Released June 11, 2001
New Zealand release: July 19, 2001
UK Release: May 27, 2002
Tracks
1. Strawberry Kisses (radio mix)
2. Strawberry Kisses (fresh kisses mix)
3. Strawberry Kisses (karaoke mix)
Video uploaded by Nikki Webster Music
More Information
• Strawberry Kisses is Nikki Webster’s debut single. She was 14 years old at the time it was released, nine months after the Sydney Olympics.
• Written by Jeff Franzel, Andy Marveil and Marjorie Maye.
• Achieved Platinum status (sales of 70, 000 +).
• Nominated for Highest Selling Single at the 15th Annual ARIA Awards in 2001.
• Performed live on Channel V.
• Nikki performed a dark, electro version of Strawberry Kisses, dressed as a wind-up doll, with Toby Allen at Sleaze Ball 2007.
• In a 2003 article, Nikki said of the pink boots she wore in the video clip, “I think they might have brought me a bit of luck, because of how well Strawberry Kisses went. You know, I don’t think I’ll get rid of them, even if I grow out of them. It’s a memory that I’ll always hold… of that day doing the film clip.”
• Brazilian girl band Rouge covered the song in Portuguese (called Beijo Molhado) in 2002 for their debut album. Watch them perform it live here on YouTube.
• In September 2009 Strawberry Kisses was #3 on a list of ‘Songs You Should Never Have On Your iPod’ on The Spearman Experiment.
• Nikki said of the songs on The Best of Nikki Webster, “They are songs that really mean something to me. Strawberry Kisses would have to be my favourite because it was my first song.”
• Strawberry Kisses is played in Chris Lilley’s mockumentary series Summer Heights High, in a scene at the school dance in episode three.
• Covered by Lehmann B Smith, available for free download at Special Award Records.
Nikki on ‘Strawberry Kisses’
“I love it! I wish I wrote the track! [laughs] The great thing about it is it doesn’t matter how old people are, they still remember the chorus, and to me that’s a great sign of a pop song. I can be out with my friends and young guys will come up and they’ve had a few drinks and they’ll be singing Strawberry Kisses, and yeah they don’t know all the words, but they know the tune, and it amazes me! I’m like, ‘How do you know the tune? It so wouldn’t have been cool when you were 14, 15 to like Nikki Webster.’ So, I mean they’re taking the piss out of me when they’re singing it to me but I kinda get in there and sing it with them and go, ‘This is great!’ So I think it’s one of those songs that has been passed down in generations for some reason. At my dance studio I have five year olds singing it to me and they weren’t even born, so it’s obviously been passed down. It’s a good song.” (2009)
“I have done a dance mix of it, for nightclubs, and I did Sleazeball for Mardi Gras and it was a really kind of dark version of Strawberry Kisses, but I’d love to strip Strawberry Kisses apart and I’m good friends with Jeff Franzel, the guy that wrote the track, in New York, and we always joke about it over Skype. We’re like, ‘Let’s strip it back, let’s make it really cool and really freak them out!’ [laughs] Maybe one day!” (2009)
“It’s a good fun track. I wouldn’t want to ever not put it in my set, that’s for sure.” (2009)
“It’s weird because it’s four years since I first started and I look back at my first video clip Strawberry Kisses and I go, ‘Oh my God, did I used to look like that?’ and it’s kind of scary because I never thought I’d be able to do that. So it’s kind of creepy for yourself to look back and go ‘Is that how I moved? That’s scary!’ But it’s good fun, it’s all good fun.” (2004)
Cover Versions
Official Website
From the Music page of Nikki Webster’s official site:
Nikki’s new single Strawberry Kisses will be released in Australia on the 11th June, 2000.
The single features three tracks:
the radio mix,
a karaoke mix,
and the fresh kisses mix.
Strawberry Kisses is the first single from Nikki’s debut album.
Strawberry Kisses was written by Jeff Franzel (N’Sync, Taylor Dayne), and mixed by Steve MacMillan (Seal, New Radicals).
She’s also shot an exciting video directed by ARIA Award winning Mark Hartley to accompany the release. The video is destined to rival the best.
Nikki has also made a new friend in the process, an animated character named DJ (short for Digital Jimmy). DJ and Nikki feature in the Strawberry Kisses video. The concept for the video “is a recording studio in space,” Mark Hartley explains. “Of course, we saw Nikki flying away at the Olympics, so the next logical step was Nikki arriving in her Olympic outfit in space. We take the story from there.”
Nikki says “I’m a teddy bear and a character girl, so I loved having this little animated character”. “And Dad liked DJ too,” she says “he said – she can have him as a boyfriend till she’s 21.”
Nikki fell in love with DJ and there’s no doubt you’ll be hearing plenty more about him soon. Stay tuned……
Oh, and by the way Nikki loves strawberries. “They’re one of my favourites, so the title works for me!”
Nikki would like to Hi and thank you to the dancers:
Kaylie Yee, Stephanie Mackay, Jessica Vartuli, Bianca and Rhiannon Villareal, and Natalie Fenlon
