In 1998, "She's the One" was covered by Robbie Williams. In most countries, the song was released alone, but in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, it was released as a double A-side single with "It's Only Us". It was the fourth single from his second studio album, I've Been Expecting You and was also included on his first compilation album, The Ego Has Landed. The song became Williams' second number-one single in the United Kingdom. The song went on to win a number of awards around the world, including a 2000 Brit Awards for British Single of the Year and British Video of the Year in 2000, and it also won a Capital Radio Award for Best Single.
Controversy
The song's producers, Guy Chambers and Steve Power used the drummer and bassist of World Party's touring band to perform the backing track for Williams, resulting in a very similar-sounding cover. World Party's frontman and songwriter Karl Wallinger was not made aware that a cover was going to be released using his own band. When the song became a hit, Wallinger stated that he experienced "ongoing bitterness", going on to state, "The song had a much better time than me, popping off to the Brits while I was at home eating crackers dipped in water". When introducing the song in live performances, Williams often claims in jest that it is one of the best songs he's ever written, despite not actually having written the song. This culminated in a telephone outburst from the song's actual writer, Wallinger, to Chambers, stating "Your fucking friend Robbie Williams. Tell him from me that he's a cunt". Williams has never publicly acknowledged that "She's the One" is a cover of a World Party track although 20 years later, in a 2019 commercial for his album The Christmas Present, Williams states that he wrote the song for Amazon Alexa. The device subsequently states that Williams did not write She's the One, to which Robbie admits "no, I didn't". Sasha Swift and Alex Thomas of Titles Mean Nothing suggest that Williams' cover of "She's the One" went on "boost and elevate" Williams' post-Take That career, but had Williams acknowledged that his single was a cover of a World Party song, this would have substantially boosted the career of Wallinger too.
Chart performance
"She's the One"/"It's Only Us" became Williams' second number-one solo single in the United Kingdom, shipping over 490,000 copies and eventually receiving a Platinum certification by the British Phonographic Industry. The double A-side also reached the top three in New Zealand. "She's the One" by itself reached number one in Greece, number four in Ireland, number five in Denmark, and number eight in Iceland and Italy.
Music video
In the video Williams is a coach to an ice skating couple - portrayed by Pamela O'Connor and Jonathon O'Dougherty - but when the male skater gets injured during practice, Williams takes his place for the final and gets the highest scores. The video ends with Williams and the female skater celebrating with the male skater, who had been watching from the sidelines. In the video, Williams performs a backflip, and the couple obtain a score of 6.1 from the British judge, whereas at the time a score of 6.0 was the maximum. Philip Woods, a 10-year-old figure skater from Chelmsford, played the young Williams in a flashback. The UK version of the video features commentary by Barry Davies.
Track listing
UK CD1
"She's the One" – 4:18
"It's Only Us" – 2:51
"Millennium" – 4:39
"She's the One"
UK CD2
"It's Only Us" – 2:51
"She's the One" – 4:18
"Coke & Tears" – 4:24
"It's Only Us"
Charts and certifications
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Other versions
released a version of "She's the One" on his 2007 album, I Don't Remember Ever Growing Up. The song was also included on Eoghan Quigg's critically vilified 2009 album. German jazz and pop artist Marc Secara recorded the song with the Berlin Jazz Orchestra on the CD You're Everything, released in March 2008, It was arranged for big band by Steve Gray. On 10 October 2009, Olly Murs covered the song during the first live show of the sixth series of The X Factor. During the final of the following series, One Direction also performed a duet of the song with Williams. In the tenth series of the show, Nicholas McDonald performed the song as well. On 11 October 2014, Jake Quickenden sang it during the eleventh series. Hong Kong girl band 2R released a single called "When He's the Only One in the World" in 2006 for their first greatest hit album. The song largely sampled the verse of "She's the One". In 2014 Scottish singer Todd Gordon recorded a version of the song whilst in South Korea for the album Love dot com.
