We Can't Be Friends
{{For|the song by Ariana Grande|We Can't Be Friends (Wait for Your Love)}}
{{Infobox song
| name = We Can't Be Friends
| cover = We Can't Be Friends.jpg
| alt =
| border = yes
| type = single
| artist = Deborah Cox and RL
| album = One Wish
| released = September 14, 1999
| recorded =
| studio =
| venue =
| genre =
| length = 4:41
| label = Arista
| writer = {{hlist|Shep Crawford|Jimmy Russell}}
| producer = Shep Crawford
| chronology = Deborah Cox
| prev_title = It's Over Now
| prev_year = 1999
| next_title = I Never Knew
| next_year = 2000
| misc = {{Extra chronology
| artist = R.L.
| type = singles
| title = We Can't Be Friends
| year = 1999
| next_title = The Best Man I Can Be
| next_year = 1999
}}
}}
"We Can't Be Friends" is a song by Canadian singer Deborah Cox, featuring American singer RL of R&B group Next. It was written by Shep Crawford and Jimmy Russell for her second studio album One Wish (1998), while production was overseen by Crawford. Selected as the album's third single, the duet was airplayed on December 21, 1998 but released on September 14, 1999, and became her second single to reach number one on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, while peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100.
Critical reception
Chuck Taylor from Billboard wrote that "Cox shows off the full maturity of her magnificent voice in this shimmering R&B ballad, which she
shares with the equally compelling R.L. from Next. From the start, this beautifully crafted song of regret and abiding love glides along with the gentle touch of silk, raising the emotional threshold at the mid-section, where the pair’s voices rally together as if made for each other." He found that "while Cox has certainly delivered the goods on the classic "Things Just Ain't the Same" and "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here," this casts her in a completely new light, which R&B and R&B adult stations will eagerly savor with all the intensity of the emotion shared here. This is indeed the goods."{{cite magazine|first=Chuck |last=Taylor|title=Reviews & Previews|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CQ0EAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&hl|work=Billboard|date=June 26, 1999|page=24|accessdate=February 28, 2025}}
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Weekly chart performance for "We Can't Be Friends" ! Chart (1999) ! Peak |
| {{singlechart|Billboardhot100|8|artist=Deborah Cox|accessdate=July 30, 2018|rowheader=true}} |
| {{singlechart|Billboardrandbhiphop|1|artist=Deborah Cox|accessdate=July 30, 2018|rowheader=true}} |
Certifications
{{Certification Table Top|caption=Certifications for "We Can't Be Friends"}}
{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|digital=true|title=We Can't Be Friends|artist=Deborah Cox|type=single|award=Gold|relyear=1999|certyear=1999}}
{{Certification Table Bottom | noshipments=true}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{Deborah Cox}}
Category:Songs written by Shep Crawford
Category:Arista Records singles
Category:Songs about heartache
Category:Contemporary R&B ballads
{{1990s-R&B-song-stub}}