"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,directed by Steve Taylor and Randee St. Nicholas,with one paying tribute to French romantic drama film Jules and Jim and two featuring the band in a 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 member Matt Slocum called to tell her he had written a new song. Nash added,"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 than the band's earlier work;the band was reluctant to include it on its self-titled third album until its producer persuaded it 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 in E♭ major,with a "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 called the song "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 it "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 Sundays,calling it a cross with a mellow Cranberries song and a "wonderful tapestry of jangling guitars".[12] Jim Kerr of Radio &Records magazine called the song 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 called it 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 next week.[16] On February 13,1999,it reentered 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 one 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 video,directed by producer Steve Taylor and filmed in Paris,pays tribute to François Truffaut's 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 released later,directed by Randee St. Nicholas,[47] that feature 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 appear in the She's All That version.[48] The Dawson's Creek version was VH1's number-one video of May 1999.[49]
Legacy
Covers and samples
As a solo artist,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,[50] UK R&B singer Nathan,Lava Lava on its album Tour Demo,and New Found Glory on its 2007 album From the Screen to Your Stereo Part II. The New Found Glory version has been released as a single with a video.[51]Olivia Ong covered the song on her 2006 album A Girl Meets Bossa Nova 2.[52] A cover by Debbie Scott appeared in the 2004 game Pump It Up:Exceed. Another cover 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.[53] In August 2021,Cyn recorded a cover version for the soundtrack to the Netflix film He's All That.[54] In the season 1 episode of the TV series Ghosts,"Attic Girl" (2022),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 Jay mentions. The song was also covered by Ruel on June 27,2024,on his EP Adaptations,which also features covers of other songs.[55][56]
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 as "Keys Me".[59][60]
* 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)
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