Songfacts®:

• "Make Me Say It Again Girl (Part 1 & 2)" is a touching ballad where Ronald Isley showers compliments on his love interest. He declares she's an angel, the Princess Imperial of his soul, the heaven he needs to see, and the promise everlasting. Isley can't stop himself singing his sweet lady's praises and ends the song by saying again and again she's all he needs.
• The Isley Brothers came up with the song near the end of the recording process for The Heat Is On. They already had "Fight The Power (Part I)," "Sensuality" and "For The Love Of You," but Ronald Isley felt there was still something else he wanted to say. One day, Ronald and guitarist Ernie Isley were kicking around different ideas in their mom's basement. "I picked up my six-string guitar and started playing then singing the words, 'Make me say it again,'" Ernie recalled to Billboard. "And Ronald's like, 'Oh my God, where did that come from?' Then I sang, 'I believe you are a rainbow' and Ronald's screaming, 'That's it... Here's what I'm trying to say!'"
• Though not released as a single, "Make Me Say" quickly became a concert favorite. "We started playing 'Make Me Say It Again Girl,'" Ernie Isley recalled of a 1975 Chicago concert. "And Ronald was dressed in this sharp leather outfit. Then on the last verse and chorus of the song, one of our co-workers came onstage and draped a white mink over Ronald."
  
  Isley figures that every woman at the show probably turned into melted chocolate.
• Released on June 7, 1975, The Heat Is On was The Isley Brothers' thirteenth studio album. By now they'd perfected their mix of funk, soul, rock and smooth ballads, and it became the group's first #1 record on the Billboard 200 charts.
• "Make Me Say It Again Girl" is one of The Isley Brothers' most-sampled songs. Bone Thugs-N-Harmony based their 1996 hit "Tha Crossroads" around an interpolation of it, the groove of Naughty by Nature's 1993 cut "Hip Hop Hooray" is a sped up sample, and "Second Nature," the opening track of Destiny's Child's eponymous 1997 debut album, uses the hook.
• In 2022, Ronald Isley released a new duet version with Beyoncé. Titled "Make Me Say It Again Girl," the two vocalists exchange lines throughout the sensuous revamp. Ronald and Ernie recorded the new spin for their album, also named Make Me Say It Again Girl, attributing it to Ronald Isley, The Isley Brothers and Beyoncé.
• Beyoncé laid down her vocals remotely in the Hamptons in 2021 in between laying down tracks for her Renaissance album. Ronald Isley tracked his vocals in Los Angeles.
• Ronald Isley first met Beyoncé when she was just getting started with Destiny's Child (and sampling "Make Me Say It Again Girl (Part 1 & 2)"). When Ernie and Ronald began recording their album in Los Angeles in 2021, the idea of working with Beyoncé was one of the first things the singer thought about. Beyoncé's mother, Tina Knowles-Lawson, helped bring about the collaboration. "She has a love for the Isley Brothers and her daughter grew up listening to this type of music," Ronald Isley's wife, Kandy, told Billboard. "All we can say is that God's hands was on this whole project."
• The 2022 Beyoncé duet version of "Make Me Say It Again Girl" topped Billboard's Adult R&B Airplay chart, becoming the Isley Brothers first #1 since their 2001 hit, "Contagious."