Released October 27, 2009 Recorded 2009 Length 3:38 | Format CD
digital download Genre Neo soul Label Walt Disney
Def Jam | |
"Never Knew I Needed" is a 2009 single written and performed by American R&B singer Ne-Yo for the 2009 Walt Disney Pictures film The Princess and the Frog. The song, produced by Chuck Harmony, is heard during the ending credits of the film and is also the first single from the film's original soundtrack. The song had an accompanying music video which was in heavy rotation on the Disney Channel. The song was sent to rhythmic radio in the U.S. on October 27, 2009. It was released as a digital download on November 3, 2009. The song reached number 56 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The song also has an official remix that features Cassandra Steen.
Music video
The music video was directed by Melina. It was released on October 29, 2009.
The video pays homage to several scenes in The Princess and the Frog. It takes place in New Orleans in possibly the jazz age—the time period the film is set. It starts with Ne-Yo walking through the empty streets fantasizing about a woman as jazz musicians play behind him. He walks into a restaurant where he works as a waiter the woman / "Princess" character is a beautiful and clearly wealthy customer who is dining with her family. Ne-Yo then goes into an empty warehouse which he imagines is a kitchen (homage to the scene in which Almost There is performed). He dreams the woman has come to visit him and they are eating some of Ne-Yo's cooking and having a good time with each other. Ne-Yo then takes a streetcar and he sees the woman with her family outside the home through the window. The woman looks up and sees him on the streetcar and runs after it. This is intercut with Ne-Yo overlooking the bayou where a large portion of the Princess and the Frog takes place. He turns around and the woman is standing behind him the two run to each other and share a kiss while two frogs on the bayou are also seen kissing.