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"Black Coffee" is a song recorded by English-Canadian girl group All Saints for their second studio album, ''Saints & Sinners'' (2000). It later appeared on the group's greatest hits albums, ''All Hits'' (2001) and ''Pure Shores: The Very Best of All Saints'' (2010). The song was written by Alexander Von Soos, Kirsty Elizabeth and Tom Nichols, and produced by William Orbit. Originally titled "I Wouldn't Wanna Be", the track was first conceptualized by Elizabeth based on her romance with Ernesto Bertarelli before being handed to London Records executive Tracy Bennett. It was released worldwide on 2 October 2000 as the second single from ''Saints & Sinners'', through various physical formats accompanied by remixes from The Neptunes, Wideboys, AFTC, and the b-side "I Don't Wanna Be Alone". A midtempo electronic pop song, "Black Coffee" chronicles a love story with a contrary theme of bitterness, and garnered comparisons with previous William Orbit productions, namely "Pure Shores" and tracks from Madonna's ''Ray of Light'' (1998). The track's structure includes slightly dislocated verses delivered in a sinister manner, followed by the group's combined harmony sung in an eerie fashion leading up to the song's wistful chorus. Lyrically, it discusses how two lovers meet and are in a moment where they would not want to be elsewhere. "Black Coffee" was met with general acclaim from contemporary music critics who praised All Saints' mature and accomplished sound, vocal harmonies and William Orbit's production. Some critics deemed the song one of the group's greatest hits and a pop classic which would later inspire the sound of their girl group contemporary, Girls Aloud. The single was a commercial success, becoming All Saints' fifth number one single on the UK Singles Chart, at the time making them the girl group with the second-most number ones in British chart history. "Black Coffee" was also a hit internationally, reaching the top ten in Ireland, Italy, New Zealand and Sweden, and the top 40 in nine other countries. It was among the best-selling singles of 2000 in the United Kingdom, later being certified silver for sales of over 200,000 copies. The song's accompanying music video was directed by Johan Renck and aired on 14 September 2000. The video which garnered comparisons to the science fiction action film ''The Matrix'' (1999), is set in a high rise apartment at night and features the group singing from the rooftop of the apartment floor as a couple engage in a dramatic argument depicted in slow motion. The song's recording and release was surrounded by group in-fighting which became visible in tense live performances of the song and in its music video where each group member shot their scene separately. "Black Coffee" was promoted with live performances on ''Top of the Pops'', ''Later... with Jools Holland'', Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, ''Children in Need'' and as part of All Saints' set list on the In a World Like This Tour (2014). ==Background== "Black Coffee" was originally written by British model Kirsty Elizabeth.〔 At the time, Elizabeth decided to pursue a career as a singer-songwriter, dabbling in modelling to pay her way.〔 Her agent entered her for Miss UK aged 17, she won the competition and went on to come third in Miss World in 1988.〔 Despite these events, Elizabeth was persistent to follow through with her singer-songwriter aspirations.〔 Speaking to Gavanddra Hodge of the ''London Evening Standard'', Elizabeth mentioned, "'I'm quite proud of it, but I quickly realised being a beauty queen wasn't something I wanted to do." She went on to quip, "When you have a passion for something, when you are very creative, you can't just let go of it, it is always there."〔 Elizabeth then moved to London and devoted herself to making music. She was visiting different recording studios desperately trying to earn a contract and make a success of herself.〔 Elizabeth would constantly write lyrics on anything she could find: napkins, pieces of paper and cigarette packets.〔 She then began working with disc jockey Gary Davies, recording in a makeshift studio and a recording deal was later in the offing with Warner Bros. Records.〔 Elizabeth then met successful entrepreneur Ernesto Bertarelli, this event was said to both kickstart and stall her recording career.〔 In 1997, Bertarelli was holidaying off the coast of Sardinia, staying on his yacht Vava.〔 At a dinner with friends, Bertarelli met Elizabeth who was single after a two-year relationship with the conservationist Damian Aspinall.〔 Elizabeth described this event as love at first sight and the birth of the song "I Wouldn't Wanna Be".〔 Following Kirsty Elizabeth's original writing of "I Wouldn't Wanna Be", her collaborator at the time DJ Gary Davies, passed her work onto another aspiring singer-songwriter Tom Nichols to add his writing input in an attempt to establish the song as a single for Elizabeth.〔 The track then received additional writing from Alexander Van Soos and Elizabeth went on to record the demo version of the song.〔 Davies then searched for a major record label to sign Elizabeth.〔 He approached Tracy Bennett, an executive at London Records, and played "I Wouldn't Wanna Be" to her.〔 Bennett declined Davies' offer for her to sign Elizabeth, and instead wanted the song to be recorded by All Saints as their follow-up to "Pure Shores" for the group's ''Saints & Sinners'' album.〔 Davies approved Bennett's offer, and he, together with Elizabeth and Nichols were in a back and forth situation where they were unsure if the song was going to be cut.〔 "I Wouldn't Wanna Be" was then retitled "Black Coffee" and handed to producer William Orbit.〔〔 Nichols told Kimbel Bouwman of HitQuarters that the song's demo version was completely different to the outcome of Orbit's production and that it sounded "fantastic".〔 "Black Coffee" would later go on to be a career-changing song for both Elizabeth and Nichols.〔 Nichols went on to become a successful songwriter, writing for the likes of Kylie Minogue, Jessica Simpson and the Sugababes.〔 Nichols quipped in his interview with HitQuarters, "The moment 'Black Coffee' got released, the phone just started ringing and didn't stop," adding, "So I owe a lot to the All Saints and to Tracy Bennett at London () they are a large further reason why I have a career because suddenly when that song was released, the opportunities that (got ) certainly in the UK, but also Europe-wide, () absolutely huge."〔 While Elizabeth was signed to Warner Bros. but then parted ways with the label and put her musical career on hold after marrying Ernesto Bertarelli in 2000, performing "Black Coffee" at their wedding.〔 All Saints were working on ''Saints & Sinners'' for a substantial period of time, having written 40 songs for the album, in addition to working around William Orbit's busy schedule. During the original recording of the song, group member Natalie Appleton sung the lead vocal for the track's second verse and chorus with Shaznay Lewis singing the song's first and last verses. Natalie then spent a night recording a vocal to "Black Coffee" which was deemed "perfect" but at the last minute, Natalie's vocal was switched to a backing vocal and was replaced with Lewis singing the track's second verse.〔 This among other events lead to in-fighting within the group before the time "Black Coffee" was released.〔 The replacement of Natalie's lead vocal as well as Nicole Appleton's on the song and other tracks on the album left the two members feeling sidelined to backing vocalists for the majority of the album, in favour of Lewis and Melanie Blatt's lead vocal.〔 The Appleton sisters were "frustrated and disappointed" about this result and later pleaded their case to their manager, Steve Finan,〔 in a group meeting which ended in a feud between Blatt and Natalie Appleton where Blatt threatened to leave All Saints. The group recorded "Black Coffee" at Guerilla Beach Studios and Larrabee West in Los Angeles, and at Olympic and Sarm West Studios in London.〔 The song was engineered by Clif Norrell, Iain Robertson, Ren Swan and Sean Spuehler, with the assistance of Michelle Forbes and Tom Hannen.〔 It was then mixed by Mark "Spike" Stent and arranged by All Saints and William Orbit.〔 Orbit handled the majority of the song's instrumental production, namely; keyboards, guitar and its synthesizer.〔 Engineer Spuehler was also involved with the track's keyboards in addition to its programming and computer Pro Tools.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Black Coffee (All Saints song)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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