7 Seconds (song)

"7 Seconds" is a song composed by Youssou N'Dour, Neneh Cherry, Cameron McVey, and Jonathan Sharp. It was released in 1994 as a single performed by Youssou N'Dour and Neneh Cherry and achieved much success, reaching the number-one position in numerous countries; in France it stayed at number-one for 16 weeks, a record at the time. "7 Seconds" also won the MTV Europe Music Award for Best Song of 1994. "NME" magazine ranked it at 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, who also played bass on the track. It was included on Neneh Cherry's album "Man" (1996). The song is trilingual as N'Dour sings in three languages: French, English and the West African language Wolof. Cherry sings only in English. The song 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" 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 newspaper "Aftonbladet" described the song as a "floating airy and heavenly beautiful synth ballad". Peter Stepek from AllMusic called it a "vaguely menacing duet". Larry Flick from "Billboard" said it is "unique and thoroughly pleasing", adding that "haunting tune is padded with cushiony synths and a richly soulful bass line. Cherry offers a sweet and charming contrast to N'Dour's gritty vocal." "Cashbox" wrote that the "compelling duet nicely swirls N'Dour’s husky vocals and Cherry's sweet, angelic voice into a nifty, down-tempo stroll that has broad radio potential." They noted that it is "powered by a rolling bass line and layers of passive synthesizer strains". Eloise Parker commented in the 2010 book "1001 Songs You Must Hear Before You Die", that "the soul of '7 seconds' is N'Dour's heartfelt vocals, sung in Wolof and French, enhanced by Cherry's haunting English-language chorus." Dave Sholin from "Gavin Report" called the song "music to stir the senses combined with lyrics that make a powerful case for our common humanity." He noted 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." "Music & Media" complimented Cherry as "again brilliant", and also complimented the song as "melodic, synthy, sexy and with a slow beat." Wendi Cermak from "The Network Forty" described it as "haunting". Dele Fadele from "NME" noted that it "makes like a future African sci-fi rumination on colour prejudice, with Yossou N'Dour's beguiling tones on show."
Chart performance.
"7 Seconds" peaked within the top 10 of the charts in several countries, including Australia, Austria, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Sweden and the United Kingdom. It climbed to the top position in Finland, France, Iceland, Italy and Switzerland. It stayed at number one for 16 consecutive weeks on the French Singles Chart, which was the record for the most weeks at the top position at the time. On the Eurochart Hot 100, the song reached number 2. It was awarded with a gold record in Austria, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
Music video.
The black-and-white music video was directed by French director, photographer, film producer and actor Stéphane Sednaoui. It features people of different ethnicities walking by while the two are singing. When they sing the chorus, different kinds of people's faces appear. The video was uploaded to YouTube in October 2009. By February 2021, it had more than 104,5 million views.
Formats and track listings.
CD maxi
CD maxi (7 June 1994)
CD maxi (7 June 1994)
UK CD single (660508-2)
US CD single (Chaos/Columbia 42K 77482)