"Too Close" is a song by British singer

Alex Clare Alexander George Clare (c. 1985) is an English singer and songwriter. His debut album, '' The Lateness of the Hour'', was released in the UK on 11 July 2011 on Island Records and was produced by Mike Spencer and Major Lazer. His biggest hit, ...

. The track was first released in the United Kingdom on 15 April 2011 as the second single from Clare's debut studio album, '' The Lateness of the Hour'' (2011). The track was written by Clare,

Jim Duguid Jim Duguid is a Scottish musician and songwriter best known for co-writing the Alex Clare song " Too Close". Biography A native of Glasgow, Duguid cut his teeth playing drums in a number of bands which centred around the vibrant 90's Glasgow mus ...

and produced by

Major Lazer Major Lazer is an American electronic dance music DJ trio, which includes record producer Diplo, and DJs Walshy Fire and Ape Drums. It originates from Kingston, Jamaica, and was founded in 2008 by Diplo and Switch, with Switch leaving after t ...

(

Diplo Thomas Wesley Pentz (born November 10, 1978), known professionally as Diplo, is an American DJ and music producer. He is the co-creator and lead member of the electronic dancehall music project Major Lazer, a member of the supergroup LSD with ...

and

Switch In electrical engineering, a switch is an electrical component that can disconnect or connect the conducting path in an electrical circuit, interrupting the electric current or diverting it from one conductor to another. The most common type of ...

), with co-production from

Ariel Rechtshaid Ariel Rechtshaid ( ;) is an American record producer, audio engineer, mixing engineer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter. His accolades include three Grammy Awards for music production. Rechtshaid was the lead singer and guitarist of the ska ...

and

Mike Spencer Michael Spencer is an English record producer and recording engineer, who has worked with pop acts ranging from Newton Faulkner to Emeli Sandé. Many of his productions have achieved platinum certification, and have won MOBO and Brit Awards, a ...

. Lyrically, the song describes the protagonist who is not ready for a committed relationship and he must end things with his love interest in good terms. The song became popular after it was used in an advertising campaign for

Microsoft's Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washingt ...

Internet Explorer 9 Internet Explorer 9 or IE9 (officially Windows Internet Explorer 9) is a web browser for Windows. It was released by Microsoft on March 14, 2011, as the ninth version of Internet Explorer and the successor to Internet Explorer 8, and can replace p ...

. "Too Close" was a number-one hit in Germany and Luxembourg. It became a top-ten hit in multiple countries, including the UK, where it peaked at number 4, and the U.S., where it peaked at number 7. The song has also been certified double platinum by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

. The song was also nominated for the

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

for Best British Single at the

2013 Brit Awards Brit Awards 2013 was held on 20 February 2013. This was the 33rd edition of the British Phonographic Industry's annual Brit Awards. The awards ceremony was held at The O2 Arena in London, and was presented for the third time in three years by J ...

Background

Clare said "Too Close" was inspired by a particular relationship with a close friend that turned romantic. He said, "One thing led to another, but it didn't really work out and that felt too close." The song was first released in the UK on 15 April 2011 as the second single from the album. In March 2012, it was selected as the soundtrack to

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washing ...

's advertisement for

, released the following month. The exposure propelled the song to international success. This marked a turnaround in Clare's musical career and fortunes. Prior to it entering the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

, he had been forced to take a job as an estate agent after being dropped by his record label due to poor sales of his album. Soon after its success on the chart,

Universal Republic Records Republic Records is a New York City–based American record label owned by Universal Music Group (UMG). It was founded by Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman as an independent label in 1995, and was acquired by UMG in 2000. Republic was initially an i ...

signed Clare to a distribution deal that allowed ''The Lateness of the Hour'' to be released in the US. The song's success in the US also led to it being featured as one of the 16 main tracks on '' NOW That's What I Call Music! 43''.

Chart and sales performance

In the weeks after the premiere of the Microsoft advertising campaign where the song was featured, "Too Close" sold more than 100,000 digital downloads, and it made its debut at number 68 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in its third week of release. It reached the top-ten in September after a boost in download due to it being featured in

Fox TV The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

's ''

So You Think You Can Dance ''So You Think You Can Dance'' is a franchise of reality television shows in which contestants compete in dance. The first series of the franchise, created by '' Idols'' producers Simon Fuller and Nigel Lythgoe, premiered in July 2005 and has ...

'', with 127,000 downloads sold for the week. The song peaked at number 7 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song has sold over 3 million digital downloads in the US as of May 2013. In the UK, the song sold 70,000 copies in the weeks after the Microsoft advertising campaign premiered. The song peaked at number four on the

and at number-one in Germany and Luxembourg. It was the eighteenth best-selling single of 2012 in the UK with sales of 557,000.

Music video

A music video to accompany the release of "Too Close" was first released onto YouTube on 15 March 2011 at a total length of four minutes and eighteen seconds. The video contains Clare singing in a chair intermixed with scenes of a heavily dramaticized representation of a

Kendo is a modern Japanese martial art, descended from kenjutsu (one of the old Japanese martial arts, swordsmanship), that uses bamboo swords (shinai) as well as protective armor (bōgu). Today, it is widely practiced within Japan and has spread ...

match between two heavily padded athletes in black uniforms. The fight takes place in an urban setting resembling a deserted factory building. Alex Clare said that he originally wanted samurais cutting each other up in the music video, but the budget did not permit it, so he had to settle for kendo fighters. The video opened to very small numbers, but two months after the

advert campaign, it gained much popularity and by 24 February 2013, it had more than 40 million views. It has over 79 million views as of September 2022. An alternate music video was released to YouTube on 28 August 2012. There is also an official version of the music video with footage from ''

Taken 2 ''Taken 2'' is a 2012 English-language French action-thriller film directed by Olivier Megaton and starring Liam Neeson, Maggie Grace, Famke Janssen, Rade Šerbedžija, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, D.B. Sweeney and Luke Grimes. It follows Bryan Mil ...

''.

Covers

In October 2012,

Leona Lewis Leona Louise Lewis (born 3 April 1985) is a British singer, songwriter, actress and activist. Born and raised in the London Borough of Islington, she attended the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in Croydon. Lewis achieved nationa ...

performed an acoustic cover of the song during a session with '' The Sun''.

Tim Halperin Tim Halperin (born May 27, 1987, in Omaha, Nebraska) is an American singer-songwriter. A piano player and vocalist, in 2007 he began performing and recording, and in 2010 his track "We Fight Back" became the theme song for Susan G. Komen for th ...

and Macy Maloy also covered the song.

Track listing

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

External links

* {{Authority control 2011 singles Alex Clare songs Dubstep songs Island Records singles Number-one singles in Germany Song recordings produced by Diplo 2011 songs Songs written by Jim Duguid