No, No, No (Destiny's Child song)


"No, No, No" is a song by American girl group Destiny's Child. It was written by Calvin Gaines, Mary Brown, Rob Fusari and Vincent Herbert and recorded for their first studio album, Destiny's Child, with production helmed by Fuasri und Herbert. A sensual mid-tempo ballad that blends contemporary R&B with lush 1970s soul, it was renamed "No, No, No " after musician Wyclef Jean was consulted to produce and appear on a remix of the song. Built around a hard-sliding bassline and sung in a staccato, rhythmic style, featuring co-production from Che Greene and Jerry Duplessis, it was titled "No, No, No ".
"No, No, No" was released as Destiny's Child debut single on November 11, 1997 by Columbia Records, with both versions serviced to radio stations and music video networks. In the United States, the song reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 and became the ninth best-selling single of the year, selling more than 1.3 million copies. It was eventually certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Elsewhere, "No, No, No" reached the top forty on the charts in appeared on and became a top ten hit in the Flemish region of Belgium, the Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom.
Darren Grant directed accompanying music videos for each version of "No, No, No" in October 1997. "Part 1" features the group performing at a nightclub stage, while "Part 2" begins with a choreographed dance in a large gold room. Destiny's Child performed "No, No, No" on several television and award show ceremonies, such as Teen Summit, The Keenen Ivory Wayans Show, and the Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards. It has been performed at almost every one of the band's concert tours, and is featured on their remix album This Is the Remix and on their compilation albums, #1's and .

Background and recording

"No, No, No" was written by Calvin Gaines, former Abstrac member Mary Brown, Rob Fusari and Vincent Herbert. The original track was based on an idea and produced by Fusari. Heavily influenced by R&B, he was inspired to start writing "No, No, No" on one of his synthesizer after listening to "Stroke You Up", written by singer R. Kelly for R&B duo Changing Faces. A few weeks later, Gaines, a songwriter friend of Fusari, brought producer and entrepreneur Herbert to Fusari's studio in his mother's basement in Livingston, New Jersey. Upon listening to several demos, Herbert liked that the track and asked for a cassette copy, taking it to Columbia A&R executive Teresa LaBarbera-Whites. The same night, Herbert called Fusari to tell him that LaBarbera-Whites wanted them to record the song with Columbia’s new signee, Destiny’s Child, after Herbert had told her that he would be giving the song to singer Brandy, one of his other artists, had she not let Destiny's Child record "No, No, No" for their debut album. The next day, Fusari was called into their studio to arrange a production deal. After finishing writing the song with Gaines and Brown, Fusari and Herbert met with the band at the Chung King Studios in Manhattan, New York City to record "No, No, No" with the band.

Music videos

As with the single, two videos were made to promote both versions of the song, directed by Darren Grant and shot in October 1997. In the video for "Part 2", Wyclef Jean plays his guitar as Destiny's Child sings the chorus. Beyoncé stops Wyclef, saying, "That ain't right." Wyclef says to the group, "Nah, nah, it's phat; all we need to do is drop a phat beat for the clubs. I'm tellin' you, they gon' lose their minds; I can see it right now." The group begins a choreographed dance in a large gold room. Wyclef Jean also makes an appearance in a room next to the room where the group is. In the video for "Part 1", the group performs a choreographed dance at a nightclub. Marques Houston, along with his Immature bandmates Romeo and LDB, make cameo appearances in the video.
Both versions are included in the video compilation The Platinum's on the Wall. Part 2 is in the DualDisc edition of the album #1's, Part 1 as an enhanced video is in the Australian edition of The Writing's on the Wall.

Commercial and chart success

The single entered the UK Singles Chart at number five, and spent eight weeks in the Top 75. In Europe, the single experienced modest success, entering the top 40 and top 20 of several national charts. The single performed better in Norway and the Netherlands, where it hit the top ten, while it had the least success in France, where it barely made an appearance in the top 100.
In the United States, the single had greater commercial popularity. The success of the song on radio stations and its healthy sales propelled it into the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100. Eventually, the song peaked within the top three of that chart, becoming their first single to do so.
The commercial success of the song failed to translate into high album sales for the group. Destiny Child's first album struggled to chart strongly on any chart and was barely certified in the United States, mainly thanks to the subsequent momentum of their second studio album.
By the end of its chart run, "No, No, No" had sold over 146,000 copies in the UK and over a million copies worldwide. The song won two Soul Train Lady of Soul Awards for Best R&B/Soul Single by a Group, Band or Duo and Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist.

Formats and track listings

  1. "No No No" – 3:30
  2. "No No No" – 3:59
  3. "No No No" – 3:05
  1. "No No No" – 3:27
  2. "No No No"
  1. "No No No" – 3:27
  2. "No No No" – 4:08
  1. "No No No" – 3:27
  2. "No No No" – 4:08
  3. "No No No" – 3:59
  4. "No No No" – 3:59
  5. "No No No" – 6:31
  1. "No No No" – 3:27
  2. "No No No" – 4:08
  3. "No No No" – 3:05
  4. "Second Nature" - 5:09
  1. "No No No" – 3:59
  2. "No No No" – 3:59
  3. "No No No" – 6:31
  4. "You're The Only One" - 3:23

    Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications