In a year defined by a resurgence in dance music, a nostalgic banger with an unlikely backstory crossed over from the underground into the mainstream, and exploded in at #2 in triple j's Hottest 100.
So, how did Eliza Rose and Interplanetary Criminal's joint hit make such huge waves in Australia?
The story of 'B.O.T.A. (Baddest Of Them All)' begins with its opening lyric.
'Do you wanna dance, baby?'
After emerging from the past few rough COVID-impacted years, the answer was a resounding 'Yes!'
You need only look at the charts and trends from the past 12 months to see a renewed interest in music designed for the dancefloor from a lockdown-fatigued listenership.
Just peep what else made it into the Hottest 100 countdown…
Two songs from Beyoncé's dance-oriented Renaissance ('CUFF IT' at #24 & 'BREAK MY SOUL' at #42); multiple entries from in-demand UK producer Fred Again.. ('Delilah (pull me out of this) at #14, his Swedish House Mafia & Future collab 'Turn On The Lights again..' at #18, 'Jungle' at #26, and 'Danielle (smile on my face)' at #100); drum n bass popsters venbee & goddard ('messy in heaven' #61), and closer to home, big-hitters Luude, Dom Dolla, FISHER, and Skin On Skin (at #28, #37, #48 & #68, and #52 respectively).
One of 2022's biggest (and baddest) songs, 'B.O.T.A.' is a universal floor-filler that demonstrates the enduring allure of an addictive four-to-the-floor joint. But it's also a success story nobody saw coming, least of all its creators.
Born in 1991 and raised in London's East End, Eliza Rose was raised on a diet of soul, jazz, RnB, and UK garage records. Working in a vinyl shop from age 15, she took up DJ'ing in her late teens and spent years building a name for herself on the local circuit.
'B.O.T.A.' was released in June through Rose's own label, Rosebud, to little fanfare. However, the track quickly gained buzz in the club scene and festival sets.
Most notably, it could be heard far and wide at Glastonbury, where it was spun on DJ stages and blasted from campsites.
It was already regarded as the song of the summer by the time it entered the UK Singles Chart, embarking on a three-week climb from #96 all the way to #1, overtaking Beyoncé's 'BREAK MY SOUL' and David Guetta's 'What Love Can Do', and making Eliza Rose the first female DJ in the top spot in 22 years.
She's pulled a similar feat in triple j's Hottest 100 of 2022. Besides MAY-A on Flume's 'Say Nothing', Eliza Rose is the highest ranking female artist in this year's countdown, ranking higher than heavy hitters like Lizzo (#7) SZA (#20) Doja Cat (#22) Beyoncé (#24), and Billie Eilish (#32).
She isn't the first artist to make their debut at #2 in the countdown's history — over the years, the phenomenon includes successes such as Lorde, Amy Shark, Peking Duk, and MGMT, to name a few – but her sudden surge in popularity is notable.
'B.O.T.A.'s splash into the Hottest 100 is similar to how 'LOSING IT', from Australian surfer-turned-DJ FISHER, rocketed to #2 in 2018: it demonstrates the power of an inescapable dance track.
Then, there's the TikTok effect. 'B.O.T.A' started going viral on the app around July. To date, it's soundtracked over 816,000 videos. But unlike most TikTok-famous songs, it isn't linked to a specific dance routine, or 'before and after' transition.
Instead, it's flexible enough to score everything from cat embroidery and cosplay cooking to countless thirst traps.
Those kinds of figures — combined with how its repetition and hooky lyrics easily lent themselves to bite-sized repetition — meant running into the track while scrolling the 'For You' page felt unavoidable.
Many young Australians and Hottest 100 voters (hardly a mutually exclusive demographic) undoubtedly gravitated towards 'B.O.T.A.' via TikTok. But what gives it the edge over other songs with a following on the clock app? (Such as Steve Lacy's 'Bad Habit', Lizzo's 'About Damn Time' and – the saddest of them all – Joji's 'Glimpse of Us'.)
It might be as simple as the fact Aussies have always been a sucker for a thumper that gets them frothing – an X factor that's only been amplified in the context of our collective return to live music spaces after a punishing few years. Plus, when the state of the world seems so grim, losing yourself to the track's fizzy, feel-good immediacy is a welcome prospect.
The strength of 'B.O.T.A.' also lies in its simplicity. Its bubbling house familiarity flexible enough to be heard everywhere on the radio, in gyms, out of cars, it "has soundtracked everything from magical club moments, to in-the-mirror-gee-ups a la #selflove," said triple j Good Nights & The Nudge host Latifa Tee. "No matter how many times I hear it, it never fails to put me in the best of moods."
An instant dose of feel-good ravey euphoria, the track's playful energy is built around a sped-up garage beat, Eliza's bubblegum vocals and – that most legendary house music staple – the Korg M1 organ.
Central to the track's nostalgic flavour is how Interplanetary Criminal, aka Manchester-based DJ and producer Zach Bruce, rewires a 32-year old dance track: Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam's 'Let The Beat Hit 'Em (LL W/ Love RC Mix)'
"Interplanetary Criminal is a damn genius for flipping [that] iconic 90s dancefloor hit," notes Latifa. "And it's really special to think that the same melody that soundtracked raves through the 90s is still inspiring club joy all these years later."
It was that retro-ravey groove that inspired Eliza Rose's flirty hook, 'Do you wanna dance, baby?' Keen, however, to offset the cuteness with some grit, she looked for further lyrical influence. She found it on her boyfriend's wall, in the form of 1973 Blaxploitation film Coffy and its tagline: "The baddest One-Chick Hit-Squad that ever hit town!"
It inspired not just the spoken-word hook and title of 'B.O.T.A' but also its attitude, balancing sass with sweetness and a thread of Black female empowerment. "It definitely reflects the two contrasting aspects of my personality," the singer wrote in a statement accompanying the single's release. "Girly and cutesie but a bit of a bad gal too!"
The People's Rhythm
There's a definite grassroots quality to the success and momentum of 'B.O.T.A.', embraced by the mainstream only after it was organically rinsed in smaller music circles.
In August, when the track was bubbling at #2 in the UK Charts, Eliza Rose hopped online and urged "all underground heads and dance community people" to continue racking up plays of the track to get it to #1. "Keep rooting for GOOD UNDERGROUND DANCE MUSIC to finally get the respect that it deserves."
It's the kind of public call-to-arms you rarely see from pop megastars (think The Weeknd, Taylor Swift etc.) But it obviously worked.
"I never expected it in a million years," Rose said when the track topped the UK charts. "This is The People's Rhythm and I feel like everyone came together to get this to Number 1."
She understood the significance of rallying the people to support a crossover hit beloved by queer and POC communities that recognised and supported 'B.O.T.A.' as something more than just a banger popular on TikTok and streaming.
Case in point: the music video, which was shot in the streets of Hackney, where Rose is based, and showcases the East London suburb's nightlife and LGBTQ+ community.
Directed by Jeanie Crystal of queer collective Faboo TV, the Alice In Wonderland-inspired clip features drag queens Ms Sharon Le Grand and Wet Mess, Vogue Ball founder Taboo, and a lot of performers Rose had "known for years, or bumped into on nights out," as she told NME.
She elaborated on the importance of representing her Hackney community in a note written for the video:
"It's hard for working-class Black women and marginalised people to break through, so we have to support each other's art, and lift each other up, or it becomes impossible. Showing these worlds on screen is also integral to the development of open mindsets, and showing young people that there are different ways of living out here!"
That sense of representation, authenticity and empowerment is central to the song's identity.
"I've got so many talented women, female-identifying people, queer friends in my life, and all these people live authentically and follow their dreams. They're definitely a big inspiration for the track," Rose explained to mixmag.
"Just be yourself, living authentically as yourself — that's how you become the baddest of them all."