Brendan Frederickįirst thing: Aaliyah is singing her ass off. Most of us will never know what a late-night studio session with Missy and Aaliyah was like, but "John Blaze" makes the listener feel like a fly on the wall. With its beautiful, urgent melody and fluttering guitar accents, this song could have been fleshed out into a deep, meaningful masterpiece, but there's something charming about it's juvenile simplicity. The lyrics are so elementary and repetitive-the titular slang term is uttered no less than 30 times throughout the song's four minutes-but that's kind of the point. Aaliyah gushes endlessly about a man who looks "so fine" that he blows her mind while Missy (who wrote the song) ad-libs the fuck out of every line. Amongst this exhaustive guest list, the Aaliyah collaboration "John Blaze" got lost in the shuffle, but as we look back, it deserves recognition as a slept-on standout from the singer's tragically short catalog.Īn early example of Timbo putting his beatboxing front-and-center, "John Blaze" is goofy, gooey fun. Here are the 25 best songs of Aaliyah’s brief but extraordinary career.Īlbum: Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment (1998)īy late 1998, Timbaland was the hottest new producer in the music industry, and his solo debut Tim's Bio: Life from da Bassment was a compilation of bangers he made with his frequent collaborators (Missy, Ginuwine, Playa) along with a few of his famous new friends (Jay Z, Nas, Twista). And the releases that followed, the last of which, Aaliyah, arrived a little more than a month before the singer’s death, further cemented her star. (Kelly’s relationship with the singer has come under increased scrutiny in light of disturbing facts that have surfaced in recent years.) Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number introduced the world to a daring young woman equipped with a stunning voice just starting to explore the terrain of love, lust, and trust. Kelly, who was introduced to the young Aaliyah by her uncle, Blackground Records founder Barry Hankerson. The album was written and produced entirely by R. But it all began in 1994, with her debut album, Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. Starting with her sophomore album, One in a Million (which arrived on streaming services in August, 25 years after its release), the two, along with Missy Elliott and other Blackground Records producers, crafted a space-age funk feeling with a string of hits that left an indelible mark on popular music. You can hear Aaliyah’s influence all through the music industry right now.Īaliyah is best remembered for her genre-bending collaborations with Timbaland. More importantly, while working alongside those people, she developed a sound that’s lived on and influenced an entirely new generation of artists, R&B and otherwise. She worked with nearly everyone who was popping in the industry from 1994 to 2001, a list that includes Ginuwine, Treach, Jermaine Dupri, Static Major, Missy Elliott, and Timbaland. She recorded three seminal R&B albums, all of which sold at least one million records. Aaliyah Dana Haughton accomplished much in the 22 years she was afforded.
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