Reviewed by Encas and posted on January 17, 2010

My first encounter with the Danish girl group Creamy was roughly three years ago, as of this writing. After becoming hooked on the bubblegum dance genre initially through SMiLE.dk, and later through Aqua, I was looking for more music in the same vein as those two groups.

Thankfully, not long after discovering SMiLE.dk through an Anime Music Video on YouTube, I learned of the Bubblegum Dancer website through Google. One of the groups on the site was one named Creamy. I thought to myself that it was an odd name, but I decided to give their song “I Do, I Do, I Do” a try. And when I did, I was in for a treat, to say the least!

Creamy consisted of two teen girls, Rannva Joensen and Rebekka Mathew, who actually met through a church youth group. Considering that both girls were from the very secular Denmark but with different ancestries (Rannva was actually Faeroese-born, and Rebekka’s father was from India), the group was never explicitly Christian, except in their selection of religious Christmas songs on their Christmas album, their thanking of Jesus in their album credits, and overall child-friendly nature of their music, which lacks sexual innuendos altogether. These vague hints of Christianity were, however, downplayed outside of Denmark, although their original thanking of Jesus on their albums remained.

Fast forward three years later, and now I have purchased the Japanese version of the CD “We Got the Time”. This is Creamy’s second album release, and also their only album to have all of the tracks in English (their self-titled debut was a collection of traditional Danish children’s songs, and their third, “ChristmasSnow”, had roughly half of its tracks in English, and the other half in Danish). Additionally, this album is also by far my favorite release of the group.

"We Got the Time" At a Glance

1. I Do, I Do, I Do
2. Help! I’m a Fish
3. We Got the Time
4. Little Kitty
5. Fantasy Island
6. Never Ending Story
7. Little 1
8. Bye Bye Bike
9. Do You Think I’m Pretty
10. Fantasy Spaceship
11. It Can Happen to You
12. Icecream

1. Jingle-Bell Rock
2. Joy to the World
3. Never Ending Story (Manhattan Clique Extended Remix)
4. Creamy Medley

The album’s first track, “I Do, I Do, I Do”, fades in, and then starts off the album with the song’s “ai-i-ai-ay/oooh-oh” hook. Lyrically, “I Do, I Do, I Do” tells the story of a girl who falls in love with an old classmate and professes her feelings to her love interest. The track, which was both released as a single off of the album and used in the Dance Dance Revolution games, echoes its lyrics in its bouncy beats and wobbly synths. As a single, it did surprisingly poorly even in countries where it theoretically would take off (it only reached the mid-thirties on the charts in both the Netherlands and Sweden), but nonetheless, remains a hidden teen pop gem, and in my eyes, a classic.

With the whispery repetition of the phrase “I’m a little yellow fish” and girlish giggling, the song “Help! I’m a Fish” follows “I Do, I Do, I Do” up in both the album’s track listing and its notoriety. “Help! I’m a Fish” was featured on the soundtrack of a Danish animated film of the same name in addition to being released as a single, so it is also one of Creamy’s signature songs. The song, which is about a girl who turns into a fish after drinking a magic potion, has lyrics that are more immediately identifiable as bubblegum than “I Do, I Do, I Do”. The song’s overall sound is not too far of a stretch from “I Do, I Do, I Do”, but nevertheless, it does not come off as too similar to it, even though I prefer “I Do, I Do, I Do”.

The album’s title track, “We Got the Time”, is somewhat different than its track listing predecessors. Its introduction contains a hint of guitar, and the song’s use of drum beats gives the overall impression of a less synthesizer-heavy sound than either “I Do, I Do, I Do” or “Help! I’m a Fish”. For this reason, it tends to get overlooked by most Creamy fans as filler. However, it is pure pop in its own right, and for a time, I even preferred this track to “I Do, I Do, I Do”. If the album ever got an American release, I could easily see its title track being used as a single, due to its extremely subtle rock elements.

Next up in the album’s track listing is “Little Kitty”. The song’s chorus is originally from the song of the same name by the glam rock band (and fellow Danes) The Walkers, though the rest of the lyrics were re-written. The Walkers’ original, which was about a man’s visit to an exotic dancing club, is transformed into a song about a group of friends in Jamaica, including a very amiable girl named Kitty, having fun in the summer. “Little Kitty” is has hints of tropical sounds in it, and though not as captivating as “I Do, I Do, I Do” or “We Got the Time”, it is still a good listen.

Following “Little Kitty” is a fellow tropical-sounding song. “Fantasy Island”, however, is specifically more Latin-themed than the general tropical flare of “Little Kitty”. Much like “We Got the Time”, “Fantasy Island” could be better categorized as bubblegum pop on a bubblegum dance album due to its almost complete lack of synthesizer elements. Nonetheless, I never liked “Fantasy Island” much for these reasons for some time. However, it eventually grew on me, much like “Little Kitty” did.

“Never Ending Story” reaches back to the beginning of the album in its synthesizer-dominated nature, while also incorporating guitar in its bridge. As one would assume from the title, it is a cover of the cult classic film theme song. Sound-wise, this hybrid is three parts Creamy’s signature songs and one part “We Got the Time”. The song is almost Sarina Paris-esque trance in its sound. Although a solid song that I would by no means skip when listening to the album, I feel that “Never Ending Story” is not a track I would usually listen to on its own.

To my knowledge, “Little 1” is Creamy’s first English-language song. Prior to the release of “We Got the Time”, it was released as a one-track single to little fanfare. This bubblegum track is vaguely tropical in nature like “Little Kitty”, and also has synth beats too. Due to its unconventional introduction and ending featuring strange chanting, some have thought of this song to be filler. However, I often find myself listening to it on its own, just like “I Do, I Do, I Do” or “We Got the Time”, so this is another track I particularly like here.

The next track, “Bye Bye Bike”, features an introduction with a bicycle’s chiming. “Bye Bye Bike” has very creative bubblegum lyrics about a girl outgrowing her first bicycle, and also is heavy on the eurodance-esque synths, like “Help! I’m a Fish”. Overall, it is a real treat to listen to, and despite being a more obscure album track, I could easily see this song being a successful single off the album in much of Europe if this album ever got more promotion.

Following “Bye Bye Bike” is “Do You Think I’m Pretty”, which truly channels “I Do, I Do, I Do” in lyrics and overall sound. However, it noticeably contains more ‘organic’ instrumental elements like the title track or perhaps more accurately, “Fantasy Island”. Additionally, it is one of Creamy’s slightly more well-known English songs, possibly due to its inclusion in the Bemani Dancemania compilations. Due to its many creative elements and sleek pop sound, “Do You Think I’m Pretty” ranks as another of my favorite songs off of “We Got the Time”.

Afterwards, the next track,“Fantasy Spaceship”, begins to play. Following its theme of a girl and her friend going on a space holiday, the synth beats are slightly harder and bouncier than on the other songs off of “We Got the Time”. Because of this, it could easily pass for a newer bubblegum track from 2009 or 2010 to the uninitiated. On its own or with the album’s track listing this song is quite stellar, and like many of the songs off of “We Got the Time”, is single material, although in reality, “Fantasy Spaceship” was only a B-side of “I Do, I Do, I Do”.

The next track follows the 12-track pop album tradition (or perhaps cliché) of track 11 being a pop ballad. For this reason, “It Can Happen to You” may be a disappointment to those seeking a bouncy dance-pop track. But when analyzed on its own, it is a strong song that showcases Rannva and Rebekka’s voices to their fullest potential, as any pop ballad should do. “It Can Happen to You” capitalizes the best qualities of the girls’ voices that otherwise almost sound whiny in some of the dance tracks. I am not too big on pop ballads, I admit that the song, which both of the girls have stated could be interpreted about finding God rather than a friend, is a great listen on its own.

“Icecream” follows up “It Can Happen to You”, and as expected to one well versed in pop albums, speeds things up a bit. Like most of the songs off of the album, it does not even vaguely come across as filler, despite its relative lack of popularity. If I had to compare this song to any other on the album, it would be “Little 1” due to its vague tropical sound, even though the song is actually about the summertime. With that in mind, “Icecream” is an excellent summer bubblegum anthem that ties up the album with gusto.

The Japanese edition of “We Got the Time” contains four bonus tracks, two of which are actually songs off of Creamy’s Christmas album “ChristmaSnow”. “Jingle-Bell Rock” is the first of these. I never really was fond of the original (or most holiday music for that matter, since I feel it displays little originality), as I found it annoying. But in Creamy’s version, the song is pepped up and made more thoroughly enjoyable to the average pop fan with dance beats. I would not go as far as to say that Creamy saves “Jingle-Bell Rock” here, but the duo makes it more palatable to the average listener here.

“Joy to the World” is the next bonus track from “ChristmasSnow”. One would think it would be even slower paced than “It Can Happen to You”, but actually it is about the same pace and is very comparable to it. Personally, I like this song less than either “Jingle-Bell Rock” or “It Can Happen To You”, but it is still a decent track, even if it gets repetitive in the middle of the song, which is likely an aspect adopted from the original.

Next up on the Japanese edition is the Manhattan Clique Extended Remix of “Never Ending Story”. In spite of being nearly seven minutes in length, which is usually a turn-off to me in terms of normal listening, this remix is, in some ways, better than the album version. If this song was not an extended version, I would likely be more fond of it, but nonetheless, it takes advantage of more sound effects than the ‘original’. Generally, extended mixes of songs (or songs over about four minutes in length) are relegated to creative endeavors for me, but this extended mix is actually quite a few notches above average.

The final track of the Japanese edition is the Creamy Medley. This short megamix, which clocks in at under two minutes, uses snippets of “Help! I’m a Fish”, “Fantasy Spaceship”, “Little 1”, and “Do You Think I’m Pretty”. Those four songs flow well, but then again, the selected songs were rather similar in the grand scheme of things, and I was expecting some more original elements. Overall, it is a fairly mediocre track by Creamy standards, but still decent for bonus material and another good reason to track down the more expensive Japanese version of “We Got the Time”.

All in all, Creamy’s “We Got the Time” is essentially the reason why Creamy is in my top three bubblegum dance groups, if not my all-time favorite. Even for those who are general pop music fans, but not fans of Aqua-styled pop, it is still worth finding a used version of a European edition of the album, which tend to go for low prices on sites like eBay and Discogs. For those who are Aqua or teen pop fans, I recommend looking for the Japanese edition, as the “ChristmasSnow” bonus tracks are rather rare, since the album they were originally from was only released in Scandinavia, if not only Denmark. For those who are already Creamy fanatics, I definitely suggest the Japanese version.

With that said, I personally find it to be a shame that Creamy released as little as they did and only were active for three years, but I am immensely thankful that they made what they did. After all, bubblegum acts are not known for their staying power and tend to on average release only one album before fizzling out. But before Creamy’s quiet disbanding, both Rannva and Rebekka accomplished teen pop greatness, even if that is not quite that honorable to most.