Songoftheday 8/1/21 - God knows that you're a sexy thang it's taking everything in me, not to kiss you over under feel your inside feel my thunder...
"These Are The Times" - Dru Hill
from the album Enter The Dru (1998)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #21 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15
Today's song of the day comes from the R&B vocal group Dru Hill, whose sophomore album Enter The Dru had already scored a top ten pop/#1 R&B hit with "How Deep Is Your Love" from the movie Rush Hour in the autumn of 1998. Their follow-up single would be the ballad "These Are The Times", written and produced by Babyface and Damon Thomas. A lush display of love, the song really highlighted their vocal synergy together as a group, and while you can tell it's a Babyface song it's not clearly a schmaltzy attempt at the pop market. The Three Musketeers-style music video was quite elaborate, with Saved By The Bell's Lark Voorhies being fought over by a pair of Sisqos, with the "blonde" one the one she recognizes as hers. Pretty fun stuff for an R&B video at the time...
"These Are The Times" became the second top-40 pop hit from Enter The Dru in January of 1999. The song also climbed to #5 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart as well. Internationally, the single rose to #4 in the UK, while making the top-40 in Australia (#22) and New Zealand (#36), and just missing that level in Germany (#46).
The same week this song debuted on Billboard's R&B chart, another cut from the album, a remake of the soul nugget from the Dells, "The Love We Had (Stays On My Mind)", also entered the list, getting enough urban radio airplay to rise to #48 on the list and spending 20 weeks there. The third "single" from the record would be "Beauty", co-written and co-produced by Guy Roche (Christina Aguilera, Brandy). The sparse slow jam got to #79 on the pop Hot 100, while reaching #24 on the R&B chart and spending a hefty 45 weeks on the list. "You Are Everything", which also entered the R&B list the same week at "Beauty" and sported a special remix featuring rapper Ja Rule, made it to #84 on the pop chart and #27 at R&B. The video for that only had them as a trio, with Woody already leaving to start a gospel career.
After this album's promotion, the member split to pursue solo projects. But we'll be seeing more Dru Hill featured soon.
(7/10)
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Dru Hill performed "These Are the Times" on the Donny & Marie talk show...
At the Soul Train Music Awards, the group recreated their Three Musketeers drag...
and lastly, in concert for TV...
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