"Say My Name" is hit song by American R&B group
Destiny's Child. The song was the third single from the group's
1999 album
The Writing's on the Wall, released through Columbia
label in 2000 (see 2000 in music). The single is the most
successful of the four releases from the album and is
considered to be one of their signature songs. The song won
awards for "Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with
Vocals" and "Best R&B Song" and two was nominated for
"Record of the Year" and "Song of the Year" at the 2001 Grammy
Awards and an MTV Video Music Award.
American producer-songwriter Rodney Jerkins was one of the
hired people to work on Destiny's Child's second album,
The Writing's on the Wall, and was the group's first
collaboration with him. When they wrote "Say My Name", however,
Beyoncé was 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".
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". Her dad told
her to "just have to take a listen to it". When the new mix was
played to them, they liked it to the extent they could not
"focus on anything".
"Say My Name" features Destiny's Child lead singer Beyoncé
Knowles's character calling her lover on the phone, and
suspecting him of cheating. She asks him to "say her name". The
young man hesitates, and the narrator believes it's because he
doesn't want the girl he's cheating on her with to know who she
is. Rodney Jerkins supports the song's lyrics with a backing
track that shifts back and forth in dynamics, steadily bringing
different elements (syncopated, 808 drum programming,
synthesized strings, and 1970s-style wah-wah guitar licks) in
and out of the mix. In the song, Beyoncé sings lead on the
verses and bridge, LaTavia sings the echos to Beyoncé's verses,
LeToya sings the high harmonies in the chorus, and Kelly (along
with the rest of the girls) sings the chorus's melody. It is
also one of the first Destiny's Child recordings to feature all
four members; LaTavia on the melody with the others harmonizing
on their respective notes.
In December 1999, Mathew Knowles hired Farrah Franklin and
Michelle Williams to replace members LeToya Luckett and LaTavia
Roberson in group without signed members consent or knowledge.
The video was then filmed in January 2000 with little time for
the new members to learn the choreography. When the "Say My
Name" music video debuted on February 15, 2000, audiences were
shocked to see the absence of LeToya Luckett and LaTavia
Roberson, who had been replaced by Farrah Franklin and Michelle
Williams. The video featured Franklin and Williams alongside
Beyoncé Knowles and Kelly Rowland, and debuted on MTV and BET
at the same time a press release announcing the lineup change
was released.
The video featured the veterans and the rookie members along
with two female dancers and one male dancer each in different
colored rooms that were designed to look like living rooms in
an apartment. Beyoncé was featured in orange clothes to match
her equally orange room. Kelly was in a blue room, newcomer
Farrah was featured in a red room and Michelle was in a white
room. The original video idea had more choreography in it but
due to the abrupt group change the new girls were unable to
dance in stiletto heels like their veteran counterparts.
Instead the directors had the girls sit and stand in various
positions around their rooms and pose with the beat of the
song. After the first verse and the chorus the girls switched
rooms but kept their respective color couches and clothes. Soon
after the second verse during the "break down", Beyonce, Kelly,
Michelle and Farrah all gathered in a garage-like room that was
complete with cars and Destiny's Child in black leather pants
and orange tops and all of the dancers, dressed in black, from
the video. The dancers did a rotating dance which later became
part of the live routine until their comeback in 2005. After
this scene it was back to the colorful rooms in which the girls
had now switched couches and continued the song until the end
of the video where the final pose was back in the garage.
Luckett and Roberson stated they did not know they were out
of the group until seeing the "Say My Name" video, and filed
suit against Knowles, Rowland, and Destiny's Child manager
Mathew Knowles for what they saw as a plot to ruin Luckett and
Roberson's careers. By the end of the year, Luckett and
Roberson decided to drop their former bandmates as
co-defendants, but continued to pursue action against Mathew
Knowles.
US Promo CD Single
US Maxi CD Single
German CD Single
International CD Single
Several remixes of "Say My Name" were issued alongside the
original version. The two most notable alternate versions are a
remix by Timbaland, which features different vocals, lyrics and
a guest appearance from Static Major; and the "Nitro Remix"
(featuring Nitro and Chief, with production by Mista Maze),
which uses the original vocals over a bass music-styled backing
track. There is another remix featuring Los Angeles Lakers
player-rapper Kobe Bryant.
In 2002 Australian indie rock band Sick Puppies made a cover
version of
Say My Nameplayed in a post grunge-nu metal style.
Characterized by turntable samples and heavy Flea-esque bass
lines, this song was planned to be featured in their 2001 debut
album
Nothing Really Matters, played in a post grunge-nu metal
style. The band uses the song "Brain Stew" by Green Day as the
background music. However, due to a law suit threat from
Destiny's Child's label this song got excluded from the album.
Essentially playing the same song, "the Puppies" distorted the
melody to the minor version of the original which only has
several repetitions of the chorus. The Puppies' version also
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!" continued with a
heavy instrumental rock interlude.The band is playing the song
live in 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
covers of their favorite guilty pleasure songs.
"Say My Name" won two Grammy Awards in 2001: Best R&B
Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals and Best R&B
Song. The song's music video won the 2000 MTV Video Music Award
for Best R&B Video. It also captured a Soul Train Lady of
Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul Single, Group, Band or Duo
("Say My Name")along a BMI Pop award for most played song.
"Say My Name" debuted at #83 on the Hot 100 on December 25,
1999 and reached its peak position twelve weeks later after
scanning 134,000 physical singles during its first week at
retail, taking longer than any other Destiny's Child number one
single to reach the summit. It went onto become the group's
international breakthrough hit far exceeding the popularity of
"No, No, No" which prior to this release was their only true
international hit.
Produced by Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins and written by
Jerkins, his brother Fred, LaShawn Daniels, and the members of
Destiny's Child, "Say My Name" peaked at number-one on the
Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100 Airplay chart and the Billboard Hot
R&B/Hip-Hop Singles & Tracks in the United States for
three weeks in 2000, from March 11, 2000 to April 1. The song
was also a number-one hit in Australia. In the United Kingdom
it was at that point the group's biggest hit to date peaking at
#3 and sold over 190,000 copies. "Say My Name" was the second
Destiny's Child single to become a number-one hit in the United
States, following the previous year's "Bills, Bills,
Bills".
The song spent thirty-two weeks on the Hot 100 and was one
of the top ten best-selling CD-singles of the year in the US.
It is actually the group's third biggest-selling single in
their homeland after "No, No, No" and "Bills, Bills, Bills" and
was also their third gold RIAA certified single.
The song also scored Destiny's Child their first number one
in Asia. This single enabled the group to break through the
Asian market, when R&B music was just beginning to get
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 first song ever by an R&B group
to reach number one on the ARIA Singles chart and helped propel
The Writing's On The Wallto multi-platinum success.