December 18, 2023 • 16 mins
Such an incredible accomplishment for Anabel Englund! Her latest song "a lesson in chemistry" is her TENTH #1 on the dance charts!! And for that, we have a BIG celebration! Anabel shares how the song was born, who helped write it, and how many Vs there were before it was released.
We also get to know Anabel Englund better w a holiday edition of #FinkysFirsts!
Find out:
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
We also get to know Anabel Englund better w a holiday edition of #FinkysFirsts!
Find out:
- who the first person she texts 'Merry Christmas' to
- who the first person is that texts her
- who the first person she would go caroling with is
- what her first Christmas wish is if she could have anything in the world
- what her first choice of holiday snack is
- the first thing she wants to do in 2024
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Follow: @AmericasDance30 on all socials!
Count down the biggest dance songs in the country every week with Brian Fink on America’s Dance 30; listen on stations around the world!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Oh, hey, you look sosnazzy. Hey. You know I figured
for the occasion I would get dressedup for you. You know, it's
for me. Actually it's not foryou. I'm going on a job interview
in about twenty minutes, so wegot to hurry this up. Okay,
No, it's for you. Soare these balloons? Uh? But they
(00:23):
are way too big? Oh mygosh, I'm so sweet bad. They
are a lot bigger than I thoughtthey were going to be. That's what
she said. All right, letme know whenever you're good to go,
I'm ready. I am not goingto count us in this time because I
don't want you mocking me counting downthe biggest dance songs in the country.
(01:00):
This is America's Dance thirty. AnnabelleEngland. I am about to have legit
deja vu because we literally just talkedabout this song a month ago. But
this time I'm gonna make sure.Hold on, let me make sure audio.
I have audio. Okay, perfect, I've got audio. Annabelle England.
(01:26):
Welcome back to America's Dance thirty.Thank you, Thank you, not
only congratulations on a lesson in chemistrygoing number one, but congratulations on your
tenth, number one, ten,ten, ten number ones. That is
(01:51):
amazing. Thank you. I amjust so I am so grateful. I
can't even believe it. And thisnumber is so huge and it just feels
like such an accomplishment. And asI saw a lesson in chemistry moving up,
I was like, this would bemy tenth and then I was like
wait, no, no, no, like it can't be ten. And
(02:13):
then I was like having to goback and count and be like okay,
okay, yeah, this is myten. It just feels like such a
huge accomplishment. I mean, itreally is a huge accomplishment, so it
should feel that way. And youknow, it kind of stinks because I
thought that anything for you with KaleinaXanders was going to be your tenth,
(02:35):
which, no, that would havebeen incredible, but we got there.
I've got a non alcoholics champagne foryou here. Oh I'm telling you,
I went all out. This isa huge celebration. But I just want
to warn you I am horrible atchampagne showers. So uh, whatever you
(02:57):
do. I'm not sure if yourfriends with Kruella, but do not talk
to them about my experience with champagne. Oh my god. They called me
out on stage when they were performingand they wanted me to make it rain
with them, and it was sobad, like it was like a like
a oh, it was so bad, all right, But here we go.
(03:22):
And I'm probably gonna be cleaning thisup on your twentieth number one,
but here we go. Congratule.Oh my god, Oh my god,
oh god, that was a lotof confetti. If you could only see
(03:52):
what my desktop looks like right now, and it legit looks like we just
made the announcement that we're having ababy. It is everywhere. Oh my
gosh, Oh my gosh. Youhave to run me a pick. Oh
man, Well, this could bethe very last interview we ever do.
(04:17):
I don't know if they're gonna letme back in the building after this.
Congratulations, Thank you, thank you. Confetti's still falling from the ceiling.
Anyways, I cannot wait to talkall about this song again and find out
how it was born. Ps.By the way, if you don't know
(04:39):
the inside joke, Annabelle and Iwere chatting at DC about the song and
I get back to the hotel,I'm chopping up the interview and unfortunately there
was no audio. So this isthe second time, we'll be finding out
how this song was born. Butbefore that, since it is the holidays,
(05:00):
let's get to know Annabelle and glynda little better with the holiday edition
of Thinky's First. Okay, so, who is the first person you normally
text Happy Holidays? Too? Andwhy isn't it me? I'd probably saying
(05:24):
my dad, that's awesome. Andwho is the first person to text you
Happy Holidays? Probably my best friendKyle. So I'm gonna have to beat
Kyle, is what you're saying.Yeah, there's a time limit and it's
you and him, all right?The race is on the second word.
Done with this interview, I'm gonnatext you Happy Holidays just to get it
(05:46):
in there. Okay, perfect,perfect? You. Now, if you
could go caroling with any other singer, a live or dead, who would
(06:06):
be the first person you would choosego caroling with? I think it would
be really fun to go caroling withBebe Rexa. Oh that would be incredible.
Wow, She's so much fun andI love her voice, and she
has she seems to have a reallyfun energy, and I love the music
(06:27):
she puts out, and I don'tknow, I think it could be fun
we could do like harmonies. Yeah, she's an incredible just everything about her
energy and every I'm sorry, I'mso distracted by all the Confettian ears really
as somebody with really bad OCD.I'm just seeing it in the background,
like, oh my god, whatdid I do? Yes, but Bby
(06:47):
Rexel would be absolutely incredible. Now, if you could have anything in the
world for a gift, what wouldbe your first Christmas wish? Hmmm?
I would say that I wont SquidGames four point six million dollars. How
(07:10):
nice would that be? I mean, and it's all basically by chance,
and like it would be that Ilike, basically I went to sleep and
I was in Squid Games, butthen I woke up and I actually want
so I didn't actually have to playand deal through all that stress, but
I actually like at the end,I wake up and I win. Well
spoiler alerts, So, if youhaven't watched Squid Games yet, the challenge,
(07:33):
stop this interview right now. Haveyou watched, by the way,
have you watched all the way through? Yeah? Yeah, okay, so
hopefully you win a better way thanfreaking rock paper scissors. What a what
a stupid way to choose the finalwinner. Come on, mine it.
That's the thing is like there's notreally any wits or smarts about it.
(07:57):
Like remember when the guys were goingto do tug of War. They thought
they were doing tug of war andbattleshow which there is you know, stuff
that in your mind. But italso is by chance. You know.
It's like we're just gonna do ourbest and we win. Yeah. I
mean I loved it because it wasreal people doing it and obviously they didn't
(08:20):
die, and it was so cool. But what I hated about it was
when they started allowing other people tovote people out, because at that point
it's not even a challenge like then, it's just you're getting voted out for
no reason. I know that reallysucked, but I one of the reasons
(08:41):
I really like the show is becauseit's like a social experiment and it just
shows what people are really like andwhen people are in groups, Like it's
just very textbook the way certain peopleact and congregate and like form alliances and
there's one person who's the boss andone person who's like the leader, and
(09:01):
it's just really interesting to me tosee like how people are. Yeah,
and I was getting more and moredepressed as all of my favorite people were
getting voted out and were losing,and like the son and mom, I
thought, I know, I thoughthe was going all the way. I
know, I know, but Imean that's the thing too, is you
(09:22):
can't really have attachment to certain ofthe characters because it's like it's really by
chance, like they're playing marbles,whoever throws it in the pot or I
don't know. Just some of thechallenges and then another spoiler. Have you
watched like any of the tiktoks aboutit or anything? No, So you
know the glass Bridge challenge. Yeah, one of the things that was so
(09:46):
cool to find out about that wasthat the contestants actually didn't fall down.
It was editing magic where they hada stunt person, like the contestant would
like jump and kneel and then thestunt person would fall and they would make
the cut. Yeah. So thenbut then how did they know if they
(10:07):
lost. Well, I guess itwould still light up or whatever, or
they would let them know. Butit was editing magic that it was a
stunt person that actually fell, notthe contestant. Wow, that's interesting.
Mind blown all right, back tonon spoiler stuff. So what is your
first choice for a holiday snack?I love Okay, So Trader Joe's has
(10:31):
these gingerbread people and they have likethis white frosting on the back, but
they're like harder cookies, and Ijust love anything that's like spiced and cinnamon
and stuff like that, and it'sthey're so good, they're soughing good.
Yeah, you're making me hungry rightnow. Finally, in the holiday version
(10:54):
of Thinky's First, what is thefirst thing you want to do in twenty
twenty four? The first thing Iwant to do is wake up. That's
good, right there, you canstop. I want to wake up and
be grateful and happy and just gratefulto live another day and excited for be
(11:18):
excited for the future. Let's havea quick lesson in chemistry. How was
this song born? I just sawthe title like lessons in Chemistry, like
all over the place, I thinkbecause of that book, and I thought,
(11:41):
like, I want to write asong. I don't know what this
book's about, what I want towrite a song called lessons in Chemistry or
something like that. So I metup with Lena Leon and Adam Novador,
who also did I did strangely sentimentalwith and I think this was my second
session back after having a baby,so Strangely Center Metal was my first,
(12:07):
and then A Lesson in Chemistry wasmy second. And they were like,
yeah, we love that title,Like let's go for it. So it's
really just about just someone who kindof never gets their heart broken and kind
of walks around leaving a trail ofbroken hearts behind them. And this person
ends up meeting someone that they fallin love with unbeknownst to them, and
(12:31):
then they're just like, wait,what's going on. How are you doing
this to me? You're giving mea lesson in chemistry. So it's just
kind of about that and like kindof having the script flipped on you.
And it's just really fun. AndI feel like it's kind of like a
throwback sonically to either like Backstreet Boysor in Sync, and it just has
(12:54):
kind of elements of that to me. And yeah, I love working with
them, so I just I wantto work with them again, you know.
It's just it's just fun when you'rein the studio with people that you
feel comfortable with. Yeah, andyou guys killed it once again and it
was awesome finding out just going backto Strangely sentimental that it was Lena's laugh
(13:16):
that's at the beginning of the song, which is awesome. I know,
I know her sweet laugh. Iwas putting America's Dance thirty together one weekend
and I was like, wait asecond, that laugh sounds familiar, and
so I tell you, is thatyour laugh? She's like, yep,
that's me. That's amazing that youknew it was her laugh. I mean,
(13:39):
she's got a great laugh, soI could just tell yeah, yeah,
she does. So I always lovefinding out how many different vs there
are of the song, from whenyou guys start working on it, all
the tweaking to when you finally putit out. Do you remember what the
final V was of a lesson inchemistry? I honestly think it was maybe
(14:00):
like five or six or I meansomewhere between five to seven. Oh,
that's not bad. So there wasn'ta lot of tweaking that went on with
it. No, we slay.That's awesome to hear. I don't think
I've ever had a version thirty really. Yeah. I mean that's pretty impressive
because almost every artist I talk to, they're like, yeah, there are
(14:24):
a lot of tweaks that go on. I mean, there's some, but
I feel like for the most part, I know, like I'm not a
producer, but I know how totell a producer what I want, and
I feel like I work with peoplewho know how to make like the sounds
in my head come to life.And I feel like I've been doing this
(14:46):
a while. So I when wewrite a song, I do the vocals,
and then I do like an adlip track, and then I hear
where those ad lips could go,and then with all the vocals, I
know, okay, this like soundcould good good here, or like strip
it back for the second verse.And then like working with Adam, he's
(15:07):
amazing too, and he's just sofast. So yeah, like I just
don't really end up with like thirtyor you know, it's pretty you know,
the label has some ideas and thenit kind of just comes together.
Well forget the label. Don't evenknow I'm kidding. Shouts out to Phil
at Ultra of course. Yes,well, congratulations on another number one.
(15:33):
Congratulations on your ten Annabel England.It is always awesome catching up with you.
Thank you so much for your timewith us on America's Dance thirty.
Yeah, thank you so much,and thank you for the celebration. You
are welcome, all right, SoI want to show you the mess that
is behind the video. Are youready for this? Yeah? Oh my
(16:00):
god, Oh wow, you weren'tjoking. Oh my god, Oh my
god, oh wait, oh wait? Look whoa all over the board.
(16:23):
I expect you at my studio inabout twenty minutes to help me clean this
up. I'd appreciate it. Thankyou, Bryson, I'm ready. America's
Dance thirty Counting down the biggest dancesongs in the country. America's Dance thirty
Oh, hey, you look sosnazzy. Hey. You know I figured
for the occasion I would get dressedup for you. You know, it's
for me. Actually it's not foryou. I'm going on a job interview
in about twenty minutes, so wegot to hurry this up. Okay,
No, it's for you. Soare these balloons? Uh? But they
(00:23):
are way too big? Oh mygosh, I'm so sweet bad. They
are a lot bigger than I thoughtthey were going to be. That's what
she said. All right, letme know whenever you're good to go,
I'm ready. I am not goingto count us in this time because I
don't want you mocking me counting downthe biggest dance songs in the country.
(01:00):
This is America's Dance thirty. AnnabelleEngland. I am about to have legit
deja vu because we literally just talkedabout this song a month ago. But
this time I'm gonna make sure.Hold on, let me make sure audio.
I have audio. Okay, perfect, I've got audio. Annabelle England.
(01:26):
Welcome back to America's Dance thirty.Thank you, Thank you, not
only congratulations on a lesson in chemistrygoing number one, but congratulations on your
tenth, number one, ten,ten, ten number ones. That is
(01:51):
amazing. Thank you. I amjust so I am so grateful. I
can't even believe it. And thisnumber is so huge and it just feels
like such an accomplishment. And asI saw a lesson in chemistry moving up,
I was like, this would bemy tenth and then I was like
wait, no, no, no, like it can't be ten. And
(02:13):
then I was like having to goback and count and be like okay,
okay, yeah, this is myten. It just feels like such a
huge accomplishment. I mean, itreally is a huge accomplishment, so it
should feel that way. And youknow, it kind of stinks because I
thought that anything for you with KaleinaXanders was going to be your tenth,
(02:35):
which, no, that would havebeen incredible, but we got there.
I've got a non alcoholics champagne foryou here. Oh I'm telling you,
I went all out. This isa huge celebration. But I just want
to warn you I am horrible atchampagne showers. So uh, whatever you
(02:57):
do. I'm not sure if yourfriends with Kruella, but do not talk
to them about my experience with champagne. Oh my god. They called me
out on stage when they were performingand they wanted me to make it rain
with them, and it was sobad, like it was like a like
a oh, it was so bad, all right, But here we go.
(03:22):
And I'm probably gonna be cleaning thisup on your twentieth number one,
but here we go. Congratule.Oh my god, Oh my god,
oh god, that was a lotof confetti. If you could only see
(03:52):
what my desktop looks like right now, and it legit looks like we just
made the announcement that we're having ababy. It is everywhere. Oh my
gosh, Oh my gosh. Youhave to run me a pick. Oh
man, Well, this could bethe very last interview we ever do.
(04:17):
I don't know if they're gonna letme back in the building after this.
Congratulations, Thank you, thank you. Confetti's still falling from the ceiling.
Anyways, I cannot wait to talkall about this song again and find out
how it was born. Ps.By the way, if you don't know
(04:39):
the inside joke, Annabelle and Iwere chatting at DC about the song and
I get back to the hotel,I'm chopping up the interview and unfortunately there
was no audio. So this isthe second time, we'll be finding out
how this song was born. Butbefore that, since it is the holidays,
(05:00):
let's get to know Annabelle and glynda little better with the holiday edition
of Thinky's First. Okay, so, who is the first person you normally
text Happy Holidays? Too? Andwhy isn't it me? I'd probably saying
(05:24):
my dad, that's awesome. Andwho is the first person to text you
Happy Holidays? Probably my best friendKyle. So I'm gonna have to beat
Kyle, is what you're saying.Yeah, there's a time limit and it's
you and him, all right?The race is on the second word.
Done with this interview, I'm gonnatext you Happy Holidays just to get it
(05:46):
in there. Okay, perfect,perfect? You. Now, if you
could go caroling with any other singer, a live or dead, who would
(06:06):
be the first person you would choosego caroling with? I think it would
be really fun to go caroling withBebe Rexa. Oh that would be incredible.
Wow, She's so much fun andI love her voice, and she
has she seems to have a reallyfun energy, and I love the music
(06:27):
she puts out, and I don'tknow, I think it could be fun
we could do like harmonies. Yeah, she's an incredible just everything about her
energy and every I'm sorry, I'mso distracted by all the Confettian ears really
as somebody with really bad OCD.I'm just seeing it in the background,
like, oh my god, whatdid I do? Yes, but Bby
(06:47):
Rexel would be absolutely incredible. Now, if you could have anything in the
world for a gift, what wouldbe your first Christmas wish? Hmmm?
I would say that I wont SquidGames four point six million dollars. How
(07:10):
nice would that be? I mean, and it's all basically by chance,
and like it would be that Ilike, basically I went to sleep and
I was in Squid Games, butthen I woke up and I actually want
so I didn't actually have to playand deal through all that stress, but
I actually like at the end,I wake up and I win. Well
spoiler alerts, So, if youhaven't watched Squid Games yet, the challenge,
(07:33):
stop this interview right now. Haveyou watched, by the way,
have you watched all the way through? Yeah? Yeah, okay, so
hopefully you win a better way thanfreaking rock paper scissors. What a what
a stupid way to choose the finalwinner. Come on, mine it.
That's the thing is like there's notreally any wits or smarts about it.
(07:57):
Like remember when the guys were goingto do tug of War. They thought
they were doing tug of war andbattleshow which there is you know, stuff
that in your mind. But italso is by chance. You know.
It's like we're just gonna do ourbest and we win. Yeah. I
mean I loved it because it wasreal people doing it and obviously they didn't
(08:20):
die, and it was so cool. But what I hated about it was
when they started allowing other people tovote people out, because at that point
it's not even a challenge like then, it's just you're getting voted out for
no reason. I know that reallysucked, but I one of the reasons
(08:41):
I really like the show is becauseit's like a social experiment and it just
shows what people are really like andwhen people are in groups, Like it's
just very textbook the way certain peopleact and congregate and like form alliances and
there's one person who's the boss andone person who's like the leader, and
(09:01):
it's just really interesting to me tosee like how people are. Yeah,
and I was getting more and moredepressed as all of my favorite people were
getting voted out and were losing,and like the son and mom, I
thought, I know, I thoughthe was going all the way. I
know, I know, but Imean that's the thing too, is you
(09:22):
can't really have attachment to certain ofthe characters because it's like it's really by
chance, like they're playing marbles,whoever throws it in the pot or I
don't know. Just some of thechallenges and then another spoiler. Have you
watched like any of the tiktoks aboutit or anything? No, So you
know the glass Bridge challenge. Yeah, one of the things that was so
(09:46):
cool to find out about that wasthat the contestants actually didn't fall down.
It was editing magic where they hada stunt person, like the contestant would
like jump and kneel and then thestunt person would fall and they would make
the cut. Yeah. So thenbut then how did they know if they
(10:07):
lost. Well, I guess itwould still light up or whatever, or
they would let them know. Butit was editing magic that it was a
stunt person that actually fell, notthe contestant. Wow, that's interesting.
Mind blown all right, back tonon spoiler stuff. So what is your
first choice for a holiday snack?I love Okay, So Trader Joe's has
(10:31):
these gingerbread people and they have likethis white frosting on the back, but
they're like harder cookies, and Ijust love anything that's like spiced and cinnamon
and stuff like that, and it'sthey're so good, they're soughing good.
Yeah, you're making me hungry rightnow. Finally, in the holiday version
(10:54):
of Thinky's First, what is thefirst thing you want to do in twenty
twenty four? The first thing Iwant to do is wake up. That's
good, right there, you canstop. I want to wake up and
be grateful and happy and just gratefulto live another day and excited for be
(11:18):
excited for the future. Let's havea quick lesson in chemistry. How was
this song born? I just sawthe title like lessons in Chemistry, like
all over the place, I thinkbecause of that book, and I thought,
(11:41):
like, I want to write asong. I don't know what this
book's about, what I want towrite a song called lessons in Chemistry or
something like that. So I metup with Lena Leon and Adam Novador,
who also did I did strangely sentimentalwith and I think this was my second
session back after having a baby,so Strangely Center Metal was my first,
(12:07):
and then A Lesson in Chemistry wasmy second. And they were like,
yeah, we love that title,Like let's go for it. So it's
really just about just someone who kindof never gets their heart broken and kind
of walks around leaving a trail ofbroken hearts behind them. And this person
ends up meeting someone that they fallin love with unbeknownst to them, and
(12:31):
then they're just like, wait,what's going on. How are you doing
this to me? You're giving mea lesson in chemistry. So it's just
kind of about that and like kindof having the script flipped on you.
And it's just really fun. AndI feel like it's kind of like a
throwback sonically to either like Backstreet Boysor in Sync, and it just has
(12:54):
kind of elements of that to me. And yeah, I love working with
them, so I just I wantto work with them again, you know.
It's just it's just fun when you'rein the studio with people that you
feel comfortable with. Yeah, andyou guys killed it once again and it
was awesome finding out just going backto Strangely sentimental that it was Lena's laugh
(13:16):
that's at the beginning of the song, which is awesome. I know,
I know her sweet laugh. Iwas putting America's Dance thirty together one weekend
and I was like, wait asecond, that laugh sounds familiar, and
so I tell you, is thatyour laugh? She's like, yep,
that's me. That's amazing that youknew it was her laugh. I mean,
(13:39):
she's got a great laugh, soI could just tell yeah, yeah,
she does. So I always lovefinding out how many different vs there
are of the song, from whenyou guys start working on it, all
the tweaking to when you finally putit out. Do you remember what the
final V was of a lesson inchemistry? I honestly think it was maybe
(14:00):
like five or six or I meansomewhere between five to seven. Oh,
that's not bad. So there wasn'ta lot of tweaking that went on with
it. No, we slay.That's awesome to hear. I don't think
I've ever had a version thirty really. Yeah. I mean that's pretty impressive
because almost every artist I talk to, they're like, yeah, there are
(14:24):
a lot of tweaks that go on. I mean, there's some, but
I feel like for the most part, I know, like I'm not a
producer, but I know how totell a producer what I want, and
I feel like I work with peoplewho know how to make like the sounds
in my head come to life.And I feel like I've been doing this
(14:46):
a while. So I when wewrite a song, I do the vocals,
and then I do like an adlip track, and then I hear
where those ad lips could go,and then with all the vocals, I
know, okay, this like soundcould good good here, or like strip
it back for the second verse.And then like working with Adam, he's
(15:07):
amazing too, and he's just sofast. So yeah, like I just
don't really end up with like thirtyor you know, it's pretty you know,
the label has some ideas and thenit kind of just comes together.
Well forget the label. Don't evenknow I'm kidding. Shouts out to Phil
at Ultra of course. Yes,well, congratulations on another number one.
(15:33):
Congratulations on your ten Annabel England.It is always awesome catching up with you.
Thank you so much for your timewith us on America's Dance thirty.
Yeah, thank you so much,and thank you for the celebration. You
are welcome, all right, SoI want to show you the mess that
is behind the video. Are youready for this? Yeah? Oh my
(16:00):
god, Oh wow, you weren'tjoking. Oh my god, Oh my
god, oh wait, oh wait? Look whoa all over the board.
(16:23):
I expect you at my studio inabout twenty minutes to help me clean this
up. I'd appreciate it. Thankyou, Bryson, I'm ready. America's
Dance thirty Counting down the biggest dancesongs in the country. America's Dance thirty
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