"Too Close" is a song by American R&B group

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featuring uncredited vocals from Vee of

Koffee Brown Koffee Brown was an American R&B and neo-soul duo consisting of male singer Falonte "Fonz" Moore and female singer Vernell "Vee" Sales. They were discovered by music producer Kay Gee and RL of Next, and were signed to Arista Records. They a ...

. It contains a sample of "Christmas Rappin" by

Kurtis Blow Kurtis Walker (born August 9, 1959), professionally known by his stage name Kurtis Blow, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record/film producer, b-boy, DJ, public speaker and minister. He is the first commercially successful rapper a ...

and was released on January 27, 1998, as the second single from their debut album, '' Rated Next'' (1997). The song reached number one on the US

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and R&B charts and has gone platinum, making it their biggest and best-known hit.

Composition

According to ''

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 ...

'', on the song "R.L, Terry and Raphael moan and groan about their female dance partner's grindin' and shakin' -- and their respective bulges as a result -- atop a Chicago-style step dance production."

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Decade-end charts

All-time charts

Certifications

Release history

Blue version

In 2001, English boy band

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released a cover version of the song as the second single from their debut studio album '' All Rise'' (2001). The track was released on August 27, 2001, and became their first number one UK single produced by Ray Ruffin. "Too Close" also reached number five in Australia, number 17 in Ireland, and number one in New Zealand, where the Next version had also been a number-one hit. The song has received a silver sales status certification for sales of over 200,000 copies in the UK.

Music video

The band traveled to

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to film the music video, and whilst there, they witnessed the attacks on the World Trade Center. The following month, Blue were being interviewed by British newspaper '' The Sun'' and Ryan commented that "This New York thing is being blown out of proportion" and asked "What about whales? They are ignoring animals that are more important. Animals need saving and that's more important." The other members of the band tried to silence Ryan, but he went on. After ''The Sun'' quoted Ryan as saying "Who gives a fuck about New York when elephants are being killed?", this caused a huge media backlash that resulted in Blue losing their U.S. record deal and campaigns to sack Ryan from the group.

Track listings

UK and Australian CD single # "Too Close" (radio edit) – 3:45 # "Too Close" (

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R&B club rub) – 5:41 # "Too Close" (instrumental) – 3:45 # "Too Close" (video) – 3:45 UK cassette single and European CD single # "Too Close" (radio edit) – 3:45 # "Too Close" (Blacksmith R&B club rub) – 5:41

Credits and personnel

Credits are taken from the '' All Rise'' album booklet. Studios * Recorded at Ruffland Studios (London, England) and Cutfather & Joe Studios (Copenhagen, Denmark) * Mixed at White Room (Copenhagen, Denmark) * Mastered at

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(New York City) and Sony Music Studios (London, England) Personnel * Kier Gist – writing *

Darren Lighty Darren Lighty (born April 6, 1969 in Paterson, New Jersey) is an American hip-hop and R&B record producer and songwriter. Lighty got his initial start in the industry as part of the group The Flex, which also included his brother Cliff Lighty ...

– writing * Robert Huggar – writing * Raphael Brown – writing * Robert Ford Jr. – writing * Denzil Miller – writing * James B. Moore – writing * Kurtis Walker – writing * Larry Smith – writing * Blue – lead vocals * Ray Ruffin – additional backing vocals, keys, programming, production * Awsa – additional backing vocals * Andrew Smith – guitars *

Glen Scott Glen Scott (born Glenvin Anthony Scott on 29 August 1973) is a British producer, arranger, mixing engineer, singer-songwriter, and session musician. Glen Scott is currently living and working in London. He has worked with artists such as Jame ...

– additional keyboards *

Cutfather & Joe Mich Hedin Hansen (born 9 April 1968), known professionally as Cutfather, is a Danish music producer, songwriter, remixer and DJ based in Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, ...

– additional keyboards, additional production and mix * Mads Nilsson – mixing *

Tom Coyne Tom Coyne may refer to: * Tom Coyne (writer), American writer and professor * Tom Coyne (broadcaster) (1930–2015), British television presenter * Tom Coyne (music engineer) (1954–2017), American mastering engineer * Thomas Coyne (cricketer) ( ...

– mastering * John Davis – mastering

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

Parodies

In 2015, the song regained attention through the popularity of the

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, "Why You Always Lying" by Nicholas Fraser. The parody gained fame within social media (most notably

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and

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) because of the comically poor production quality and relatable theme. Replacing the line "Baby when we're grinding" with "Why the fuck you lying," and similarly for following phrases, the song initially referenced an untrustworthy girl who failed to keep her promise of hooking him up with her cute friend. Currently, the original Vine has been viewed over 76.1 million times, and has been extended into a full music video for

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, which has gained over 29 million views as of November 2020. Fraser also performed the parody along with the former Next member RL on the

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show ''

Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne ''Uncommon Sense with Charlamagne'' is a talk show that aired weekly on MTV2 hosted by on-air personality Charlamagne Tha God Lenard Larry McKelvey (born June 29, 1978), known professionally as Charlamagne tha God or simply Charlamagne, is a ...

''. In 2021, comedian

Munya Chawawa Munyaradzi Oliver Chawawa (born 29 December 1992) is a British-Zimbabwean actor and comedian. Early life Munyaradzi Oliver Chawawa was born on 29 December 1992 in Derby, England, and spent his childhood in Zimbabwe. In his youth, his family ret ...

posted a parody of the song with lyrics changed to reflect the

panic buying Panic buying (alternatively hyphenated as panic-buying; also known as panic purchasing) occurs when consumers buy unusually large amounts of a product in anticipation of, or after, a disaster or perceived disaster, or in anticipation of a large ...

of petrol and diesel fuel that occurred across the United Kingdom in September 2021 during the 2021 United Kingdom fuel supply crisis which in turn caused further panic from the British public. The lyrics to the chorus were changed to "''Britain’s panic buying/Petrol pumps are dying/Said

Brexit Brexit (; a portmanteau of "British exit") was the withdrawal of the United Kingdom (UK) from the European Union (EU) at 23:00 GMT on 31 January 2020 (00:00 1 February 2020 CET).The UK also left the European Atomic Energy Community (EAEC or ...

would be fine and turns out they were lying/Fuel is running real low/ Need European blokes/ To come through in their HGVs''”.

References

{{Authority control 1990s ballads 1997 songs 1998 singles 2001 singles Arista Records singles Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles Blue (English band) songs Innocent Records singles Music videos directed by Bille Woodruff Music videos directed by Jake Nava Number-one singles in New Zealand Song recordings produced by Cutfather & Joe Songs written by KayGee UK Singles Chart number-one singles Virgin Records singles Songs about dancing