"Emotion" is a song written by
Barry and
Robin Gibb. It was first recorded by Australian singer
Samantha Sang, whose version reached number three on the
Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1978. The
Bee Gees recorded their own version of the song in 1994 as part of an album called Love Songs, which was never released, but it was eventually included on their 2001 collection titled Their Greatest Hits: The Record. In 2001, "Emotion" was covered by the American
R&B girl group
Destiny's Child. Their version of the song was an international hit, reaching the top ten on the US Hot 100 chart and peaking in the top five on the
UK Singles Chart. English singer
Emma Bunton also covered the song on her 2019 album My Happy Place.
Original version
Background
Originally, "Emotion" was recorded by Samantha Sang for the
Private Stock label. The song was Sang's only hit single, reaching number 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. Billboard ranked her version as the
No. 14 song for 1978. There is a promotional video made for this song.
When Sang arrived in Miami, instead of recording "
Don't Throw It All Away", Barry Gibb offered her a new song called "Emotion". On this track, Sang sticks to a breathy, Barry-like sound. Gibb himself provided harmony and background vocals in his signature
falsetto. The B-side was "When Love Is Gone", a
Francis Lai composition. It was recorded around April 1977 in
Criteria Studios in
Miami,
Florida around the same time that Barry contributed writing and producing "
Save Me, Save Me" for the band Network.
Blue Weaver identified the musicians as shown from memory. On the session, Joey Murcia plays guitar, George Bitzer on
keyboards, Harold Cowart on
bass and Ron "Tubby" Zeigler on
drums.[2] It was originally intended for use in the 1977 film Saturday Night Fever,[citation needed] but ended up being featured in the film The Stud (1978) starring
Joan Collins. Also in 1978, "Emotion" was used as the
B-side of
Johnny Mathis and
Deniece Williams's single "
Too Much, Too Little, Too Late", which reached
number one in the US.
In 2001, "Emotion" was recorded by American group
Destiny's Child for their third studio album Survivor (2001). Produced and arranged by
Mark J. Feist, it features a slower tempo than the original, although a more uptempo
remix produced by
Neptunes was also produced and included on the group's
remix albumThis Is The Remix (2002). Feist had previously produced the song for Filipino singer
Regine Velasquez for her album Drawn in 1998 and used exactly the same backing track for Destiny's Child.
"Emotion" continued Destiny's Child's streak of top-10 hits in the United States, peaking at number ten on the
Billboard Hot 100 on 1 December 2001. It was also a hit in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at number three on the
UK Singles Chart and sold over 145,000 copies. Internationally, it reached the top ten in several major music markets, including New Zealand, Ireland, and the Netherlands.
Music video
The song's accompanying
music video, directed by
Francis Lawrence, featured a triple split-screen effect. Rowland appears on the left, Knowles in the centre, and Williams on the right. Rowland is seen saying goodbye to her boyfriend before he leaves in a taxi. Knowles catches her boyfriend with another woman and runs around the house in tears. Williams is with her grandmother, who has died in her bed. At the end of the video Williams calls the other group members to her home. The three girls meet there and comfort each other. The screen then returns to normal.
The music clip is featured as an enhanced video on the European editions of the CD single and on the 2004
Walmart-exclusive DVD titled Fan Pack.
^Emotion (UK CD1 liner notes). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. 672111 2.{{
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^Emotion (UK CD2 liner notes). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. 672111 5.{{
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^Emotion (UK cassette single sleeve). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. 672111 4.{{
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^Emotion (European CD1 liner notes). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. COL 671767 1.{{
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^Emotion (European CD2 liner notes). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. COL 671767 2.{{
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^Emotion (Australian CD single liner notes). Destiny's Child. Columbia Records. 2001. 671878.5.{{
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^Emotion (Japanese CD single liner notes). Destiny's Child.
Sony Records Int'l. 2001. SICP 2.{{
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link)