To kick-start her return after being off the scene for a few years, R&B songstress Amerie reached back to her Washington, D.C., roots to get a little go-go flavor for her latest single, "1 Thing."

"Being from D.C., I always loved go-go, and [producer] Rich Harrison used to be in a go-go band, so he was always playing something," said Amerie. "I touched on it a little bit with the last album, but I knew I wanted to touch on it again. So when my manager Lenny Nicholson heard it, he knew it was the single."

For the single's accompanying clip, directed by Chris Robinson and Amerie, in her directorial debut, the singer shows a sexy new side of herself moving and grooving with dancers and a go-go band.

The song serves as both the lead single to her forthcoming album, Touch, and the "Hitch" soundtrack (see [article id="1496553"]"Omarion, John Legend And Kevin Lyttle Get 'Hitch'ed"[/article]). With its heavy, percussion-driven backbeat, the song, written by Amerie and Harrison, is already heating up the airwaves.

"We were talking one day about relationships and how there's always one thing that keeps you attracted to someone," Amerie said of the song. "No matter what they do or how they act, there's that one undeniable thing that keeps you coming back."

There's obviously something between Harrison and the songbird. The producer, who has turned knobs for Beyoncé ("Crazy in Love") and Jennifer Lopez ("Get Right"), was also responsible for Amerie's breakthrough hit "Why Don't We Fall in Love."

"There is just this magic that happens when we work together," said Amerie. "We've both worked with other people since my last album, but when we get together everything seems to click. We're each other's musical soulmates."

In addition to Harrison, Amerie also enlisted the production efforts of Dre & Vidal, the Buchanans and Red Spyda, among others, for the album, due April 26. The ubiquitous Lil Jon even manned the board for the title track. According to Amerie, the overall theme of Touch is a bit more mature than her All I Have debut.

"My last album dealt with the emotional side of relationships," the 25-year-old said. "It was also more mellow. I didn't really touch on my sexuality. This album is a lot more up-tempo. I've grown in the last two years. Usually when people say that, the next thing you know they're rolling around naked, but that's not what I mean."