Say My Name

"Say My Name" is a song by the American girl group Destiny's Child from their second studio album The Writing's on the Wall (1999). It was written by Beyoncé Knowles, LeToya Luckett, LaTavia Roberson and Kelly Rowland along with LaShawn Daniels, Fred Jerkins III and Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins, featuring production by the latter. The song was released by Columbia Records as the album's third single in early 2000 and marked the introduction of the group's second line-up with the newly added members Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin. The single is the most successful of the four releases from the album.

For other uses, see Say My Name (disambiguation).

"Say My Name"
Single by Destiny's Child
from the album The Writing's on the Wall
B-side"Bills, Bills, Bills"
ReleasedNovember 7, 1999
Recorded1999
Genre
Length
  • 4:31 (album version)
  • 4:00 (radio edit)
LabelColumbia
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)Darkchild
Destiny's Child singles chronology
"Thug Love"
(1999)		 "Say My Name"
(1999)		 "Jumpin', Jumpin'"
(2000)
Audio sample
  • file
  • help
Music video
"Say My Name" on YouTube

"Say My Name" won two Grammy Awards at the 2001 ceremony, for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B Song, while also nominated for Record of the Year and Song of the Year. The single's music video won the 2000 MTV Video Music Award for Best R&B Video. It also won a Soul Train Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo along with a BMI Pop Award for Most Played Song. Billboard named the song number seven on their list of 100 Greatest Girl Group Songs of All Time [2] and the best song of 2000.[3]

Background and writing

"Say My Name" was the group's first collaboration with producer-songwriter Rodney Jerkins, who was one out of several people hired to work with Destiny's Child on their second album. When they wrote the song, however, the lead singer Beyoncé Knowles was initially displeased with the track they were working on. She commented that there was "too much stuff" on the track and it sounded like a "jungle".[4] During the photo shoot for the album, Beyoncé's father-manager Mathew Knowles went to the studio informing her that Jerkins reworked on the track she "hated". He told her to "just have to take a listen to it". When the new mix was played to the group, they liked it.[4]

Lyrically, "Say My Name" has a female protagonist telephoning her lover and suspecting him of cheating. She asks him to "say her name". The young man hesitates, and the narrator believes it is because he does not want the girl he is cheating with to know who she is. Jerkins supported the song's lyrics with a backing track that shifts back and forth in dynamics, steadily bringing different elements, including syncopated, 808 drum programming, synthesized strings and 1970s-style wah-wah guitar licks, in and out of the mix. Knowles sings lead on the verses and bridge and leads the melody of the chorus with Kelly Rowland adding the second part harmony. LeToya Luckett sings the high harmony on the pre-chorus and second chorus. LaTavia Roberson sings second part harmony with LeToya on the pre-chorus and sings the bottom harmony late in the second chorus.

Release and performance

Released as the album's third single on November 7, 1999, "Say My Name" had several remixes which were issued alongside the original version. The two most notable alternative versions were a remix by Timbaland, which uses different vocals, lyrics and a guest appearance by the singer Static Major and Timbaland; and the "Nitro Remix", which uses the original vocals over a bass music-styled backing track. The Maurice remixes contain additional re-recorded vocals by Knowles, Luckett, Roberson and Rowland, arranged by Maurice Joshua.

"Say My Name" debuted at number 83 on the Billboard Hot 100, and reached its peak position twelve weeks later after selling 134,000 physical singles during its first week, taking longer than any other Destiny's Child number-one single to reach the top. The song also reached the top of both the Hot 100 Airplay and the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks chart for three weeks in 2000. The song spent 32 weeks on the Hot 100 and was one of the top ten best-selling CD-singles of the year in the US. It is the group's third biggest-selling single in the US after "No, No, No" and "Bills, Bills, Bills" and was also their third gold RIAA certified single.

In the United Kingdom, it was the group's biggest hit up to that point. It peaked at number three on the UK Singles Chart and sold over 190,000 copies. The song was Destiny's Child first number one in Asia. This single enabled the group to break into the Asian market, when R&B music was just beginning to receive strong airplay. In the Philippines, it was the longest number one single by an R&B girl group, topping the charts for seven weeks. In Australia, it was the second recording ever by an R&B girl group to reach number one on the ARIA Singles chart after TLC's "No Scrubs" and helped to propel The Writing's on the Wall to multi-platinum success.

Music video
The video for "Say My Name" marked the band debut of Michelle Williams (pictured) and Farrah Franklin.

Conflict among members of the group arose in December 1999, following allegations that the group's manager and Knowles' father, Mathew Knowles, was withholding group profits from Luckett and Roberson. They then allegedly asked Knowles for more money; they were dismissed from the group in January 2000. That same month, Mathew Knowles recruited Franklin and Williams to replace both without the signed members' consent or knowledge. The video for "Say My Name" was then filmed with little time for the new members to learn the choreography. The video premiered on February 15, 2000, with Franklin and Williams alongside Knowles and Rowland, on MTV and BET simultaneously with the publication of a press release announcing the line-up change. Luckett and Robersons' vocals still appear on the song, despite their absence from the video. Franklin and Williams' vocals are not included on the track.

The video, directed by Joseph Kahn, shows the four members along with two females and one male dancer singing and dancing in color-coded sets resembling apartment living rooms. Rowland is in blue clothes to match her equally blue room. Knowles is in an orange room, while Franklin is in a red room and Williams in a white room. After the first verse and the chorus, the girls, along with furniture from their respective color-coded sets, switch rapidly between the other members' sets. Soon after the second verse, all girls gather in a garage-like room complete with cars and Destiny's Child in black PVC-pants and orange tops and all of the dancers, dressed in black, from the video.

Cover versions

In 2001, the Australian alternative rock band Sick Puppies made a cover version of "Say My Name". Characterized by turntable samples and heavy Flea-esque bass lines, this song was planned to be on their 2001 debut album, Welcome to the Real World. The band uses the song "Brain Stew" by Green Day as the background music. However, because of a lawsuit threat from Destiny's Child's label, this song was left out of the album. The melody of the song was changed to the minor version of the original, which only has several repetitions of the chorus. This version contains additional lyrics with coarse language, for example, the chorus invariably ends with "You're acting kinda shady, ain't callin' me baby/So what the fuck?". The band performed the song live on their 2009-2010 tour.

In 2007, the Chapel Hill indie rock band, Superchunk, released a cover of "Say My Name" on the album Guilt By Association. The album is a compilation of many artists playing cover versions of their favorite guilty pleasure songs. The indie rock band Portugal. The Man has also made their own tongue-in-cheek rendition of the hit, albeit with only two band members (Ryan Neighbors and Zachary Carothers).

In 2013, the Canadian rapper Drake, released a song named "Girls Love Beyonce" on which James Fauntleroy covers the hook.

In 2013, the Swiss/Canadian DJ Cyril Hahn released a remix of "Say My Name" on the single "The Love Below #1".

On November 26, 2013, the American band Paper Route released a cover version of the song as a single.[5]

The New Orleans band Miss Mojo regularly performs "Say My Name" in live performances, in conjunction with the Gap Band's "Shake".

The Neighbourhood has also released a cover version of the song as a mash-up with Justin Timberlake's "Cry Me a River".

Postmodern Jukebox also covered the song, performing it in the style of a 1960s soul ballad.

In July 2020, Dimitri Vegas & Like Mike and Regard teamed up to release their own cover of the song.[6]

Legacy

In October 2011, NME placed it at number 58 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years"[7] and Pitchfork Media placed it at number 131 on its "The Top 500 Tracks of the 2000s".[8] On VH1's list of the 100 best songs of the 1990s, "Say My Name" was ranked at number 17.[9]

Jody Rosen from The New Yorker credited Beyoncé's slippery rap-style syncopations in the song with creating a new sound that did not exist in the world before her. He further wrote, "If they sound 'normal' now, it's because Beyoncé, and her many followers, have retrained our ears."[10]

In February 2020, the first trailer for the horror film Candyman (2021) was released with a slowed-down version of the song.[11]

Track listings

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[56] 2× Platinum 140,000^
Belgium (BEA)[57] Gold 50,000*
Denmark (IFPI Denmark)[58] Gold 45,000
France (SNEP)[59] Gold 250,000
United Kingdom (BPI)[60] Platinum 600,000
United States (RIAA)[61] 3× Platinum 3,000,000

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.
Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.

Release history
Country Date Format
United States November 7, 1999 Radio broadcasting
Australia & New Zealand January 31, 2000[14] CD single
United States February 29, 2000[62] CD single
United Kingdom March 27, 2000[63] CD single
Europe April 10, 2000 CD single
France April 17, 2000 CD single

See also
  • List of number-one singles in Australia in 2000
  • List of Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles of 2000
  • List of number-one R&B singles of 2000 (U.S.)

References
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