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Got to Be Certain

{{Short description|1988 single by Kylie Minogue}}

{{Use Australian English|date=April 2011}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Got to Be Certain

| cover = KylieGotToBeCertainCover1.png

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Kylie Minogue

| album = Kylie

| released = {{Start date|1988|5|2|df=y}}

| recorded =

| studio = RBX (Melbourne, Australia)

| genre =

  • Pop{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/lifestyle/melbourne/for-her-50th-birthday-we-rank-kylie-minogues-50-best-songs/news-story/f7d1f1f850b7579153567df0cc28528e |title= For her 50th birthday, we rank Kylie Minogue's 50 best songs |access-date=9 April 2019 |date=18 May 2018 |website=Herald Sun}}
  • dance-pop{{cite web|url=https://www.intomore.com/culture/Fifty-Years-of-Queer-Icon-Kylie-Minogue |title= Fifty Years of Queer Icon Kylie Minogue |access-date=9 April 2019 |date=28 May 2018 |website=Into More}}
  • hi-NRG

| length = {{duration|m=3|s=17}}

| label =

| writer =

| producer = Stock Aitken Waterman

| prev_title = I Should Be So Lucky

| prev_year = 1987

| next_title = Je ne sais pas pourquoi

| next_year = 1988

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|5cYQfqwjMVY|"Got to Be Certain"}}}}

}}

"Got to Be Certain" is a song by Australian singer Kylie Minogue from her debut studio album, Kylie (1988). Written and produced by English songwriting and record production trio Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW), the song was released as the second single from Kylie in most territories outside Australia, and was released on 2 May 1988 in Australia and the United Kingdom. In Australia, "Got to Be Certain" was Minogue's third single release.{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/YJMcJRT.jpg|title=Australian Music Report No 725 – 20 June 1988 > Singles: New Releases|publisher=Australian Music Report|access-date=25 November 2019}} "Got to Be Certain" was a commercial success, peaking at number one in Minogue's native Australia and number two on the UK Singles Chart.

Background and composition

File:Kylie - Anti Tour - Manchester Academy - 02.04.12. - (17) (6965730200) (cropped).jpg (2012)]]

With the success of her first two singles, "Locomotion" in 1987 and "I Should Be So Lucky" in early 1988, Minogue began work on her debut studio album Kylie. Initially declining to work with Stock, Aitken and Waterman again after feeling snubbed and disrespected when the producers kept her waiting to record "I Should Be So Lucky", Minogue was convinced to give the trio a second chance after Mike Stock flew to her native Melbourne, Australia in February 1988 and personally apologised to her and her family.{{Cite web |title=A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 34: Mind Over Matter to Maybe (We Should Call It A Day) on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-34-mind-over-matter-to-maybe-we-should-call-it-a-day/id1565879477?i=1000570216449 |access-date=2022-07-18 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-AU}}

The track, along with two other album tracks, and future international singles "Turn It into Love" and "It's No Secret", was recorded in evening sessions while Minogue was working long hours on her TV show, Neighbours, with an exhausted Minogue at times breaking down in tears as the pressure of her situation mounted.{{cite web |title=Got to be Certain | Kylie Minogue |url=http://www.kylie.com/discography/singles/got-to-be-certain/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120415124421/http://www.kylie.com/discography/singles/got-to-be-certain/ |archive-date=15 April 2012 |access-date=25 September 2012}}

"Got to Be Certain" was not written especially for Kylie; it was first recorded by singer and PWL stablemate Mandy Smith for her debut album Mandy which was also produced by Stock Aitken Waterman.{{Cite web |title=A Journey Through Stock Aitken Waterman: Ep 51: Never Too Late to When Love Takes Over You on Apple Podcasts |url=https://podcasts.apple.com/au/podcast/ep-51-never-too-late-to-when-love-takes-over-you/id1565879477?i=1000611184615 |access-date=2023-04-30 |website=Apple Podcasts |language=en-AU}} However, her version was shelved and the song released by Kylie instead after Pete Waterman decided to abandon Smith's version amid general unhappiness at PWL over how the track was progressing. Smith's original recording of "Got to Be Certain" was denied by Mike Stock in his book The Hit Factory: The Stock Aitken Waterman Story, but it was eventually released in 2005 as a bonus track on the hits compilation Stock Aitken Waterman Gold. Smith's version was also added to the 2009 re-issue of her album.

Music video

The music video for "Got to Be Certain" was directed by Chris Langman and filmed in April 1988. The video was filmed in Melbourne, Australia. A number of different edits of the video were produced amid creative tensions between the Mushroom Records team and PWL staff, with the latter strongly objecting to one of Kylie's hairstyles in the video's original cut. The director's cut version of the video starts off with Minogue at a photoshoot, posing in different poses. It then cuts to Minogue sitting in a coffee-house during the verses, then shows her on top of the T&G (now KPMG) Building on Melbourne's Collins Street during the bridge, wearing a "black boat-neck dress, white teeth gleaming, hair a perfect honey blonde and skin as gold as the coins that were piling in". Each of the first two choruses features Minogue walking around Melbourne's Yarra River and then walking through a park.Inner lines: Pg 22 – la la la – Written by William Baker and Kylie Minogue "{{ISBN|0-340-73440-X}}". The breakdown cuts to Minogue and her friends dancing around the coffee house, before the video ends with bloopers from the video shoot. This director's cut version is preserved on the 1988 The Kylie Collection VHS and LaserDisc and the 2002 Greatest Hits DVD.

There are two other official versions of the music video. The "Original Version" begins with bloopers from the video shootArchived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/blngy6DmSV8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200809011754/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blngy6DmSV8 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=blngy6DmSV8| title = Kylie Minogue - Got to Be Certain [Original Version] | website=YouTube| date = 12 May 2009 }}{{cbignore}} and features scenes of Minogue in an artist's studio rather than a photoshoot, wearing a skin-tight red T-shirt dress with a pin bearing the work "amour". It then eventually features Minogue on a carousel that apparently "hadn't been oiled since Kylie was born". The "Location Only" version, introduced on the 1992 Greatest Hits VHS and LaserDisc, is again a different edit with only the outdoor shots.Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211205/7buZY9OmpMs Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [https://web.archive.org/web/20200904184147/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7buZY9OmpMs Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{cite web| url = https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7buZY9OmpMs| title = kylie minogue got to be certain location only hq | website=YouTube| date = 7 May 2016 }}{{cbignore}} Both versions were made available as extras on the 2002 Greatest Hits DVD. The video edit featured on the 2004 Ultimate Kylie DVD combines the first half and blooper ending of the director's cut with most of the second half of the "Location Only" version for unknown reasons.

Critical reception

When reviewing the new singles, Chris Twomey of Record Mirror predicted the commercial success of "Got to Be Certain", noting that "[Minogue's] song (for want of a more accurate term) proves that they're still churning'em out relentlessly down at the SAW factory".{{cite magazine |last=Twoney |first=Chris |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Record-Mirror/80s/88/Record-Mirror-1988-05-14-OCR.pdf |title=45 reviewed by Chris Twoney |magazine=Record Mirror |date=14 May 1988 |page=29 |location=London |publisher=Spotlight Publications Ltd.|via=World Radio History |issn=0144-5804 |access-date=30 October 2023}} Richard Lowe of Smash Hits elected "Got to Be Certain" as the "single of the fortnight", and while acknowledging that the track, as every SAW single, would be very diversely appreciated among the people, deemed that the half of them "will consider the rather-goodness of the tune" and predicted its "quite right" success on the charts.{{cite magazine |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1988/Smash-Hits-1988-05-18.pdf |title=Singles reviewed by Richard Lowe |magazine=Smash Hits |volume=10 |issue=10 |date=18-31 May 1988 |last=Lowe |first=Richard |page=63 |issn=0260-3004 |via=World Radio History |access-date=16 November 2023}} In 2023, Robert Moran of Australian daily tabloid newspaper The Sydney Morning Herald ranked the song as Minogue's 53rd best song (out of 183), describing it "a swinging singalong track".{{cite news |url=https://www.smh.com.au/culture/music/every-kylie-minogue-song-ranked-170-1-20230906-p5e2dk.html |title=Every Kylie Minogue song ranked |first1=Robert |last1=Moran |first2=Annabel |last2=Ross |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=25 September 2023 |issn=0312-6315 |place=Sydney |accessdate=28 February 2024}}

Chart performance

On 2 May 1988, "Got to Be Certain" was released in the United Kingdom. The song became Minogue's second top five hit when it debuted at number fifteen on the singles chart before climbing the chart in the weeks that followed, peaking at number two and remaining there for three weeks. It eventually sold 315,000 copies.{{Cite web |url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/kylie-minogues-official-number-2-singles-sales-revealed-2839/ |title=Kylie Minogue's Official Number 2 Singles' Sales Revealed |website=Official Charts |access-date=22 March 2014 |archive-date=14 January 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150114085316/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/kylie-minogues-official-number-2-singles-sales-revealed-2839/ |url-status=dead }} Outside of the UK, the song was also widely successful. The single sold 17,227 copies in Sweden at the time.{{Citation needed|date=July 2018}} In New Zealand, it peaked at number two and stayed in the charts for 14 weeks, making it her most successful single in the country at that time.{{cite web|author=Steffen Hung |url=https://charts.nz/showitem.asp?interpret=Kylie+Minogue&titel=Got+To+Be+Certain&cat=s |title=Kylie Minogue – Got To Be Certain |website=Charts.nz |access-date=19 February 2012 }} In Australia, "Got to Be Certain" was released on 7-inch and 12-inch vinyl on 20 June 1988, cassette single on 11 July 1988,{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/NkoGfvR.jpg|title=Australian Music Report No 728 – 11 July 1988 > Singles: New Releases|website=I.imgur.com|access-date=25 November 2019}} and the remix 12" was released on 25 July 1988.{{cite web|url=https://i.imgur.com/E4qeIDj.jpg|title=Australian Music Report No 730 – 25 July 1988 > Singles: New Releases|website=I.imgur.com|access-date=25 November 2019}} It became the second single ever to debut on the Australian singles chart at number one, remaining in the top spot for three weeks from July 4, 1988 (ARIA).{{cite web|url=https://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Kylie+Minogue&titel=Got+To+Be+Certain&cat=s|title=Kylie Minogue – Got to Be Certain (song)|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=25 November 2019|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160324053259/http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Kylie+Minogue&titel=Got+To+Be+Certain&cat=s|archive-date=24 March 2016 }}

Live performances

"Got to Be Certain" was also performed at many of Minogue's concert tours, including the Enjoy Yourself Tour, Showgirl: The Greatest Hits Tour and The Homecoming Tour. The song was performed at her Anti Tour in 2012, at her Kiss Me Once Tour in 2014 and on Minogue's one-off show The Kylie Show. Minogue performed the song on her Aphrodite: Les Folies Tour.{{Cite news|url=http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/liverpool-news/concert-review-kylie-minogue-men-3376429|title=Concert Review: Kylie Minogue at the MEN Arena|first=Dawn|last=Collinson|date=2 April 2011|newspaper=Liverpool Echo|access-date=24 December 2021}}

Formats and track listings

CD single

  1. "Got to Be Certain" (Extended Mix) – 6:36
  2. "I Should Be So Lucky" (Extended Mix) – 6:08
  3. "Got to Be Certain" (Out for a Duck, Bill, Platter Plus Dub Mix – Instrumental) – 3:17

7-inch vinyl single

  1. "Got to Be Certain" – 3:17
  2. "Got to Be Certain" (Out for a Duck, Bill, Platter Plus Dub Mix – Instrumental) – 3:17

12-inch vinyl single

  1. "Got to Be Certain" (Extended Mix) – 6:36
  2. "Got to Be Certain" (Out for a Duck, Bill, Platter Plus Dub Mix – Instrumental) – 3:17
  3. "Got to Be Certain" – 3:17

12-inch remix

  1. "Got to Be Certain" (Ashes to Ashes – The Extra Beat Boys remix) – 6:52
  2. "Got to Be Certain" (Out for a Duck, Bill, Platter Plus Dub Mix – Instrumental) – 3:17
  3. "Got to Be Certain" – 3:17

iTunes digital EP – Remixes (2009)

  1. "Got to Be Certain"
  2. "Got to Be Certain" (Extended Mix)
  3. "Got to Be Certain" (Ashes to Ashes – The Extra Beat Boys remix)
  4. "Got to Be Certain" (Out for a Duck, Bill, Platter Plus Dub Mix – Instrumental)
  5. "Got to Be Certain" (backing track)
  6. "Love at First Sight" (1988 version) (instrumental)
  7. "Love at First Sight" (1988 version) (backing track)

Charts

{{col-begin}}

{{col-2}}

=Charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ 1988 weekly chart performance for "Got to Be Certain"

Chart (1988)

! Peak
position

{{single chart|Australia|1|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Flanders|17|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Danish|6|artist=Kylie Minogue|week=10|year=1988|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
scope="row"| Denmark (IFPI){{cite web|url=https://www.ukmix.org/forum/chart-discussion/chart-analysis/121831-danish-chart-archive-singles-1979-____-b-t-ifpi-dk?q=Kylie%20Minogue|title=Danish Singles Chart for the week of 1 July 1988|publisher=B.T.|date=May 14, 2019|access-date=February 20, 2025|via=UKMIX Forums}}

| 7

{{single chart|Dutch100|40|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
scope="row"| Europe (European Hot 100 Singles){{cite news|work=Music & Media|volume=5|issue=25|date=18 June 1988|title=Eurochart Hot 100 Singles|pages=18–19|oclc=29800226}}

| 2

scope="row"|Europe (European Airplay Top 50){{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1988/M&M-1988-07-02.pdf|title=European Airplay Top 50|magazine=Music & Media|volume=5|issue=27|date=2 July 1988|page=17|oclc=29800226|via=World Radio History|access-date=22 August 2023}}

| 3

scope="row"| Finland (IFPI){{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-and-Media/80s/1988/M&M-1988-06-18.pdf|title=Top 3 Singles in Europe|magazine=Music & Media|volume=5|issue=25|date=18 June 1988|page=32|oclc=29800226|via=World Radio History |accessdate=11 August 2023}}

| 1

{{single chart|France|9|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Ireland2|4|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|New Zealand|2|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Norway|6|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Sweden|19|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|Switzerland|8|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
{{single chart|United Kingdom|2|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|date=19880522|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}
scope="row"|UK Dance (Music Week){{cite magazine|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1988/MW-1988-05-28.pdf |title=Top Dance Singles |magazine=Music Week |date=28 May 1988 |page=12 |via=World Radio History |access-date=28 August 2023}}

|align="center"|1

{{single chart|West Germany|6|songid=1796|artist=Kylie Minogue|song=Got to Be Certain|rowheader=true|access-date=20 February 2018}}

{{col-2}}

=Year-end charts=

class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"

|+ 1988 year-end chart performance for "Got to Be Certain"

scope="col"| Chart (1988)

! scope="col"| Position

scope="row"| Australia (ARIA){{cite web|url=https://www.ariacharts.com.au/annual-charts/1988/singles-chart|title=ARIA End of Year Singles 1988|publisher=Australian Recording Industry Association|access-date=11 October 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180127084614/https://www.ariacharts.com.au/annual-charts/1988/singles-chart|archive-date=27 January 2018|url-status=dead}}

| 18

scope="row"|Europe (European Hot 100 Singles){{cite web|title=1988 Year End Eurocharts|date=1 January 1988|access-date=4 November 2019|work=Music & Media|page=30|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Music-and-Media/80s/1989/M&M-1989-01-01.pdf}}

| 39

scope="row"| New Zealand (RIANZ){{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/annual-singles/1988-12-31|title=Top Selling Singles of 1988|publisher=Recorded Music NZ|access-date=22 August 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150715212250/http://nztop40.co.nz/chart/singles?chart=3877|archive-date=15 July 2015|url-status=live}}

| 21

scope="row"| UK Singles (OCC){{cite book |editor-first=Peter |editor-last=Scaping |title=BPI YearBook 1989/90 |chapter=Top 100 Singles: 1988 |publisher=British Phonographic Industry |location=London, England |pages=64–65 |date=1991 |isbn=978-0-9061-5410-6}}

| 21

scope="row"| West Germany (Media Control){{cite web |url=https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/single-jahr/for-date-1988 |title=Top 100 Single-Jahrescharts |language=de |website=Offiziellecharts.de |access-date=5 December 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180612185001/https://www.offiziellecharts.de/charts/single-jahr/for-date-1985|archive-date=12 June 2018|url-status=live}}

| 59

{{col-end}}

Certifications and sales

{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "Got to Be Certain"}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Australia|type=single|artist=Kylie Minogue|title=Got to Be Certain|relyear=1988|award=Gold|certref={{cite web|url=https://www.ariacharts.com.au/news/2017/this-week-in-1988-(1)|title=This Week In... 1988|publisher=ARIA|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170722082407/http://www.ariacharts.com.au/News/2017/This-Week-In-1988-(1)|archive-date=22 July 2017|url-status=dead|access-date=25 November 2019}}|certyear=1989}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=France|type=single|artist=Kylie Minogue|title=Got to Be Certain|relyear=1988|award=Silver|certyear=1988|certmonth=5|access-date=10 January 2015|source=infodisc}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=single|artist=Kylie Minogue|title=Got to Be Certain|relyear=1988|award=Silver|id=2625-3313-1|access-date=10 January 2015|salesamount=315,000|salesref={{cite news|url=http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/kylie-minogue-s-official-number-2-singles-sales-revealed__3876/|title=Kylie Minogue's Official Number 2 Singles' Sales Revealed|publisher=Official Charts Company|access-date=11 October 2011|first=Justin|last=Myers|date=22 March 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171215221613/http://www.officialcharts.com/chart-news/kylie-minogue-s-official-number-2-singles-sales-revealed__3876/|archive-date=15 December 2017|url-status=live}}}}

{{Certification Table Bottom}}

References

{{Reflist}}

{{Kylie Minogue singles}}

{{Stock Aitken Waterman}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Got To Be Certain}}

Category:1988 singles

Category:1988 songs

Category:Kylie Minogue songs

Category:Mushroom Records singles

Category:Number-one singles in Australia

Category:Pete Waterman Entertainment singles

Category:Song recordings produced by Stock Aitken Waterman

Category:Songs written by Matt Aitken

Category:Songs written by Mike Stock (musician)

Category:Songs written by Pete Waterman

Category:UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles