“Moving On Up” by M People

“Moving On Up” is a breakup song. Whereas it may be a stretch to say that the vocalist is celebrating parting ways with the addressee, she obviously feels that such a move would be beneficial to her personal development. 

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for M People's Moving On Up at Lyrics.org.

And that is what Heather means when she says she’s “moving on up”, that having ‘broken free’ of her apparently toxic partner, now she has the space to like progress in life.

As far as what the addressee has done to her, in the first verse it is put forth directly that he ‘broke her heart’, which is the main reason why the vocalist is making him bounce. Then, she also drops a clever metaphor in the second verse alluding to the notion that he isn’t proficient in the sack. So now dude is getting the boot, with his ex actually looking forward to being without him.

M People, "Moving On Up" Lyrics

M People

M People is a 1990s’ British dance group who, throughout said decade, dropped a number of albums which proved especially successful in the United Kingdom. 

As far as singles go, “Moving On Up” stands as the band’s biggest hit. 

M People’s membership has remained steady throughout the decades, consisting of the following:

  • frontwoman Heather Small
  • percussionist Shovell
  • keyboardist Mike Pickering
  • keyboardist Paul Heard

It is Pickering and Heard who wrote this piece, with production credit going out to the entire band.

When was “Moving On Up” released?

This was released as part of the band’s LP “Elegant Summer” on 4 October 1993. The song’s release was made possible thanks to Deconstruction Records, whom M People were signed to throughout their most-successful years.

Success of “Moving On Up”

As implied earlier, “Moving On Up” was a major hit, in that for instance it reached number 2 on the UK Singles Chart and topped the UK Dance Chart. 

It also reached the summit of the US Dance Club Songs ranking and, though barely breaking the top 40 of the Hot 100, did appear on six different Billboard lists stateside. And in all, this track went on to chart in nearly 20 nations in total.

As such stories tend to go, despite the notable success of this song when it first came out, ultimately it kinda got lost amongst the annals of time. That is until Liz Truss, who was recently made Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, decided to use “Moving On Up” during a conference by her Conservative Party in early October, 2022. 

And, you would think by this point that prominent politicians such as herself would have learned their lesson about using artist’s songs without permission. 

But Mike Pickering did go on to note that M People don’t have the power to prevent Truss from using their song. But he did proceed to diss her, going on to state for instance that he ‘doesn’t want his song being a soundtrack to lies’.

Moving On Up

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