"7 Seconds" is a song performed by Senegalese singer-songwriter

Youssou N'Dour Youssou N'Dour (, ; also known as Youssou Madjiguène Ndour; born 1 October 1959) is a Senegalese singer, songwriter, musician, composer, occasional actor, businessman, and politician. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' described him as, "perhaps the m ...

and Swedish singer-songwriter

Neneh Cherry Neneh Mariann Karlsson (; born 10 March 1964), better known as Neneh Cherry, is a Swedish singer, songwriter, rapper, occasional disc jockey, and broadcaster. Her musical career started in London in the early 1980s, where she performed in a numb ...

. Composed by the pair along with

Cameron McVey Cameron Andrew McVey (born 11 August 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with the acts Massive Attack, Portishead (band), Portishead, All Saints (group), All Saints, Sugababes, and his wife Neneh Cherry. H ...

and Jonathan Sharp, it achieved success upon release as a single on 7 June 1994 via

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American reco ...

, reaching the top 10 in numerous countries; in France, it stayed at number one for 16 weeks, a record at the time. N'Dour featured the song on his seventh album, '' The Guide (Wommat)'' (1994), while Cherry included it on her 1996 album ''

Man A man is an adult male human. Before adulthood, a male child or adolescent is referred to as a boy. Like most other male mammals, a man's genome usually inherits an X chromosome from the mother and a Y chromosome from the f ...

''. "7 Seconds" also won the

MTV Europe Music Award The MTV Europe Music Awards (originally named MTV European Music Awards, commonly abbreviated as MTV EMA) are awards presented by Paramount International Networks to honour artists and music in pop culture. It was originally conceived as an al ...

in the category for Best Song of 1994.

Stéphane Sednaoui Stéphane Sednaoui () is a French music video director, photographer, film producer and actor. He has worked in various forms of media, including music videos, photojournalism, portrait photography, fashion and pop culture. Sednaoui's career ...

directed the accompanying music video for the song, which was shot in black-and-white and filmed in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' magazine ranked "7 Seconds" number 40 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994.

Recording

All instruments on the single were produced and arranged by Swedish music producer

Christian Falk Christian Falk (25 April 1962 – 24 July 2014) was a Swedish record producer and musician. Falk started his recording career with the band Madhouse in the early 1980s. He later moved on and became a founding member of post-punk band Imperiet. ...

, who also played bass on the track. It was included on Neneh Cherry's album ''

'' (1996). The song is trilingual as N'Dour sings in three languages: French, English and the West African language

Wolof Wolof or Wollof may refer to: * Wolof people, an ethnic group found in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * Wolof language, a language spoken in Senegal, Gambia, and Mauritania * The Wolof or Jolof Empire, a medieval West African successor of the Mal ...

. Cherry sings only in English. The English chorus was actually recorded by another singer as Youssou was ill during the production of the song. It also appeared on N'Dour's 1994 album ''The Guide (Wommat)'', released shortly after the single. The title and refrain of the song refers to the first moments of a child's life; as Cherry put it, "not knowing about the problems and violence in our world". Shocked by the single's enormous commercial success, she told ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' in an interview, "We did it as an experiment. The tune grew on its own, completely out of proportion. It was out there doing its own thing. But that is a dream when you write a song."

Critical reception

Swedish ''

Aftonbladet (, lit. "The evening paper") is a Swedish language, Swedish daily tabloid newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden. It is one of the largest daily newspapers in the Nordic countries. History and profile The newspaper was founded by Lar ...

'' complimented the song as a "floating airy and heavenly beautiful synth

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

". Peter Stepek from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

called it a "vaguely menacing duet".

Larry Flick Larry Flick is an American journalist, former dance music columnist, single reviewer, and Senior Talent Editor for ''Billboard'' magazine, where he worked for 14 years. Now he produces and hosts Sirius XM radio shows. Flick started in the musi ...

from ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine felt it's "unique and thoroughly pleasing", noting that the "haunting tune is padded with cushiony synths and a richly soulful bass line.

Cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

offers a sweet and charming contrast to N'Dour's gritty vocal." Troy J. Augusto from '' Cashbox'' wrote that the "compelling duet nicely swirls N'Dour’s husky vocals and Cherry's sweet, angelic voice into a nifty,

down-tempo Downtempo (or downbeat) is a broad label for electronic music that features an atmospheric sound and slower beats than would typically be found in dance music. Closely related to ambient music but with greater emphasis on rhythm, the style may ...

stroll that has broad radio potential." He added further that it is "powered by a rolling bass line and layers of passive synthesizer strains". Dave Sholin from the ''

Gavin Report The ''Gavin Report'' was a San Francisco-based radio industry trade publication. The publication was founded by radio performer Bill Gavin in 1958. Its Top 40 listings were used for many years by programmers to decide content of programs. The ...

'' viewed the song as "music to stir the senses combined with lyrics that make a powerful case for our common humanity." He remarked that it "is especially powerful in light of recent events in South Africa and it's made that much more riveting by the melding of these two voices. Its worth spending some time with this amazing track." In his weekly UK chart commentary,

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

praised it as a "gorgeous ballad". Pan-European magazine ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' complimented Cherry as "again brilliant" and described the song as "afro-hop", complimenting it as "melodic, synthy, sexy and with a slow beat." Wendi Cermak from ''The Network Forty'' described it as "haunting".

Dele Fadele Ayodele Fadele (8 August 1962 – March 2018) was an English musician and music journalist who was active from the mid-1980s. He wrote for the ''NME'' in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and was one of the first music critics to introduce then eme ...

from ''

'' named '7 Seconds' Single of the Week, noting that N'Dour duets with Cherry "to quite surprising results". He added that the voices "are pearls at 300 feet below sea level" and the arrangements "work wonders". In a separate review, Fadele opined that the song "makes like a future African sci-fi rumination on colour prejudice, with Yossou N'Dour's beguiling tones on show." Emma Cochrane from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' gave it a top score of five out of five and named it Best New Single, saying that "whoever came up with the idea of putting them on the same record was a genius." She concluded, "Hopefully in the charts for a very long time." David Sinclair from ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' wrote, "Built around a gentle boombox beat overlaid by drifting synthesizer chords, the song achieves the same seductive combination of rhythm and rumination that informed

Bruce Springsteen Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American Rock music, rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed "the Boss", Springsteen has released 21 studio albums spanning six decades; most of his albums feature th ...

's recent hit '

Streets of Philadelphia "Streets of Philadelphia" is a song written and performed by American rock musician Bruce Springsteen for the 1993 film ''Philadelphia'', starring Tom Hanks, an early mainstream film dealing with HIV/AIDS. Released as a single by Columbia Rec ...

'."

Chart performance

"7 Seconds" was a worldwide hit, peaking within the top 10 of the charts in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands (number two), Sweden, Paraguay and the United Kingdom. It climbed to the top position in the Walloon region of Belgium, Finland, France, Iceland, Italy and Switzerland. It stayed at number one for 16 consecutive weeks on the

French Singles Chart SNEP (, in English National Syndicate of Phonographic Publishing) is the inter-professional organisation that protects the interests of the French record industry. Originally known under the acronym SNICOP, the organisation was established in ...

, which was the record for the most weeks at the top position at the time. On the

Eurochart Hot 100 The European Hot 100 Singles was compiled by ''Billboard'' and ''Music & Media'' magazine from March 1984 until December 2010. The chart was based on national singles sales charts in 17 European countries: Austria, Belgium (two charts separately f ...

, the song reached number two. It was awarded with a

gold record Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

Music video

The black-and-white music video for "7 Seconds" was directed by French director, photographer, film producer and actor

. It was filmed in

and features people of different ethnicities walking by while the two are singing. When N'Dour and Cherry sing the chorus, different kinds of people's faces appear. The video received heavy rotation on

MTV Europe MTV Global (formerly MTV Europe) is the international version of the American TV channel MTV as 24-hour music video and entertainment pay television network officially launched on 1 August 1987 as part of the worldwide MTV network. Initia ...

and was A-listed on Germany's VIVA in August 1994.

Impact and legacy

'' magazine ranked "7 Seconds" number 40 in their list of the 50 best songs of 1994. It was included in the 2010 book ''1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die''. Eloise Parker remarked that "the soul of '7 seconds' is N'Dour's heartfelt vocals, sung in

and French, enhanced by Cherry's haunting English-language chorus."

Cover versions

In 1994, the same year of the original one, Lover's released a cover of "7 Seconds" which peaked at number four on the Spain Singles Chart. In 2010, the song was covered by

Thomas D Die Fantastischen Vier (, "The Fantastic Four"), often shortened to Fanta 4, is a German hip hop band from Stuttgart. The members are Smudo, Michael Schmidt (Smudo), Andreas Rieke, Thomas Dürr, and Michi Beck. They were, together with Advanced ...

under the title "Million Voices (7 Seconds)" and reached number 16 on the Germain Singles Chart and number 64 on the Swiss Singles Chart.

Formats and track listings

* UK CD single (660508-2) # "7 Seconds" (radio edit) # "7 Seconds" (LP version) # "7 Seconds" (new old mix) # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) # "7 Seconds" (hip hop mix) * US CD single (Chaos/Columbia 42K 77482) # "7 Seconds" (album version) – 5:07 # "7 Seconds" (new old mix) – 5:44 # "7 Seconds" (hip hop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) – 6:08 # "Mame Bamba" by

– 5:00 * CD maxi # "7 Seconds" – 4:10 # "Mame Bamba" by

– 4:57 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) – 6:07 * CD maxi (7 June 1994) # "7 Seconds" – 4:10 # "Life (Adouna)" by

– 4:57 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:24 # "7 Seconds" – 6:07 * CD maxi (7 June 1994) # "7 Seconds" (radio edit) – 4:06 # "Life (Adouna)" by

– 4:02 # "7 Seconds" (R & B to the hip hop drop mix) – 6:23 # "7 Seconds" (dub mix) – 6:07

Recording

Critical reception

Chart performance

Music video

Impact and legacy

Cover versions

Formats and track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

References

Further reading