Kiss Me (Sixpence None the Richer)
Written by guitarist Matt Slocum and sung by Leigh Nash, this track from Sixpence None the Richer's 1997 self-titled album went nowhere at first. Everything changed in early 1999 when Miramax picked it for She's All That and it landed on Dawson's Creek's soundtrack the same spring. The song detonated, peaking at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May and becoming an instant 90s classic.
Sixpence None the Richer formed in New Braunfels, Texas in 1992 around Slocum and Nash. The band's name comes from a passage in C.S. Lewis's Mere Christianity—a child buying a gift for his father with the father's own money leaves the father none the richer, but the act still has value. "Kiss Me" appeared on their self-titled third album in 1997 on the Squint Entertainment label.
The song was serviced to US modern rock radio on July 14, 1998, but initially flopped. The breakthrough came in January 1999 when Miramax made it the theme for She's All That; that April, it also landed on Dawson's Creek's first soundtrack. The dual placement ignited the track. "Kiss Me" peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 on May 1, 1999—held out of the top spot only by TLC's "No Scrubs," which was in the final week of its four-week No. 1 run. Internationally, it reached No. 1 in Australia and Canada and No. 4 in the UK, earning a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 42nd Grammy Awards.
The success cemented Sixpence None the Richer's place in late-90s pop-rock. Their follow-up, a 1999 cover of The La's "There She Goes," never matched "Kiss Me"'s ubiquity. The band split in 2004, but the track remains a definitive sound of the era.
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