"Touch Me" is a song by Portuguese

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

producer Rui da Silva and British singer-songwriter Cassandra Fox. The song began to gain popularity after being played in

dance clubs A nightclub (music club, discothèque, disco club, or simply club) is an entertainment venue during nighttime comprising a dance floor, lightshow, and a stage for live music or a disc jockey (DJ) who plays recorded music. Nightclubs gener ...

in October 2000. The track was originally scheduled for release in December 2000, but it was postponed to avoid competing with songs that would experience sales surges resulting from the Christmas holiday period. It was eventually released on 1 January 2001. The single spent one week at number one on the UK Singles Chart and sold over 600,000 copies, earning a platinum

certification Certification is the provision by an independent body of written assurance (a certificate) that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. It is the formal attestation or confirmation of certain characteristics of a ...

from the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It was the first progressive house song to reach number one in the UK as well as the first song by a Portuguese act to top the chart. The song also reached number one in Ireland and Silva's native Portugal while peaking inside the top 10 in Flanders, Greece, and Spain. In the United States, it reached number seven 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 Play chart. "Touch Me" earned Rui an award for Best Single in the ''

Muzik ''Muzik'' was a British dance music magazine published by IPC Media from June 1995 to August 2003. ''Muzik'' was created by two former ''Melody Maker'' journalists, Push and Ben Turner. Push was the editor of ''Muzik'' from its launch until he ...

'' magazine Dance Awards 2001.

Background and release

Vocalist Cassandra Fox wrote the lyrics for "Touch Me" while Rui da Silva composed the music and produced the track. Da Silva told ''

'' that the song originally contained a guitar part which was inspired by Spandau Ballet's " Chant No. 1". This part was removed after difficulties getting clearance on the publishing. The removal partially resulted in the record's release being delayed from Christmas 2000 until the beginning of 2001. Another reason the track's release was delayed was to avoid the spike in song sales that would occur during the days leading up to Christmas; it would eventually be issued on 1 January 2001.

Critical reception

Bob Stanley of '' The Guardian'' reflected that, although the first UK number one of 2001, the song was what he imagined as a child the first number one of the 2000s would sound like, saying he "knew it would be electronic, and may involve a certain amount of silver lurex." He further commented of the song: "The sound of the future had arrived in that most cosmic of years, exactly as it might have been imagined by Stanley Kubrick: spacy, disembodied, oddly beautiful." He also commented that he did not remember the song from when it was a hit, a point reinforced by Dom Passantio of ''

Stylus Magazine ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

'', who called it "easily the most forgotten number one of the decade." In 2020, ''The Guardian'' ranked the song at number 70 on their list of "The 100 Greatest UK No 1 Singles", with writer Ben Beaumont-Thomas praising the instrumentation and Fox's vocals.

Track listings

European CD single # "Touch Me" (radio edit) # "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) # "Touch Me" ( Double 99 12-inch club mix) European maxi-CD single # "Touch Me" (radio edit) – 3:28 # "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) – 8:32 # "Touch Me" (Double 99 12-inch club mix) – 7:40 # "Touch Me" (

Peace Division Peace Division is the production name for the tribal house duo Clive Henry and Justin Drake. Together, they have proven to be one of the most prolific UK tribal house producers starting with their first record in 1994. The duo have released E ...

's Higher Dub) – 7:03 European 12-inch single :A1. "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) :A2. "Touch Me" (radio edit) :AA1. "Touch Me" (Double 99 12-inch club mix) :AA2. "Touch Me" (Peace Division's Higher Dub Remix) French CD single # "Touch Me" (radio edit) # "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) UK 12-inch single :A. "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) :B. "Touch Me" (radio edit) Australian and New Zealand CD single # "Touch Me" (radio edit) # "Touch Me" (original 12-inch) # "Touch Me" (Double 99 12-inch club mix) # "Touch Me" (Peace Division Higher Remix) # "Touch Me" (Saffron Mix) # "Touch Me" (video)

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Cassandra Fox version

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

released their own version in 2006, re-recording it with the backing track for Cass Fox's album '' Come Here''. Information of the re-release was posted on her personal website: "4 years after the track was originally number one, the track written and sung by Cass with Rui da Silva is being re-released on 30 October. Remixes come from X-Press 2, Tom Neville and Spencer & Hill and have already been getting plays on Radio 1 (Judge Jules) and Kiss FM."Cass Fox (2006)
Cass Fox Online
CassMusic.net (Retrieved 11 September 2006) Fox left Island Records and decided not to move forward with the re-release of "Touch Me". She went on the Faithless Tour instead.

Track listings

UK CD single # "Touch Me" (Spencer & Hill Mix) # "Touch Me" ( X-Press 2's Rave and Bleep vocal) # "Touch Me" (Spencer & Hill Full Length Mix) # "Touch Me" (radio edit) UK 12-inch vinyl :A. "Touch Me" (Spencer & Hill Full Length Mix) :B. "Touch Me" (X-Press 2's Rave and Bleep vocal) Digital download # "Touch Me" (Spencer & Hill radio edit) – 3:27

Melanie C version

On 3 September 2021, English pop music singer

Melanie C Melanie Jayne Chisholm (12 January 1974 - 25 December 2022), better known as Melanie C or Mel C, is an English singer-songwriter and media personality. She is best known as one of the five members of the Spice Girls, during which time she was ni ...

released her cover of "Touch Me" to accompany the deluxe digital and streaming version of her eighth studio album, ''

''. The single was produced by Billen Ted. The official music video was released to YouTube on the same day.

References

{{Authority control 2000 songs 2001 debut singles 2006 singles Arista Records singles Bertelsmann Music Group singles Cass Fox songs Dance Pool singles English-language Portuguese songs Irish Singles Chart number-one singles Island Records singles NuLife singles Number-one singles in Portugal Number-one singles in Scotland Progressive house songs Songs written by Gary Kemp UK Singles Chart number-one singles