Songoftheday 6/9/21 - Could you just put that thing on me, So I can just freak on you and you could just freak on me...

 

 

"Touch It" - Monifah

from the album Mo'hogany (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #9 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 21

Today's song of the day comes from R&B singer Monifah, who had landed her first top-40 pop hit in the spring of 1996 with "You". Two years later, she returned with her second album Mo'hogany. The lead single from the set was the enticing groove of "Touch It". With a foundation of a sample from Danish electro-dance act Laid Back's 1982 R&B/Dance hit "White Horse", that duo's John Guldberg and Tim Stahl ended up sharing writing credit with producer Jack Knight, Albert Charles, and Tijuan Frampton. The record is a total come-on from start to finish, as Monifah implores you to get down with her in the carnal way. The music video has her performing for a group of military men who are totally into the prospect...

 

 "Touch It" became Monifah's highest charting pop hit, reaching the top ten in October of 1998. The song also rose to #9 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart, her sole top ten placing there as well. Internationally, the single reached the top ten in Australia (#5) and Belgium (#7F/#15W), and made the top-40 in Canada (#15), the Netherlands (#24), New Zealand (#27), and the UK (#29). The Mo'hogany album, released in August of that year, climbed to #16 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to move over a half million copies. 

Despite the big success of "Touch It", it would be her final hit on the Hot 100 pop chart. The second single from the set, the downtempo "Suga Suga", stopped down at #71 on Billboard's R&B chart; internationally, where that song was paired with an interpolation of Donna Summer's "Bad Girl" on the single, was a minor hit in Australia (#17) and New Zealand (#44). 

In 2000, Monifah returned with her third, and so far most recent studio album Home. That set skimming the R&B albums top-40 at #39, while cresting at #151 on the Billboard 200. Lead single "I Can Tell" placed at #94 on Billboard's R&B chart. 

Since then, Monifah has appeared on the reality show R&B Divas: Atlanta, where she came out of the closet as LGBT, marrying her wife in the series. 

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Here's Monifah performing "Touch It" live on the BET Motown Live show....

and lastly on stage in 2014...

Up tomorrow: R&B singer boasts his abilities.