Tell Me 'Bout It

Album: Introducing Joss Stone (2007)
Charted: 28 83
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • "Tell Me 'Bout It" finds Joss Stone frustrated with a guy who won't express his true feelings to her. She's open to a relationship with him, but needs him to take action.

    "That is my life story," Stone vented to Female First in 2007. "It's like, 'Come on, tell me how you feel. Don't be such a wuss. It's clear that you like me and I like you, so just do something about it!'"
  • That person exchanging flirtations with Stone at the beginning of "Tell Me 'Bout It" is Tony! Toni! Toné! member Raphael Saadiq. He also produced the song alongside the rest of Introducing Joss Stone.

    In an interview with MTV in 2006, Stone gushed about working with Saadiq: "He just gets me, and musically, everything came together when he came along. For years, since I was 14, I've been trying to tell people what I want to hear. One, they didn't listen to me because I was too young; and two, they didn't know how to listen to me, because they really weren't in the same headspace as me. But he just gets it."
  • The music video was directed by Bryan Barber and filmed at 5 Pointz, an iconic graffiti space in New York City. 5 Pointz curator and renowned graffiti artist Jonathan "Meres One" Cohen cameos in the clip, spray-painting a mural of Stone. Cohen was also responsible for the soul musician's body paint on the front cover of Introducing Joss Stone.

    In 2013, 5 Pointz landowner Jerry Wolkoff made the controversial decision to demolish the site, replacing it with a 1,000-unit apartment complex. A number of murals were whitewashed as part of the move, with Wolkoff later being made to pay $6.7 million in damages to the artists impacted by the demolition.
  • "Tell Me 'Bout It" features in Season 1, Episode 2 of Gossip Girl, "The Wild Brunch," which originally aired in 2007. It also appears in the video games NBA Live 08 (2007) and Saints Row 2 (2008).
  • This song was issued as the lead single from Stone's third album, Introducing Joss Stone. It peaked at #28 in the UK and was her first single to chart in the US, reaching #86 on the Billboard Hot 100. Introducing Joss Stone is also Stone's highest-charting album of her career in America, peaking at #2.

    Speaking to Gulf News in 2007, Stone explained why Introducing Joss Stone felt like her true debut as a singer-songwriter: "The two albums that I did previously weren't exactly me. They had parts of me on them but this one, through and through, every single note, every single word. It's me. The former albums weren't made for me but for others and thank God, quite a lot of people liked it. I feel like this is my first real introduction. This is like putting my hand out and saying, 'Nice to meet you, I'm Joss.'"

Comments: 1

  • Laura from El Paso, TxNot sure why more Americans are not in to Joss Stone. She has an amazing voice and can really belt it out. Love this song
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"

Matthew Wilder - "Break My Stride"They're Playing My Song

Wilder's hit "Break My Stride" had an unlikely inspiration: a famous record mogul who rejected it.

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s Edition

Songs in Famous Movie Scenes: '80s EditionMusic Quiz

You know the scenes - Tom Cruise in his own pants-off dance off, Molly Ringwald celebrating her birthday - but do you remember what song is playing?

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"

Mike Scott of The Waterboys - "Fisherman's Blues"They're Playing My Song

Armed with a childhood spent devouring books, Mike Scott's heart was stolen by the punk rock scene of 1977. Not surprisingly, he would go on to become the most literate of rockers.

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock Photography

Danny Clinch: The Art of Rock PhotographySong Writing

One of rock's top photographers talks about artistry in photography, raising funds for a documentary, and enjoying a County Fair with Tom Waits.

Tom Johnston from The Doobie Brothers

Tom Johnston from The Doobie BrothersSongwriter Interviews

The Doobies guitarist and lead singer, Tom wrote the classics "Listen To The Music," "Long Train Runnin'" and "China Grove."

Joe Ely

Joe ElySongwriter Interviews

The renown Texas songwriter has been at it for 40 years, with tales to tell about The Flatlanders and The Clash - that's Joe's Tex-Mex on "Should I Stay or Should I Go?"