The past couple of years have been a bit crap, have they not? The pandemic, some questionable political decisions, the fact we had to ration our loo roll for a whole summer. We've been wishing we could hop in a time machine back to the simpler life, to be honest. Well - noticing the sorry state of the world of late - Vengaboys have only gone and taken it upon themselves to inject a much-needed dose of nostalgia into 2021 and take us way back to 1999.
Kim, Denise, Robin and Donny provided the soundtrack to our iconic school discos in the day, and now the group are back with their brand new single; a cover of Charli XCX and Troye Sivan's 1999.
So we thought it only right to return to a time of Tamagotchis and Tazos (remember them?) by giving them heat's Big Quiz of 1999. Hoorah.
Vengaboys, we are LOVING 1999. You’ve somehow made it even more of a banger than the original…
Donny: We added more cheese
Denise: Gouda cheese. From Holland.
Brilliant. Why did you decide to cover it?
Donny: On a radio show, Charli mentioned that she wanted to bring back Vengaboys
Denise: Her ‘guilty pleasure’ song was We Like to Party! (The Vengabus)
Kim: We never went away, we’ve always been touring; but we’re back for world domination with this one.
And has Charli heard the song yet?
Kim: Not yet, we’re still waiting
Robin: We hope she loves it, we don’t want a lawsuit.
Robin, there’s literally no way she couldn’t like it. Kim, what was your favourite memory from 1999?
We were living out of a suitcase and getting paid to party. We had so many highlights, but probably touring in the US. Winning a World Music Award was huge, too. There are so many to mention; it was the best year ever.
I have an elephant brain. I remember everything that happened, and the great thing about being in a band is there’s always someone else who remembers if you don’t.
Denise - if you could offer your younger, 1999 self one piece of advice, what would it be?
To enjoy it more. It was like this train ride that just went on and on, non-stop. It was all amazing – the venues, the TV shows…it was a popstar dreams. But that train was going so fast, so I’d say to enjoy it all more.
Donny, what ‘90s trend would you love to bring back?
I still love Buffalo shoes. I still use them because I’m the smallest in the group. The girls wear high heels and Robin’s, like, two metres high. I have to wear them. And I love the crop tops, of course.
Robin – if you could go on tour with any artist from the ‘90s, who would it be?
I love all the ‘90s groups, but I’d love to tour with Ricky Martin.
We’d be first in line to buy a ticket, tbh.
Now, who’s ready for a 1999 pop quiz?
Kim – what was the UK’s biggest-selling single of 1999?
Kim: It wasn’t us. Spice Girls?
Denise: Britney with …Baby One More Time?
CORRECT, Denise. Kim, since Denise answered we’ll stick this back on you – what number in that same list did Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom!! reach?
Kim: Number eight?
It should’ve been, but it was actually number 15. You actually had two others in the top 50 – We’re Going to Ibiza and We Like to Party! (The Vengabus).
Robin – what was the UK Christmas number 1 in 1999?
Robin: I should know, because I love Christmas. It was a Spice Girls song. 2 Become 1?
So close. That was 1996. It was actually Goodbye. And finally, Donny, a rogue question – who was crowned Time magazine’s Person of the Year in 1999?
Donny: How would I know? I don’t read Time magazine!
Well, quite. It was actually Jeff Bezos.
Vengaboys’ new single 1999 is available to stream and download now, and it’s a bloody BOP.