Released: 29th June 1998
Writers: Dion Rambo / Jacques Richmond / Wendy Page / Jim Marr
Peak position: #1
Chart run: 1-3-8-10-14-19-24-29-45-59-62-66
After signing to a newly established record label, Billie Piper’s debut single was well-timed to ride the crest of a late ‘90s bubblegum pop wave straight to the top of the charts.
Although Billie Piper had only recently turned 15 when she landed a deal with Innocent Records, she’d already appeared in a series of minor television roles beforehand, including the CITV show Scratchy and Co and Channel 4 idents for their school programming block. However, it was an appearance in a 1997 advertising campaign for Smash Hits magazine that made such an impression on Innocent Records that they subsequently sought out Billie Piper with the ambition of launching her as a pop star. Their eagerness wasn’t fortuitous, though; it aligned with a broader strategy around the newly established label, which had been created as a subsidiary of Virgin Records. After enjoying immense success with the Spice Girls, they created Innocent Records with the specific intention of housing a roster of acts who could capitalise on the growing dominance of bubblegum pop. Billie would, therefore, become their first major act, and that, to some extent, dictated the sound of her debut single.
Because We Want To needed to make as much of a statement about the label as it did the artist performing it, which almost immediately created a sense of discontentment for Billie Piper. Early demos of the track were more R&B-leaning, which fit the All Saints-esque style of music she hoped to make. However, that isn’t the direction Innocent Records wanted to take. The finished version was rooted in ‘90s bubblegum pop and very specifically targeted towards the precocious younger teen market. While that renders Because We Want To very much a product of its time, the song had a commendably clear, unambiguous vision for how Billie (she didn’t use her surname until the second album) would be marketed. And it worked.
The track opens with a springy beat and spoken declaration of: “We can do anything we want, we can, we can do anything we want, we can, we can do anything we want, we can, we can do anything we want”, which is cooly distorted and pans repeatedly from left to right. From there, Because We Want To launches straight into its irrepressible chorus: “Why you gotta play that song so loud? Because we want to, because we want to! Why you always run around in crowds? Because we want to, because we want to! Why do you always have to dance all night? Because we want to, because we want to! Why d’you always say what’s on your mind? Because we want to, because we want to!”. The song is knowingly extrapolated from the same ethos of Wannabe in immediately conveying the essence of what Billie Piper was about, even if that may have been primarily driven by Innocent Records.
In truth, Because We Want To isn’t anywhere near as objectionable or annoying as it gives the impression of being. The arrangement is convincing enough to make the song sound like a rowdy, raucous anthem to its target audience. However, the chanted cries of: “Because we want to” are neatly layered (there are no backing vocalists credited) and uniformly recited. Beneath the facade, this is pop music rebellion at its safest and most sanitised. That’s not a criticism; if anything, it’s merely a consequence of Because We Want To arriving while the boundaries for teen acts were still being drawn.
As if to reinforce that, the verses strike an entirely different tone. Billie Piper’s assertiveness (“Don’t try to tell me what I already know, don’t criticise me, ‘cos I’m runnin’ the show”) is used to deliver a message of reassuring encouragement: “Some revolution is gonna happen today, I’m gonna chase the dark clouds away, come on and help me sing it”. Because We Want To doesn’t necessarily labour the struggles of being a teenager, but rather than dismiss them outright, it’s written with an acknowledgement that they exist and frames them as transient: “…Perfect solution to the stress and the strain, I know the sun will follow the rain…”. Some may baulk at the notion of a bubblegum pop song lamenting such woes, but Because We Want To is smartly written to validate Billie’s target audience.
Yet, while the track succeeds in making that convincingly sincere pitch (more so than it often gets credit for), there are elements which haven’t endured particularly well and do a disservice to what is otherwise a solid debut single. The production, in particular, is an earnestly muddled mixture of metronomic hi-hat percussion, squelchy electro noises, staccato synths and scratchy beats. It hangs together functionally, but even stronger moments melodically – like the pre-chorus: “We can do what we want to do, we can do anything, free to be who we want to be, just tell yourself you can do it” – feel slightly drowned. In hindsight, what’s even more apparent is there’s little about Because We Want To that distinctively stands out as its own. Or, more specifically, the bits that might’ve given the song some enduring nostalgic appeal are not what is at the forefront. Instead, it delivers a sugary, quick-hit rush designed to grab the short-term attention span of an audience who were increasingly being bombarded with material trying to do the same thing.
And it worked. Yet, the single did include some indication that a different direction might – at some point – have been contemplated. The B-side included on the CD1 and cassette formats is a cover of G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T. by R&B duo Changing Faces, which had been a top ten hit in the UK and America a year earlier. This was perhaps closer to what Billie Piper envisaged recording, but would’ve been incredibly difficult to market to the Smash Hits audience Innocent Records were targeting. Furthermore, there’d be little sense in a label established to specialise in bubblegum pop launching their first major act with R&B-leaning material. Thus, for the time being, at least, there was never likely to be any meaningful opportunity for Billie Piper to deviate from the general direction of Because We Want To. Nonetheless, G.H.E.T.T.O.U.T. is an interesting glimpse at a style that was swiftly abandoned.
Because We Want To might sound like a product of its time, which isn’t necessarily a bad – or even unavoidable – quality for it to have. However, the accompanying music video emphasises some of the worst aspects of the single and hasn’t aged well at all. It opens with Billie Piper teleporting onto the street from a UFO before performing with a troupe of dancers. The notion of her being from outer space is, in hindsight, strikingly prescient, given the significant role Billie Piper played in the 2005 Doctor Who revival. However, within the narrative of the video, it doesn’t go anywhere, which sets a precedent as Because We Want To features a sequence of events that happen, primarily, to showcase the use of CGI. While dancing through the streets, Billie shoots beams of magic from her hands that turn a dustbin into a sentient being, bring a boy in an animated poster to life and makes a rhino – dressed as a bouncer – appear outside a club.
The visual effects look rudimentary by today’s standards, but even at the time, they would’ve been passable for a pre-teen show on children’s TV, at best. Because We Want To probably didn’t intend to skew quite that young, but its ambition feels thwarted by technical and budget restrictions. Even allowing for those constraints, the exterior street sequences reject the garishly bright colour palettes more associated with the presentation of late ‘90s bubblegum pop, appearing instead as comparatively dreary.
Yet, the entire concept behind Because We Want To isn’t inherently flawed, as there are aspectsthat work more successfully. It’s generally those where the video eases back on naff visual effects to put Billie Piper front and centre. The interior club scenes come closer to capturing the type of energy the visuals could – and should – have had throughout, mainly focusing on the slickly choreographed dance routine. Given Billie’s age, there’s very little to the decor other than a crimson curtain in the background, and certainly nothing about the venue that could be discernibly mistaken as an actual nightclub (the many revellers surrounding the stage are notably empty-handed). There are still elements of CGI; glowing lights float around Billie Piper, and at one point, a belt – featuring her logo – appears around her waist. However, the visual flair is toned down to a complementary level and, therefore, far less prone to showing its age.
In the context of the rest of the album campaign, it’s apparent that Innocent Records learned quickly because subsequent videos were visually brighter and conceptually cooler. Even the similarly CGI-heavy Honey To The Beewears the relative limitations of the late-’90s much better, with noticeably enhanced colour saturation and maturer styling. Yet, while flaws in the execution of Because We Want To feel somewhat glaring with hindsight, they weren’t such an issue at the time, and the song squarely reached its target market in the way that was intended.
With the release of Because We Want To, Billie Piper became the youngest artist to debut at #1 in the UK, with first-week sales of 80,000 copies (she’s not the youngest female singer to top the chart, though; Helen Shapiro was aged 14 when You Don’t Know reached #1 in 1961). The track went on to sell 301,000 copies in total, becoming the 48th biggest-selling single of 1998. However, that belies the impact Billie made to some extent because Innocent Records read the market well. There wasn’t an act like her in the UK at the time (Britney Spears wouldn’t make her debut with …Baby One More Time for another seven months), and so she had a significant presence in teen-oriented media. The attention came with an immense amount of pressure that intensified as the album campaign continued. However, in the interim, Billie’s launch on a newly established record label could scarcely have gone better.
Because We Want To is very much a product of its time (to a detrimental extent in some cases). Yet, almost everything about it that hasn’t necessarily aged well served an intentional, immediate purpose in allowing Billie Piper – and Innocent Records – to make an impact in an increasingly competitive market.
