THINKING OF ME
Writers: Olly Murs, Steve Robson and Wayne Hector
Producers: FutureCut, Steve Robson
Album: Olly Murs
Release Date: 22/11/2010
B-Side: 'Sophie' (Writers: Olly Murs, James Bryan, Jason Pebworth, George Astasio, Jon Shave / Producers: The Invisible Men)
Chart Positions: #4 (UK), #3 (Scotland), #13 (Ireland)
Certifications: Gold (UK, 400k)
If you'd stopped and asked most people who'd watched The X Factor on the street c. early 2010 how they anticipated a single by Olly to sound, then 'Thinking Of Me' probably wouldn't have been too wild an approximation. In fact, where his first album is concerned, it seems to be this and another single we'll meet in a couple of weeks from now which are the most easily and fondly remembered from that era.
One thing we neglected to mention on 'Please Don't Let Me Go', but that we will now, is that the final mixing and production on both that single and this were helmed by FutureCut, a Mancunian team of producers with a leaning towards the retro ska/reggae pop feel that Olly and Epic Records had been establishing him in, with a slight feel of more cooler, British urban sounds, hence their roll call of previous work with artists in that mould like Lily Allen, Dizzee Rascal and Professor Green.
The latter was almost meant to appear on this single, but clearance by his label (Virgin EMI) couldn't be made in time for him to feature on it, although they have remained good industry pals since. Although still leaning towards the sonic inclinations of light ska influenced pop as on the debut, it's slightly less pronounced on 'Thinking Of Me', and its verses and melody are rooted in peak 90s Britpop.
In fact, of all Olly's singles, it's probably the one with the least conventional structure. The verses lead into the one sentenced chorus 'And I know that you're somewhere, thinking of me', a second chorus in the latter half that kind of isn't, and two disparate middle 8 bits that don't really fit anywhere else in the song, before it closes on the second demi-chorus again and then the hallmark of many a great pop song: a built in whistle. If postmen the land over weren't going to whistle it before, then they definitely were now.
Described in one review as a ‘gap year anthem’, owing to its lyrics of reminiscing on ‘picking up seashells on a pebble beach’ and ‘rocking Converse with your old Raybans … somewhere listening to Bob Marley’ with a holiday romance, ‘Thinking Of Me’ came out when it was quite literally the wintertime in London referenced in the opening of the song – the coldest British November on record for this decade, in fact.
Not for the last time in his career, Olly had to don a harness for the flying sequences in the accompanying video, where he plays a down and out ice cream truck driver on a typical rainy British day. It was also the first of his singles to be premiered via a homecoming performance on the very stage he’d been introduced on a year previously, that was all red phone boxes, bowler hats and braces – and a tongue in cheek change of the lyrics to reference Cheryl, who was then still a judge on The X Factor at the time.
Although it proved a bit of a stretch to repeat the chart topping success of ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go’ (partly thanks to the collective charity single from that year’s finalists, a cover of David Bowie’s ‘Heroes’ to raise money for the Help For Heroes charity, sweeping all before it), ‘Thinking Of Me’ secured Olly’s second top 5 hit of his career, and was still inside the top 10 by the time the new year rolled around, as well as awarding him with his second gold record. So far, so good.
OTHER THOUGHTS
The Invisible Men were also on hand for co-writing and production of this single’s B-side, a stripped back acoustic ditty titled ‘Sophie’, which lyrically foreshadowed the same topic of his biggest hit two years later, being as it was lyrically a song about a lady friend who proved irresistible despite being a bit of a no-gooder. It’s definitely in keeping with the material from his first album era and is worth reinvestigation.
