She began singing for TV commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows with the help of her mother. She performed in nightclubs, and began to write music around the same time. Cox entered the music industry in the early 1990s, performing as a backup vocalist for Celine Dion for six months.
In 1995, label executive Clive Davis signed Cox to Arista Records, and she released her self-titled debut album the same year.
After middling success, Cox released a non-album single for the soundtrack to the 1997 movie "Money Talks", titled "Things Just Ain't The Same". A dance mix of that song topped the U.S. dance charts and was included on her second album, "One Wish" in 1998. The first single from that album, "Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", spent 14 weeks at #1 on the Hot R&B charts in the USA, as well as eight consecutive weeks at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. The album went platinum, becoming Cox's biggest-selling album to date. Cox then recorded a new song, "Absolutely Not", for the soundtrack to Dr. Dolittle 2. Remixes of the song repeated the success of One Wish's singles on the dance charts, and the Chanel mix of "Absolutely Not" was included on her third album.
Cox's third album "The Morning After" was released in November 2002 on J Records.
On February 17, 2004, she made her Broadway debut in the Elton John-Tim Rice musical Aida, returning to recording only to release a dance remix of "Easy As Life" as a single.
Cox also has been involved in a number of movies and soundtracks. In 2000, she played Niko Rosen in Love Come Down. In 2001, her hit song "Absolutely Not" was featured in Dr. Dolittle 2. In 2005, in the movie Blood of a Champion she played the role of Sharon, and again in 2005, her voice was featured in the movie Hotel Rwanda in the song "Nobody Cares".
She released a dance single titled "House Is Not a Home" on Nervous Records in January 2006. Later in the year, the song "Definition of Love" was used in the movie Akeelah and the Bee, but was not released as a single.
Between 2005 and 2006 Deborah recorded her fourth album, called "Destination Moon". It is a tribute to jazz singer Dinah Washington and was released on June 19, 2007.
Cox contributed the song "This Gift" to the soundtrack of the 2008 movie "Meet the Browns" and was part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour 2008.
She has also starred in "A Good Man is Hard to Find" along side Golden Brooks and Darius McCrary.
In early 2008, Cox and Stephens created the Deco Recording Group, her very own independent label, which is distributed through Image Entertainment.
Her fifth R&B studio album, "The Promise", was released on November 11, 2008. The first single "Did You Ever Love Me" was released to radio on August 26, 2008 and peaked at #69 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs Chart. The song "Beautiful U R" has been released digitally to iTunes and Amazon.com on September 16, 2008. It has recently reached #3 on the Canadian Radio Chart becoming her most successful single in nearly ten years. It also peaked at #3 on the Canadian Hot AC Chart (January, 2009 Chart) and hit #1 on the US Dance chart becoming her tenth song to do it.
The song was certified gold for digital downloads in January, 2009. "Saying Goodbye" was sent to Urban/AC radios in February, while "The Promise" is scheduled to be released as a single in July. Cox joined forces with Kenny Lattimore for the "Timeless Promise Tour" in July 2009.
In April 2009, she was featured on the single "Leave The World Behind". The house track was produced by four DJs — Axwell, Steve Angello, Sebastian Ingrosso and Laidback Luke. It peaked at #40 on the US Dance chart.
In September 2009 it was announced she would be joining Kelly Price and Tamia to form the super group The Queen Project. In a February 2012 interview with Seattle Gay News, Cox confirmed that those plans were on hold, due to scheduling issues. "Each of us has moved on and we are all doing our own projects now." She also noted that she is currently working on a dance album. "My fans have been hounding me about another 'remixed' album."
In December 2011 Deborah achieved her 11th number 1 with "If It Wasn't For Love".
On September 7, 2012 Cox gave her inaugural performance as Lucy the female lead in a revival of the musical Jekyll & Hyde starring Constantine Maroulis: after premiering in La Mirada CA this production toured North American for twenty-five weeks playing at twenty locales, then began previews for its Broadway run April 5, 2013 officially opening its planned limited engagement Broadway run of thirteen weeks on April 18, 2013. Despite Cox herself receiving good reviews, the production did not enjoy strong Broadway box-office and subsequent to its non-showing in the 2013 Tony Awards list of nominees announced April 30, 2013 Jekyll & Hyde was announced to be playing its final show May 12, 2013. Cox had a new track "Higher" issued in the autumn of 2012, and in May 2013 stated she was planning to record a dance version of the Jekyll & Hyde number "Someone Like You". Also, in April 2013 Cox stated that a projected Broadway musical in which she'd play Josephine Baker, which had been workshopped in 2011, was still planned, the production being dependent on an available venue.
In 2014, she was one of the performers at the opening ceremonies of WorldPride in Toronto, alongside Melissa Etheridge, Tom Robinson and Steve Grand.
Cox provided vocals for the 2015 Whitney Houston biopic, Whitney, directed by Angela Basset. The same year, she released the deep house-influenced "Kinda Miss You", as well as the ballad "More Than I Knew" as singles. In 2016, Cox played the lead role of Josephine Baker in the Broadway-bound musical Josephine, which chronicled the singer's life between the years of 1939 and 1945, and starred as Rachel Marron in the North American Tour of the musical The Bodyguard based on the 1992 film of the same name. In support of the musical, Cox released the EP I Will Always Love You on Deco and Broadway Records, containing cover versions of seven Whitney Houston originals as well as Houston's cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You."[31] In June 2017, she released an uptempo dance single "Let the World Be Ours Tonight" during LGBTQ pride season on Radikal Records and Galactic Media. It marked her 13th single to top Billboard's Dance Club Songs.
In June 2019, she performed at Stonewall 50 – WorldPride NYC 2019. In November 2019, Cox released the Rico Love-produced single "Easy Way" through Deco Entertainment. The song is expected to lead her seventh studio album, which is expected to be released in late 2020. In February 2020, Cox starred opposite Roger Guenveur Smith in the BET+ television thriller Influence, an adaption of Carl Weber's same-tited 2018 novel, portraying a big-name celebrity singer accused of killing her husband. Also in 2020, she appeared as a guest host in an episode of Canada's Drag Race and started webseries titled COXtales with Deborah Cox during the global COVID-19 pandemic. Deborah Cox was added to the BET series First Wives club during Season 2, playing the musician "Regina". In addition, she stars in a minor role as Wendy on the limited HBO TV series, Station 11.
We Can't Be Friends
Deborah Cox Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To come around and not show hurt
How dare we greet by shaking hands
Just months ago I was your man (was your man)
Verbally we'd agreed it was over
And we were though
Can't get over you girl (oh oh oh)
We can't be friends
(yeah oh no)
We can't be friends
(Deborah, you know I can't go on being just your friend, yeah)
Cause I'm still in love with you
I went by mother's, saw your car there
To her you still family, and it don't seem fair
For everyone to just go on
I've tried and I can't do it
Cause I'm still torn
I tried to think of you as just another love
(in my past) in my past that didn't last
But it's not that simple, baby we
We can't be friends
(oh no no no no no) we
We can't be friends
(if we) if we can't be lovers
(we we we)
We can't be friends
Cause I'm still in love
You may see me staring
Or catch me in a daze
You may see me hang my head
When yo come me way
Don't get to close to me
And expect to behave(behave)
I might just steal a kiss
If you come near my face
What I'm trying to say (say)
We can't be friends
(yeah oh no)
We can't be friends
(Deborah, you know I can't go on being just your friend, yeah)
Cause I'm still in love with you
We can't be friends
Can you look me in the eyes
And honestly say you don't love me?
All that I know
I'll never ever find another love like you, oh no
I love you too much baby
I love you much oh
We can't be friends, I'm still in love
With you
With you
I am
Still in love
Still in love
You didn't have to leave
With you
The song "We Can't Be Friends" by R.L. and Deborah Cox talks about the difficulties of seeing an ex-partner after a break-up. They both agreed that the relationship was over, but it's hard to act like it never happened. They can't just be friends because they still have strong feelings for each other. The lyrics speak of the pain of seeing the other person move on with their life while they're still stuck in the past. The chorus makes it clear that they can't just be friends, it's impossible because they're still in love with each other.
The lyrics also mention the discomfort and awkwardness when they run into each other's family members. It's hard for them to pretend like everything's fine when they both know deep down it's not. The singer is still torn between trying to move on and accepting that they can't be just friends with their ex.
Overall, the song expresses the pain and heartbreak that often comes with a breakup, and how difficult it can be to move on when you still have strong feelings for someone.
Line by Line Meaning
To just act like we never were
Pretend like our past relationship never existed
To come around and not show hurt
Visit each other without expressing our emotional pain
How dare we greet by shaking hands
It's inappropriate to greet each other with a handshake after our romantic history
Just months ago I was your man (was your man)
Merely months ago we were in a committed romantic relationship
Verbally we'd agreed it was over
We communicated that our relationship was ending
And we were though
We were done with the relationship
I'm to compose myself but I just
I'm supposed to control my emotions but I
Can't get over you girl (oh oh oh)
I still have strong feelings for you, even though I try not to
We can't be friends (yeah oh no)
We can't sustain a platonic relationship
We can't be friends (Deborah, you know I can't go on being just your friend, yeah)
I can't continue pretending that I don't have romantic feelings for you
Cause I'm still in love with you
Our romantic history means that I still have strong feelings for you
I went by mother's, saw your car there
I saw your car parked at your mother's home
To her you still family, and it don't seem fair
To your mother, you're still regarded as part of the family, which makes things difficult for me
For everyone to just go on
Everyone else can move on with their lives
I've tried and I can't do it
I've tried to move on, but I can't
Cause I'm still torn
I'm still emotionally conflicted
I tried to think of you as just another love
I attempted to reframe my thinking of you as just another past lover
(in my past) in my past that didn't last
As someone from my past who wasn't a long-term love interest
But it's not that simple, baby we
However, the situation is more complex than that
We can't be friends (oh no no no no no) we
We're incapable of maintaining a platonic friendship
We can't be friends (if we) if we can't be lovers (we we we)
We can't be close friends if we aren't continuing our romantic relationship
We can't be friends
A platonic relationship isn't feasible for us
Cause I'm still in love with you
My strong romantic feelings for you persist
You may see me staring
You may catch me staring at you
Or catch me in a daze
You may encounter me momentarily lost in thought
You may see me hang my head
You may see me looking down and upset
When you come my way
When you're near me or cross my path
Don't get too close to me
Please don't get physically close to me
And expect to behave (behave)
And expect me not to act impulsively
I might just steal a kiss
I might act on my strong romantic feelings for you
If you come near my face
If you stand close to me
What I'm trying to say (say)
What I mean is
We can't be friends (yeah oh no)
We can't maintain a platonic relationship
We can't be friends (Deborah, you know I can't go on being just your friend, yeah)
I can't keep pretending that I can sustain a non-romantic relationship with you
Cause I'm still in love with you
My strong romantic feelings for you mean that we can't be friends
We can't be friends
Our romantic history doesn't allow us to maintain a platonic relationship
Can you look me in the eyes
Can you make eye contact with me
And honestly say you don't love me?
And tell me that you don't have any romantic feelings left for me?
All that I know
The only thing I'm sure of
I'll never ever find another love like you, oh no
I know I'll never find another lover like you
I love you too much baby
I love you too deeply, my dear
I love you much oh
I love you immensely
We can't be friends, I'm still in love
Maintaining a platonic relationship is impossible due to my persistent romantic feelings for you
With you
I'm still in love with you
With you
My strong romantic feelings are reserved for you
I am
I exist
Still in love
My deep romantic feelings for you persist
Still in love
I'm still guided by lingering romantic feelings for you
You didn't have to leave
You could have stayed with me, we didn't have to break up
With you
In a romantic relationship with you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, CONCORD MUSIC PUBLISHING LLC
Written by: ANTHONY S. CRAWFORD, JIMMY RUSSELL
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@johnitarobinson6103
Who still listening in 2024? ❤❤
@hellobrooklyn1371
This is my ride home after work music
@johnitarobinson6103
@@hellobrooklyn1371 same here
@twodollars2
Still playing in 2023...will always be one of the best duets ever....👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
@lolaruffin6249
Yes please 😊
@dbeloved02
Facts
@connectwithericalynn9197
July 2023 ...playing this song
@shanellholley115
2023 and still love this song❤
@sammalone1350
Hayle yeah
@SinethembaGumede-ij4qu
2024 who with me here🌹♥