Next, Too Close | Midnight Heat 🕛 🔥

In the 56^th edition of Midnight Heat 🕛 🔥 (2023), we explore the naughty, sexy vibes behind “Too Close” by the R&B group, Next. 

Ah, bring on Midnight Heat 🕛 🔥! Wait – it is not usually hot at midnight! Well, it is steaming hot 🥵 at midnight when it comes to this naughty, innuendo and sex-laden column featuring songs intended for nighttime. Yeah, we are talking about that after dark, bedroom boom $hi†, ya dig? These unapologetic records often raises both eyebrows and temperature alike. Woo! In the 56^th edition of Midnight Heat (2023), we explore the naughty, sexy vibes behind, 🎵 “Too Close” by the R&B group, 🎙 Next.

“I wonder if she could tell I’m hard right now.” Damn, that’s an eyebrow raising lyric, from the intro of the 🎙 Next classic, 🎵 “Too Close”.  Honestly, the transparency regarding a boner sets the tone for this beloved, naughty contemporary R&B cut from 1997 album, 💿 Rated Next.  As a child – and a naïve child at that – when “Too Close” reached no. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, I didn’t catch all the sexy references. As a fully matured adult, starting with the opening boner, the intimacy, or desire for intimacy, is fully erect – through the roof!

The chorus alone was enough to send “Too Close” to the top of the charts. Even to this day, this is one of the more memorable choruses of the 1990s. What is interesting, however is, per Genius verifications from members of Next, most people butcher the words of this particular song 🤯. With that considered, I don’t feel as bad experiencing the eye-opening experiencing of reading what the lyrics accurately say, particularly the often flubbed opening lyric of the chorus:

“Baby, when we’re grindin’, I get so excited

Ooh how I like it, I try but I can’t fight it

Oh, you’re dancin’ real close, plus it’s real, real slow

You know you’re makin’ it hard for me.”

With grindin’ being confirmed, that explains the excitement.  Of course, the verses emphasize the desire, the lust, the sheer horniness – sex is uttered in both. Perhaps more erect is the pre-chorus, when 🎙 Vernell “Vee” Sales sings, “Step back, you’re dancin’ kinda close / I feel a little poke comin’ through on you.” What more is there to be said thematically?  Musically, 🎵 “Too Close” benefits from smooth, rhythmic production (🎛 Kay Gee) that helps to fuel its sensual fire. This joint remains sexy AF to this day.

🎙 Next • 💿 Rated Next • 🏷 Arista • 📅 1997

Next, Too Close: Midnight Heat 🕛 🔥 No. 56 (2023) [📷: Brent Faulkner / The Musical Hype; Arista; Ash via Pexels; Clker-Free-Vector-Images, Dorothe, Stefan Schweihofer via Pixabay]