"7 Seconds" is a song composed by

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, wo, Yuusu Nduur; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine describe ...

, Neneh Cherry,

Cameron McVey Cameron Andrew McVey (born 11 March 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and music producer. He worked with the bands Massive Attack, Portishead, All Saints, Sugababes/ Mutya Keisha Siobhan and his wife Neneh Cherry. He is the father of ...

, and Jonathan Sharp. It was released in 1994 as a single performed by N'Dour and Cherry, and achieved success, reaching the number-one position in numerous countries; in France, it stayed at number one for 16 weeks, a record at the time. "7 Seconds" also won the

MTV Europe Music Award The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an a ...

for Best Song of 1994. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' magazine ranked it number 40 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994.

Recording

All instruments on the single were produced and arranged by Swedish music producer

Christian Falk Christian Falk (25 April 1962 – 24 July 2014) was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet. ...

, who also played bass on the track. It was included on Neneh Cherry's album ''

Man A man is an adult male human. Prior to adulthood, a male human is referred to as a boy (a male child or adolescent). Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromo ...

'' (1996). The song is trilingual as N'Dour sings in three languages: French,

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

and the West African language Wolof. Cherry sings only in English. The English chorus was actually recorded by another singer as Youssou was ill during the production of the song. It also appeared on N'Dour's 1994 album ''The Guide (Wommat)'', released shortly after the single. The title and refrain of the song refers to the first moments of a child's life; as Cherry put it, "not knowing about the problems and violence in our world". Shocked by the single's enormous commercial success, she told ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publish ...

'' in an interview, "We did it as an experiment. The tune grew on its own, completely out of proportion. It was out there doing its own thing. But that is a dream when you write a song."

Chart performance

"7 Seconds" was a worldwide hit, peaking within the top 10 of the charts in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands (number two), Sweden, Paraguay and the United Kingdom. It climbed to the top position in Finland, France, Iceland, Italy and Switzerland. It stayed at number one for 16 consecutive weeks on the

French Singles Chart French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with France ...

, which was the record for the most weeks at the top position at the time. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song reached number two. It was awarded with a

gold record Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...

in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Critical reception

A reviewer from Swedish newspaper '' Aftonbladet'' described the song as a "floating airy and heavenly beautiful synth

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or ''ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

". Peter Stepek from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

called it a "vaguely menacing duet". Larry Flick from '' Billboard'' felt that it is "unique and thoroughly pleasing", noting that "haunting tune is padded with cushiony synths and a richly soulful bass line. Cherry offers a sweet and charming contrast to N'Dour's gritty vocal." Troy J. Augusto from '' Cashbox'' wrote that the "compelling duet nicely swirls N'Dour’s husky vocals and Cherry's sweet, angelic voice into a nifty,

down-tempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

stroll that has broad radio potential." He added further that it is "powered by a rolling bass line and layers of passive synthesizer strains". Dave Sholin from the '' Gavin Report'' viewed the song as "music to stir the senses combined with lyrics that make a powerful case for our common humanity." He remarked that it "is especially powerful in light of recent events in South Africa and it's made that much more riveting by the melding of these two voices. Its worth spending some time with this amazing track." James Masterton praised it as a "gorgeous ballad" in his weekly UK chart commentary. Pan-European magazine '' Music & Media'' complimented Cherry as "again brilliant", and also complimented the song as "melodic, synthy, sexy and with a slow beat." Wendi Cermak from ''The Network Forty'' described it as "haunting". Dele Fadele from ''

'' opined that it "makes like a future African sci-fi rumination on colour prejudice, with Yossou N'Dour's beguiling tones on show." David Sinclair from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper '' The Sunday Times'' (f ...

'' wrote, "Built around a gentle boombox beat overlaid by drifting synthesizer chords, the song achieves the same seductive combination of rhythm and rumination that informed Bruce Springsteen's recent hit "

Streets of Philadelphia "Streets of Philadelphia" is a song written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the 1993 film ''Philadelphia'', starring Tom Hanks, an early mainstream film dealing with HIV/AIDS. Released as a single in 1994, the son ...

"."

Music video

The accompanying black-and-white

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

for "7 Seconds" was directed by French director, photographer, film producer and actor

Stéphane Sednaoui Stéphane Sednaoui () is a French director, photographer, film producer and actor. Over the years, Sednaoui has redefined his artistic approach to focus on his fine-art and cinematographic projects. New and existing work have been exhibited ...

. It features people of different ethnicities walking by while the two are singing. When they sing the chorus, different kinds of people's faces appear. The video received

heavy rotation In broadcasting, rotation is the repeated airing of a limited playlist of songs on a radio station or satellite radio channel, or music videos on a TV network. They are usually in a different order each time. However, they are not completely ...

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly as MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV, a 24-hour music and entertainment TV channel that began broadcasting on August 1, 1987, as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initially, MTV serve ...

and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA in August 1994.

Impact and legacy

'' magazine ranked "7 Seconds" number 40 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994. It was included in the 2010 book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die''. Eloise Parker remarked that "the soul of '7 seconds' is N'Dour's heartfelt vocals, sung in Wolof and French, enhanced by Cherry's haunting English-language chorus."

Formats and track listings

* UK CD single (660508-2) # "7 Seconds" (radio edit) # "7 Seconds" (LP version) # "7 Seconds" (new old mix) # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) # "7 Seconds" (hip hop mix) * US CD single (Chaos/Columbia 42K 77482) # "7 Seconds" (album version) – 5:07 # "7 Seconds" (new old mix) – 5:44 # "7 Seconds" (hip hop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) – 6:08 # "Mame Bamba" by

– 5:00 * CD maxi # "7 Seconds" – 4:10 # "Mame Bamba" by

– 4:57 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" (Dub Mix) – 6:07 * CD maxi (7 June 1994) # "7 Seconds" – 4:10 # "Life (Adouna)" by

– 4:57 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" – 6:07 * CD maxi (7 June 1994) # "7 Seconds" (radio edit) – 4:06 # "Life (Adouna)" by

– 4:02 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:23 # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) – 6:07

Recording

Chart performance

Critical reception

Music video

Impact and legacy

Formats and track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

See also

References

Further reading