ONE HIT WONDERLAND: "I Love You Always Forever" by Donna Lewis

[@windpotato]

finally, the mystery of the song I heard in a hallmark store when I was like 5 and has been permanently stuck in my head but I couldn't search for because I couldn't understand almost any of the lyrics, is solved.

[@chuckbatman5]

I feel like that is the perfect description of this song

[@fluidthought42]

Hooray!

[@meetmeatskyline]

That feeling when you finally discovered the song that you didn't know for quite a long time. 😢

[@Arkylie]

Heh. Reminds me of when I recalled enough of the lyrics of The Ballad of Gordon to look it up online and find out what it was. Turns out the PSA about racial tolerance that I grew up adoring, which played across all the kiddie shows for months if not years, was sung by The Barenaked Ladies. That was the point at which I said "Hmm, that band I've been ignoring because the name is crazy is one I ought to give a closer look at."

[@carlab30]

I used to sing this song while riding in the car as a kid and screw up the lyrics lol

[@Z3ROTH3RT33N]

Finishes video, "That wasn't that catchy." Takes two steps from computer starts mindlessly humming, "I love you always forev..." "Son of a..."

[@BewareTheLilyOfTheValley]

It sneaks up on you, lol!

[@SaltpeterTaffy]

I was a child of the 90s. I've had that song stuck in my head this entire time. Welcome to my private Hell.

[@hdelmas1]

It hits like a five-shot exploding heart technique that occurs after walking a few steps. It’s that damn surprising!

[@vinnym5607]

"Feels like..."

[@MrSkerpentine]

“The cultural juggernaut that was the god damn Macarena” is an arrangement of words that makes me chuckle every single time and I have no idea why

[@Xondar11223344]

That and "They were big in the 80s until . . . " SMASH CUT TO "SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT."

[@codexmachina1358]

Wym you dont know why its bc it's funny tf is wrong w you

[@murciadoxial8056]

also... an understatement

[@robroy6374]

@@Xondar11223344 nirvana sucks

[@thecorbohole3637]

Absolutely essential "blasting in the car when your homies leave"-core song.

[@sstaners1234]

🤣🤣🤣

[@codexmachina1358]

If you cant let your homies know this is a jam they either aren't homies or you cant admit you wanna s the d

[@ronan-outoftime]

if they don't support your taste in music they're not real homies

[@Agostina999]

God i hope someone gets him to do "All The Things She Said" by tATu...now that's some drama that could be a whole web series

[@darko1295]

@Desecration Club music doesn't necessarily always mean popular music. Tatu's one massive song All The Things She Said doesn't really work as dance song for clubs. It's a dramatic angsty pop song that fills a different niche. It was pretty popular in LGBT circles and the video at the time garnered a ton of controversy for depicting a lesbian couple which arguably was the reason for it getting so big and crossing over from Russia (and the hook was an earworm for sure)

[@jadefalcon001]

I'd completely forgotten about that song. Hooo boy that'd be a good one.

[@mzkillerbit89]

as cool as this suggestion is they did have another hit after it called not gonna get us, and they did a song with rammstein. I know they had another song come out in the late 00's aswell and im fairly sure they were huge in russia.

[@noelleelizabeth9991]

I think they had another hit with "Not Gonna Get Us", I remember it getting more airplay than All The Things She Said.

[@polinagonch]

As a Russian person I would be so happy if he actually did it omg

[@WitchyWhale]

She's looks and sounds like a 90's Ellie Goulding.

[@seppoleonvervloet132]

Ianna Natasha she really does

[@kylehegedus5498]

Ianna Natasha YES!!! I knew she reminded me of a more current artist. Also, I remember hearing this song a lot on the radio when I was like 4 or 5.

[@1101Archimedes]

Looks more like Sia (with her face on), to me. Couldn't sound less like Sia, though.

[@n3v3rg01ngback]

Ianna Natasha when you crank up the exposure and contrast.

[@chipmunkwarcry]

Funny since iirc Elie Goulding is also Welsh (Edit, because I just learned this: She is not but there is a large Welsh population in her hometown)

[@JaesadaSrisuk]

Can I just say that I love this song? It's so treacly and saccharine and blandly positive and relaxing.

[@BrotherAlpha]

I own this CD and I have several of the songs in my high rotation playlist.

[@GamesFromSpace]

It's the cream soda of music.

[@TackyRackyComixNEO]

I kinda wanna get the album now, because it's just sincere enough for me to wanna see if more of her stuff could match up.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Well I hate cream soda, so that explains why I dislike this song.

[@KaijaSchmauss]

I do too. It always take me back to my childhood. Given, I was about 3 or 4 when it came out, but still. Stuff like this is what my mom used to love listening to in the car.

[@KamauThuo]

"First album to be released directly to the used CD rack" - Todd I laughed for 10 minutes.

[@shanebailey340]

Todd: As someone who lived through the nineties and saw/experienced all the music that decade had to offer, I can say with certainty that the reason "ILYAF" shot to number 2 on the charts was BECAUSE it stood in naked opposition to the rest of the stuff cluttering up Billboard. It was serene, at once over-produced and stripped to the bone, dreamy and atmospheric yet bone-chillingly direct. It was nuanced and focused and it was song-based. That's why it took off the way it did. Plus, let's not forget that absolutely CRUSHING hook. Stunning tune, and it still holds up.

[@ingonyama70]

That bassline alone deserves a mention.

[@hallamhal]

What bassline?

[@MedalionDS9]

People forget that despite big music trends in different genres... the decade was more diverse on the radio than people like to believe... a song like this was a huge pop and adult contemporary cross over hit... not everything was about angry rock and gangsta rap or boy/girl bands

[@zucchinigreen]

@@MedalionDS9 Yup. Around that time was also Savage Garden who was huge in getting the radio to play, softer poppier, alternative. There were others too, want to say Dido even acts that weren't part of Lilith were also fluffying up the airwaves in 1996.

[@xrayjohnson6972]

@@zucchinigreen Bang on about Savage Garden being a good comparison. I want you has a really similar hook

[@BlackBalloonDesign]

I was at a Thievery Corporation concert in early 2000s and this song came on during the set change. The entire crowd started singing it together, dancing with their partners like a junior high school dance. It is strange and magical at the same time.

[@mattsephton]

Black Balloon love this!

[@MiketheNerdRanger]

I mean I totally get why. It's a bafflingly sweet song with a borderline ingenious hook.

[@STINKAHBELL]

rumour has it she's still 43 to this day

[@potterinu]

Anastasia is beautiful. Once upon a December still gives me chills.

[@wfbgenius]

Lindsey Ellis made an excellent point about it as an idea for a child’s movie; basically imagine if Disney made an animated Anne Frank movie where the Nazis are vampires and she has a cute animal sidekick and she lives at the end. People would LOSE THEIR MINDS. And Anastasia was a real person who was murdered as a child for a situation completely outside of her control, so it’s honestly pretty horrifying that they made this fairytale out of it.

[@DestinyKiller]

​@@wfbgeniusI get that reasoning but I'm pretty sure at the time it was still a bit uncertain on whether Anastasia had really died when the rest of her family did so I think they were playing with that idea

[@DestinyKiller]

@@drewtaylor2890 honestly is really only the music I like from it, as you said, the rest is fairly bland filler. Which I'm kind of surprised at given how excellently An American Tale sets and grounds its story in reality and actual historical events. Comparing the two Anastasia's Rasputin feels very campy while AAT does not (we'll ignore the sequel for the sake of this argument lol) And yeah, Disney certainly isn't innocent of using a white wash brush overzealously a lot

[@gabrieldavis7128]

@@wfbgenius Even outside of her, it’s ghoulish to claim that the Russian Revolution was caused by fucking witchcraft.

[@Tirgo69]

Me before starting the video: "I don't recognize that song title..." Me two seconds after song starts playing: "oh shit I remember everything about this song and haven't heard it in fifteen years"

[@miga3191]

I think 90% of the songs Todd covers are like that. Heard it either in passing, on the Simpsons, or it is a case of not knowing the song's name (but definitely the song).

[@RatelHBadger]

The girlfriend I had in 1999/2000 had this on constantly... brings back flashbacks of that summer (here in New Zealand). She even looks like her a bit.

[@crystalgeek78]

I graduated high school in 96, I'm pretty sure I knew all the words, then promptly forgot it until now. Damn that hook.

[@Brotherofthe4thCompany]

I remember this song from my childhood. For at least 15 years, I had not known this song's title or artist. I only learned about it back in 2014.

[@louisemaxwell2097]

As a Welsh person I agree with the Welsh spelling of her name 😂👌

[@MabDarogan2]

Acceptable mild racism. It put a mile on my face.

[@JasperJanssen]

Wouldn’t she be a Llewelyn instead of a Lewis?

[@oswaldfigglebottom]

Ok, Lgeewyyiysye

[@nickedelmann8004]

Is it ironic that, in the decade of irony, this song without a hint of irony topped the charts?

[@martinsriber7760]

Yes.

[@imveryangryitsnotbutter]

Isn't it ironic, don't you think?

[@hmmwhatshisface]

A little too ironic, I really do think.

[@Toadcop98]

You have yet to understand the gravitas to the irony of that ironic moment.

[@Harv72b]

It's like RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIINNNNNNNN

[@meganhussey972]

I remember when Donna Lewis appeared on an episode of Beverly Hills 90210, performing a concert that the 90210 kids attended. She was very talented, but it just seemed odd to hear the kids gush repeatedly throughout the show about "the Donna Lewis concert! Nothing is cooler! We're going to get to see Donna Lewis!" It must have been a record company tie in or something, because I found it hard to imagine Dylan and Kelly rockin' out to Donna Lewis...

[@ClassySaia]

The show Charmed did that often. It must be a Aaron Spelling thing.

[@adamtherock2008]

Color Me Badd appeared in an episode too, which I guess made a bit more sense but still really pushing it.

[@Aster_Risk]

@@ClassySaia They definitely copied this later on shows like One Tree Hill.

[@timtrek]

@@adamtherock2008 the color me bad episode was gold

[@blairmulholland]

90210 was not really a '90s show. It was the last dying gasp of the '80s fighting the cause of brazen shallow materialism in an age of plaid and grunge. In that respect, they're perfect fits for each other.

[@SWLinPHX]

This song was paralleled at the same time with “Lovefool” by the Cardigans and had a similar sound. It also has that ethereal childlike pixie quality of predecessors such as Jane Wiedlin, Sixpence None The Richer, and Stacey Q.

[@JonathanLedbetter]

I remember when this song came out back in '96. Donna Lewis reminded me of Sophie B. Hawkins, who released the hit "As I Lay Me Down" the previous year. To me, that's the closest comparison from the time, at least in terms of sound.

[@Vercalos]

Am I the only one who liked Anastasia? I still listen to the sound-track on occasion(In the Dark of the Night, and Once Upon a December stand out in particular to me)

[@projectmatrix1]

I don't get the hate for it either.

[@UserChrisPchicken]

You're aren't alone! In addition to the songs above I absolutely love "Journey to the Past." It's very catchy to me

[@DustyThePunk]

I liked it. It wasn't historically accurate, but that doesn't mean it was bad. It did rate an 85% on Rotten Tomatoes by critics and 77% by Users. So, fellow fans of this movie are out there.

[@xTheWorldIsQuietHere]

Same!!!!! I love the movie. It got me interested in Russian history. It's beautifully animated with a rich, catchy score.

[@sydnirobinson3125]

In the Dark of the Knight is great. Like I don't care what anyone says.

[@jimboa20]

This song is hypnotic. I mean that in the literal sense. Something about the chorus/hook is just mesmerizing.

[@jac8313]

This song’s slow pace and Donna’s gentle tone really has that cheery but still a little somber vibe I always associate with the 90s.

[@admanios]

This is one of those recognizable, but also cheap to license, songs that gets played endlessly on loop at a grocery store. I should know, because I worked in one.

[@silhouettoofaman2935]

I hear that. I'll tell you what though, it hits REAL different when it plays around closing time, when the store is mostly empty and you pretty much have the front end to yourself. It's a quite surreal atmosphere!

[@klax001]

This song is alive and well, its played endlessly on the Radio 1 channel of the Muzak in-store music service. I worked at Publix Supermarkets from 2006 to 2012 and this song would always get played near closing time. It would put me to fucking sleep. I was shopping at a Publix the other day and sure enough, they were playing it still.

[@littlekingtrashmouth9219]

Ah Publix. The only place in TN where you can find marmite

[@ramunayy]

i’ve always liked how dreamy this song is, and like todd says, it’s a song that feels it fits nowhere in time. it feels like the music equivalent of a liminal space, but oddly beautiful

[@ThatGuy-y2c]

I unabashedly proclaim my eternal love for this weird little song. I was 14 when it came out and for some reason I've always loved it. Also, who cares how old she is. She's a beautiful, talented woman.

[@JohnVance]

I’m the same age and always felt the same way

[@alyssinclair8598]

Every time I hear this song I feel like I am being hypnotised.

[@dynaboyjl.4220]

Enya is great, and I will hear nothing else Also this song reminds me a little bit of Robyn's late-90s US hits, which are probably some of my favorite songs of all time

[@bigredradish]

today at work I heard a COVER of this song in the radio in CURRENT YEAR and I knew I had to revisit this video to figure out why. what a puzzling bit of music this is

[@xavier8951]

Who did this cover?

[@jimboa20]

This song is hypnotic, like is Donna Lewis a siren? This song just gets in your brain and bounces around in your skull forever.

[@rickpgriffin]

Oh come on, Anastasia wasn't that great but it didn't make me give up on Don Bluth A Troll in Central Park did that YEARS before

[@stevencooper1103]

Oh man, I haven't thought about that movie in years, holy shit.

[@LukeLeonettiYouTube]

My storytelling professor wrote the script for Anastasia, so by default I cannot talk bad about it. That, and Dunston Checks In

[@Brillemeister]

@@LukeLeonettiKZbin Your prof did a great job. The execs at Fox forced the production team to water down the story. Look up the first draft script to see what might have been.

[@megamike15]

i still love anatasaia and at the beginning is one of my favorite songs.

[@megamike15]

@@LukeLeonettiKZbin reminds me how i can't say bad things about iron man 3 due to my brother working on the sets.

[@gabe_s_videos]

I loved the song she did for Anastasia! Also, Anastasia wasn't the movie that made people give up on Don Bluth. That was Titan AE.

[@ingonyama70]

Really? I loved both films. Troll in Central Park was my personal crisis of faith...poor, poor Dom Deluise deserved so much better.

[@IsaacIsaacIsaacson]

I'm glad that the mid 2010s hatred for Anastasia and Titan AE has died in a fire now they're Disney films. Neither of them was ever as bad as people pretended.

[@jenniferbaumgarden9293]

Titan A.E. is my favorite Don Bluth movie right behind The Secret of Nim

[@denisenova7494]

I really adore Donna Summer and this song. I also preferred the movie "Anastasia" to many Disney movies and I remember being a little kid and recognising that the song in the end credits is sung by the same beautiful voice that sang "I love you always forever". I also love the song "Mary's prayer". It means a LOT to me and afaik also a one hit wonder.

[@ingonyama70]

Donna Lewis, not Donna Summer. Donna Summer was a disco diva.

[@RichV20]

I love Donna Summer. I didnt know WHO TF Lewis was.

[@vinnym5607]

​@@ingonyama70I was about to say, where's the connection to Donna Summer? I love her, too, but I was so confused.

[@TheMightyPika]

For me it's the simple honesty of the lyrics coupled with the heartbeat-like intimacy of the music. It feels like hugging while wrapped in a big dryer-warm blanket.

[@gwyneth2869]

I think I love her....she writes lullabyes for adults and that touches my heart in a way I thought I couldnt be....wtf

[@Darm0k]

This song came out when I was in college. It was a big guilty pleasure for me at a time when Dave Matthews and blues traveler were my main tastes. I had actually completely forgotten about it. But now listening to it again, I think that Donna Lewis must be the musical godmother of all these Indie girl singers who sound the same. You know, the Florence and the machine types. Girls who make KZbin videos where they play ukuleles.

[@RyanStorey1231]

I also remember watching Vh1 a lot growing up (though, this was in the late 2000s) and I distinctly remember how they always tried to push more indie, adult-alternative musicians on their Top 20 video countdown. They referred to such artists as "You Oughta Know" artists. I actually discovered many of my favorite artists through Vh1: Sara Bareilles, Ingrid Michealson, Vanessa Carlton, Joss Stone, and many more.

[@kylehegedus5498]

RyanX1231 I remember that as well!!! Vh1’s “You Oughta Know”: Introducing you to artists on the rise!!! I’m surprised Vh1 didn’t get sued by Alanis!!!

[@stevejacks8389]

I always wondered if any of their "You Oughta' Know" artists ever had a second hit. I started calling the series "One Hitta' Wonder" (which now has a touch of irony because I'm posting this on the One Hit Wonderland channel).

[@Martian_Productions]

For whatever reason this song is always playing in my dentist’s office. Every single time I’ve ever gone to that place this song has always been on - genuinely, I have never once gone to the dentist and not heard this - it’s the most bizarre thing. I had been going to this place for about two years before I even noticed but now I can’t ignore it. It’s been consistent for like four years now. At this point it’s evolved into this weird ritual of mine. On my way to the dentist’s office I play this in my car. As I’m sitting in the waiting room or while I’m getting my dental work done they play this song. When I drive home I play this song in my car again.

[@DCMarvelMultiverse]

I just could never hate this track. It had so many tones.

[@NostalgiaChan]

NGL, I always liked the verses more than the chorus. That synth line is absolute crack to me and still gives me chills almost thirty years later.

[@GeoNeilUK]

This song was a slice of pure loveliness in a world of raised eyebrows. I think the fact that is was so sincere and sweet was why it was so successful. That and her honeyed, fragile, breathy voice. Also, Andreas Johnson - Glorious - sub Bono, EPIC synths and bombastic guitars and belted out vocals, yet younever hear it now...

[@lethrington]

So I'm trying to sleep right now, and suddenly the chorus is in my head. I watched this so many hours ago. You did this to me you monster.

[@5stardave]

I have this and Lovefool on constant repeat.

[@BenCaesar]

This song is amazing, the way it builds, it’s sublime.

[@Phoenix_Talion]

This song holds a special place in my heart, because it was on a mixtape my best friend taped off the radio for me circa 1998.

[@EndeavorSSB]

I'm still holding out hope that Todd will one day make a One Hit Wonderland on She Blinded Me With Science by Thomas Dolby.

[@Ashannon888]

Well from the future to the past, he did ;-)

[@HolyGoddessMotherAnne]

That song is a fucking banger but his other stuff is better personally,especially field work his Collab with Ryuichi Sakamoto of the Yellow Magic Orchestra.

[@shoegazerproductions7706]

While the Spice Girls helped re-invigorate pop music, it was Kylie Minogue's Impossible Princess and Madonna's Ray of Light that brought "pop" music as we know it today back to the forefront. Especially Impossible Princess, which has only been getting more and more recognized the closer it gets to its 20th birthday.

[@kathens7755]

Oh hey it's you from the lost media chronicles, I like your work!

[@hearmymotoredheart]

THANK YOU. I'm telling everyone who'll listen and the rest who won't, Impossible Princess was criminally underrated.

[@knowyourroleboulevard7119]

It was the Spice girls and the backstreet boys. Just admit it. Also Kylie Minouge has less than 5% influence on most Ameican artists.

[@MiketheNerdRanger]

The chorus is just so, inexplicably ingenious, it's like "why didn't I think of that???"

[@jennifersaar1611]

I'd love to hear Todd's take on Matthew Wilder's 'Break My Stride'. That song is another one that just won't leave once it gets in your head. That synth, man!

[@isaku7321]

I swear this woman is Ellie Goulding

[@0shadowbadger]

I think 'faint whiff of a memory' perfectly described the amount I remembered this song. I kept trying to play it in my head after reading the title and I'd get a small bit of the music or the 'I love you always forever' part and then I'd lose it or it'd start morphing in to a different song. Love the videos and keep up the good work. Also, I kind of liked Anastasia. I would however put it firmly in the 'guilty pleasure' category.

[@natashafetko2166]

Holy shit. I work in a clothing store and for my first week of work they played this song OVER and OVER and I was so close to ripping out my own eardrums with a hanger.

[@knightwing5169]

One of those songs that to me at least, _feels_ like it has always existed, and has been around forever. Jokes aside, listening to this song takes me back to a very innocent time when I was just a small child, and that isn't something many songs do.

[@RetardedNinja35]

I think the next OHW is 'I Touch Myself' by The Divinyls.

[@Bigguyinblack]

That would be awesome. Did 2LiveCrew have more then one hit?

[@GingerKing1439]

That band isn't a one hit wonder in Australia, but not sure in the US.

[@DetectiveLance]

Seconded

[@aquariumsoap]

Check Todd's twitter

[@GingerKing1439]

Well, looks like you're right.

[@johnwolfenden7599]

Next episode is Bad Touch by the Bloodhound Gang

[@raycon209]

Holy shit, that would be great.

[@grahamkristensen9301]

I was going to say "I Touch Myself" by the Divinyls, but I think you're more on the money.

[@bananajoe404]

please

[@arouska]

I'm thinking 2 Live Crew

[@grahamkristensen9301]

arouska They're only one hit wonders in the strictest sense of the word.

[@Arkipelago2]

How about Steal my Sunshine by Len? The definition of a one hit wonder. Also Spirit in the Sky too!

[@mattsephton]

Arkipelago2 Steal My Sunshine has the best sample use ever from Andrea True Connection "More More More"

[@littlekingtrashmouth9219]

@@mattsephton another one hit wonderland episode right there. And a weird one too.

[@ModestEgg]

I've never heard this song before, and yet I have a weird nostalgic feeling upon hearing it. Maybe because I was a child in the late 90s/early 2000s when there were a lot of songs like this, I don't know.

[@claudialomeli4048]

With your Bebe Rexhas and your Phoebe Ryans, "I Love You Always Forever" wouldn't be out of place with today's music if it came out now. I really like the song, is just so nice, I guess that's a good way to describe it, nice.

[@Oblivious101]

Donna Lewis looks like the love child of cyndi lauper and Ellie Goulding.

[@theoneandonlymichaelmccormick]

Or Meryl Streep and Sarah Jessica Parker.

[@noelleelizabeth9991]

A friend and I were driving home from a long hike last summer when this song came on the radio. Neither of us had probably heard or thought about it in over a decade, but in that moment we both somehow remembered every single word and sang it at the top of our lungs. It was one of those moments in life where nothing big actually happens, but it becomes one of your favorite memories. Also, this, and "As I Lay Me Down" by Sophie B Hawkins have the same vibe to me, they both have this sweet, unabashedly cheerful, vaguely etherial quality to them.

[@SleepFan771]

I adore I Love You Always Forever & At the Beginning. Donna Lewis had a uniquely soft and graceful voice. Her duet with Richard Marx is perfect. I also still love Anastasia, so that's probably why.

[@pastasauce]

1996 I was 7 years old. Next to my bed I had an alarm clock, the really old style where the numbers flip. The radio was tuned to the local pop station that played current pop and pop back to the 60's and I would listen to it every night when I went to sleep. There was a week where I swear this song played every night at the same time right as I was drifting to sleep and I loved it. It embedded itself in my brain and I haven't been able to get that chorus out.

[@RealXgor]

Just curious, why hasn't Macarena been featured in One Hit Wonderland. Considering how big it was it just dissapeared after the hit. Heck their follow-up song is a chrismas macarena and that's when you know you got a one it wonder!

[@RatelHBadger]

RealXgor That... like Ice Ice Baby and Can't Touch This... are just too obvious

[@UnrealPerson]

Ratel.H Badger Vanilla Ice and (I think) MC Hammer are not one-hit wonders.

[@phastinemoon]

Presumably, because he doesn't want to? I mean, considering the Macarena, even at the time, was one of those songs that everyone seemed to hate, even though it was a number one hit, he probably doesn't want to cover it unless it's a patreon request. Remember the beginning of his 'Turning Japanese' episode, where it starts with a fake-out for James Blount's 'You're Beautiful'? I'm guessing the same deal.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

I could make arguments either way. On the one hand, the Macarena is a textbook one-hit wonder. A group came out of absolutely nowhere, grabbed the entire Western world by the aorta for a year or so, and then utterly vanished. On the other hand, it was a dance craze, and do dance crazes even count? On the first hand, it's a non-English song hugely popular in the USA, and if Gangnam Style got it's own video, surely the Macarena qualifies. On the second, 99 Luftballoons doesn't have an episode AFAIK. And while you could argue that the Macarena is too obvious to cover because everyone sentient at the time is keenly aware of it, but 1. how many people are actually familiar with the song's history, like that it was a lounge song in 1993 or that it's about a girl cheating on her boyfriend while he's off at boot camp, and 2. the Macarena was a smash hit 23 years ago, there are practicing heart surgeons too young to remember the popularity of the Macarena. Somewhat bizarrely, the Wikipedia entry for the Macarena only barely mentions the dance in the context that Al Gore refused to do it at the 1996 DNC.

[@thegardenofeatin5965]

Meh, save it for another "I'm going on vacation and I just want to phone one in" episode.

[@KnowledgeSeeker78491]

The year I graduated high school and joined the air force...LOVED this song...thanks for reminding me of a time when I was innocent

[@Blkloligamer]

Hey, I love Anastasia! The soundtrack song is forgettable, though. Pretty, but forgettable. Like a wedding song. Which explains why I spent this review half-trying to remember where the hell I heard Donna Lewis' name before and BOOM.

[@chuckbatman5]

I literally cannot remember the Donna Lewis song in that movie and I've seen the movie so many times

[@MikeSmith74653]

Sure, that song is forgettable, but, not as remembering as the one from Aaliyah's song from it, "Journey to the Past", which she performed at the Oscars that year (And, hopefully, recreated in that Lifetime movie about her).

[@thirteenfury]

"In the Dark of the Night" is pretty awesome though. However, it's only awesome if you listen to it out of context or on the soundtrack. The scene in the movie it belongs to is kinda gross and the opposite of epic.

[@GypsyCat1]

it was the opposite for me. I had the soundtrack and I'd listen to "Life is a Road" on repeat. Loved that song.

[@orastellathefirst]

The version actually used in the movie was much better.

[@SithCats]

I never really thought about it, but the mid-90's was indeed a sweet spot where pop was out of the picture. Probably why I liked so much music during that time period.

[@Bauhauskiddo]

It sounds a little bit like some kind of radio-friendly pop version of dream pop. She has that sort of waif-like girlish voice like the singer of Cranes and so on.

[@DementedDistraction]

Jeeeeeezus....this song was eeeeevvvverrrrrrywhere during my freshman year of high school... I'd just forgotten about it. ... Thanks, Todd.

[@RRyleM]

Not gonna lie, I still have a fondness for Anastasia and when I saw the title of your video, first thought was "Donna Lewis? Oh yeah it's the girl who sang 'at the beginning'", and I still like that song. But it's mostly for nostalgic reasons. I also still can't understand reviewers' hate for Michael Bolton.

[@cosmicwaffles2024]

I keep listening to this and keeps on being more and more devastating. Also, I have never seen a cadtle seige on stage like. Honesty, great work.

[@abc.6223]

it feels like she's staring into my eyes and hypnotizing me with heart swirls for pupils.

[@ostrichlives9363]

I was six years old in 1996 but I was OBSESSED with this song. That album was one of my first cassettes.

[@Freak0809]

I would like to see a OHWL episode on "Your Woman" by White Town.

[@nicolegeorge9882]

I would also enjoy that. If this is a thing that people are doing, may I plug "The Freshmen" by Verve Pipe.

[@KlutzDeluxe]

Yus

[@digamejh]

+Sammy Sammerson I remember they had another, minor hit with "Photograph"

[@slyasleep]

adored that.

[@a3poify509]

Should be fun if it happens - as far as I've heard White Town is a proper one hit wonder in that everything he's done since ranges from boring to terrible

[@jacobtothe2112]

The chorus reminds me of several of the toddler board books at the library where I work on the theme of "mommy and daddy will always love you."

[@BobGilbert]

Living in '96, I can attest to this song being everywhere ... and not in a bad way like Don't Worry Be Happy was in '88.

[@kempokiai]

I heard this when I was 8 in the car and her voice gave me butterflies so strong that even when I hear it today nearly 20 years later I still get goosebumps and feel butterflies.

[@lateformyownbirth]

That was a quality Welsh people joke, Todd.

[@jenniferkubik8686]

I love this song! I didn't like it when it first came out. My freshman college roommate had the CD. Love it now! One of the few better songs from 1996.

[@OttaviaBurton5893]

Anastasia is a great movie. It was critically acclaimed when it came out and there's a reason for that. I rewatched it the other day and it totally holds up.

[@murciadoxial8056]

If you know nothing about history...

[@JasperJanssen]

Murcia doxial it’s a movie, not a documentary. Nothing based on Anastasia surviving 1917 can be historical in any way shape or form.

[@rhodopisdenile8977]

Murcia doxial do you go to the historical fiction section in libraries and complain how a lot of it isn’t accurate?

[@johnkalkirtz658]

The 90s was such a good decade for music everything that shouldn't have been popular or "mainstream" became the music normal for the billboard chats

[@TheFallenColumn]

"You Get What You Give" by the New Radicals would be perfect for this show. The story is absolutely fascinating.

[@hind__]

He did it! Grats

[@DavidLandonCole]

Oh ye gods, I remember this song. My first job ever was picking tomatoes in a glasshouse, and we had the radio on all day. This song seemed to be on all the time, alternating with 'You're Gorgeous' by Baby Bird.

[@HolyGoddessMotherAnne]

You're Gorgeous was good through and kinda had a edge,this through is totally soft and edgeless and not of goddamn worth.

[@Danton1990]

Hmmm next video, Khia - My Neck My Back?

[@kittenhoodie]

that would be awesome. todd will need to bathe in scalding hot rubbing alcohol a dozen times afterwards.

[@RioMadeira]

Doubtful; it only reached 42 on the Hot 100. But it was the only one of her songs to chart there, so maybe.

[@KaijaSchmauss]

I was thinking it was the Thong Song, but My Neck My Back makes sense too. It did end up with a weird resurgence in popularity a few years back by becoming a meme.

[@Danton1990]

***** Plus the amazing cover by Richard Cheese. I can see him playing that at the end of the video.

[@jadon261]

hopefully

[@Valincio]

This CD stayed in my '99 ford taurus permanently.

[@blackamerican40]

I just Googled. She's 63 now and 36 when the song came out.

[@alluneedislessthan3]

Wow I never realized how much I loved this song just because it sounds just like my childhood since I was born in 1996. Also her voice is just so soothing.

[@darkhero-3097]

I’ve got to say, I love the photography of the music video. It has quick and interesting cuts, (with the way it kind of spin/blurs into the next shot,) how the lights reflect off of her eyes to give it an ethereal look, and the simple golden color scheme.

[@samberg8181]

I associate this song with school trips to the roller rink. It's the kind of love song a preteen can appreciate.

[@The_RedVIII]

Wait a second. When I heard "I could be the one" I thought, wait, that was definitely a hit. I hear this a lot on the radio. Turns out this song was apparently a hit only in my home country? It actually charted in the top 10 in Austria. And I'm shocked this did not chart anywhere else. This song is at least as much of an earworm than "I love you always forever". And I actually like both of these songs. Heck, I even know I heard that Anastasia song a few times on the radio back in the day. Maybe that's just some weird Austrian success story? One that isn't Falco?

[@franciscoortega7938]

back when, radio stations were pushing this with a vengeance. one night all main 3 stations (back home) were playing it almost simultaneously... so i turn off the radio and learned to play the ukulele.

[@JackieD318]

I absolutely loved the Anastasia movie and soundtrack!

[@MyssBlewm]

Wow, I forgot about this song, but hearing it brings me back to my grade school playground where my friends and I sang this song a lot. I also forgot how much we loved that Anastasia song.

[@NoahWeisbrod]

How has this series not done videos on "867-5309/Jenny" or "Stacy's Mom?"

[@karelfinn2343]

I don't know that I would call Fountains of Wayne a OHW, more like a decent semi-underground band with one song that got kind of out of hand.

[@NeroLeMorte]

which jenny?

[@NoahWeisbrod]

Kurt Reinkemeyer They match the "only one huge pop hit" type of one-hit wonder. Todd's done episodes on acts like Hanson and Chamillionaire.

[@NoahWeisbrod]

***** Tommy Tutone's song that inspired countless prank calls.

[@karelfinn2343]

Noah Weisbrod Fair enough.

[@RanterInShades]

This song was a guilty pleasure of mine growing up, and still sort of is. I have kind of a thing for voices like hers, so hearing this, especially on Valentine's Day, was always pretty feelsy.

[@stephaniewozny3852]

You know, I've always wondered why this song sounded so much like that credits song from "Anastasia". Now I know. Thanks, Todd. P.S. I think Anastasia's alright. Let's leave it at that.

[@RavinStrange]

I remember Anastasia being a good movie. I'm gonna have to watch it again.

[@lansesteiner3563]

Do Jane Child “Don’t wanna fall in love”. I friggin love that song

[@ItsBobbieDrake]

that is my 'feel good' jam!

[@HolyGoddessMotherAnne]

I've listened to her other stuff and she's alright but yeah Don't Wanna Fall In Love is quite good especially when it showed in GTA V of all goddamn places.

[@KappaDeKappa]

I work for 5 different companies, and service dozens of stores a year all around the country. Every single time I visit a location - that is, every day I work - I hear this song. This is not an exaggeration or an embellishment; I hear this song almost every. single. DAY. Sometimes multiple times a day, depending on how long I'm in a store. So no, it's not really a 'faint whiff of a memory', someone out there in Muzak land REALLY likes Donna Lewis, or just this song in particular.

[@okpal83]

I gotta say, Todd, I just found your videos last night and I’m hooked. You’re ruthless but hilarious. You’ve taken songs I grew up with that I absolutely love and stomped on them. But the thing is, you’re probably right with a lot of your assessments. Nostalgia is one heck of a drug. Keep making great work! You’ve got yourself a new subscriber. May I suggest “standing outside a broken phone booth” by primitive radio gods?

[@top1862]

I loooove this song and the songs by her you played just made me want to listen to more of her. Soft and floaty, I dig it.

[@Florithia]

I really liked the Anastasia movie, not gonna try and defend it, I just liked it. And I loved the song.

[@lawlore]

I've had this song stuck in my head all day, knew I was gonna have to come home and watch this review.