"I'll Make Love to You" | ||||
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Single by Boyz II Men | ||||
from the album II | ||||
Released | July 26, 1994 | |||
Genre | R&B | |||
Length | 3:56 | |||
Label | Motown | |||
Songwriter(s) | Babyface | |||
Producer(s) | Babyface | |||
Boyz II Men singles chronology | ||||
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Music video | ||||
"I'll Make Love to You" on YouTube | ||||
Audio sample | ||||
"I'll Make Love to You" |
"I'll Make Love to You" is a song by American R&B group Boyz II Men for the Motown label. Written by Babyface,it was released in July 1994 as the lead single from their second album, II (1994). The song was a commercial success,spending 14 weeks atop the US Billboard Hot 100. It was also the third best performing song in the 1990s on Billboard,as well as ranking on Billboard Greatest of All-Time chart. "I'll Make Love to You" won the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and was nominated for Record of the Year. Its accompanying music video was directed by Lionel C. Martin.
Larry Flick from Billboard described "I'll Make Love to You" as a "sweeping pop/R&B ballad". He wrote further,"Silky harmonies waft over a well-measured arrangement chock-ful of bright,glistening synths and soft-yet-punctuating percussion. Lovely sing-along chorus initially will remind many of past glories,but single ultimately will provide a refreshing cool breeze to any of numerous radio formats it graces." [1] Troy J. Augusto from Cash Box named it Pick of the Week,declaring it as "a lushly-arranged,slowly-paced ballad","full of the same charming vocal harmonies and natural soul that gives the group its universal pop appeal. Ready to explode at urban,A/C and Top 40,this cut leads a parade of future hit singles that should keep the Boyz in chart heaven all through the night and all through the year." [2]
In his weekly UK chart commentary,James Masterton deemed it "another piece of immaculate close-harmony soul",that "is a smash before it has ever started". [3] Pan-European magazine Music &Media commented,"Silkier then the First Lady's nightgown,the first single off the "mommy" Boyz's upcoming album II further secures their position as the masters of the close harmony ballad." [4] Alan Jones from Music Week also named it Pick of the Week,rating it four out of five. He wrote,"Returning after more than a year,Boyz II Men get back into the "End of the Road" groove with a silky,powerful ballad penned by BabyFace. Its sweeping majesty is likely to push it high into the chart." [5] Gerald Martinez from New Sunday Times felt that the song,along with "On Bended Knee","tries to recapture the magic of "End of the Road",and they come close. Big production numbers with solid hooks,they should be flooding our airwaves for the next few months." [6] Paul Evans from Rolling Stone viewed it as a "lush swoon-and-croon" ballad "of the kind the Boyz' hard-core fans demand." [7] Mark Sutherland from Smash Hits gave it three out of five,saying,"Weeell,in their favour are the facts that they are still the meanest warblers in pop and that soul doesn't come much more silky or supersmooth than this. Against them is the fact that this is basically just "End of the Road" with new lyrics –and blimmin' presumptuous lyrics at that." [8]
The single was a massive commercial success. It held the number one position on the US Billboard Hot 100 for 14 weeks,from August 27 to November 26,1994. At the time,the song tied a record for the most weeks at number one that had been set by Whitney Houston's "I Will Always Love You" in late 1992 and early 1993. Boyz II Men would later break their own record in 1996 with "One Sweet Day",a collaboration with Mariah Carey,which remained at number one on the Hot 100 for 16 weeks beginning in December 1995. "I'll Make Love to You" also topped the U.S. R&B and adult contemporary charts for nine and three weeks,respectively,in 1994. It sold 1,627,000 copies domestically,earning a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America for shipments of over one million copies. [9] [10] In Canada,the song reached number one on September 26,retaining the position for two weeks. "All I Wanna Do" by Sheryl Crow then held the top position for four weeks,but on November 2,"I'll Make Love to You" returned to number one for an additional week before beginning its final descent from the chart. [11]
Outside North America,"I'll Make Love to You" also experienced major chart success. It reached number one in New Zealand on September 11,keeping that position for four weeks before "Endless Love" by Luther Vandross and Mariah Carey moved to number one. In Australia,the song reached the top on October 16 and stayed there for two weeks,losing its spot at number one to Silverchair's "Tomorrow". On both charts,the song stayed in the top 50 for 22 weeks. Across Europe,the song reached the top 10 in most countries,but fell outside this range in Germany and Finland,where it peaked at 20 and 12,respectively. In the UK,the song debuted at number 6 on the Official Singles Chart on August 28 before moving up to number 5 the next week,its peak position. It stayed in the top 40 for a further eight weeks. In Ireland,the song was slightly less successful,reaching number 7 and spending 10 weeks on the chart.
"I'll Make Love to You" won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and two American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Single and Favorite Soul/R&B Single. It ranks at number 19 on Billboard's All-Time Top 100 Songs. [12]
The accompanying music video for "I'll Make Love to You" was directed by American music video director,film director and VJ Lionel C. Martin. [13] It depicts a story around a woman and a man. The man,played by actor Duane Martin,installs a security system in the woman's house. She later invites him to have a drink,but he's busy. It turns out that she really likes him;likewise,as he likes her too. While reading her letter,he begins to slowly take off his clothes,right at the moment in the song where the lyrics say he should. In the end,he writes her a letter,she receives it and reads it:it is a love letter,with the song lyrics. [14]
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
Decade-end charts
All-time charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Australia (ARIA) [42] | Platinum | 70,000^ |
New Zealand (RMNZ) [62] | Platinum | 10,000* |
United Kingdom (BPI) [63] | Platinum | 600,000‡ |
United States (RIAA) [64] | Platinum | 1,000,000^ |
* Sales figures based on certification alone. |
Region | Date | Format(s) | Label(s) | Ref. |
---|---|---|---|---|
United States | July 26, 1994 |
| Motown | [ citation needed ] |
United Kingdom | August 23, 1994 | [65] | ||
Japan | September 10, 1994 | Mini-CD | [66] |
In the 2020 Hulu series High Fidelity , actor Thomas Doherty sings a cover of the song in-character as Liam Shawcross, a musician who protagonist Rob (Zoë Kravitz) later has a one-night-stand with. [67]
In an episode of the Netflix comedy Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) sings the song at a funeral at the request of a Boyz II Men song by his landlady Lillian (Carol Kane), both realizing his mistake as he gets to the chorus.
In Series 2, Episode 5, of the BBC comedy series Ghosts, Julian Fawcett MP (Simon Farnaby), the trouser-less ghost of a Conservative MP who died in 1993, sings the song a cappella for the ghost's music club, much to the dismay of the less contemporary ghosts.
In the 2012 film Pitch Perfect, an a cappella version of two lines of the song is included in a medley performed by the Barden Bellas as part of the Riff-Off.
In Season 1 Episode 6 of That 90's Show, Bob Pinciotti sings the song to his granddaughter Leia
Boyz II Men created a parody of the song called "I'll Make Love to You (But We Don't Have To)" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert .
Boyz II Men is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. Formed in 1985, they have been a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris alongside tenors Wanyá Morris and Shawn Stockman since 2003. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men was a quartet with bass singer Michael McCary, who left the group in 2003 due to health issues that were diagnosed as multiple sclerosis.
"I'll Be There" is the first single released from Third Album by The Jackson 5. It was written by Berry Gordy, Hal Davis, Bob West, and Willie Hutch.
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"End of the Road" is a song by American R&B group Boyz II Men for the Boomerang soundtrack. It was released in June 1992 by LaFace, Arista and Motown, and is written by Babyface, Antonio L.A. Reid and Daryl Simmons. The song achieved domestic and international success. In the United States, it spent a then record breaking 13 weeks at number one on the US Billboard Hot 100, a record broken later in the year by Whitney Houston's 14-week number one hit "I Will Always Love You"; Boyz II Men would later match Houston's record with "I'll Make Love to You", which spent 14 weeks at number one in 1994, and then reclaim the record with "One Sweet Day", which spent 16 weeks at number one from 1995 to 1996.
"One Sweet Day" is a song by American singer-songwriter Mariah Carey and American vocal group Boyz II Men. The song was released on November 14, 1995, as the second single from the former's fifth studio album, Daydream (1995) by Columbia Records. The artists co-wrote the song with Walter Afanasieff, who co-produced it with Carey. Lyrically, the song speaks about the death of a loved one, how the protagonist took their presence for granted and misses them, and finally about seeing the person in heaven. The artists wrote the song about specific people in their lives, being inspired by sufferers of the AIDS epidemic, which was globally prevalent at the time.
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II is the second studio album - hence the title - by American R&B quartet Boyz II Men, released on August 30, 1994, on Motown Records. It contained the No. 1 singles "I'll Make Love to You" and "On Bended Knee", the latter of which replaced the former at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, making the group the third artist to replace themselves at No. 1 in the United States after Elvis Presley and The Beatles and the first to achieve the feat in 30 years.
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"On Bended Knee" is a song by American R&B group Boyz II Men for the Motown label. It was written and produced by Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, and released in November 1994 as the second single from the group's second album, II (1994). The song reached number one on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay chart and number two on the Billboard Hot Singles Sales chart on December 3, 1994. It stayed at number one for a total of six non-consecutive weeks. The accompanying music video was directed by Lionel C. Martin.
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