This Is It (Melba Moore song)

1976 single by Melba Moore

"This Is It" is a 1976 disco song written by Van McCoy, and performed by American singer and actress Melba Moore for her fifth album of the same name (1976).

Melba Moore would give credit to her husband/manager Charles Huggins, whom she married in September 1974, with getting her signed to Buddah Records in 1975 ending a four year recording studio absence , and with arranging for veteran soul music songwriter/producer Van McCoy to helm Moore's second Buddah album release, which she began recording in January 1976. The recruitment of McCoy to helm Moore's album was essentially due to McCoy's success as a producer of disco records, it being hoped that a disco hit would consolidate the somewhat nebulous success Moore had to that point experienced as a recording artist: (Melba Moore quote:)"I just couldn't ignore the [impact] that disco was having on music". The album's disco oriented title track was released in March 1976 and became a discothèque favorite: while the "This Is It" single did afford Moore her first major R&B hit, reaching No. 18 on the US Billboard ranking of R&B singles the track failed to provide her with the desired Pop music breakout, rising no higher than No. 91 on the Billboard Hot 100 ("This Is It" did become a Top Ten hit on the singles chart for the United Kingdom).

"This Is It" was covered in 1993 by Australian singer Dannii Minogue on her second album, Get into You (1993). The single was produced by Tim Lever and Mike Percy, and released in July 1993 by Mushroom, MCA and Radikal. It received a generally positive reception from music critics. The music video for the song was directed by Willy Smax and filmed in Los Angeles.

"This Is It" was released as the album's third single on July 5, 1993, in the United Kingdom. The song reached the top 10 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming Minogue's third top 10 single. In Australia, it reached the top 20 and became an airplay hit earning a gold certification. Despite missing the top 10, the single spent twenty weeks in the ARIA top 50 and was the forty third highest selling single of the year, the third highest for an Australian artist. Caroline Sullivan from The Guardian said in her review of the Get into You album, "Two seventies covers, Melba Moore's "This Is It" and an authoritative take on the Jacksons' "Show You the Way to Go", are the big moments, all clattering drum machines and Barry White ish swooning strings." In his weekly UK chart commentary, James Masterton noted that Dannii's last UK Top 10 hit was her cover of "Jump to the Beat", adding that it "may bode well for this cover". A reviewer from Music & Media commented, "Little sister is wearing big sister's clothes, and they are tight fit for the first time with this cheerful pop/dance song". Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song three out of five, describing it as a "house inflicted but otherwise faithful remake" and a "typically breezy Minogue single". He felt that "the chart is overloaded with disco era remakes, so it's hard to see it matching Moore's number nine peak."

The accompanying music video for the song was filmed in Los Angeles and was directed by Willy Smax. It features Minogue and her then boyfriend actor Julian McMahon on a beach. The dance routine in the video was choreographed by Minogue. It also features an appearance from American actress Elise Neal, who later starred in the horror movie Scream 2 alongside Neve Campbell and the Lifetime made for television movie Aaliyah: The Princess of R&B in the role of Gladys Knight. It was listed in NME's "50 Worst Music Videos".

A Dutch language rendering entitled "Jij En Ik" was recorded by Petra for her 1997 album Petra.