Released 3 April 2000 Recorded 1999 | Format 7"
CD
cassette Genre R&B
2-step garage | |
Length 4:16 (album version)
3:53 (radio edit) Label Wildstar
Edel Germany
Atlantic | ||
"Fill Me In" is the debut single by British singer Craig David. It was released on 3 April 2000 as the lead single from his debut studio album, Born to Do It (2000).
Contents
The song debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart in April 2000. It was then released in the US in May 2001 and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100. According to the Official Charts Company, it was the tenth best-selling single of 2000 in the UK, having sold 495,000 copies.
There is a second part of the song which features on Born to Do It. "Fill Me In" is also sampled in Justin Bieber's 2013 single, "Recovery". In 2015, Pia Mia and Austin Mahone made a cover of the song as a duet with new instrumentals.
Content
The narrator tells a story of trying to hang out with the girl next door but her parents remain suspicious about what she is up to. The song is a commentary on the "helicopter parenting" that was becoming more prominent in the early 2000s. In the hook, the parents ask if their daughter can fill them in on what is going on in her life.
Formats and track listings
UK CD: 1
- "Fill Me In" (radio edit)
- "Apartment 543"
- "Fill Me In" (Artful Dodger's Bootleg mix)
- "Fill Me In" (video)
UK CD: 2
- "Fill Me In" (radio edit)
- "Fill Me In" (Artful Dodger remix)
- "Fill Me In" (Sunship remix)
- "Fill Me In" (Full Crew remix)
Music video
There are different versions of the music video released in the UK and in the US. The UK music video, directed by Max & Dania, has David telling a story about how he tried many times to romance his girlfriend who lived next door to him but each of his attempts to be alone with his girlfriend failed as his girlfriend's parents always interrupted and he had to hide before they left again. According to an interview on his first Greatest Hits album, the girl in the UK music video is a South African woman whose identity has never been known. The US version, directed by Darren Grant, has a different picturisation and this time Craig's girlfriend is mixed race.
Chart performance
The single reached number one on the UK Singles Chart, spending fifteen weeks inside the top 75. It was also David's first top twenty single in the U.S., peaking at number 15. On 28 December 2009, when BBC Radio 1 presenter Nihal revealed "The Official Top 100 Songs of the Decade", "Fill Me In" was at number 93.