Released September 30, 1997 Recorded 1997 Length 4:20 | Format CD single Genre R&B Label Arista | |
"Too Close" is a song by American R&B group Next, featuring uncredited vocals from Vee of Koffee Brown. It was released in September 1997 as the second single from their debut album Rated Next (1997).
Contents
The song reached number one on the US Hot 100 and R&B charts and has gone Platinum making it their biggest and best known hit. In the 1998 US Billboard End-Year chart, the song reached number one. It contains a sample of "Christmas Rappin'" by Kurtis Blow. "Too Close" was a massive hit on Urban Contemporary radio stations by its fourth month of airplay in January 1998 and still the most played single by Next.
Composition
According to Billboard, on the song "R.L, Terry and Raphael moan and groan about their female dance partner's 'grindin and 'shakin -- and their respective bulges as a result -- atop a Chicago-style step dance production."
Blue version
In 2001, English boy band Blue released a cover version of the song as the second single from their debut studio album All Rise (2001). The track was released on 24 August 2001 and became their first number one UK single produced by multi-platinum producer Ray Ruffin. It also reached number five in Australia and number seventeen in Ireland, and number one in New Zealand, where the Next version had also been a number-one hit. The song has received a silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK.
Music video
The band traveled to New York City to film the music video, and whilst there, they witnessed the attacks on the World Trade Center. The following month, Blue were being interviewed by British newspaper The Sun and Ryan commented that "This New York thing is being blown out of proportion" and asked "What about whales? They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that's more important." The other members of the band tried to silence Ryan, but he went on. This caused a huge media backlash that resulted in Blue losing a record deal in the United States and campaigns to sack Ryan from the group.
Track listing
- "Too Close" (Radio Edit) – 3:45
- "Too Close" (Blacksmith R&B Club Rub) – 5:41
- "Too Close" (Instrumental) – 3:45
- "Too Close" (Video) – 4:11
- "Too Close" (Radio Edit) – 3:45
- "Too Close" (Blacksmith R&B Club Rub) – 5:41
Parody
In 2015, the song regained attention through the popularity of the internet meme, "Why You Always Lying" by Nicholas Fraser. The parody gained fame within social media (most notably Vine and Twitter) because of the comically poor production quality and relatable theme. Replacing the line "Baby when we're grinding" with "Why the f*** you lying," and similarly for following phrases, the song initially referenced an untrustworthy girl who failed to keep her promise of hooking him up with her cute friend. Currently, the original Vine has been viewed over 76.1 million times, and has been extended into a full music video for YouTube, which has gained over 16 million views as of March 2016. Fraser also performed the parody along with the former Next member RL on the MTV2 show Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne.