"Kiss You Inside Out" is a song recorded by Canadian

pop rock Pop rock (also typeset as pop/rock) is a fusion genre and form of rock music characterized by a strong commercial appeal, with more emphasis on professional songwriting and recording craft, and less emphasis on attitude than standard rock musi ...

band Hedley, featured on a re-issue of their 2012 album ''

Storms A storm is any disturbed state of the natural environment or the atmosphere of an astronomical body. It may be marked by significant disruptions to normal conditions such as strong wind, tornadoes, hail, thunder and lightning (a thunderstorm) ...

''. It was written by Brandyn Burnette,

Lauren Christy Lauren Christy (born 1968) is a British songwriter and record producer. Originally a solo artist, she found success as part of the writing production trio the Matrix. The Matrix was nominated for the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-C ...

, and Adrian Newman, and was produced by Newman. The song was first released in Canada through

Universal Music Canada Universal Music Group (UMG) owns, or has a joint share in, many of the record labels listed here. According to the UMG official website, the main labels are Abbey Road Studios, Capitol Music Group, Decca Records, Def Jam Recordings, Deutsche Gra ...

as the album's third single on May 17, 2012 and was subsequently released in the United States on June 12, 2012 as the album's lead single in that market. "Kiss You Inside Out" was also serviced to American

hot adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

radio on June 18, 2012. Featuring prominent

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom.S. Frith, W. Straw, and J. Street, eds, ''iarchive:cambridgecompani00frit, The Cambridge Companion to Pop ...

influences and suggestive lyrics, the song epitomizes Hedley's musical shift away from the

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

pop punk Pop-punk (also punk-pop, alternatively spelled without the hyphen) is a rock music fusion genre that combines elements of punk rock with power pop or pop music, pop. It is defined by its fast-paced, energetic tempos, and emphasis on classic pop s ...

leanings of their earlier work. Having been certified 3× Platinum by

Music Canada Music Canada is a non-profit Industry trade group, trade organization that was founded 9 April 1963 in Toronto to represent the interests of companies that record, manufacture, produce, and distribute music in Canada. It also offers benefits to s ...

and reaching the No. 2 position on the

Canadian Hot 100 The Canadian Hot 100 is a music industry record chart in Canada for songs, published weekly by ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' magazine. It was launched on the issue dated March 31, 2007 as the standard record chart in Canada; a new chart ...

, "Kiss You Inside Out" is the group's most successful single to date. It is also their second hit on the ''

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 ...

Adult Pop Songs The Adult Pop Airplay (formerly known as Adult Pop Songs and Adult Top 40) chart is published weekly by ''Billboard'' magazine and ranks "the most popular adult top 40 as based on radio airplay detections measured by Nielsen Broadcast Data Syste ...

chart, where it peaked at 24, and first to hit number one on the Canadian

adult contemporary Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...

chart. A

franglais Franglais () or Frenglish ( ) is a French blend that referred first to the overuse of English words by French speakers and later to diglossia or the macaronic mixture of French () and English (). Etymology The word ''Franglais'' was first ...

version featuring Canadian singer-songwriter

Andee Andee (born Andrée-Anne Leclerc on November 1, 1990) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Saint-Jean-Chrysostome, Quebec. She rose to fame as a finalist on the Quebecois singing competition '' Star Académie'' before pursuing a solo career i ...

(credited as Andrée-Anne Leclerc) was released June 26, 2012 and appears on Leclerc's debut studio album, '' Black and White Heart'' (2015). This version features additional songwriting by

Marc Dupré Marc Dupré (born July 28, 1973) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and comedian from Quebec. Career Dupré began his career as a stand-up comedian, known particularly as a musical impressionist who performed music in the voices and styles of vario ...

Composition

"Kiss You Inside Out" is a

song originally composed in the key of

E major E major is a major scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has four sharps. Its relative minor is C-sharp minor and its parallel minor is E minor. Its enharmonic equivalent, F-flat maj ...

. According to the digital sheet music published by

Universal Music Publishing Group Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a global music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. Universal Music Publishing has been ranked the #1 music publisher in market share by Billboard for multiple consecutive quart ...

, it is set in common time to a "moderate rock" tempo of approximately 120 BPM. The song is instrumented primarily by

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

, but also incorporates

synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s and a

dance Dance is an The arts, art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often Symbol, symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

beat, and features a three-octave vocal range of B–D. Lyrically, the song explores the concepts of physical intimacy and sexual exploration.

Background and release

While promoting the pending U.S. release of their ''Storms'' album, Hedley began collaborating with

pop Pop or POP may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Pop music, a musical genre Artists * POP, a Japanese idol group now known as Gang Parade * Pop! (British group), a UK pop group * Pop! featuring Angie Hart, an Australian band Album ...

writers and producers on new material, including

The Matrix ''The Matrix'' is a 1999 science fiction film, science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in the The Matrix (franchise), ''Matrix'' film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Ca ...

member Lauren Christy. The fruit of one of these sessions was "Kiss You Inside Out", which features a more radio-friendly pop feel than much of their earlier work, and which they decided to release as a single. Bolstered by the single's positive reception, the band added "Kiss You Inside Out" to the track listing of the U.S. edition of ''Storms'', and re-issued the album in Canada to include it. The song was serviced to Canadian radio on May 17, 2012 and released to digital retailers in Canada on May 22, 2012. In the United States, where "Kiss You Inside Out" served as the album's first and only single, it was released digitally on June 12, 2012 and then serviced to radio on June 18, 2012. On June 26, 2012 a

version of "Kiss You Inside Out" was released to iTunes Canada featuring guest vocals from Francophone singer Andrée-Anne Leclerc. Some of the lyrics were translated or re-interpreted in French for Leclerc's parts, most evidently in the refrain. The "version française" of the song is featured on the deluxe edition of Leclerc's debut studio album, ''Black and White Heart'' (2015).

Reception

Critical

"Kiss You Inside Out" was nominated for Single of the Year at the

2013 Juno Awards The Juno Awards of 2013 honoured Canadian music industry achievements in the latter part of 2011 and in most of 2012. The awards were presented in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, during the weekend of 20–21 April 2013. The main ceremony was host ...

, but lost to

Carly Rae Jepsen Carly Rae Jepsen (born November 21, 1985) is a Canadian singer and songwriter. After studying musical theatre for most of her school life and while in university, Jepsen garnered mainstream attention after placing third on the fifth season of ...

's breakout hit, "

Call Me Maybe "Call Me Maybe" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Carly Rae Jepsen from her extended play ''Curiosity'' (2012) and later appeared on her second studio album and international debut album ''Kiss'' (2012). The song was written by Jepsen an ...

Commercial

"Kiss You Inside Out" debuted at number 35 on the ''Billboard''

chart dated June 9, 2012. It rose 10 positions to enter the top 5 on the July 7 chart, earning the distinction of "airplay gainer" for the week. The song reached its peak position of 2 on the chart dated August 25, 2012, held off the top spot by

Katy Perry Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson (born October 25, 1984), known professionally as Katy Perry, is an American singer, songwriter, and television personality. She is one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling music artists in hist ...

's "

Wide Awake Wide Awake or Wideawake may refer to: Places *Wide Awake, South Carolina, US *Prestonville, Kentucky, US, formerly Wideawake * Wideawake Airfield or RAF Ascension Island, a British military base Books and publications *Wide Awake (magazine), ''Wid ...

". "Kiss You Inside Out" is both the band's highest-charting and best-selling song to date (as of June 2016). The single has been certified 3× Platinum by

, selling over 240,000 copies by November 2012. On the

Hot Canadian Digital Songs The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

component chart, "Kiss You Inside Out" peaked at number 3 on the chart dated July 14, 2012. The song was a radio hit, reaching the top 10 of the

Canada CHR/Top 40 The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and

Canada Hot AC The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

charts and additionally reaching number one on

Canada AC The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

. "Kiss You Inside Out" was the seventh most-played song on Canadian radio in 2012, according to

Nielsen Company Nielsen Holdings plc (or Nielsen) is an American media audience measurement firm. Nielsen operates in over 100 countries and employs approximately 15,000 people worldwide. For most of its history, the company was known for its two subsidiarie ...

. "Kiss You Inside Out" is the band's second song to chart in the United States, where it impacted the

chart monitored by ''Billboard''. It eventually peaked on the same at number 24 on the chart dated October 20, 2012.

Awards and nominations

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Kiss You Inside Out" was directed by Lisa Mann and filmed in

Toronto, ON Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

. It premiered July 18, 2012. The video begins with a

car crash A traffic collision, also known as a motor vehicle collision, or car crash, occurs when a vehicle collides with another vehicle, pedestrian, animal, road debris, or other moving or stationary obstruction, such as a tree, pole or building. T ...

and chronicles the relationship that later develops between the two drivers after meeting. Its premise has been described as "the world's most dangerous

meet-cute A meet cute is a scene in media, in which two people meet for the first time, typically under unusual, humorous, or cute circumstances, and go on to form a future romantic couple. This type of scene is a staple of romantic comedies, though it ca ...

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

Release history

References

{{authority control Songs about kissing 2012 singles 2012 songs Hedley (band) songs Songs written by Jacob Hoggard Universal Music Group singles Island Records singles