"Riddle" is a song recorded by American R&B group

En Vogue En Vogue is an American vocal girl group whose original lineup consisted of singers Terry Ellis, Dawn Robinson, Cindy Herron, and Maxine Jones. Formed in Oakland, California, in 1989, En Vogue reached No. 2 on the US Hot 100 with the singl ...

. It was written by Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, along with band members

Cindy Herron Cynthia Ann Herron (born September 26, 1961), professionally known as Cindy Herron and sometimes credited as Cindy Herron–Braggs is an American singer and actress. Herron is best known as a founding member of the R&B/pop group En Vogue, one of ...

Maxine Jones Maxine Jones (born January 16, 1962), is an American singer, songwriter, actress and businesswoman, best known as a founding member of the R&B/ pop group En Vogue, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. She sang lead vocals ...

, and Terry Ellis, for their fourth studio album '' Masterpiece Theater'' (2000), while production was helmed by

Foster & McElroy Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy are an American R&B record production and songwriting duo, releasing recordings under the names Foster & McElroy and Fmob. They have written and produced songs for musicians such as Club Nouveau, Tony! Toni! To ...

. An angry mid-tempo song about a sneaking, cheating lover, "Riddle" is built around a

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motif, and interpolates the band's 1992 song "

My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It) "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" is a song by American pop/ R&B group En Vogue, released in March 1992 by Eastwest Records as the lead single from their multi-platinum second album, ''Funky Divas'' (1992). The single reached number two ...

." Lyrically, it has the protagonist revealing her feelings about discovering that her love interest is having an affair with someone else over the course of the week. En Vogue performed "Riddle" on several shows, including ''

The Rosie O'Donnell Show ''The Rosie O'Donnell Show'' is an American daytime variety show, variety television talk show created, hosted, and produced by actress and comedian Rosie O'Donnell. It premiered on June 10, 1996, and concluded after six seasons on June 27, 200 ...

'' and ''

The Tonight Show with Jay Leno ''The Tonight Show with Jay Leno'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show is the fourth and sixth installment of ''The Tonight Show''. Hosted by Jay Leno, it aired from May 25, 1992, to May 29, 2009, replacing ''The Ton ...

''. "Riddle" was the last single to feature Maxine Jones before she left to make more time for her family. In 2008, all four original members reunited to perform at a music award show. The group also performed it at several shows during their "20th Anniversary Tour" in 2009, with

Dawn Robinson Dawn Sherrese Robinson (born November 24, 1966) is an American singer and actress best known as a founding member of the R&B/pop group En Vogue, one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Following her departure from En Vogue, Rob ...

reuniting with Cindy, Terry and Maxine with Dawn performing the second half of Maxine's verse.

Critical reception

Upon its release, "Riddle" received a mixed to positive reception from music critics. In his reviews of parent album '' Masterpiece Theater'', Michael Paoletta 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 ...

'' declared the song a "percolating single which unfolds like a direct descendant of the trio's past hits. His colleague Chuck Taylor felt that "Riddle" was another smash track from the band, thought he noted that while it "does have the group's signature sound, it also seems dated." He compared "Riddle" with the band's 1992 single "

" whose instrumentation is interpolated near the end of the song.

Chart performance

Norwegian record producing and songwriting team

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, composed of Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Storleer Eriksen, was consulted to produce a radio edit of "Riddle," which contains even more elements of "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)". Additional remixes were provided by

Tricky Stewart Christopher Alan "Tricky" Stewart (born January 4, 1974) is an American record producer, record executive, songwriter, and music publisher. Stewart, a five-time Grammy Award recipient, began producing music in 1992 and has contributed to unit s ...

and

Maurice Joshua Maurice Joshua (born in Chicago, Illinois), usually credited under the name Maurice, is an American record producer. His single " This Is Acid (A New Dance Craze)" (1988), reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot Dance Club Play chart in April ...

. Commercially, though, the song failed to become a hit in the United States. "Riddle" was more popular overseas, reaching top 30 in the United Kingdom, while entering the top thirty in the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

states.

Music video

An accompanying music video was directed by

Len Wiseman Len Ryan Wiseman (born March 4, 1973) is an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He is best known for his work on the ''Underworld (film series), Underworld'' series (2003–2016), ''Live Free or Die Hard'' (2007), and the Total ...

Track listings

All tracks written by Denzil Foster, Thomas McElroy,

, and Terry Ellis. Notes * denotes additional producer(s)

Personnel

*Steve Counter – recording engineer *James Early – guitar * Terry Ellis – vocalist, writer * Denzil Foster – instruments, producer, writer *

– vocalist, writer *

– vocalist, writer *Ken Kessie – mixing engineer * Thomas McElroy – instruments, producer, writer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Riddle (En Vogue Song) 2000 singles En Vogue songs 2000 songs Elektra Records singles Songs written by Denzil Foster Songs written by Thomas McElroy Songs about infidelity Song recordings produced by Foster & McElroy