| "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 Standard artwork | ||||
| Single byGina G | ||||
| from the albumFresh! | ||||
| Released | 25 March 1996 (1996-03-25) | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length |
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| Label | ||||
| Composer | [[Simon Tauber]] | |||
| Lyricist | Simon Tauber | |||
| Producer | Steve Rodway | |||
| Gina G singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Eurovision Song Contest 1996 entry | ||||
| Country | ||||
| Artist | ||||
| Language | English | |||
| Composer | Simon Tauber | |||
| Lyricist | Simon Tauber | |||
| Conductor | Ernie Dunstall | |||
| Finals performance | ||||
| Final result | 8th | |||
| Final points | 77 | |||
| Entry chronology | ||||
| ◄ "Love City Groove" (1995) | ||||
| "Love Shine a Light" (1997) ► | ||||
| Official performance video | ||||
| "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" onYouTube | ||||
"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" is a song recorded by Australian singer and songwriterGina G, with music composed bySimon Tauber and lyrics written by Simon Tauber. It was her debut solo single, and it was released on 25 March 1996 byEternal andWarner Bros. as the first single from her debut album,Fresh! (1997). Itrepresented the United Kingdom in theEurovision Song Contest 1996, held inOslo, where it finished in eighth place.
"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" topped theUK singles chart in May 1996, peaked at No. 12 on the USBillboard Hot 100, and was nominated forBest Dance Recording at the40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998.[4] It is also the fourth-highest charting Eurovision entry in the US, behind "Nel blu dipinto du blu (Volare)" (1958), "Waterloo" (1974) and "Eres tú" (1973); it remained the last Eurovision entry to chart in the US until "Arcade", the2019 winning entry in 2021.[5] It also remains the last UK Eurovision entry to top the UK singles chart.
"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" was composed bySteve Rodway with lyrics by Simon Tauber.[6]
On 1–8 March 1996, "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" performed byGina G competed inThe Great British Song Contest 1996, the national selection organised by theBritish Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to select its song and performer for the41st edition of theEurovision Song Contest. The song won the competition, becoming theBritish entrant –and Gina G performer– for Eurovision.[7]
Gina G released the song as her debut solo single on 25 March 1996 and as the first single from her debut album,Fresh! (1997).
On 18 May 1996, the Eurovision Song Contest final was held at theOslo Spektrum inOslo hosted byNorsk rikskringkasting (NRK) and broadcast live throughout the continent. Gina G performed "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" performed second in a field of twenty-three songs being preceded by theTurkish entry "Beşinci Mevsim", with theSpanish entry "¡Ay, qué deseo!" following. Conductor Ernie Dunstall orchestrated and conducted the British entrant on stage with a minimal orchestral accompaniment. A tiny string accompaniment was added to the backing track produced by Rodway.[8] Two female dancers dressed in pink and yellow backed up Gina G, dressed in a short thigh-skimming glittery metal dress. The dress was originally custom made forCher byPaco Rabanne, but she left it unused hanging in the offices atWarner Bros. Records until Gina G stumbled across it just a few days before the contest. The dress was then shortened slightly for her performance.[9] As the rules required every instrument used on the backing track to appear on stage, and as the backing track used relied heavily on computer generated sounds and techno beats, twoApple Mac personal computers were on the stage—one beside each synthesizer.[10]
At the close of voting, "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" had received 77 points, receiving the maximum 12 points from two countries:Portugal andBelgium. It finished in 8th place overall,[11] the winner beingIreland with "The Voice" byEimear Quinn. The result led to a big overhaul in the contest's voting system, with the introduction of televoting in several participating countries the following year, a practice rolled out across the board in 1998.
ScottishAberdeen Evening Express named the song a "slice of cheesyEuropop", adding that "you'll grow to either love or hate it!"[12]AllMusic editorStephen Thomas Erlewine praised it as a "great guilty pleasure".[13] A reviewer fromAustin American-Statesman called it "perky".[14]J. D. Considine fromThe Baltimore Sun said that from itsMoog-style synthesizer hook to the galloping electrobeats that drive the chorus, Gina G's "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" "is clearly a throwback to the sort ofsynth-pop that owned the airwaves in the late '80s."[15]Larry Flick fromBillboard wrote that "adorable Australian ingénue" has already enjoyed massive pop success throughout Europe with this "instantly infectioushi-NRG dance ditty. It's easy to predict this single scoring similarly high marks here, thanks in large part to herkewpiedoll vocals and the song's tasty, sugarcoated melody. You'll be singing along to the song'schorus before the track's close, while a bevy of meaty remixes will have you happily twitching around the room."[16] Richard Paton fromThe Blade complimented it as a "smash", that "kicks off" thealbum of "vibrantdance pop".[17] SwedishExpressen andGöteborgs-Tidningen described it as a "sticky yummy pop pastry" and a "danceable naughty pop song".[18][19]
L.A. Weekly wrote that it's "an expert confection of interlocking speed-stuttered repetitious-trance electro-breakdance beats, above which Gina G breathily metronomes too-childlike-to-be-suggestive "ooh ahh"s as if she were aKit-Cat clock ticking and tocking its way to the bank, itsCheshire smile bursting withcatnip."[20] Richard Smith fromMelody Maker named it Single of the Week and "easily the bestEurovision song since 'Waterloo'". He also said, "A Euro anthem for Eurovision!! How excellent. This is shiny, happy, bouncy and brilliant idiot pop with those gallopingMotiv8 rhythms".[21]Music Week gave the song four out of five, adding that its "immediacy, jollity and credibility should stand it in good stead."[22]NME described it as a "frenzy oftechno-friendly tunefulness",[23] remarking its "unshakeable" chorus.[24] A reviewer fromPeople Magazine noted that Gina G is adding a "dusky undercurrent and a teasing touch of sultriness" to the song.[25] John Everson fromSouthtownStar felt it should be the "dance club sensation of the year", describing it as "a pure hair-flipping bit of flirting, teasing fun. This is just the sort of fodder to form into a perfect pop hit". He also complimented its "Erasure-esque galloping beat".[26]Charles Aaron fromSpin called the song a "synthy magic carpet that flies nonstop to flashy, trashyMiami discos where they sell drinks with names like 'Call a Cab'."[27]
In 2012, "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" was ranked No. 45 inNME's list of the "50 Best-Selling Tracks of the 90s", adding that the song sold 790,000.[28] In 2017,Billboard ranked it No. 35 in their list of "The 100 Greatest Pop Songs of 1997", writing, "Bubblegum pop atpunk rock speeds, Gina G's lone brush with the mainstream was a B-12 shot that verged onhappy hardcore, but whose bpm managed to stay just on the right side of cartoonish. And wow, that synth riff, a live wire running throughout the song, punishing in its uncontrolled effervescence."[29] Same year,BuzzFeed ranked the song No. 25 in their list of "The 101 Greatest Dance Songs of the '90s".[30] In a 2020 review, Can't Stop the Pop described it as a "rollicking tour-de-force" and "relentless, dizzying rush from start to finish". They stated that "the timing of 'Ooh Aah…Just A Little Bit' was perfect; it bottled theEurodance sound of the early '90s and siphoned it down into a traditionally structured pop song."[31]
In 2013, Tom Ewing ofFreaky Trigger called it a "glossy hi-tack" song, adding further, "It's brisk, good-quality bubblegum: a springy keyboard part, a chugging rhythm, and a few fine lines –Every night makes me hate the days – laid down with enough conviction to cross the line between corny and effective."[32] In another 2020 review, Pop Rescue complimented it as "incredibly catchy".[33] In 2014,The Quietus named the song one of "50 Favourite Guilt-Free Pleasures". An editor, Dan Barrow, wrote that the song "enters the realms of unguilty pleasure mostly through its chorus, where the vocal drops registers of excitement to an almost-whisper, just as the arpeggios hit their peaks ofEuro-trance intensity, the memory ofhouse piano – the signifier of anticipation and release – leaking through the chorus. The high, almost toxic sheen of its opening fanfare of notes, a gateway drug to more louche pleasures."[34]
"Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" entered theUK Singles Chart at No. 6 on 31 March 1996 and rose to No. 2 two weeks later. The song spent another five weeks in the top three, climbing to No. 1 during its eighth week, the day after Gina G's performance atEurovision, and would spend a further 15 weeks in the top 75.[35] As of 2025, the song is the last UK Eurovision entry to peak atop the country's chart. It was a top-five hit in Australia,[36] Denmark,[37] Hungary,[38] and Norway,[39] as well as a top-10 hit in the Czech Republic, Finland,Flanders, Ireland and Sweden. On theEurochart Hot 100, "Ooh Aah... Just a Little Bit" peaked at No. 9 in June 1996.[40]
The song was also successful in the United States, a rarity for Eurovision entries. Released in the US in November 1996, it peaked at No. 12 on theBillboard Hot 100 in February 1997 and spent a total of 30 weeks on the Hot 100.[41] It also reached No. 13 on theTop 40/Rhythm-Crossover chart, No. 5 on theTop 40/Mainstream chart, No. 25 on theAdult Top 40, No. 4 on theDance Club Play chart, and No. 11 on theMaxi-Singles Sales chart. It is the fourth-highest charting Eurovision entry in the US, behind "Nel blu dipinto du blu (Volare)" (No. 1 in 1958), "Waterloo" (No. 6 in 1974) and "Eres tú" (No. 9 in 1974); it remained the last Eurovision entry to chart in the US until "Arcade", the2019 winning entry (No. 30 in 2021).[5]
The song's music video was directed by Fruit Salad with photography directed by Peter Sinclair.[42] It features Gina G with three background female dancers performing in a passageway with a brightly lit ceiling, teasing a pair of well-dressed guys. The song's lyrics are used in a sexually suggestive, but playful manner.[43] While it had airtime on several music video channels globally, the video would also be the first song to be "banned" after being voted on byMTV's12 Angry Viewers in 1998, despite never receiving much airtime on the US channel. MTV's sister channelVH1 gave the videomore moderate[clarification needed] airplay time.[citation needed]
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Weekly charts[edit]
| Year-end charts[edit]
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| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Australia (ARIA)[72] | Gold | 35,000^ |
| Norway (IFPI Norway)[79] | Gold | |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[80] | Platinum | 600,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. | ||
| Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | 25 March 1996 |
| [81] | |
| 13 May 1996 | CD2 | [82] | ||
| United States | 26 November 1996 | Rhythmic contemporary radio | Warner Bros. | [83] |
| Japan | 10 May 1997 | CD | [84] |
this instantly infectious hi-NRG dance ditty.
Assured, naggingly catchy hi-NRG pop....
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