I Should Be So Lucky

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"I Should Be So Lucky"
KylieIShouldBeSoLuckyOZCover.png
Australian single
Single by Kylie Minogue
from the album Kylie
Released29 December 1987
RecordedOctober 1987
Genre
Length3:24
LabelPWL
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Stock Aitken Waterman
Kylie Minogue singles chronology
"Locomotion"
(1987) 		"I Should Be So Lucky"
(1987) 		"Got to Be Certain"
(1988)
Alternative cover
International single cover
International single cover
Music video
"I Should Be So Lucky" on YouTube

"I Should Be So Lucky" is a 1987 song performed by Australian recording artist and songwriter Kylie Minogue from her debut studio album Kylie (1988). Released on 29 December 1987 by Mushroom Records and PWL Records, the song became a worldwide breakthrough hit; its image of Minogue on the front cover was shot by David Levine. The song was written and produced by Stock Aitken Waterman for Minogue, and they went on to produce Minogue's first four studio albums.

"I Should Be So Lucky" received positive reviews from contemporary music critics, who thought that the song was an instant highlight and good song within the 80s, while some dismissed the lyrical content. Despite this, the song received commercial attention around the world where the song topped the charts in countries such as the United Kingdom, Australia, and Germany and peaked in the top ten in many countries including New Zealand, Japan, and the Dance charts in the U.S.

Recording and development[]

After the success of her debut single "Locomotion" in Australia, Minogue traveled to London to work with Stock Aitken Waterman, a successful British writing and production team. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" in forty minutes while she waited outside the recording studio.[3] Mike Stock wrote the lyrics for the song in response to what he had learned about Minogue prior to her arrival. He believed that although she was a successful soap star in Australia and very talented, there must be something wrong with her and figured that she must be unlucky in love.[3] Minogue recorded the song in less than an hour, which Stock attributes to her good ear for music and her quick memorization skills. After Minogue finished the recording session she returned home to Australia to continue work on the soap opera, Neighbours.[3] Stock later told The Guardian: "We had to get the song together in about 40 minutes and she left not having had a happy experience. We didn’t know we had a hit on our hands and so when it went to No 1 for five weeks, someone said: 'What’s the follow-up?' We didn't have one. So I went out to Australia at the start of 1988 and met her in a bar with Jason and her manager. I basically crawled 100 yards on my knees and apologised profusely."[4]

Composition[]

"I Should Be So Lucky" is a pop and hi-NRG song which features elements of bubblegum pop and new wave music. According to the music sheet on MusicNotes.com, which was published by Universal Music Publishing Group, the song is set in the key of C major.[5] Minogue's vocals span from D4 to C5. The song is set in common time and moves at a moderate tempo of 116 beats per minute. Instrumentation of the song features synthesizers, keyboards and guitars. According to PopMatters, the song features "numerous orchestra hits to the uncomfortably thin sounding drum machine."[1] Waterman has said the tune was inspired by Pachelbel's Canon.[6] Stock told The Guardian: "Anyone who thinks I Should Be So Lucky is easy should try to play it. It's in four keys, all of them really awkward, and you can't even strum it unless you're a really good musician."[7]

Critical reception[]

Minogue singing "I Should Be So Lucky" as part of the "Dollhouse Medley" of 2014's Kiss Me Once Tour

"I Should Be So Lucky" garnered positive reviews from some music critics. Nick Levine, from Digital Spy, called it "standout track".[8] Chris True from AllMusic had reviewed the album, and highlighted the song as an album standout.[9] But as a separate rating, they gave the single three stars out of five.[10] In the review of The Best of Kylie Minogue (2012), Tim Sendra highlighted it as an album standout.[11] Hunter Felt from PopMatters gave it a positive review, stating "something about Kylie’s innocent yet forceful vocals and the sheer catchiness of the song itself [...] So the song became a beloved secret, and I never bothered to try to tune my friends in on "I Could Be So Lucky", or, crazier yet, proclaim that this "has-been" would be a critical and commercial darling in a few years time." However, he did say the song was cliché.[1] However, Mark Edwards from Stylus Magazine gave it a scathing remark by saying "Listening to the first tracks on Ultimate Kylie, you want to skip straight through, because early songs like "I Should Be So Lucky" and "Locomotion" are unlistenable—horribly naff, squeaky songs" and criticized Stock, Aitken and Waterman songs they produced in the 80s by stating "[the songs] transport the listener back to a time when every single in the UK charts was either written by Stock, Aitken and Waterman or sung by an Aussie soap star, or both."[12] OK! called the song a "classic".[13]

The song was also known to many in the late 1980s and early 1990s as one of Minogue's signature songs, which many critics entering the song on their best track or worst track list. And additionally, in 2011, "I Should Be So Lucky" was added to the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia's Sounds of Australia registry.[14][15] "I Should Be So Lucky" later appeared on seven of Kylie's hit compilations including Greatest Hits (1992), Ultimate Kylie (2004), and Step Back in Time: The Definitive Collection (2019). The song won the Highest Selling Single award at the 3rd annual ARIA Awards.[16]

Commercial performance[]

"I Should Be So Lucky" was released in the UK on 29 December 1987, and in Australia on 1 February 1988.[17] It was a commercial success, reaching atop the Australian Kent Music Report chart for six consecutives weeks, and became her second number-one single, following Locomotion.[18] The single was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) and ranked at number five on the Year-end chart for 1988.[19] In New Zealand, the song entered at No. 15 on New Zealand Top 40 and peaked at No. 3 on 27 March 1988, spending twelve weeks on the chart.[20] In United Kingdom, "I Should Be So Lucky" was released on 29 December 1987. The song entered at No. 90 on the UK Singles Chart, climbing to No. 54 the following week and three weeks later, it was No. 1 and remained at the top position for five weeks.[21] It spent seventeen weeks on the chart.[21] It was certified gold by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) for the shipment of 600,000 copies.[22] The song was one of the best-selling singles of 1988, with estimated sales of over 675,000.[23]

Minogue, flanked by dancers, performing "I Should Be So Lucky" during her 2019 summer tour in Castlefield Bowl

Elsewhere, "I Should Be So Lucky" peaked on both the Billboard Hot 100 and the Hot Dance Club Play. The song reached No. 10 on the Hot Dance Club Songs chart on 4 June 1988 and No. 28 on the Hot 100 on 16 July 1988.[24][25] Across Europe, "I Should Be So Lucky" also topped the singles charts in Germany, Ireland, and Switzerland.[26][27][28] It became a top-five hit in Austria, France, and Norway,[28] as well as a top-thirty hit in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Sweden.[28][29] It peaked at No. 1 in Finland, Israel, and Hong Kong.[30] The song was certified silver by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) and gold in Germany.[31][32]

Music video[]

The music video for "I Should Be So Lucky" was directed by Chris Langman and filmed in November 1987 at Channel 7 Studios in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.[33] The video features Minogue walking through her home, with scenes of her dancing in front of a colourful chalkboard background intercut throughout. It presented a cute, wholesome, young "girl-next-door" image of Minogue to the public, with scenes of her giggling and making funny faces to the camera.

Another version of the video was made for live television promotion. This version of the video shows Kylie riding in a car with several friends through Sydney. In other parts of the video, she's in the park and passersby are waving to her as she walks by them. This video premiered in the UK on Christmas Day 1987 in a live broadcast from the British Telecom Tower (Christmas Morning With Noel Edmonds, BBC1).

The complete version of "I Should Be So Lucky" featured in the music video has been released commercially through multiple VHS and DVD collections. Its most recent inclusion is on the companion DVD to her 2012 greatest hits album, The Best of Kylie Minogue. Outtakes from the music video were used in Kylie: The Videos.

Formats and track listings[]

These are the formats and track listings of major single releases of "I Should Be So Lucky".

Live performances[]

Minogue performed the song on the following concert tours:

The song was also performed on:

  • An Audience with Kylie Minogue a 2001 TV special
  • BBC Proms in the Park 2012 (The Abbey Road Sessions version)

Credits and personnel[]

Credits adapted from the Kylie liner notes.[39]

Charts[]

Certifications and sales[]

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[19] Platinum 70,000^
France (SNEP)[65] Silver 250,000*
Germany (BVMI)[66] Gold 250,000^
Japan — 30,140[50]
United Kingdom (BPI)[68] Gold 702,850[67]

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References[]

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  2. ^ Lim, Dennis (26 February 2002). "Your Disco Needs Her". The Village Voice. Retrieved 15 June 2015.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b c "I Should Be So Lucky". Love is in the Air. 2 November 2003. ABC Television.
  4. ^ Jonze, Tim (28 March 2017). "'I crawled on my knees to Kylie' – the inside story of Stock, Aitken and Waterman". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 August 2019.
  5. ^ "Digital Sheet Music: I Should Be So Lucky". Universal Music Publishing Group. Retrieved 12 July 2009.
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  9. ^ Chris True. "Kylie - Kylie Minogue | Songs, Reviews, Credits, Awards". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
  10. ^ "I Should Be So Lucky - Kylie Minogue | Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 March 2014.
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  68. ^ "British single certifications – Kylie Minogue – I Should Be So Lucky". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 10 January 2015.Select singles in the Format field. Select Gold in the Certification field. Type I Should Be So Lucky in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.

Bibliography[]

External links[]

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