"Right Now" is a song recorded by American singer

Mary J. Blige Mary Jane Blige ( ; born January 11, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Often referred to as the " Queen of Hip-Hop Soul" and " Queen of R&B", Blige has won nine Grammy Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, four American Music Award ...

from her twelfth studio album, '' The London Sessions'' (2014). It was written by Blige,

Sam Smith Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...

, Jimmy Napes, and Disclosure, featuring production from the latter. Musically, "Right Now" is a mid-tempo R&B song, with

deep house Deep house is a subgenre of house music that originated in the 1980s, initially fusing elements of Chicago house with the lush chords of 1980s jazz-funk and touches of soul music. Its origins are attributed to the early recordings of Larry Heard ( ...

and

UK garage UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic dance music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. The genre was most clearly inspired by garage house, but also incorporates elements from dance-pop, R&B, and jungle. It ...

influences. Lyrically, it exudes a displeased woman letting her lover know that she is fed up with his ways, and is planning on making changes. The song was released as the album's second single on October 27, 2014. "Right Now" peaked at number one on the US

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, becoming Blige's fifth song to do so. Numerous remixes and cover versions of the song were made, most notably reworks by

Basement Jaxx Basement Jaxx are an English electronic music duo consisting of Felix Buxton and Simon Ratcliffe. The pair got their name from the regular club night they held in Brixton, London, UK. They first rose to popularity in the underground house scene ...

and

Simon Neale Simon Neale (born 20 January 1977 in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England), known by his stage names Shadow Child and Dave Spoon, is an English radio DJ and dance music producer. He's also part of the duo Avec alongside Doorly. He was part of the lin ...

. Blige performed the song on several television and award show ceremonies, such as '' Later... with Jools Holland'', '' The Ellen DeGeneres Show'', and

BBC Radio 1Xtra BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...

Conception and release

"Right Now" was written by Blige and English musicians

, James Napier, and brothers Guy and Howard Lawrence from electronic music duo Disclosure. Production of the song was helmed by Disclosure, while American record producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins was consulted for vocal production. "Right Now" was recorded at

Metropolis Studios Metropolis Studios is a music production and entertainment industry company established in 1989 by Gary Langan, Carey Taylor and Karin Clayton.Donald Brackett It is located in the Powerhouse, a Grade II listed building, at 70 Chiswick High Roa ...

and at MusicBox Studios in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. Production of the song was motivated by " F for You", the fourth single from Disclosure's debut studio album, ''

Settle Settle or SETTLE may refer to: Places * Settle, Kentucky, United States * Settle, North Yorkshire, a town in England ** Settle Rural District, a historical administrative district Music * Settle (band), an indie rock band from Pennsylvania * ''S ...

'' (2013). In late 2013, Blige saw the duo's single their

Vevo Vevo ( , an abbreviation for "Video Evolution", stylized as VEVO until 2013) is an American multinational video hosting service, best known for providing music videos to YouTube. The service is also available as an app on selected smart TVs, di ...

video site, and got in touch with them about covering the song. The resulting duet, largely composed by Blige, became a top ten hit on the UK Dance Chart. Inspired by its response, Blige initially hoped to record an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

with the duo, though her label encouraged her to enhance recording overseas and soon it was announced that Blige would move to

to experiment with a new sound with a host of young British acts. With "Right Now", Howard Lawrence approached Blige with some chords he had made on songwriter James Napier's piano. His brother Guy further helped in the production of the song, adding

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

that gave "it a Disclosurey feel". Blige joined production during the vocal writing which resulted in a friendly "dog-fight". While much of "Right Now" was written within two and half hours, the duo spent a lot of time editing and polishing the track. Commenting on the creation process, Howard commented: "That's how Guy and me work. We'll write a whole song very roughly, then go in and proof-read it for a long, long time and change it so much that you wouldn't even recognise it from when you started".

Composition

Musically, the song consists of a shuffling

back-beat In music and music theory, the beat is the basic unit of time, the pulse (regularly repeating event), of the ''mensural level'' (or ''beat level''). The beat is often defined as the rhythm listeners would tap their toes to when listening to a pi ...

, throbbing

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s, dramatic

strings String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

, and a glitchy, uptempo

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

. It merges

and

with

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 ...

, while elements of hip hop music are also present. Many contemporary critics viewed "Right Now" as a clear influence of Disclosure's signature sound. Nick Murray from ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' magazine found elements of

's "woozy, late-

1990s File:1990s decade montage.png, From top left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth after it was launched in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War ...

garage music" and American record producer Timbaland's "early-aughts pop bangers" and further went on to describe its production as "a smooth, syncopated retro-sex sound".

Music video

The music video for "Right Now" was directed by Mike Ho. It marked his second collaboration with Blige after their video for " Suitcase". The visuals video feature Blige being chauffeured in a black

Bentley Bentley Motors Limited is a British designer, manufacturer and marketer of luxury cars and SUVs. Headquartered in Crewe, England, the company was founded as Bentley Motors Limited by W. O. Bentley (1888–1971) in 1919 in Cricklewood, North ...

while enjoying the night views of the city, intercut with footage of her singing to the camera in a yellow dress. After her arrival at the London nightclub, she takes off her fur coat and throws it on the ground before performing the track in front of an excited crowd.

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''The London Sessions''. *

Production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stati ...

: Disclosure *Vocal production: Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, Disclosure *Background vocals: Howard Lawrence, James Napier,

* Recording: Trehy Harris, James Napier *Recording assistance: Alex Robinson, Gus Pirelli * Mixing: Disclosure

Charts

Release history

References

External links

* {{Mary J. Blige singles 2014 singles Mary J. Blige songs Songs written by Mary J. Blige 2014 songs Songs written by Jimmy Napes Songs written by Sam Smith (singer) Capitol Records singles Deep house songs UK garage songs