"Little Things" is the first single released by American

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and R&B singer-songwriter

India Arie India Arie Simpson (born October 3, 1975), also known as India Arie (sometimes styled as india.arie), is an American singer and songwriter. She has sold over five million records in the US and ten million worldwide. She has won four Grammy Award ...

from her second studio album ''

Voyage to India ''Voyage to India'' is the second studio album by American singer India Arie, released on September 24, 2002, by Motown. The album is titled after a track by Arie's idol Stevie Wonder from his 1979 album '' Journey Through "The Secret Life of P ...

''. In 2003, the song won a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance; the album also won, giving Arie her first two Grammy wins. Arie wrote the song with

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, Shannon Sanders, Andre Fischer and Anthony Robertson—all of them musicians associated with the band

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. Arie produced the song with Sanders. Arie began performing the song in her concerts starting in August 2002, before the single was released on September 10, preceding the album release by two weeks. The single entered the ''

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'' charts in mid-September 2002, and in October it peaked at number 33 on the

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chart, staying on the chart for 33 weeks. It peaked in November at number 89 on the

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chart. At the end of 2002, ''Billboard'' listed the "Little Things" as the 41st most-played song on "Adult R&B" radio stations in the US during 2002. Arie said that the song was "about the lessons helearned last year" when she experienced difficulty balancing her career fame with her personal life. ''

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'' praised the song as a "lilting paean to... life's simple pleasures". ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' noticed that "Little Things" and "Slow Down" were the two "songs of self-encouragement" on ''Voyage to India''. The

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observed that the song was similar to "Hollywood" from the 1977 Rufus album ''

Ask Rufus ''Ask Rufus'' is the platinum-selling fifth studio album by funk band Rufus (and their third album featuring singer Chaka Khan), released on the ABC Records label in 1977. The album spent three weeks atop the Billboard R&B Albums Chart in 1977. B ...

'', writing "the lift is discreet and in the best taste."

Personnel

*India Arie – lead and backing vocals, production *Shannon Sanders – keyboards, production *Ricky Quinones – guitar *Khari Simmons – bass *Forrest Robinson – drums *Kerisha Hicks – backing vocals *Tony Harrington – backing vocals *Avery Johnson – recording engineer

Charts

References

{{authority control 2002 singles 2002 songs India Arie songs Motown singles Music videos directed by Sanaa Hamri Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance Songs written by India Arie Songs written by Shannon Sanders