Songoftheday 3/8/21 - Oh the songs on you requested, you're dancin' like you're naked...
"Too Close" - Next
from the album Rated Next (1997)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #1 (five weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 49
Today's song of the day comes from the R&B vocal trio Next, whose debut single "Butta Love" landed in the pop top 20 in America at the end of 1997. The second release from the record was the mid-tempo jam "Too Close". Written by the group's R.L. Huggar, brothers Terry and Raphael Brown, and produce Kay Gee, the guys lament how the can't control themselves with this girl (unsure if she's a stripper) around. This is all over a sample from Kurtis Blow's "Christmas Rappin'". Female group Koffee Brown sings backup without credit here, though they really carry a lot of weight in the intro to the chorus. As for the music video, what's with the getting freaky in public bathroom stalls that keeps showing up in clips from the late 90s?
"Too Close" became a massive hit and the biggest for the trio, spending over a month at #1 on the American pop chart in April of 1998 and over a year on the entire Hot 100. In fact, it took more weeks at the top on that list than on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, where it lasted three weeks. Nevertheless the song ended up being that trade bible's top pop and R&B hit of 1998. Internationally, the single topped the chart in New Zealand and went to #2 in Canada, and reached the top-40 in the Netherlands (#8), Australia (#12), the UK (#24), Sweden (#39), and Belgium (#39W/#44F).
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Here's Next performing "Too Close" on the Keenan Ivory Wayans show...
British "boy-band" Blue released a cover of "Too Close" in 2001, which went all the way to #1 on the UK and New Zealand singles chart, as well as #5 in Australia and #6 in Belgium...
Lastly, back to Next live in 2019...
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