"Round Round" is a song performed by British girl group

Sugababes Sugababes are a British girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by All Saints manager Ron Tom, Sugababes releas ...

. It was written by group members Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Heidi Range, as well as

Miranda Cooper Miranda Eleanor De Fonbrune Cooper (born 1975) is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, dancer and television presenter. Miranda Cooper has worked in the music industry since 1996 when she gained her first recording contract. She wor ...

Brian Higgins Brian Michael Higgins (born October 6, 1959) is an American politician serving as the U.S. representative for , serving since 2005. The district, numbered as the 27th district from 2005 to 2013 but as the 26th since 2013, includes Buffalo and N ...

Tim Powell Tim Powell (born 14 April 1968) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Richmond and Carlton in the Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australia ...

, Nick Coler, and Lisa Cowling. Produced by

Kevin Bacon Kevin Norwood Bacon (born July 8, 1958) is an American actor. His films include the musical-drama film '' Footloose'' (1984), the controversial historical conspiracy legal thriller '' JFK'' (1991), the legal drama '' A Few Good Men'' (1992), t ...

and Jonathan Quarmby, the song was released as the second single from the group's second

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...

, ''

Angels with Dirty Faces ''Angels with Dirty Faces'' is a 1938 American crime drama film directed by Michael Curtiz for Warner Brothers. It stars James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, The Dead End Kids, Humphrey Bogart, Ann Sheridan, and George Bancroft. The screenplay was wri ...

'' (2002). Following its release on 12 August 2002, "Round Round" peaked at number one on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, becoming the group's second number-one single domestically. In August 2022, it was certified gold by the

British Phonographic Industry British Phonographic Industry (BPI) is the British recorded music industry's Trade association. It runs the BRIT Awards, the Classic BRIT Awards, National Album Day, is home to the Mercury Prize, and co-owns the Official Charts Company with ...

(BPI). "Round Round" also reached the top 10 in Austria, Ireland, Italy, and New Zealand, among other countries. In 2003, it became the group's first single to chart in the United States, peaking at number seven on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large adverti ...

'' Dance Singles Sales chart. Alongside " Sound of the Underground" by

Girls Aloud Girls Aloud were an pop girl group that was created through the ITV talent show '' Popstars: The Rivals'' in 2002. The group comprised singers Cheryl, Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. The group achieved a str ...

, this song has been credited in reshaping British pop music for the 2000s.

Background

"Round Round" was written by

, Lisa Cowling,

, Nick Coler, Keisha Buchanan, Mutya Buena, and Heidi Range. Due to the inclusion of a sample from "Tango Forte" by German production team Dublex Inc., Florian Pflueger, Felix Stecher, Robin Hofmann, and Rino Spadavecchia are also credited as songwriters. In turn, "Tango Forte" is based around an uncredited sample from "

Whatever Lola Wants "Whatever Lola Wants" is a popular song, sometimes rendered as "Whatever Lola Wants, Lola Gets". The music and words were written by Richard Adler and Jerry Ross for the 1955 musical play ''Damn Yankees''. The song is sung to Joe Hardy by Lol ...

" performed by American composer

Les Baxter Leslie Thompson "Les" Baxter (March 14, 1922 – January 15, 1996) was a best-selling American musician and composer. After working as an arranger and composer for swing bands, he developed his own style of easy listening music, known as exotica a ...

. Production on "Round Round" was helmed by

and Jonathan Quarmby for Manna Productions based on an original track Higgins and Powell had created for Xenomania Records, while Jeremy Wheatley provided additional production and handled the mixing.

Guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

recording and programming were overseen by Yoad Nevo for 247 Arists. Musically, "Round Round" was actually built up of a number of different songs. On the

BBC2 BBC Two is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It covers a wide range of subject matter, with a remit "to broadcast programmes of depth and substance" in contrast to the more mainstream a ...

series ''Secrets of the Pop Song'', Brian Higgins described the genesis of the song: "We had a drum track which was just stunning and so I sat down with Miranda ooperon the one day we had the Sugababes in the studio and said 'Right, you know, this is a hit, this piece of music is a hit. I haven't got anything on it, we don't have any song attached to it. So what are we gonna do about that? You've got three hours to come up with something'." Subsequently, Cooper went through her catalogue of unused tracks that she had written over the last two or three years and sung the chorus of every single song against Higgins' piece of drumming. Three hours later, she sang the lyrics 'round round baby round round' to Higgins, who said "that's it, that's amazing."

Chart performance

"Round Round" debuted at number one on the

and remained at the top spot for a week, giving the Sugababes their second consecutive UK number one single following "

Freak like Me "Freak Like Me" is the debut single of American R&B singer Adina Howard. It was released on January 25, 1995, as the lead single from her debut album, ''Do You Wanna Ride?''. It reached number two on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for two weeks, as ...

". The song was eventually certified silver by the

(BPI). As of August 2020, the song has sold 277,000 copies in the UK. "Round Round" was also a success worldwide, reaching number two in Ireland, the Netherlands and New Zealand. The song also reached number three in Denmark and number four in Norway, Romania, and Switzerland. In Australia, "Round Round" debuted at number 21 and rose to a peak of number 13, giving the group their first Australian top-20 hit. It was certified Gold by the

Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) is a trade association representing the Australian recording industry which was established in the 1970s by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replac ...

(ARIA), making it the Sugababes' best-selling Australian single up until the release of their 2005 single " Push the Button", which reached number three and was certified Platinum.

Music video

The music video for "Round Round" was directed by Phil Griffin. It has the group performing on a rotating platform, while being surrounded by a

tornado A tornado is a violently rotating column of air that is in contact with both the surface of the Earth and a cumulonimbus cloud or, in rare cases, the base of a cumulus cloud. It is often referred to as a twister, whirlwind or cyclone, alt ...

with dust and rubble accumulating in it. There is a rusty caged wall with an audience watching, a pair of sunglasses and a ring get sucked into the tornado from them. When Heidi's verse comes up, everything moves in

slow-motion Slow motion (commonly abbreviated as slo-mo or slow-mo) is an effect in film-making whereby time appears to be slowed down. It was invented by the Austrian priest August Musger in the early 20th century. This can be accomplished through the use ...

, including the tornado, before speeding up again. The girls slowly walk around three male dancers in the middle, and for the end chorus it appears the tornado has dissipated.

Cover versions

The song was covered by Hong Kong singer

Emme Wong Emme Wong Yee-Man (; born 3 January 1981) is a Cantopop singer and actress based in Hong Kong. Biography Wong originally debuted under the name ''"Dior Wong"'' in late 2001, as one of Universal Records's promising new pop starlets. As Dior Wo ...

in Cantonese in 2003. It was Wong's first single after her record label

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and it ...

modified her image for a sexier direction. The song quickly became a hit, due to its sexually explicit lyrics and dance moves, as well as the TV-banned video. The song reached the top of several music charts across Southeast China. In the year end, it won a number of awards, including "Best Covered Song", "Best Dance Record", and "Best Stage Performance".

Track listings

Notes * denotes additional producer(s) * denotes original producer(s)

Personnel

Personnel are adapted from the liner notes of ''

''. *

– writing *

– writing * Lisa Cowling – writing *

– writing * Nick Coler – writing * Keisha Buchanan – writing * Mutya Buena – writing * Heidi Range – writing * Florian Pflueger – writing * Felix Stecher – writing * Robin Hofmann – writing * Rino Spadavecchia – writing *

– production *

– original production * Yoad Nevo –

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

, programming *

– original production * Jonathan Quarmby – production * Jeremy Wheatley – additional production, mixing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{Authority control 2002 singles 2002 songs Island Records singles Number-one singles in Scotland Song recordings produced by Jonathan Quarmby Song recordings produced by Kevin Bacon (producer) Songs written by Brian Higgins (producer) Songs written by Heidi Range Songs written by Keisha Buchanan Songs written by Lisa Cowling Songs written by Miranda Cooper Songs written by Mutya Buena Songs written by Nick Coler Songs written by Tim Powell (producer) Sugababes songs UK Singles Chart number-one singles Universal Records singles