"When I See U" is a song recorded by American singer Fantasia for her self-titled second studio album (2006). It written by Louis Biancaniello, Waynne Nugent, Erika Nuri, Kevin Risto, Janet Sewell, Sam Watters, and produced by

Midi Mafia The MIDI Mafia is a music production duo consisting of American Bruce Waynne (born Waynne Nugent) from Brooklyn, New York and Canadian Dirty Swift (born Kevin Risto) from Ottawa, Ontario. Together as Midi Mafia since 2003, they are most notable ...

along with Mzmeriq. An R&B ballad, it was released to positive reviews by critics as the album's second single in April 2007. Its digital release spawned several remixes, three of which featured rappers

Remy Ma Reminisce Kioni Mackie ( Smith; born May 30, 1980), known professionally as Remy Ma, is an American rapper and songwriter. Discovered by the late rapper Big Pun, she came to prominence for her work as a member of Fat Joe's group, Terror Squad ...

Young Jeezy Jay Wayne Jenkins (born September 28, 1977), known by his stage name Jeezy (or Young Jeezy), is an American rapper. He is credited, alongside fellow Georgia-based rappers T.I. and Gucci Mane, with pioneering the hip hop subgenre trap music fo ...

Lumidee Lumidee Cedeño (born October 13, 1984), known mononymously as Lumidee, is an American singer-songwriter and rapper. She is best known for her 2003 single " Never Leave You (Uh Oooh, Uh Oooh)", which peaked at number three on the ''Billboard'' ...

, B.G. and

Polow da Don Jamal Fincher Jones (born October 15, 1977 or 1978), known professionally as Polow da Don, is an American record producer from Atlanta, Georgia. He began his career as a recording artist in the late 1990s, leaving college to pursue a career with ...

. Upon release, it reached number one on the US ''

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 ...

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, and spent a year on the chart, one of only fourteen songs in history to achieve that feat. It was eventually ranked eighth on the chart's decade-end ranking. In December 2007, "When I See U" earned two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

nominations for

Best Female R&B Vocal Performance The Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance (previously called Best Rhythm and Blues Solo Vocal Performance, Female) was an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Award ...

and

Best R&B Song The Grammy Award for Best R&B Song (sometimes known as the R&B Songwriter's Award) has been awarded since 1969. From 1969 to 2000, it was known as the Grammy Award for Best Rhythm and Blues Song. Beyoncé has won it a record five times, while Ba ...

. It lost in both categories to

Alicia Keys Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer and songwriter. A classically trained pianist, Keys began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed by Columbia Records at 15. After d ...

' " No One" at the

50th Grammy Awards The 50th Annual Grammy Awards took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, on February 10, 2008. It honored musical achievement of 2007 in which albums were released between October 1, 2006, through September 30, 2007. The primary ceremonie ...

ceremony.

Chart performance

"When I See U" debuted at number ninety-nine on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in April 2007. It was Fantasia's first to enter the chart since " Free Yourself" in 2005. The song peaked at number thirty-two on the chart, becoming more successful than ''Fantasia''s first single, " Hood Boy", which failed to chart.

Billboard Charts 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'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ' ...

/ref> It also reached number one for nine weeks on ''

chart. "When I See U" was Fantasia's first single to reach the top ten on the chart since "Free Yourself" in 2005, and her first single to top the chart. The song spent 58 weeks on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop chart, the 13th longest running song in the chart's history. It is also credited with re-energizing sales of ''Fantasia'', causing the album to re-enter the top 100 of the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. In September 2007, "When I See U" hit number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Recurrent

Airplay Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in n ...

chart, making it Fantasia's fifth chart topping recurrent hit on the Hot 100 section (single and airplay).[] It was announced in December 2009 by ''Billboard'' magazine that "When I See U" was the eighth biggest hit of the decade on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

Music video

The

video Video is an Electronics, electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving picture, moving image, visual Media (communication), media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, whi ...

was shot by director Lenny Bass on March 26, 2007. It premiered on

BET Black Entertainment Television (BET) is an American basic cable channel targeting Black American audiences. It is the flagship channel of the BET Media Group, a subsidiary of Paramount Global's CBS Entertainment Group. Originally launched ...

's ''

Access Granted ''Access Granted'' is an American television series that features an in-depth look at the planning, filming and production of R&B and hip hop music videos. Each week a different artist and their new music video are featured, with the video pre ...

'' April 25, 2007 and on

Yahoo! Music Yahoo Music was a brand under which Yahoo provided music services including Internet radio, a digital music store, music streaming service, media player software, and original programming. Yahoo Music was sold to Rhapsody in early 2008. Pro ...

on April 26. The music video debuted on BET's top ten video countdown show ''

106 & Park ''106 & Park'' is an American hip hop and R&B music video show, set up in a countdown format, that was broadcast on weekdays at 6:00 pm ET/5:00 pm CT on BET; it aired on a one-day delay on BET International. It was the network's highest- rated ...

'' on May 9. The video begins with Fantasia singing on a rooftop, with scenes of her taking a bath in a tub interceding. After that, she walks to meet her love interest (

NFL The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The N ...

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

, Larry Johnson, who at the time played for the

Kansas City Chiefs The Kansas City Chiefs are a professional American football team based in Kansas City, Missouri. The Chiefs compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) West division. Established in 1959 ...

). At the end of the music video, she finally meets him and they embrace and, eventually, kiss. The video fades out on a shot of the stars and moon. Throughout the video, people in love are shown, ranging from children in their "

puppy love Puppy love, also known as a crush, is an informal term for feelings of romantic love, often felt during childhood and early adolescence. It is an infatuation usually developed by one's looks and attractiveness at first sight. It is named for its r ...

" stages to elderly couples who have been married a long time.

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Fantasia Barrino singles 2007 singles Fantasia Barrino songs Songs written by Sam Watters Songs written by Louis Biancaniello Songs written by Erika Nuri Song recordings produced by Midi Mafia 2006 songs J Records singles Contemporary R&B ballads 2000s ballads