"Soon as I Get Home" is a song by the American singer

Faith Evans Faith Renée Evans (born June 10, 1973) is an American R&B singer, songwriter, and actress. Born in Lakeland, Florida, and raised in New Jersey, she relocated to Los Angeles in 1991 in pursuit of a recording career. Evans initially performed as ...

. It was written by Evans along with

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

and

Chucky Thompson Carl Edward Thompson Jr. (July 12, 1968 – August 9, 2021) was an American record producer, best known for his work with Sean Combs' Bad Boy Records. Biography Thompson was born in Washington, D.C., in 1968. He was a member of Bad Boy Entertai ...

for her debut studio album ''

Faith Faith is confidence or trust in a person, thing, or concept. In the context of religion, faith is " belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion". According to the Merriam-Webster's Dictionary, faith has multiple definitions, inc ...

'' (1995), while production was helmed by Combs and Thompson. A romantic

hip hop soul Hip hop soul is a subgenre of contemporary R&B music, most popular during the early and mid 1990s, which fuses R&B or soul singing with hip hop musical production. The subgenre had evolved from a previous R&B subgenre, new jack swing, which had ...

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 ...

which chronicles a woman's desire to spend more time with her loved one, it was inspired by Evans' marriage to her then-husband

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

, which had changed radically after the major commercial success of his debut album ''

Ready to Die ''Ready to Die'' is the debut studio album by American rapper The Notorious B.I.G., released on September 13, 1994, by Bad Boy Records and distributed by Arista Records. The album features productions by Bad Boy founder Sean Combs, Sean "Puffy ...

'' (1994). The song was released as the album's second single following " You Used to Love Me" (1995). It peaked at number 21 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and number three on the US

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 ...

chart, becoming ''Faith''s highest-charting single. In February 1996, "Soon as I Get Home" was certified Gold by the

Recording Industry Association of America The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

(RIAA). The same year, it won Evans the Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist at the 2nd awards ceremony.

Background

"Soon as I Get Home" was written by Evans,

and

and produced by Combs and Thompson for her debut studio album ''

'' (1995). The song was done to pass the time at the studio because Thompson had a flight to catch later that day. As he was about to leave, he received a call from Combs insisting he record the music Evans heard him play before he got on the plane. Evans later left a message on Thompson's answering machine – which was the song she wrote and recorded. Thompson said the song was finished and he didn't add any other touches to it. In her 2008 autobiography ''Keep the Faith'', Evans acknowledged that while most material on her debut album were written to describe her feelings for then-husband

, she wrote "Soon as I Get Home" with lines that she wished he would sing to her after he was spending more and more time traveling. In 2011, Evans ranked the song among her ten favorite recording, telling ''Youknowigotsoul'': "I’ve heard many people say this song is a timeless love song. It’s one of my faves from my first album, and I love the energy the audience gives me every time I perform it live."

Critical reception

In his review for ''

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 ...

'', editor Larry Flick noted that "Evans will have no trouble affirming her status as the next queen of hip-hop/soul with this gloriously romantic slow jam. The chorus lingers in the mind long after the song has faded, and Evans' vocals demand comparison to the early work of

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins Will ...

and

Mary Wells Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer, who helped to define the emerging sound of Motown in the early 1960s. Along with the Supremes, the Miracles, the Temptations, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas, and the F ...

. Producer Chucky Thompson ties all these lovely threads together into a cohesive piece that will win the hearts of top 40, R&B, and even AC radio programmers." In September 1996, "Soon as I Get Home" won Evans the Lady of Soul Award for Best R&B/Soul or Rap New Artist.

Commercial performance

On the week of December 9, 1995, "Soon as I Get Home" debuted at numbers seven and 40 on both the ''Billboard'' Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs and Hot 100 charts respectively. It reached number 21 on the Hot 100 the week of January 6, 1996, staying on the chart for 20 weeks. The song peaked at number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart the week of February 10, remaining there for 22 weeks. Four days later, it was certified gold by the RIAA.

Music video

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Soon as I Get Home" was directed by

Marcus Raboy Marcus Raboy (born November 30, 1965) is an American film director, film and music video director. Since the early 1990s, Raboy has amassed a large number music video credits directing music videos for Mary J. Blige, Dixie Chicks, Rihanna, Lu ...

Track listings

Sample credits *"You Used to Love Me (Puff Daddy mix)" contains a sample from "Are You a Customer" by

EPMD EPMD is an American hip hop duo from Brentwood, New York. The duo's name is an initialism for "Erick and Parrish Making Dollars", referring to its members: emcees Erick Sermon ("E" a.k.a. E Double) and Parrish Smith ("PMD" a.k.a. Parrish Mi ...

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Faith''. *Bob Brockman – recording engineer *

– mixing engineer, producer *Faith Evans – vocal arranger, vocalist, writer *

Tony Maserati Tony Maserati is an American record producer and audio engineer specializing in mixing. He was involved in the development of the New York R&B and hip-hop scene in the 1990s, working with Mary J. Blige, Notorious B.I.G., Puff Daddy, and Queen ...

–

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who Invention, invent, design, build, maintain and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials. They aim to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while ...

*Darryl McCleary – additional keyboards *Jon Shriver – second engineer *

– producer

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control 1995 singles 1995 songs 1990s ballads Bad Boy Records singles Contemporary R&B ballads Faith Evans songs Music videos directed by Marcus Raboy Songs written by Faith Evans Songs written by Sean Combs