Though John’s longtime songwriter partner Bernie Taupin wrote the lyrics, “I Want Love” felt brutally autobiographical for John as a man “dead in places,” plaintively longing for an impossible love. Twenty years later, the horns that open “Livin’ It Up” remain an undefeated soundtrack to the start of a weekend. In the middle of a three-year run in which Ja Rule was a part of seven top 10 hits on the Hot 100 chart, “Livin’ It Up” served as his giddiest smash, a toast to the party life that juxtaposed a weightless flip of Stevie Wonder’s “Do I Do” with Ja’s thick-as-molasses flow. “Never Had a Dream Come True” is an unabashed solo showcase for standout Jo O’Meara, who soars over some textbook turn-of-the-millennium pop production with dramatic ad libs ( “no no no no!”), and a thoroughly satisfying key change ripped straight from the diva playbook. It’s a torch song that reads like a lightbulb joke: The British pop group had a full bench of members, but it only took one to land the group’s sole U.S. S Club 7, “Never Had a Dream Come True” (No. But then again, the internet would have you believe that nothing from Shrek ever really does, including “All Star,” Smash Mouth’s much more enduring hit also featured in the film. Made an inextricable part of countless Gen Z youths via its inclusion on the original Shrek soundtrack, i ts verging-on-cheesy organ line and karaoke-ready vocals never lose their charm. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 by The Monkees in 1966, Smash Mouth brought the pop-rock perennial into the 21st century with a glossy, mainstream radio-friendly face lift.
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