First Listen: 90s group Next returns with “Want It”

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(April 14, 2018) From the late 1990s to the mid 2000s, few R&B groups experienced the instant success like Minneapolis, Minnesota’s Next. Formed by brothers Raphael “Tweet” Brown, Terry “T-ow” Brown and Robert “RL” Huggar, the trio experienced an early hit with “Buttah Love” but exploded onto the charts with their debut album thanks to their 1998 smash, “Too Close.” “I Still Love You’ and “Wifey” kept them in the mix before label changes, personal conflicts, RL’s solo stint and finally, 2016’s episode of Unsung stoked their creative juices again. “Want It,” their latest single, is certainly bringing the heat, thanks to its simmering bedroom-ready backdrop, saucy lyrics offering themselves for sexual services and, um…..mentioning Bill Cosby?

“Want It” features all three bringing the vocals (which come off too over-tuned in places, unless it was meant as sound effects), sharing how the desire grows from some hot online images to ending with sensual commands that evoke images and descriptions listeners won’t soon forget: “Turn the lights on, turn the lights on so I can see….so I can be loving you, touching you, holding you (yeah)/And giving you all of this Jell-O pudding pop like I am Cliff Huxtable.” Yeah…..that’s sexy alright. Not.

For fans and others who can get past that verse, Next hasn’t seemed to lost their artistic touches and “Want It” could be a signal that a comeback is on the horizon. Here’s hoping that any future jams will feature more vocals and less unseemly name dropping. Next’s track record, and talents, certainly affords them that chance.

By Melody Charles

Next – “Want It”

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