Home | Songs By Year | Songs from 1997
Too Close (Next song)
Buy Too Close (Next song) now from AmazonFirst, read the Wikipedia article. Then, scroll down to see what other TopShelfReviews readers thought about the song. And once you've experienced the song, tell everyone what you thought about it.
Wikipedia article
{{Infobox song
| name = Too Close
| cover = Next - Too Close.jpg
| alt =
| caption = Artwork for US single release; non-US releases use same artwork but with different titling layout
| type = single
| artist = Next
| album = Rated Next
| released =
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 4:20
| label = Arista
| writer = Kay Gee, Terry Brown, Robert Huggar, Raphael Brown
| producer = Kay Gee
| prev_title = Butta Love
| prev_year = 1997
| next_title = I Still Love You
| next_year = 1998
| misc =
}}
"'Too Close'" is a song by American R&B group Next featuring uncredited vocals from Vee of Koffee Brown. It contains a sample of "Christmas Rappin" by Kurtis Blow and was released on October 1997, as the second single from their debut album, 'Rated Next' (1997). 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.
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."
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
All-time charts
Certifications
Release history
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 August 27, 2001, and became their first number one UK single produced by Ray Ruffin. "Too Close" also reached number five in Australia, number 17 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. After 'The Sun' quoted Ryan as saying "Who gives a fuck about New York when elephants are being killed?", this caused a huge media backlash that resulted in Blue losing their U.S. record deal and campaigns to sack Ryan from the group.Track listings
'UK and Australian CD single'# "Too Close" (radio edit) 3:45
# "Too Close" (Blacksmith R&B club rub) 5:41
# "Too Close" (instrumental) 3:45
# "Too Close" (video) 3:45
'UK cassette single and European CD single'
# "Too Close" (radio edit) 3:45
# "Too Close" (Blacksmith R&B club rub) 5:41
Credits and personnel
Credits are taken from the 'All Rise' album booklet.'Studios'
* Recorded at Ruffland Studios (London, England) and Cutfather & Joe Studios (Copenhagen, Denmark)
* Mixed at White Room (Copenhagen, Denmark)
* Mastered at Sterling Sound (New York City) and Sony Music Studios (London, England)
'Personnel'
* Kier Gist writing
* Darren Lighty writing
* Robert Huggar writing
* Raphael Brown writing
* Robert Ford Jr. writing
* Denzil Miller writing
* James B. Moore writing
* Kurtis Walker writing
* Larry Smith writing
* Blue lead vocals
* Ray Ruffin additional backing vocals, keys, programming, production
* Awsa additional backing vocals
* Andrew Smith guitars
* Glen Scott additional keyboards
* Cutfather & Joe additional keyboards, additional production and mix
* Mads Nilsson mixing
* Tom Coyne mastering
* John Davis mastering
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
Certifications
Release history
Parodies
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 fuck 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 29 million views as of November 2020. Fraser also performed the parody along with the former Next member RL on the MTV2 show 'Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne'.
In 2021, comedian Munya Chawawa posted a parody of the song with lyrics changed to reflect the panic buying of petrol and diesel fuel that occurred across the United Kingdom in September 2021 during the 2021 United Kingdom fuel supply crisis which in turn caused further panic from the British public. The lyrics to the chorus were changed to "'Britains panic buying/Petrol pumps are dying/Said Brexit would be fine and turns out they were lying/Fuel is running real low/ Need European blokes/ To come through in their HGVs'.
References
Category:1990s ballads
Category:1997 songs
Category:1998 singles
Category:2001 singles
Category:Arista Records singles
Category:Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles
Category:Blue (English band) songs
Category:Innocent Records singles
Category:Music videos directed by Bille Woodruff
Category:Music videos directed by Jake Nava
Category:Number-one singles in New Zealand
Category:Song recordings produced by Cutfather & Joe
Category:Songs written by KayGee
Category:UK Singles Chart number-one singles
Category:Virgin Records singles
Buy Too Close (Next song) now from Amazon
<-- Return to songs from 1997