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Song Stories

“Chasing Pavements”

Adele | 2008

While working on her first full-length album, 19, this British powerhouse discovered her boyfriend had cheated on her. But before she could channel her insufferable heartbreak into a song, she had to let out a little aggression. "I went to the pub [where he was] and punched him in the face," Adele recounted to Rolling Stone. "I got thrown out, and as I was running away, the phrase 'chasing pavements' came to me." And that fateful slug was doubly worth it, as the resulting breakup song earned the singer a Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

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“Rumour Has It”
Adele | 2011
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“Planet Rock”
Afrika Bambaataa and the Soulsonic Force | 1982

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Song Stories

“Too Close”

Next | 1998

Next was formed in Minneapolis when the uncle of Terry "T-Low" and Raphael "Tweety" Brown, who was a gospel choir director, introduced the brothers to Robert Lavelle "R.L." Huggar. Sounds of Blackness singer Ann Nesby groomed the R&B group before handing them over to Naughty by Nature's KayGee, who wrote and produced "Too Close." The idea for the song was sparked "from a conversation we had with several girls at a nightclub," explained T-Low. "It's talking about the club scene, with guys getting out of hand and the female telling him to back up, asking, 'What are you doing?'" 

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