Here We Go (Ericka Streets song)

"Here We Go" is a single by Kuboian television presenter and singer Ericka Streets. It was released on 3rd March 2002 and was the official charity single for TVVC's Children's Appeal Telethon that year. The song features vocals from Kuboian-based rapper Kool Teazer, who co-wrote the song with Chloe Wallace, Tone Riddles and Rodrick Miles. It serves as the third single from Streets' debut studio album Here We Go: The Album! A novelty song, Streets states that the lyrics of "Here We Go" celebrate "unity and friendship". Profits made from the song were donated to several children's and homeless charities throughout Europe and Africa.

"Here We Go" debuted at number one on the Karuboia singles chart, becoming Kool Teazer's first number one and Streets' second (after "Dizzy"). It became the first song in history to sell a million copies in Kuboia in one month, and saw similar success internationally, peaking in the top five within several European markets and reaching the top twenty of the Billboard Hot 100, becoming the only song by both Streets and Kool Teazer to do so. "Here We Go" is currently the best-selling of all-time in the country of Kuboia. The song's success inspired Streets and Kool Teazer to collaborate with each other several more times.

Background
Streets made an agreement with Riddles in September 2001 to write a charity single for the Children's Appeal Telethon in 2002. The latter felt that both the previous charity singles and the telethon itself had became "overly sobby" and wanted to write a song with more happy and upbeat lyrics. When writing the lyrics, the duo took inspiration from music from British novelty group Black Lace, including their recordings of "Hokey Cokey" and "The Music Man". Like with her other singles, Streets received help from Chloe Wallace, as well as her manager Rodrick Miles, to write and produce "Here We Go". Although Wallace and Riddles were once married but divorced, he agreed to work with her in order to get the song finalised.

Originally, Wallace herself was going to collaborate to the song with rap vocals as she had done with Streets' previous single "Step 2 U". Streets however, wanted someone else to do the part in order to include more variety in her upcoming album. Having previously met Kool Teazer in Reichetto a few months beforehand, Streets phoned him and asked if he could come to the studio at some point. Eventually, Streets managed to convince Riddles to let Kool Teazer be on the song in spite of Riddles being reluctant at first. Kool Teazer noted in 2018 "Ericka seemed a bit unsure about what to do with the song, so I agree to come into the studio to write some bars. [...] Honestly, I'm glad she did because I would've probably never blown up if she didn't." Following the success of the song, Kool Teazer would continue to collaborate with Streets, and would appear on three other tracks on Here We Go: The Album!.

Because "Here We Go" has a similar instrumental and a similar "here we go!" hook to "The Music Man", there was initially some debate over whether the former track sampled the latter, though Riddles denied this in a 2004 interview. Speaking about the song for its twentieth anniversary in February 2022, Miles noted "The similarities to 'The Music Man' were mostly coincidental. I honestly thought it sounded more like 'La La La'."

Music and lyrics
"Here We Go" is a bubblegum and novelty song. According to Streets, the lyrics are about unity, friendship and self-worth. Whilst Kool Teazer performs two rap verses, Streets sings the chorus, pre-chorus, and bridge, whilst also providing some spoken commentary and chants. Speaking about the song, Kool Teazer said "The whole purpose of the song is to make everybody happy and to join in." It is in the key of C major and has a tempo of 118.5 beats per minute.

Live performances
Streets and Kool Teazer performed "Here We Go" live during the Children's Appeal Telethon on 12th March 2002.

Despite Streets' death, Kool Teazer continues to perform the song live using pre-recorded vocals from Streets. Kool Teazer performed the song during an "online concert" on 11th November 2020. He later performed it live at Reichetto during a tribute concert for the song's twentieth anniversary on 4th March 2022.