Songoftheday 9/23/21 - You say its been too long since you had some, you say I turn you on like a fire that's burning inside...

 

 

"Give It To You" - Jordan Knight

from the album Jordan Knight (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (one week)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

 

Today's song comes from Jordan Knight, who was a member of the insanely popular boy-band New Kids On The Block in the late 1980's and early 1990's. Bandmate Joey McIntyre was the first to release a solo album, and his single "Stay The Same" made the pop top ten in America in the spring of 1999. While McIntyre's song was an adult-pop ballad, Knight's debut solo offering was more in tune to the music of the younger generation (albeit even a little dated in its subtle Miami Bass/freestyle influence). "Give It To You", written by Knight with producers Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis along with future SOTD artist Robin Thicke, is a bouncy if light dance-pop tune about propositioning a girl. It does go a bit far (probably the Thicke influence) with lyrics like this:

Don't care who leads
As long as we move horizontally
Anyone can make you sweat
But I, can keep you wet
It's creepin' around in my head
Me holding you down in my bed
I can't wait to give you some
I'm convinced you need it 

 

The music video again is a throwback to the NKOTB days, and offered competition to the slew of boybands in play in 1999...

 

 "Give It To You" matched his bandmate's peak in the American pop top ten in May of 1999. The remixes of the song helped it climb to #35 on Billboard magazine's Dance Club Play chart. Internationally, the single peaked at #5 in the UK, and made the top-40 in New Zealand (#21), Ireland (#30), Canada (#32), Australia (#33), Iceland (#34), and the Netherlands (#40). Knight's self-titled first solo album, released as the track was peaking on the charts in May, rose to #29 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, going on to sell over a half million copies.

After this success, Knight tried the extra-ballsy move of releasing as a follow-up a cover of Prince's top ten pop hit "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man". The slowed down version was mostly shunned, as it should be, although somehow it got to #37 on Billboard's Mainstream Top-40 radio chart. After a long lapse, Jordan returned in 2006 with an EP called The Fix, and from it the song "Where Is Your Heart Tonight" went to #12 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list. Later that year,  the singer put out Love Songs on the Trans Continental label, run by felon Louie Pearlman, and came back to that chart at #24 with a duet with fellow 80s teen veteran Debbie Gibson on "Say Goodbye". His most recent studio album, Unfinished, was released in 2011, and went to #48 on the Billboard 200. A cut from the set, "Lets Go Higher", was a minor hit in Canada at #88. Knight will be back to this series, though, with his original bandmates.

(5/10)

 

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Here's Jordan appearing on Live with Regis & Kathie Lee to promote the single...

In 2005, Knight was on the British throwback "competition" Baby One More Time, performing "Give It To You" as well as another song. He didn't make it past the heats...

And lastly, in concert in 2012...

Up tomorrow: DC singer/dancer hooks up for an evening.