"Kiss Me" is the band's highest-charting single in the US,peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and becoming the country's sixth-best-selling single of 1999. Worldwide,the song reached No. 1 on the Australian and Canadian charts as well as No. 4 on the UK Singles Chart,entering the top 10 in 16 countries altogether. Three music videos were made for the song,with one paying tribute to French romantic drama film Jules and Jim and two others featuring the band in the park,watching a portable television.
Background
"Kiss Me" originated as a draft of a song written in a Dutch motel.[7] Sixpence None the Richer's lead vocalist Leigh Nash said the band had been in their rooms for about an hour when band member Matt Slocum called to let her know that he had composed a new song. Nash went on to say,"We were on tour over there,and we had a show that night at Flevo Festival. We performed it that night! I went down into his room and learned it. It was an instant hit with fans,but it was still like a year and a half before we recorded it."[7]
The song has a more lighthearted,"poppier" sound compared to the band's prior work;thus,the band were reluctant to include it on their self-titled third album until their producer persuaded them to reconsider.[7] Nash said early drafts of the song had "slightly edgier lyrics,with 'silver moon sparkling' originally written as 'cigarettes sparkling.'"[7]
Composition
The song is composed in the key of E♭ major,with a tempo "moderate beat" of 96 bpm,the time signature is 4 4 common time,and the vocal range is B♭3–B♭4,according to Musicnotes.com.[8]
Rick Anderson of AllMusic described the song as "an utterly irresistible slice of swoony guitar pop" adding that "is impossible to shake loose from the brain and could well turn out to be this generation's 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand'."[11]Chuck Taylor and Deborah Evans Price of Billboard magazine compared the song to those recorded by the Sundays.[1][2] Taylor called the song "admirably well-written" and "brightly produced",further comparing the track to 10,000 Maniacs.[2] British music columnist James Masterton also compared "Kiss Me" to the works of the Sundays,referring to the song as a cross with a mellow Cranberries song,and called it a "wonderful tapestry of jangling guitars".[12] Jim Kerr of Radio &Records magazine wrote that the song is an "amazing piece of alterna-pop" reminiscent of the Sundays.[13]Larry Flick of Billboard described "Kiss Me" as a "refreshing summertime tune" with "airy" production and "romantic" imagery.[14]Daily Record said it is an "excellent pop song."[15]
Chart performance
"Kiss Me" debuted on the US Billboard Hot 100 at number 90 on the issue of November 28,1998,but it fell out of the top 100 the following week.[16] On February 13,1999,it re-entered the listing at number 91,[17] then took another 11 weeks to reach its peak of number two on May 1,where it stayed for a single week.[18] It stayed in the top 100 for 33 weeks,[19] ending 1999 as the United States' sixth-most-successful song of the year.[20] The single additionally peaked atop the BillboardMainstream Top 40 chart and reached number two on the Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts.[21][22][23] In Canada,"Kiss Me" debuted at number 45 on the RPM Top Singles chart on March 22 and rose to number one on May 10,[24][25] becoming Canada's 11th-best-performing hit of 1999.[26] It topped the RPM Adult Contemporary chart as well.[27]
The track reached number one in Australia,where it stayed for three weeks in June 1999 following a four-week climb up the ARIA Singles Chart.[28] It appeared at number 19 on the Australian year-end chart of 1999.[29] In New Zealand,"Kiss Me" debuted at number 16 in May and rose to its peak of number four on July 18,[30] spending 15 weeks in the top 50 and ending the year at number 44 on the RIANZ year-end chart.[31] The song became a hit in several European countries,reaching the top 10 in Austria,Flanders,Germany,Greece,Hungary,Ireland,Italy,Norway,Switzerland,and the United Kingdom.[28][32][33][34][35][36] It peaked within the top 20 in Iceland,the Netherlands,Sweden,and Wallonia,attaining a peak of number 15 on the Eurochart Hot 100.[37][38][28][39] In France,it rose to number 32 in September 1999.[40] "Kiss Me" has earned several certifications,receiving a double-platinum award in the UK and US,[41][42] a platinum disc in Australia,[43] and gold discs in Belgium and New Zealand.[44][45]
Music videos
The original music video,directed by producer Steve Taylor and filmed in Paris,France,pays tribute to French filmmaker François Truffaut and his film Jules and Jim,made in black and white and recreating many of the classic scenes from the film.[46] Two alternate versions of the video were also released later,which featured the band sitting on a park bench,performing and watching scenes from either She's All That or Dawson's Creek on a portable television or projected on an outdoor screen. Freddie Prinze Jr. and Rachael Leigh Cook appeared in the She's All That version of the video.[47] The Dawson's Creek version of the video became VH1's number-one video for the entire month of May 1999.[48]
Legacy
Covers and samples
As a solo artist,the lead vocalist of the band,Leigh Nash recorded a cover of the song for her 2018 Limited Edition EP and sings it as part of her live sets.[7] The song has been covered by Avril Lavigne,[49] UK R&B singer Nathan,Lava Lava on their album Tour Demo,and New Found Glory on their 2007 album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II. The New Found Glory version has been released as a single with a music video.[50] "Kiss Me" has also been covered by Singaporean Olivia Ong on her 2006 album A Girl Meets Bossa Nova 2.[51] A cover by Debbie Scott appeared in the 2004 game Pump It Up:Exceed. A cover of the song was put in the 2003 game Karaoke Revolution.
The song was covered on the eighth season of The X Factor UK in 2011 by Janet Devlin in Week 7. In 2019,SZA performed a cover version as part of her set at the III Points Festival.[52] In August 2021,Cyn recorded a cover version of the song for the soundtrack to the Netflix film,He's All That.[53] In a 2022 season 1 episode of the CBS TV series Ghosts,"Attic Girl",Sam Arondekar (Rose McIver) and Jay Arondekar (Utkarsh Ambudkar) throw a prom for the ghosts. The episode ends with Sam walking down the stairs in an homage to She's All That,a reference mentioned by Jay. The song was also covered by Australian singer Ruel on June 27,2024,for his EP,Adaptations,which also features multiple covers of other songs.[54][55]
In 2006,the song garnered renewed popularity in the Philippines because of a viral performance from actress and former Viva Hot Babes member Alyssa Alano. The viral video,which was uploaded on YouTube,featured a mondegreened version of the performance,with karaokesubtitles of her accented lyrics,which,among other things,rendered the title of the song as "Keys Me."[58][59]
In an interview with Vogue,Taylor Swift said that "Kiss Me" was the first song that she learned to play on guitar,when she was 12 years old.[61] The NHL also used the song in a Stanley Cup Playoffs commercial in 2023.[62]
* Sales figures based on certification alone. ^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. ‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
↑ Kiss Me (UK CD single liner notes). Sixpence None the Richer. Elektra Records, Squint Entertainment. 1999. E3750CD.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Kiss Me (UK cassette single sleeve). Sixpence None the Richer. Elektra Records, Squint Entertainment. 1999. E3750C.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
↑ Kiss Me (Japanese CD single liner notes). Sixpence None the Richer. EastWest Records Japan, Squint Entertainment. 2000. AMCY-7123.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
