Released December 1996 Recorded January 1996 Length 3:45 | Format CD single, 7", 12" Genre Neo soul
soul | |
Label Kedar/Universal/MCA Records | ||
"On & On" is the debut single of Neo soul singer Erykah Badu, from her 1997 debut album Baduizm. The song won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 1998 Grammy Awards.
The hit song spent two weeks at number-one on the U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart and went to #12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It was also the first neo soul song to hit number-one on the R&B chart.
Music video
Badu was depicted as a maid in an African-American household in the music video for the single, showing her doing her chores. Scenes of her chasing a dog that bit the laundry that she put to dry, tying a little girl's hair into a ponytail and falling into mud could be seen throughout the video. The video ends with Badu dressed fully in green with several people in a barn, singing and dancing. The video is loosely based upon the movie adaptation of Alice Walker's The Color Purple. The video was also nominated at the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, including Best Female Video and Best R&B Video.