"Missing You" is a song by British
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B (or simply R&B) is a popular music genre that combines rhythm and blues with elements of pop, soul, funk, hip hop, and electronic music.
The genre features a distinctive record production style, drum machine-backed rhythm ...
band
Soul II Soul
Soul II Soul are a British musical collective formed in London in 1988. They are best known for their two major hits; 1989's UK number five and US number eleven " Keep On Movin'", and its follow-up, the UK number one and US number four " Back to ...
, released in November 1990 as the fourth and last single from their second album, ''
Vol. II: 1990 – A New Decade'' (1990). It features American singer-songwriter
Kym Mazelle
Kym Mazelle (born Kymberly Grigsby; August 10, 1960) is an American singer. She is regarded as a pioneer of house music in the United Kingdom and Europe. Her music combines R&B, soul, funk, house music, dance, and pop. She is credited as " Th ...
on lead vocals and
Lamya
Lamya Al-Mugheiry (30 October 1973 – 8 January 2009), better known as her mononym Lamya, was a Kenyan-born English singer-songwriter and record producer. She rose to fame in the early 1990s as one of the lead singers of R&B group Soul II Soul, ...
on background vocals. It was a top 30 hit in Ireland and the UK. Outside Europe, it peaked at number nine in Zimbabwe, number 39 on the ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
''
Dance Club Songs
Dance Club Songs is a chart published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine in the United States. It is a national look over of club disc jockeys to determine the most popular songs being played in nightclubs across the country. It was launched as t ...
chart in the US and number 166 in Australia. A 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 promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...
was produced to promote the single. It shows Mazelle and
Jazzie B
Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE, (born 26 January 1963) better known as Jazzie B, is a British DJ and music producer. He is the founder of Soul II Soul.
Life and career
Jazzie was born in London UK to parents of Antiguan descent in Hornsey, Londo ...
dancing together on a dancefloor while performing it.
Critical reception
Alex Henderson 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 databas ...
described "Missing You" as a "sleek
urban
Urban means "related to a city". In that sense, the term may refer to:
* Urban area, geographical area distinct from rural areas
* Urban culture, the culture of towns and cities
Urban may also refer to:
General
* Urban (name), a list of people ...
/
dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
/
neo-soul
Neo soul (sometimes called progressive soul) is a genre of popular music. As a term, it was coined by music industry entrepreneur Kedar Massenburg during the late 1990s to market and describe a style of music that emerged from soul and contempo ...
groove". Bill Coleman from ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'' named it one of the "special moments" from the album. Another editor,
Larry Flick
Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the music ...
, found that it places guest diva
Kym Mazelle
Kym Mazelle (born Kymberly Grigsby; August 10, 1960) is an American singer. She is regarded as a pioneer of house music in the United Kingdom and Europe. Her music combines R&B, soul, funk, house music, dance, and pop. She is credited as " Th ...
within a down-tempo
R&B/
house
A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...
groove, saying, "A tad slow for peak-hour play, but just perfect for early-a.m. sets." Ernest Hardy from ''
Cashbox'' complimented the chorus of the song. Pan-European magazine ''
Music & Media
''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later ...
'' felt that it's "somewhat similar" to their 1989 hit "
Keep On Movin'", noting further that this is "another strong contender from the masters of club music."
Selina Webb from ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...
'' called it "a safe bet", complimenting Mazelle's "strident soul vocal and loads of sophisticated groove techniques." She added that "this will chart highly". Paolo Hewitt from ''
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 ...
'' remarked that "House chanteuse" Kym Mazelle "hits the highs" on the track. A reviewer from ''
People Magazine
''People'' is an American weekly magazine that specializes in celebrity news and human-interest stories. It is published by Dotdash Meredith, a subsidiary of IAC (company), IAC. With a readership of 46.6 million adults in 2009, ''People ...
'' named it one of the "winners" of the album, on which Mazelle "gets to belt it out". Tom Doyle from ''
Smash Hits
''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand fo ...
'' described it as an "ace tune", that sounds "a bit" like "Keep On Movin'". He concluded that it "definitely deserves to be a single".
Track listing
* 12" single (Remix), UK & Europe (1990)
#"Missing You" (Remake) – 6:36
#"Missing You" (Blow Mr Hornsman Blow Mix) – 6:34
#"Missing You" (Thumpin' Bass Mix) – 5:32
* CD single, UK (1990)
#"Missing You" (The Healer Mix) – 4:53
#"Missing You" (The Thumpin' Bass Mix) – 4:48
#"Missing You" (Album Version) – 5:24
#"
People
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
" (Club Mix) – 4:51
* CD maxi, Japan (1991)
#"Missing You" (Thumpin' Bass Mix) – 4:47
#"Missing You" (The Healer Instrumental) – 5:04
#"Missing You" (Humanity Mix) – 5:09
#"Jazzie's Groove" (Jazzie's 12") – 5:05
Charts
References
{{authority control
1990 singles
1990 songs
Soul II Soul songs
Songs written by Jazzie B
Songs written by Simon Law
Song recordings produced by Nellee Hooper
Virgin Records singles
Black-and-white music videos