Album: Raise Vibration (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In 1999 Lenny Kravitz and Michael Jackson spent some time working together at the legendary Marvin's Room Studio. Their collaboration produced "(I Can't Make It) Another Day," which was included on Jackson's first posthumous album, Michael.

    After Kravitz came up with this tune, he remembered there were still some Jacko vocals from their studio time together kicking around, and he incorporated them on this song.

    "A lot of people say, 'Oh, you're doing that Michael Jackson impersonation,'" Kravitz told The Guardian. "No, that's him. He's the person who made it happen for me. He loved working together. He asked me to push him. I did."
  • The video was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, who also did Madonna's "Justify My Love" (Kravitz co-wrote that song). The "Low" video shows Kravitz at the drums as the camera pans around him. In some shots, he gets swapped out for a female drummer.

    It was Mondino who came up with video's concept. Kravitz told Billboard that the director visited him at his Paris house and listened to "Low" around 10 times in a row. He kept honing in on the beat and told the singer, "I just want to see you play the drums, and that's it. Just drums, in a black room, a black drum set and you are wearing black."

    Then he suggested having a female counterpart and the dialogue. Kravitz loved the idea.
  • "Low" became Kravitz's first #1 as an artist on Billboard's Dance Club Songs, thanks to remixes by the likes of David Guetta, Tom Stephan and Junior Black. He'd previously topped the chart as a producer and writer on Madonna's 1991 hit "Justify My Love."
  • Jackson was a huge influence on Kravitz and inspired him to pursue music. One of his first musical memories is watching the Jackson 5 at a concert in Madison Square Garden. "It was magical," he told Cuepoint. "He was six or seven years old. It was crazy. I had a picture in my bedroom that my father took of them that night on stage. It was my earliest memory of what changed my life."

Comments: 4

  • Ubhello anonymus, the female drummer is jas kayser
  • Sunshine Girl from UsThe drummer's name is Jas Kayser. A young Jazz musician from England with a bright future!
  • AnonymousWho IS the female drummer in this vid? I can't find her name anywhere.
  • Borderless from Planet EarthWe lost Prince, we lost Michael Jackson, we definitely do not need to lose you, be safe, be strong, live long. Most of all thank you for your rendition of American Woman (Sic) makes my hips gyrate uncontrollably.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Angelo Moore of Fishbone

Angelo Moore of FishboneSongwriter Interviews

Fishbone has always enjoyed much more acclaim than popularity - Angelo might know why.

Alan Merrill of The Arrows

Alan Merrill of The ArrowsSongwriter Interviews

In her days with The Runaways, Joan Jett saw The Arrows perform "I Love Rock And Roll," which Alan Merrill co-wrote - that story and much more from this glam rock pioneer.

Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty

Rob Thomas of Matchbox TwentySongwriter Interviews

Rob Thomas on his Social Distance Sessions, co-starring with a camel, and his friendship with Carlos Santana.

Rufus Wainwright

Rufus WainwrightSongwriter Interviews

Rufus Wainwright on "Hallelujah," his album Unfollow The Rules, and getting into his "lyric trance" on 12-hour walks.

Classic Metal

Classic MetalFact or Fiction

Ozzy, Guns N' Roses, Judas Priest and even Michael Bolton show up in this Classic Metal quiz.

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"

Ian Anderson: "The delight in making music is that you don't have a formula"Songwriter Interviews

Ian talks about his 3 or 4 blatant attempts to write a pop song, and also the ones he most connected with, including "Locomotive Breath."