sit down and have a breather. How did you do it?!

“On the video set, all of our lungs were burning because were doing the video over and over again. And then adding the singing. And it’s high! And it’s fast!

I was singing out loud too, I know you don’t really have to do that but it was the best way I could really get the performance out.

That video shoot was 26 hours long! It was over a day. And I mean over a day with no breaks.”

• A whole day? No napping at all? Not even a little?!

“We literally didn’t stop, we kept going. In the black and white scene where I have on the fishnets and the high cut bottoms, that was the last scene of the day, so we’re talking like hours 22-24. I was literally standing with my eyes closed in between takes, taking a nap. I think I fell asleep on my feet!”

• WHOA! A well-earned Pop Gem, then. Cheers,Ameriie!

1 Thing reached Number 4 in 2005 and has sold over 225,000 copies.

Ameriie’s chart story

Ameriie has scored six UK Top 40 hits, with two tracks making the Top 10: 1 Thing, of course, and 2007’s Take Control (10). Her first UK chart entry was way back in 2002, with Why Don’t We Fall In Love FT Ludacris. 1 Thing was her first Top 10.

Over on the Official Albums Chart, she has two Top 40s to her name – 2005’s Touch (28) and Because I Love It from 2007 (17).

Ameriie, welcome to the Pop Gem Hall Of Fame!

Pop Gem Hall Of Fame

Today's Pop Gem is the latest in a long line of amazing pop songs that have been inducted into our Pop Gem Hall Of Fame. Take a look at all the tracks who've received the honour so far

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