| 'If You Leave Me Now' | |
|---|---|
| Promotional single by Charlie Puth featuring Boyz II Men | |
| from the album Voicenotes | |
| Released | January 5, 2018 |
| Genre | R&B |
| Length | 4:02 |
| Label | Atlantic |
| Songwriter(s) | |
| Producer(s) | Charlie Puth[1] |
Not surprisingly, Legacy focuses on Boyz II Men's first two albums - Cooleyhighharmony and II - and not so much on Evolution and Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya. Boyz Ii Men; Overall, this best-of is a great place to get all of Boyz II Men's hits if you're not one of the millions of people who bought the original LPs. Jason Birchmeier.
'If You Leave Me Now' is a song by American singer Charlie Puth, featuring American vocal group Boyz II Men. It was released via Atlantic Records on January 5, 2018, as the first promotional single from Puth's second studio album, Voicenotes (2018). The song is an a cappella song, it interpolates 'I Thought She Knew' by NSYNC from their 2000 album, No Strings Attached. While the song is not a cover of Chicago's 1976 hit single, Puth recognizes the eponymous song's legacy by including the line 'You will take the biggest part of me,' which is featured prominently in the predecessor song's lyrics. Boyz II Men recorded a cover of the Chicago song in 2009.
Background[edit]
Puth detailed on Twitter that this song serves as a consolation for his pushing back of the album's release.[2] 'So I have good news and bad news. The bad news is that I have to push the album release date. I'm producing this album all myself and with that comes a lot of work, and in my opinion, the album is not perfect yet. However, it will still come out this year, and soon. But to make it up to all of you, here's the good news. I'm putting out a song I did with Boyz II Men tomorrow. And it's probably one of my favorite songs I've ever written. Love you guys and thank you for understanding,' Puth wrote on Twitter a day before the song's release. Boyz II Men celebrated the collaboration on social media by writing: 'Had a great time working with [Puth] on this record. Pure talent.'[3]
Composition[edit]
Boyz Ii Men Legacy Zip Lines Domus.Cad Pro is a CAD application that you can use to put your architectural vision to the test. CAD or Computer Aided Design means that the application will put at your disposal a variety of tools and instruments that will help you build and model a structure form the blueprint phase to a fully explorable 3D model. Listen to Legacy: The Greatest Hits Collection by Boyz II Men on VIBBIDI - Browse every single Songs, Tracklists, Music Videos, Remixes, Fan Covers, Live Performances, Tours, Playlists, Lyrics, Narrative Stories, News & more for free! Exact Audio Copy V0.99 prebeta 5 from 4. May 2009 EAC extraction logfile from 2. January 2011, 10:15 Boyz II Men / Nathan Michael Shawn Wanya Used drive: PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-118L Adapter: 5 ID: 0.
It is in the key of D Major with a key change to E Major after the bridge.
Critical reception[edit]
Taylor Weatherby of Billboard praised the song, calling it a showcase of 'Puth's impressive falsetto and power-note abilities'. She also like the song's feature of 'another '90s classic in addition to Boyz II Men: A good old-fashioned key change'.[4] Madison Vain of Entertainment Weekly opined that the song is 'remarkably understated in its production', calling it 'Puth's most straightforward R&B cut to date'. She found Boyz II Men 'lending their honeyed harmonies to the song', along with 'a few delightful standout lead moments'.[5] Hugh McIntyre of Fuse wrote that the song is distinct from Puth's previous productions. He felt the song 'surprisingly mature' and 'shows some serious growth on Puth's part'.[6] Sydney Gore of MTV News regarded it as 'an uplifting song' and 'a polished a cappella ballad', noting that 'it will really tug at your heart strings' with Boyz II Men on board.[7] Lucas Villa of AXS wrote that the song 'harks back to a time of doo-wop with finger snaps and sweet harmonies courtesy of Puth and Boyz II Men'.[8]
Charts[edit]
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| New Zealand Heatseekers (RMNZ)[9] | 10 |
| Sweden Heatseeker (Sverigetopplistan)[10] | 13 |
References[edit]
- ^Nied, Mike (January 4, 2018). 'Charlie Puth & Boyz II Men Join Forces On The Wistful 'If You Leave Me Now''. Idolator. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^Fresh, Mikey (January 4, 2018). 'Charlie Puth & Boyz II Men Team Up On For New Duet 'If You Leave Me Now''. Vibe. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^'New Music: Charlie Puth feat. Boyz II Men – 'If You Leave Me Now''. Rap-Up. January 4, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^Weatherby, Taylor (January 6, 2018). 'Charlie Puth Goes A Cappella With Boyz II Men on 'If You Leave Me Now''. Billboard. Retrieved January 4, 2018.
- ^Vain, Madison (January 4, 2018). 'Charlie Puth, Boyz II Men team up for infectious R&B song'. Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^McIntyre, Hugh (January 4, 2018). 'Charlie Puth Displays Artistic Maturity With Boyz II Men Duet 'If You Leave Me Now': Listen'. Fuse. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^Gore, Sydney (January 4, 2018). 'Charlie Puth Will Win You Over With 'If You Leave Me Now''. MTV News. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^Villa, Lucas (January 5, 2018). 'Listen: Charlie Puth harmonizes with Boyz II Men on 'If You Leave Me Now''. AXS. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
- ^'NZ Heatseeker Singles Chart'. Recorded Music NZ. January 15, 2018. Retrieved January 12, 2018.
- ^'Veckolista Heatseeker – Vecka 2, 12 january 2018'. Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
After the runaway success of their first two albums, 1991's Cooleyhighharmony and 1994's II, that catapulted them to pop superstardom, Boyz II Men looked for a threepeat with the release of Evolution in 1997. Their fourth overall recording at the time — they dropped their evergreen holiday collection Christmas Interpreations between their freshman and sophomore sets in 1993 — had all of the makings of another hit collection with who's who of songwriters, producers and hitmakers, including Babyface, Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, involved in the production. Unfortunately, with all the star power behind Evolution, it couldn't match the success of its predecessors and signaled the start of a downward trend for BIIM.
Don't get it twisted, Shawn Stockman, Nathan Morris, Wanya Morris and Michael McCary sounded as amazing as ever on Evolution; there was no change in the quality of their vocals. However, the material itself was all a bit lackluster. Lead single '4 Seasons of Loneliness,' while a sweet song about the lingering feelings of heartbreak wasn't bad, was no 'Motownphilly' or 'I'll Make Love To You.' Nonetheless, the track debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit No. 1 the following week. Evolution also got a boost from the follow-up single 'A Song For Mama,' which was also featured on the Soul Food Soundtrack and has been trotted out on every Mother's Day or occasion honoring mothers since. The Boyz also took on New Edition's 'Can You Stand the Rain' with a slowed down a cappella remake that showcased their otherworldly harmonies. Although the album got a relatively sleepy start with ballads, it woke up halfway through thanks to productions from Sean 'Puffy' Combs and a few of his bad boys (Stevie J, Ron 'Amen-Ra' Lawrence and Jeffrey 'J-Dub' Walker) on 'Can't Let Her Go,' 'Come On' and 'To The Limit' and Keith Crouch who contributed 'Baby C'mon' and 'All Night Long.' Unfortunately, of those songs, only 'Can't Let Her Go' was released as a single and it made little impact, with the rest of the tracks largely becoming forgotten about album cuts despite there being a few bops among them.
Evolution debuted at No. 1 on both the Billboard 200 and R&B Album charts, but it would be the last time that Boyz II Men would see that apex. The album sold a solid but modest three million copies worldwide, which paled in comparison to the numbers their previous releases did. They came up short at the GRAMMY Awards the following year as well, but a Spanish-language version of the album, Evolución, would go on to snag a Billboard Latin Music Award for Pop Album of the Year by a New Artist. Behind the scenes, label drama reared its ugly head between the Boyz and Motown, and Evolution would be their last on the label. In the 20 years since Evolution, Boyz II Men have continued to evolve and are still together (minus Michael McCary) making music and money moves. This year they released their 13th studio album, a doo-wop tribute project Under the Streetlight; have enjoyed a successful ongoing residency in Las Vegas at The Mirage and had a street near their high school renamed Boyz II Men Boulevard in their hometown of Philadelphia. Boyz II Men's enduring legacy looms large.
Boyz II Men Evolution [Amazon][iTunes][Google Play]
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