How Sixpence None the Richer's 'Kiss Me' Found New Life Through Sabrina Carpenter and BLACKPINK's Lisa (Exclusive)

10/21/2024 10:57 AM

In an exclusive PEOPLE interview, the '90s alt-rockers also discuss how having the track as the theme to the 1999 rom-com 'She's All That' impacted their career

• Sixpence None the Richer is still enjoying success with its hit 1997 song, "Kiss Me"
• Artists like SZA, Lisa of BLACKPINK and Sabrina Carpenter have all showed support for the song
• The band's new EP, Rosemary Hill, is out now

In the late '90s, it seemed like Sixpence None the Richer — or at least one particular song of theirs, "Kiss Me" — was everywhere.

The swoony folk-pop classic, released in 1997 on the band's self-titled album, propelled them to fame when it soundtracked Laney's transformation from art student to aspiring prom queen in the 1999 rom-com She's All That. It may have been their breakout moment, but truthfully Sixpence None the Richer had already been cutting their teeth for five years prior.

"We'd been together and touring for years and years before that movie," lead vocalist Leigh Nash recalls. "So, I think the one thing that felt like a bummer was people thinking, 'Oh, it's just overnight success and these are these young babies.'" 

The Texas alt-rock group — whose current lineup includes Nash, songwriter/guitarist Matt Slocum, bassist Justin Cary and drummer Dale Baker — had formed in 1992 and already had three albums under their belt. Plus, "Kiss Me" had already been released in 1997, two years ahead of She's All That. It also notably helped that "Kiss Me" earned a placement on the Dawson's Creeksoundtrack in 1999. Still, the timing for the song's success seemed "serendipitous." 

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"It felt like an accident, but there it was," she added, "and here we are."

For Sixpence None the Richer, "Kiss Me" has had a long shelf life.

The track was notably the first song Taylor Swift learned to play on guitar. "She's been very sweet to talk about it several times," says Nash, 48, adding that she's never had any communication with her.

While Cary, 48, played with the opening act of one of Swift's tours and met the superstar, he didn't tell her he was a member of Sixpence None the Richer. "She was super sweet," he recalls. "I probably should have mentioned it, because she probably would've made a big deal of it."

During the pandemic, Nash had one of her "favorite surprises" when SZA slid into her DMs. "I yelled into my son's room, 'Do you know of an artist named S-Z-A?' And he was like, 'SZA?' Very sweet," she recalls.

According to Nash, SZA tried to sample "Kiss Me" for a song. "I don't know if she ever recorded it, but that was her plan," she recalls. "[SZA] has a live performance of it somewhere, and it's great. That was really unexpected."

Then, there was the time the Japanese version of their song, which was recorded in 2006, landed a placement on Tokyo Vice in 2022. "It's just wild the places it continues to show up," says Slocum, 51.

But lately, the song has found a different kind of resurgence. Earlier this month, Lisa of BLACKPINK released her dreamy solo single "MOONLIT FLOOR," which interpolated the band's hit for its hook. 

The single wasn't exactly a surprise to Sixpence None the Richer. For the last year, it had "been on our radar," Nash explains.

Jessie Reyez, a co-writer on Lisa's track, asked the band about using "Kiss Me" about a year ago. But up until a few weeks before the song's release, Nash was wondering if it was going to happen.

"Jessie said she wanted to use it for her record, that was her first choice, but she couldn't get the approval from whoever has the power to approve that," explains Slocum. "And so, she did some internet sleuthing and found Leigh on Instagram. Leigh and Jessie became friends and Leigh championed getting permission for the song to be used."

Ultimately, Nash thinks Lisa "did a really bang-up job" on "MOONLIT FLOOR."

Lately, "Kiss Me" has also had another moment in the spotlight thanks to another pop star — Sabrina Carpenter.

During her Short n' Sweet Tour, the "Taste" singer has covered the track a handful of times so far. "I wasn't there, but hearing the entire audience singing with her, it brought tears to my eyes," says Nash.

The band also has some fond — and funny — memories of playing the song live.

"Anytime I've played next to a staircase, there's always a drunk girl that falls down the staircase [as Lainey does in She's All That] during 'Kiss Me,' Nash notes. "It's happened at least three times. If they do it on purpose, they don't get hurt, hopefully, but it's always a real crowd-pleaser."

Some artists have written off their most successful songs, but clearly, Sixpence the Richer hasn't gotten tired of the hype around "Kiss Me" — they're just "grateful."

"I love it for the reason that it makes people so happy," she says. "That's a completely different generation, obviously, so it's a connector. The song is obviously connected with a ton of people. So, who would be mad about that?"

Related: Rachael Leigh Cook and Freddie Prinze Jr. Have She's All That Reunion 25 Years Later

"Kiss Me," of course, wasn't the only song that resonated with fans over the past three decades. On Sixpence None the Richer's self-titled LP, the group shared an airy cover of The La's 1990 track "There She Goes," and 2002 saw them drop a stunning take on the 1986 Crowded House classic "Don't Dream It's Over."

For Slocum, both songs were "pretty formative." But they had an especialy personal connection with singer-songwriter Lee Mavers of The La's, who showed up at one of their shows in London several years ago. 

"He's famous for being pretty much a hermit. Nobody ever really knows where he is or what he's doing. And he showed up and started drinking beer with us at 3 p.m. He never left and just drank with us up to the show, during the show, after the show, and at about 3 a.m., he just walked off in the night and disappeared," he recalled.

While Sixpence None The Richer has six albums filled with original songs, Slocum admits their covers are "a big part of our history."

But the band is looking forward. On Oct. 4, Sixpence None the Richer shared its first new project in 12 years: the Rosemary Hill EP. While members of the band were focused on their own creative and business endeavors since that time, there was "a lot of serendipity involved" in coming back to Sixpence None the Richer, Slocum says: "It felt like a band again."

Rosemary Hill, named after the titular song and inspired by the street where Slocum lived while growing up, "was just sort of an attempt to immortalize childhood memories or your childhood neighborhood."

According to the band, a few artists inspired the dreamy alt-rock project. For Nash, it was Fountains of Wayne — specifically "stylistically" on the track "Julia," which she co-wrote. "I'm not trying to sing like Adam Schlesinger or anything," she quips. Meanwhile, Slocum found inspiration in Johnny Marr, since the group wanted it to be a "guitar-forward project with cool tones."

Overall, Slocum explains, "it was a mixture of wanting to simplify and be more guitar-focused, but have nods to our past productions and past records."

For Sixpence None the Richer, Rosemary Hill feels like a homecoming. "We have wanted to do this for a long time," says Nash. "It's just now is the time it worked out. We're not just talking about it now."

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