"No One" is a song recorded by Belgian/Dutch Eurodance band

2 Unlimited 2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the ...

, released in September 1994 by

Byte The byte is a unit of digital information that most commonly consists of eight bits. Historically, the byte was the number of bits used to encode a single character of text in a computer and for this reason it is the smallest addressable uni ...

ZYX ZYX or Zyx may refer to: * Zyx, a region in the North Caucasus inhabited by the Zygii * Zyx (cartoonist) (1950–2015), French-Canadian cartoonist * ZyX (company), a Japanese company that makes erotic video games * ZYX (gene), a gene that encod ...

and PWL as the second single from their third album, '' Real Things'' (1994). Co-written by bandmembers

Ray Slijngaard Raymond Lothar Slijngaard (born 28 June 1971) is a Dutch rapper and musician best known as one half of the Eurodance duo 2 Unlimited. Music career 2 Unlimited (1991–1996) 2 Unlimited is an electronic music project founded in 1991 by Belgian ...

and Anita Dels, it was a top 10 hit in at least six countries, as well as on the Eurochart Hot 100, where the song reached number ten. It features a reference to " That's the Way Love Goes" by Janet Jackson and the accompanying music video, directed by La La Land, features the band performing on the beach by

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in Australia.

Critical reception

In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton commented, "What a nuisance. Here I am all set to launch an account of a new

single with a witty precis of the melodic and formulaic similarity to everything else they have ever released and what happens? They go and release a track that sounds completely different to all the others! Joking aside, it is absolutely true, "No One" being the closest they will probably ever get to a conventional pop song and more deservedly a smash hit than some of their recent output. It could well end up their third Top 10 hit of the year and is now their 11th consecutive Top 20 hit."

David Stubbs David Stubbs (born 13 September 1962 in London) is a British music journalist. He grew up in Leeds and in the early Eighties was a student at the University of Oxford where he was a close friend of Simon Reynolds. The two were part of the Oxford ...

from '' Melody Maker'' opined that the song "is apt." Pan-European magazine '' Music & Media'' wrote, "It's their first

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

attempt, and no one has blended it with

Euro dance Euro-Dance (sometimes referred to as Euro-NRG, Euro-electronica or Euro) is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in the late 1980s in Europe. It combines many elements of hip hop, techno, Hi-NRG, house music, and Euro-Disco. Thi ...

so seamlessly before." Alan Jones from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' gave the song four out of five, adding that "this is a good deal slower than usual, but still relies on the he-rap, she-sing template. Likely to garner less club support but may attract some first-time supporters." Iestyn George from ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...

'' commented, "He's not a very good rapper that feller, but he plays the pop star to a T." In an retrospective review, Pop Rescue said it "is probably the most mellow of their singles", adding that "it definitely feels like light, summer track". James Hamilton from the '' RM'' Dance Update declared it as a "rapped (mentioning Janet Jackson!), cooed and organ wheezed attractive jaunty skipper".

Chart performance

The release scored chart success across Europe, peaking at number two in the Netherlands, number three in Belgium, number six in Finland, and number ten in both Denmark and Spain. In the United Kingdom, it was their least successful release to date, hitting number 17 in its first week at the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

on 25 September 1994. It also peaked at number 28 on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The UK Dance Singles Chart and the UK Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synthpop) in record ...

. Additionally, the single was a top 20 hit also in Austria (14), France (19), Germany (18), Iceland (17), Ireland (18), Scotland (14), Sweden (15) and Switzerland (15). On the Eurochart Hot 100, it hit number ten, while reaching number six on MTV's

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and number two on the

European Dance Radio Chart The European Dance Radio Chart (also known as European Dance Radio Top 25) was a weekly chart compiled by pan-European magazine '' Music & Media''. After dance music had played a more dominant role on the magazine's Eurochart Hot 100 in the beginn ...

. On the Eurochart Hot 100 year-end chart, the single ended up as number 64. Outside Europe, "No One" was a sizeable top 20 hit in Israel, while in Australia, it peaked at number 70.

Music video

The accompanying music video for "No One" was directed by La La Land. It was shot by the

in Australia and features Anita and Ray performing on the beach. Sometimes Ray also performs in a tropical forest. "No One" was later published on 2 Unlimited's official

YouTube YouTube is a global online video sharing and social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by Google, and is the second mo ...

channel in 2013, and had generated more than three million views as of January 2023.

Appearances

The melody of the song was also sampled in 1994 single by Serbian group

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with name "Kralj kokaina" ("King of Cocaine").

Track listings

* 7-inch single # "No One" (Radio Edit) # "No One" (Unlimited Remix Edit) * European CD maxi # "No One" (Radio Edit) – 3:27 # "No One" (Unlimited Remix-Extended) – 5:27 # "No One" (X-Out Remix) – 6:19 # "No One" (X-Out In Dub Remix) – 5:45 # "No One" (Doc Baron Mix) – 6:58 # "No One" (The It Goes Underground) – 6:36 * European 12-inch maxi # "No One" (Unlimited Rmx-Extended) – 5:27 # "No One" (Extended) – 5:24 # "No One" (X-Out Remix) – 6:19 # "No One" (X-Out In Dub Remix) – 5:45 * Italian 12-inch maxi # "No One" (Extended) – 5:24 # "No One" (X-Out Remix) – 6:19 # "No One" (Radio Edit) – 3:27 # "No One" (Unlimited Remix Extended) – 5:27 # "No One" (X-Out In Dub Remix) – 5:45 # "No One" (Unlimited Remix Edited) – 3:45 * UK CD single # "No One" (Radio Edit) – 3:29 # "No One" (Unlimited Remix) – 5:29 # "No One" (Extended) – 5:26 # "No One" (X-Out Remix) – 6:21 # "No One" (X-Out In Dub Remix) – 5:45

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{authority control 1994 singles 1994 songs 2 Unlimited songs Byte Records singles English-language Dutch songs Pete Waterman Entertainment singles Songs about dreams Songs written by Anita Doth Songs written by Jean-Paul De Coster Songs written by Phil Wilde Songs written by Ray Slijngaard ZYX Music singles