Pop Gem #89: Kandi – Don't Think I'm Not

Every week we ask you to nominate overlooked classics and big hits of yesteryear for a spot in our Pop Gem Hall of Fame.

This week's theme was CHEATING – songs about being unfaithful, kissing people we shouldn't be and generally finding out about those lowdown dirty dogs who've been sneaking around behind our backs.

No good, lowdown dirty dawgs and their infidelities were the order of the day, and nominations came in thick and fast – it seems you love to hear a song about a good old sordid affair – but we had to get it down to 10 in the end, and we went for this betraying bunch:

10 absolute classics, we're sure you agree, but there culd be only one winner, and we went for perhaps one you may not expect. Step forward Kandi, and her 2000 hit Don't Think I'm Not. 

Watch the video before we confess exactly why it had to be Kandi.

Why it had to be Kandi

While all the songs on our shortlist stick very closely to the theme of cheating and doing the dirty, Kandi's Don't Think I'm Not does the double. Not only is Kandi's frankly unsavoury boyfriend out getting up to goodness-knows-what in goodness-knows-where with, well, goodness-knows-who, but Kandi herself isn't taking any of this rubbish and is doing the same.

Don't Think I'm Not may be 15 years old and doesn't even feature the word "bae", but it's still as relevant now it has ever been. Basically, do unto others as you would want done to you. In short: it works both ways.

Not to mention that the lyrics are so clever and cutting that even though Kandi and her love rat boyfriend pretty much deserve each other, Kandi's the one you're rooting for. "I'll catch a bone while you're dogging me" is poetry, really, when you think about it.

Plus, Kandi's talents have also been behind amazing anthemic dirty dog-exposing tunes like TLC's No Scrubs and Destiny's Child's Bills Bills Bills. Oh yes.

The song

Don't Think I'm Not was Kandi's debut solo hit and entered the charts at Number 9 in November 2000, staying there for two weeks before beginning its descent. It's sold over 150,000 copies in the UK. Its release came just after Kandi had enjoyed another songwriting smash, on the debut single of none other than Pink. There You Go had peaked at Number 6 that summer. Kandi sure was busy.

Kandi's chart history

Don't Think I'm Not was the only hit for Kandi as a solo artist – but she was no stranger to the Official Singles Chart. As part of R&B girlgroup Xscape, she saw three songs go Top 40 between 1995 and 1997.

Her songwriting successes, as mentioned above, have given her more Top 10 hits too.

Kandi is still writing and recording, but is now most well-known as one of the cast members of super-glitzy US reality show Real Housewives of Atlanta (we had to double-check, but it really is her).

Kandi, welcome to the Pop Gem Hall Of Fame. And we promise, we're not up to anything in the club when you're not there. Honestly.

Video playlist

See the vids of all the contenders Kandi beat to victory.

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

Every Pop Gem ever

Fancy reliving those perfect Pop Gems we already picked all over again? No worries, get your ears wrapped round these playlists on Spotify and Deezer. SLAY.

Spotify

Deezer