"You Make Me Wanna..." is a song by American recording artist
Usher. It was released on August 5, 1997, by
LaFace Records and
Arista Records as the
lead single from Usher's second studio album, My Way (1997). "You Make Me Wanna..." was written by Usher along with
Jermaine Dupri and
Manuel Seal, who both produced the tune. An
R&B,
soul and
pop song in
C minor, it makes use of
acoustic guitar,
hi-hat and
bell instrumentation. The song focuses on a
love triangle relationship, with the protagonist wishing to leave his girlfriend for his erstwhile best friend, with a
hook in which Usher states, "You make me wanna leave the one I'm with and start a new relationship with you". The record won a
Billboard Music Award, a
Soul Train Music Award, and a
WQHT Hip Hop Award, and was nominated for a
Grammy Award.
Usher wrote "You Make Me Wanna..." with
Jermaine Dupri and
Manuel Seal, who also produced and played
musical instruments on the tune.
Phil Tan was in charge of recording the song at the Krosswire Studio, in
Atlanta, Georgia in 1996. Tan and Dupri
mixed the record with assistance from John and Brian Frye at Studio LaCoCo, in
Atlanta, Georgia.[1] "You Make Me Wanna..." draws from the genres of
R&B,
soul and
pop,[2] and heavily utilizes the
acoustic guitar,[3][4] while also incorporating
hi-hat and
bell instrumentation.[5] According to
Universal Music Publishing Group's sheet music published at Musicnotes.com, "You Make Me Wanna..." is written in the key of
C Minor with a moderate
tempo of 88
beats per minute. Usher's voice extends from the low note of B♭3 to the high note of C6.[2] The song[6] has a basic sequence of Cm–Fm7–A♭–G–G/B as its
chord progression.[2] In the song, Usher attempts to seduce his partner's best friend, whom he finds irresistible,[7] creating a
love triangle.[8] The song's lyrics are written in
second-person narrative,[2][7] and its
hook is the
pick-up line, "You make me wanna leave the one I'm with and start a new relationship with you".[9] Usher told Rolling Stone that the song was inspired by one of his own memories of "juggling three women".[10]
Release
"You Make Me Wanna..." was distributed by
LaFace Records and
Arista Records. In the United States, it was serviced to
rhythmic contemporary radio on July 15, 1997.[11] The song was then released via
maxi single on August 5, 1997.[12][13] On September 9, 1997, the track was added to US
contemporary hit radio.[14] "You Make Me Wanna..." was released via
cassette single,
CD single, and
12-inch vinyl in the UK on January 19, 1998.[15] The vinyl was made available in the US on April 24, 2001.[16]Unauthorized copies of the song were distributed in Europe before its release, due to its popularity.[17] "You Make Me Wanna..." serves as the opening track to Usher's second studio album, My Way, while an extended version concludes the album.[18]
Critical reception
BBC Music's Christian Hopwood stated that "You Make Me Wanna..." had "universal appeal".[19]Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "Vocally strumming his notes as gently and powerfully as the guitar player who accompanies him, Usher makes no enemies by professing an attraction to a friend while being involved with another. The track promises to be a hit among all generations and genders as his loyal young female fan base will eagerly jump aboard. Older women will easily fall prey to the very thought of his musings, while men now have an interesting avenue to express similar feelings."[20]Robert Christgau noted "You Make Me Wanna..." as one of the best tracks from My Way.[21]Entertainment Weekly's Whitney Pastorek gave it an A− rating, and complimented its minimal production.[5] The Daily News reviewer called the single "very wonderful".[3] British Music Week gave the single five out of five, remarking that it "looks set to crash into the mainstream".[22] The magazine's Alan Jones praised it as "a superbly sublime and soulful semi-acoustic debut which recalls similarly styled singles from
Tony Rich and
Babyface. It actually has a very complex vocal, with Usher singing in and around the gaps on his own chorus. A very promising cuitain-raiser."[23] According to Ann Powers of The New York Times, the song "put the spice back in the word 'relationship'."[24] David Fricke from Rolling Stone said it is one thing: "tiptoe love funk with a spare, gangsta air and Usher doing overdubbed ensemble singing like a one-man
Blackstreet."[25] When reviewing My Way, Ian Hyland from Sunday Mirror stated that, "Tracks like 'You Make Me Wanna...', 'Nice And Slow' and 'Slow Jam' should put you in the mood".[26] A writer for The Vindicator wrote, "The song is a melodic blend of Usher's smooth, youthful voice and a strong, upbeat rhythm track.[27] Billy Johnson Jr. of
Yahoo! Music commended the production on "You Make Me Wanna...", along with that of "
Nice and Slow" and "
My Way", the second and third singles from My Way, respectively.[28] On
Valentine's Day 2004,
VH1 listed the song at number six on its "Top 10 Sexy Tunes" for the holiday.[29]
"You Make Me Wanna..." debuted at number twenty-five on the
Billboard Hot 100 on the chart dated August 23, 1997. The track peaked at number two for seven consecutive weeks, from October 25 to December 6, 1997. After seven weeks at number two, the song fell into number three, replaced at the runner-up spot by
LeAnn Rimes' "
How Do I Live", which had also spent seven weeks at number three. In November 1998, the song fell off the chart after forty-six charting weeks.[36] On the
Hot R&B Singles component chart, "You Make Me Wanna..." debuted at number four on August 23, 1997, before topping the chart two weeks later. In its first week of release, "You Make Me Wanna..." received 1,329
spins,[37] and by early October 1997, the song had made fifty million listener impressions on US R&B radio.[27] The record spent a total of eleven weeks atop the R&B/Hip Hop Songs, and seventy-one weeks within the chart's 100 positions.[38] "You Make Me Wanna..." stood as the song with the longest run on the genre chart by a male artist until
K'Jon's "On the Ocean" lasted longer in 2010.[39] It also spent twenty-nine weeks on the
Pop Songs chart, peaking at number seven.[40] On September 3, 1997, "You Make Me Wanna..." received a
gold certification from the
Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), denoting 500,000 shipments, and later that month it was upgraded to platinum status for shipments exceeding one million copies.[41] Though its certification status was not further renewed, it ultimately went on to sell over two million copies domestically.[42] The song ranked at number eighty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 "All-Time Top Songs", published in July 2008.[43]
"You Make Me Wanna..." entered the
UK Singles Chart at number one, on the chart dated January 31, 1998.[44] That same week the
British Phonographic Industry (BPI) awarded the song a silver certification for shipping 200,000 units.[45] It only spent one week on top of the chart, being replaced by
Aqua's "
Doctor Jones".[46] "You Make Me Wanna..." slipped off the chart in May 1998, having had thirteen charting weeks.[47] The BPI has since re-certified the single gold for shipping over 400,000 copies.[45] The song entered the
Canadian Singles Chart at number eighty-six on November 10, 1997.[48] It peaked at number six,[49] lasting twenty-two weeks in the chart.[50] In Europe, the song reached the top twenty in France, Germany, Norway and Switzerland, and peaked at number seven in the Netherlands.[51][52][53] It spent sixteen weeks in the
Australian Singles Chart, climaxing at number six,[51] and was certified Platinum by the
Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), having sold 70,000 copies.[54] "You Make Me Wanna..." reached number fifteen on the
New Zealand Singles Chart, occupying twenty-six weeks in the chart.[51] The
Recording Industry Association of New Zealand certified the song gold.[55]
Music video
The accompanying music video for "You Make Me Wanna..." was directed by Bille Woodruff.[56] It starts with Usher sitting in an orange wall recess, reaching for a guitar, before cutting to a scene of him standing in a white-and-purple circular room, wearing an open shirt. It moves to a blue backdrop where Usher advances, flanked by four dancers. The scene is replaced by five
clones of Usher dancing and sitting on chairs.[5][7] The video continues with the singer performing dance routines throughout; interspersed are scenes of Usher singing the song on a background of blue pipes. Toward the end of the video, he takes off his shirt in the circular room, and finally Usher and his backup dancers step out of their shoes and walk away.[57]