It starts with that beat. A dark, hypnotic, and slightly dangerous groove that feels more like a late-night street anthem than a typical girl group ballad. When people talk about Sisters With Voices—better known as SWV—they usually gravitate toward the heavy hitters. You know the ones. Weak. Right Here. I’m So Into You. Those are the pillars of the 1990s R&B temple. But if you really want to understand the moment when R&B and Hip-Hop Soul fused into something untouchable, you have to talk about Can We by SWV. It wasn't just another track; it was a vibe shift produced by a young Timbaland that signaled the end of the New Jack City era and the birth of the futuristic bounce.
Honestly, the mid-90s were weird. The genre was transitioning from the polished, suit-and-tie harmonies of the early 90s into something grittier. SWV was right at the center of that. Coko, Lelee, and Taj already had the hits, but by 1997, the landscape was changing. The Booty Call soundtrack needed a lead single that would bridge the gap between the club and the bedroom.
The Timbaland Factor: How Can We by SWV Changed the Sound
You can't discuss this song without talking about Timothy "Timbaland" Mosley. In '97, he was basically the mad scientist of the music industry. He was fresh off Ginuwine’s Pony and Aaliyah’s One in a Million. He brought this stuttering, eccentric drum pattern to Can We by SWV that felt almost alien at the time.
Most girl groups were singing over standard 4/4 loops. Not here.
The track features Missy Elliott, though she’s mostly doing those iconic ad-libs and background textures that became her trademark. It’s sparse. It’s got that signature Timbaland "chirp" and a bassline that feels like it’s vibrating through water. Coko’s vocals—high, piercing, and incredibly soulful—cut through that heavy production like a laser. It was a masterclass in contrast.
Many fans don't realize that this song actually outperformed many of the tracks on their third studio album, Release Some Tension. It peaked at number 18 on the Billboard Hot 100, but its impact on urban radio was way more massive than the numbers suggest. It stayed on the charts for nearly 20 weeks. That's longevity.
That Coko Soprano
Coko has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of the genre. Period. On Can We by SWV, she isn't oversinging. She’s restrained. There is a specific kind of tension in her delivery that fits the lyrical theme of "should we or shouldn't we?"
"Can we get together... to see if we're meant for each other?"
It’s a simple question. But the way she holds the notes makes it feel like a genuine negotiation. It’s seductive without being overly graphic, which was a tough line to walk in an era where lyrics were becoming increasingly explicit.
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Lelee and Taj provide that essential harmonic bedrock. While Coko is the lead, the "SWV sound" is the blend. Without those tight, gospel-trained harmonies in the background, the song would just be a Timbaland beat. They grounded his experimentalism in traditional R&B soul. It’s the reason why, decades later, you can still play this at a cookout or a lounge and the room just stops.
The Booty Call Soundtrack Legacy
It's kind of funny looking back. Soundtracks used to be the primary way we discovered the best music. Booty Call wasn't exactly a cinematic masterpiece, but the soundtrack? That thing was legendary. It featured Joe, Keith Sweat, and R. Kelly. Yet, Can We by SWV was the standout.
It served as a pivot point for the group.
Up until that point, SWV was seen as the "neighborhood girls" from Brooklyn. They were relatable. By the time this single dropped, they were leaning into a more "street-chic" aesthetic that matched the shifting tides of New York fashion. We’re talking leather, oversized shades, and that distinct late-90s gloss.
If you listen to the radio today, you hear the DNA of this track everywhere. Modern artists like SZA, Summer Walker, and H.E.R. owe a massive debt to the "stutter-step" R&B that Can We by SWV helped popularize. It proved that you could have a hit song that was rhythmically complex and didn't follow the "verse-chorus-verse" blueprint to a tee.
Why the Song Often Gets Overlooked
Usually, when people do a retrospective on SWV, they focus on the It's About Time era. That 1992 debut was so massive it tends to overshadow everything else they did. Weak is a karaoke staple. Right Here (Human Nature Remix) is a pop culture monument.
Can We by SWV suffered a bit from being on a soundtrack rather than a core studio album initially. By the time Release Some Tension came out, the group was dealing with internal friction. Tensions were high. They were moving in different directions. Because of that, the promotion for the single felt a bit disjointed compared to their earlier runs.
But talk to any real R&B head.
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They’ll tell you this is a top-five SWV track. It’s the "cool" choice. If you say Weak is your favorite, you're a casual fan. If you say Can We by SWV is your favorite, you actually know the catalog. You understand the nuances of production and how Timbaland was reinventing the wheel in real-time.
The Lyrics: A Relatable Late-Night Dilemma
The song isn't deep in a philosophical sense, but it’s deeply relatable. It captures that specific moment of transition in a relationship.
- The initial spark.
- The "feeling it out" phase.
- The decision to take it to the next level.
It's a conversation. It lacks the melodrama of 80s ballads. It feels conversational, almost like a text message thread if texting had existed in 1997. "Can we get together?" is the ultimate "low-pressure" invite. That lack of pretension is why it hasn't aged poorly. Some 90s songs feel like a time capsule of bad synth sounds and over-the-top moaning. This one feels fresh. You could drop this in a DJ set in 2026 and it wouldn't sound out of place next to a Kaytranada track.
The Technical Brilliance of the Mix
Listen to the song with high-quality headphones. Seriously.
The way the percussion is panned—some sounds hitting the left ear, some the right—was very advanced for R&B at the time. Timbaland used "found sounds" and non-musical elements to create rhythm. There’s a clicking sound in the background of Can We by SWV that acts as a secondary metronome.
Then there’s the use of space.
Modern music is often "loudness-war" compressed. Everything is cranked to the max. In this track, there are "holes" in the music. Silence is used as an instrument. When the beat drops out and you just hear Coko’s voice over that singular, deep bass note? That’s pure magic. It creates a sense of intimacy that a wall of sound just can’t replicate.
Real World Impact and Sampling
The song has lived a long life after its initial chart run. It has been sampled, flipped, and interpolated by dozens of artists. It’s a favorite for "slowed and reverb" edits on YouTube and TikTok.
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Why? Because the vibes are immaculate.
It represents a specific kind of Black excellence in the 90s—innovative, soulful, and effortlessly cool. When SWV reunited for their reality show and subsequent tours, Can We by SWV remained a staple of their setlist. They know. The fans know. It’s the song that proved they weren't just a 1992 fluke; they were chameleons who could adapt to the hardest beats of the hip-hop era.
Practical Ways to Appreciate the SWV Catalog Today
If you’re revisiting the group or discovering them for the first time, don’t just stick to the Greatest Hits. You have to dig into the mid-to-late 90s output to see the growth.
- Listen to the "Release Some Tension" Album: It’s a fascinating look at the group trying to navigate the "Bad Boy" era of R&B.
- Watch the Music Video: Look at the choreography and the styling. It’s a perfect visual representation of 1997.
- Compare with Aaliyah’s "One in a Million": Listen to them back-to-back. You can hear how Timbaland was developing a specific language for female vocalists.
- Check out the Remixes: There are several club mixes of the track that lean even harder into the jungle and house influences of the time.
The reality is that SWV changed the game. They weren't as "polished" as En Vogue or as "tough" as TLC. They were the middle ground. They were the girls you knew from around the way who just happened to have angelic voices and the best production team in the world. Can We by SWV remains the peak of that specific aesthetic.
Stop treating it like a "soundtrack song" and start treating it like the classic it is. It’s a masterclass in mood, a blueprint for modern R&B, and a reminder that Coko’s voice is a national treasure.
To truly appreciate the track, go back and listen to the original 12-inch version. The extended outro allows the beat to breathe in a way the radio edit doesn't. You get to hear the full complexity of the percussion. It’s a five-minute trip into the mind of a producer at his peak and a vocal group that knew exactly how to ride a rhythm. No gimmicks. Just soul and a really, really good drum machine.
Next time you're curating a late-night playlist, put this right after One in a Million and before Don't Let Go. It fits perfectly. It’s the bridge between the classic era and the future.
Actionable Next Steps
To get the most out of your R&B deep dive, start by adding the remastered version of Can We by SWV to your "Chill/Vibe" playlist to hear the low-end frequencies that were lost on original cassette tapes. Follow this by watching the group’s Tiny Desk Concert from a few years ago; it provides a stripped-back look at how their vocals have aged (spoiler: they still sound incredible). Finally, track down the Booty Call soundtrack on vinyl if you're a collector—it’s one of the few ways to hear the song in its original, uncompressed analog glory.