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Aaliyah is the third and final studio album by American R&B recording artist Aaliyah, released on July 7, 2001, by Blackground Records and Virgin Records. After releasing her 1996 album One in a Million and raising her profile with hit soundtrack singles, Aaliyah started working on the album in 1998, but rescheduled its recording around her developing film career. She resumed its recording in 2000 at Sing Sing Studios in Australia, where she shot her role for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned during the day and recorded songs at night. Aaliyah worked primarily with Blackground's in-house crew of writers and producers, including Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats, as well as longtime collaborator Timbaland.

A neo soul album, Aaliyah has a diverse musical style that incorporates contemporary urban genres such as funk, hip hop, and soul, as well as electronica, Middle-Eastern, alternative rock, and Latin elements. Its production is characterized by synthesizer melodies, fragmented beats, distorted guitar, and eccentricly manipulated vocals and song structures. The album's lyrics explore the complexities of romantic relationships and stages of love, with perspectives that veer between a sexy, empowered female and a scorned lover. Most of the album was written by lyricist Static, who shared a close friendship and strong rapport with Aaliyah. She viewed the album as a reflection of herself as both a young adult and a matured vocalist.

Upon its release, Aaliyah received highly positive reviews from music critics, who praised its creative R&B production, Static's songwriting, and Aaliyah's vocal performance. It debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, but sold diminishingly afterwards. Since Blackground and Virgin wanted a high charting single to increase sales, Aaliyah shot a music video for the single "Rock the Boat" in the Bahamas, but died in a plane crash on a return flight to the United States on August 25, 2001. After her death, the album's sales skyrocketed and propelled it to number one on the Billboard 200. By December 2009, it had sold 2.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan. Aaliyah was released during a period of peak activity in contemporary R&B and, since its initial reception, has been cited by critics as one of the best R&B albums of its time.

Background

After releasing her 1996 album One in a Million, Aaliyah graduated from high school the following year and recorded songs for film soundtracks. They helped raise her profile as radio hits, including her 1998 single "Are You That Somebody?". After it became the biggest hit of her career at that point, Aaliyah wanted to keep a lower profile and avoid overexposure. A follow-up album was planned for February 1999, but she postponed its recording to develop an acting career, which led to a starring role in the 2000 film Romeo Must Die and her accompanying soundtrack single "Try Again". The film heigthened her profile significantly, while the single became her first number-one pop hit. Her label Blackground Records used the film and its soundtrack album to set up a distribution deal with Virgin Records America, which would distribute Blackground's subsequent releases globally, including her third album.

Recording

Aaliyah began recording the album in 1998. She recorded a few songs, including two with longtime collaborator Timbaland, before working on Romeo Must Die. In 1999, while working on the album in New York City, Aaliyah called and asked Trent Reznor, one of her musical idols, to produce a song, but they could not coordinate their schedules. She intended to finish the album by the end of 2000 and resumed its recording while filming in Australia for Queen of the Damned (2002), as she shot her part for the film during the day and recorded songs at night. She said in an interview for Billboard, "there were nights when I didn't go into the studio—I was too tired. On the weekends, I always made it." Jomo Hankerson, Blackground president and Aaliyah's cousin, said that he had to "bribe the producers", who did not want to "go halfway around the world!", but ultimately had "a beautiful time ... making hot music."

Most of the album's songs were recorded at either Sony Studios in New York City or Sing Sing Studios in Melbourne, including "Loose Rap", which was done at both studios. Aaliyah recorded "More Than a Woman" at Manhattan Center Studios, "U Got Nerve" at Soundtracks Studios in New York City, "We Need a Resolution" at Westlake Studios, and "I Care 4 U" at Magic Mix Studios and Music Grinder Studios in Los Angeles. She had first recorded "I Care 4 U", written by past collaborator Missy Elliott, in 1996 for One in a Million, but scrapped it after that album's completion. Aaliyah worked with Blackground Records' in-house crew of musicians, songwriters, and producers, including novice producers Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats. Music manager Jimmy Henchman, a friend of Aaliyah's manager Barry Hankerson, helped coordinate the album and arranged for the producers and writers to work with Aaliyah.

Static of R&B band Playa wrote most of the album's lyrics. While his band was growing apart, he was invited by Blackground to be a lead writer for the album after writing "Are You That Somebody?" and "Try Again". Static was a part of Aaliyah's close group of friends, which included Missy Elliott and Timbaland, and shared an infatuation with her. He found Aaliyah to be ideal for his songwriting style, while she believed that he could accurately portray her feelings. A subtly sexual lyricist, he wrote "Rock the Boat" for her in 1999, but Blackground felt she was not ready for the song. Barry Hankerson said of his songwriting, "We always were protective over every lyric ... But he did things where you never felt offended. You just felt like you overheard someone thinking ... he was clever ... Aaliyah depended on him he depended on her." Elliott said that he was "a part of that bridge of Aaliyah growing up lyrically." While she discussed the lyrics with Static, Aaliyah consulted Bud'da about the sound and musical direction of the album. She was interested in learning about the UK garage scene at the time.

In March 2001, Aaliyah finished recording the album after having filmed her part in Queen of the Damned for four months, which ultimately delayed the album's release. In Australia, she also did a photo shoot for the album, with photographers Jeff Dunas, Jonathan Mannion, David LaChapelle, and Albert Watson. Aaliyah handled five pythons at the shoot and developed an affinity for snakes, finding them "dangerous, but quite beautiful" and representative of her on the album. She revisited the snake theme in her music video for "We Need a Resolution" in April and said in an interview for MTV, "They live in solitude, there are times in my life I just want to be by myself. There are times I can't even figure myself out. I feel they are very complex creatures, at the same time, they're sexy, too. That's why they represent Aaliyah pretty well." She described the album as "a good reflection of and the person today", saying in an interview for Jet magazine, "I am a young adult now, and I think this album shows my growth vocally." Aaliyah was mastered by Bernie Grundman at his studio in Los Angeles.

Music and lyrics

Pop songs are struggles, conscious or not, between the artist's urge to do her own thing and the audience's desire for familiar satisfactions. How many stylistic tics before the big chorus? ... It's magnetic when you can hear the struggle—the drama of seduction, of whether you give yourself to the listener, and what happens then. That's the drama Aaliyah plays nonstop on her third album.

A neo soul album, Aaliyah features midtempo funk songs, hip hop-textured uptempo tracks, and slow jams that draw on older soul influences. Along with contemporary urban sounds, its music also incorporates Middle-Eastern influences, muted alternative rock, and, particularly on Timbaland's songs, Latin timbres. Music journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine sees the album as distinct from the classic soul leanings of Macy Gray and Jill Scott, and characterizes it as "unfamiliar", yet "contemporary", "turning out a pan-cultural array of sounds, styles, and emotions." John Mulvey of NME finds the music subtle and lacking "bombast and histrionics."

The album's production is characterized by synthesizer melodies, vintage syndrums, distorted guitar, staccato arrangements, and layered, eccentricly manipulated vocals. NME's Alex Needham likens its "otherworldly", high frequency production to dub reggae and the dark, spacious dance music of Dr. Dre and Massive Attack. Songs such as "Loose Rap", "Extra Smooth", and "What If" have eccentric structures that experiment with resolution. Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone compares the album's musical experimentation to OutKast's Stankonia (2000), Sade's Lovers Rock (2000), and Missy Elliott's Miss E... So Addictive (2001). Aaliyah's beats are fragmented, and exhibit techno and electro textures. Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani writes that "like Elliott's genre-bending So Addictive, Aaliyah provides a missing link between hip-hop and electronica."

Thematically, the album explores the complexities of romantic relationships and stages of love such as frivolous infatuation, late-stage dysfunction, and heartbreak. The lyrics express passion and melancholic, occasionally ominous feelings about love. The themes of heartbreak and eroticism are interspersed by subtle, lighthearted humor and witty sound effects such as comical vocal manipulation. Citysearch's Justin Hartung writes that the album "transforms the confusion of young adulthood into exhilarating freedom." Aaliyah sings from perspectives of a coquettish charmer or a scorned lover, and exhibits a determined, sexy persona. Bob Waliszewski of Plugged In observes female empowerment-themed songs that show a "healthy self-respect" by Aaliyah, who "doesn't put up with unfaithful cads ('You Got Nerve'), mind games ('I Refuse'), self-impressed hunks ('Extra Smooth'), gossip and envy ('Loose Rap'), or physical abuse ('Never No More')."

Aaliyah sings with restrained, soprano vocals throughout the album. Hyun Kim of Vibe asserts that Aaliyah "focuses more on her voice" than her previous albums, "bringing it to the forefront as opposed to hiding it behind the layered production." Ballads such as "I Care 4 U", "Never No More", and "I Refuse" are sung soulfully, and express bluesy, jazzy undertows and a knowingness derived from emotional hurt. Music journalist Christopher John Farley views that she "emotionally detail a song" unlike on her previous albums and that "her gentle voice now seemed like something elemental, a kindly wind blowing through the branches of a big tree." According to Joshua Clover, Aaliyah pushes "notes into strange corners of syncopation's shifty architecture" on the more experimental tracks. He writes that "she makes the sonics tell the story, creating meaning outside the lyrics, pleasure beyond the hooks."

Songs

"We Need a Resolution" depicts a dilmma between discordant lovers over push-pull rhythms. It leaves its hook unresolved, plays backwards after Timbaland's rap, and concludes with a reversed loop of the vocal "where were you last night", which echoes the female protagonist's sentiment. "Loose Rap" features subtle Neptunes-styled electronica, aquatic sounds, and velvety harmonies by Aaliyah, who declares, "it ain't just rhythm and blues." The song is titled after the slang phrase of the same name, and its lyrics dismiss romantic admirers who use corny pick-up lines. Static mumbles the song's hook. "Rock the Boat" has a slick R&B production, sexual and nautical imagery, and breathless vocals by Aaliyah, who instructs her lover on how to please her sexually and equates her erotic high to a drug high.

On the club-influenced "More Than a Woman", Aaliyah sings with an emboldened delivery over harsh-sounding guitars and aggressive synthesizers. "Never No More" mixes classic soul with modern hip hop, with live strings by producer Bud'da. It is about a defiant woman who decides to leave a physically abusive relationship. "I Care 4 U" features sibilant wind chimes, reverberating synth chords, and lo-tech vocal percussion. The song's narrator comforts a broken-hearted friend, but is distressed by her own unrequited love for him. The key-shifting "Extra Smooth" addresses an enthusiastic courtship, and incorporates hip hop, funk, and drum and bass. It was inspired by a conversation between Aaliyah and Static about how men try to act suave. "Read Between the Lines" is a rhythmic digital samba, with Latin percussion, and lyrics that deal with infidelity.

The funky "U Got Nerve" features multi-layered, staccato vocals, and electronic blips. A baroque romantic concerto, "I Refuse" opens ominously with sounds of a rainstorm and distant horse hooves. It features melancholy piano and symphonic flourishes, including guitars, minimalist percussion, and strings that progressively build to a dramatic climax. "I Can Be" is about an adulterous man's mistress who wants to be his foremost girlfriend. Alex Macpherson of The Guardian writes that "Aaliyah's blank, numbed delivery" on the song "makes being the other woman seem like an emotionally masochistic form of self-medication." "Those Were the Days" dispassionately dismisses a male lover. Both "I Can Be" and "What If" have 2-step and rock elements. The latter song draws particularly on Detroit techno and industrial rock. The song's narrator angrily threatens an unfaithful lover and by extension similar men.

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Robert Christgau
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
NME	7/10
Q
Rolling Stone
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
Slant Magazine
Spin	8/10

Aaliyah received highly positive reviews from contemporary music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 76, based on 14 reviews. Nathan Rabin of The A.V. Club wrote that it "establishes as a major artist in her own right." Michael Odell of The Guardian felt that the album is "as much a brochure for the current state of R&B production facilities as it is about Aaliyah's voice". He found the music's textures "scintillating" and cited the album's "hallmark" as "a playful and confident reworking of the canon." Brad Cawn of the Chicago Tribune wrote that Aaliyah demonstrates "the poise of Sade and the adventurousness of Elliott", and stated, "It's cool and glittery neo-soul music, equal parts attitude and harmony, and all urban music perfection. Growing up never sounded so hot." Simon Price of The Independent cited the album as "further evidence that black pop is the avant garde."

Ernest Hardy of Rolling Stone called it "a near-flawless declaration of strength and independence", and commended Aaliyah for "steering her sexuality and using it to explore her own fantasies and strengths." Craig Seymour of Entertainment Weekly called the album "thrillingly melodramatic" and opined that, apart from "missteps when she tries to stretch outside of her musical comfort zones", Aaliyah "skillfully portrays love as part woozy thrill, part pulse-racing terror." Slant Magazine's Sal Cinquemani wrote that her "personality glimmers on every track" and compared her to Janet Jackson, but with "more fully-developed and far sexier" metaphors. Joshua Clover of Spin found it "deeper than anything she's delivered before" and commended Aaliyah for "investing sound schemes with urgency and emotional intricacy", writing that she "makes art out of formal finesse".

In a mixed review, Q observed "a fair bit of filler" and called the album "respectable rather than radical". Connie Johnson of the Los Angeles Times felt that its songwriting lacks "depth" and found it "light, pleasing and image-conscious, but lacking the personal revelation that gives music some immediacy." John Mulvey of NME called Aaliyah a "graceful album" that is mostly "satisfying rather than extraordinary" and viewed that it is redeemed by "the consistently decent songs of Static". Robert Christgau of The Village Voice gave the album a three-star honorable mention, indicating "an enjoyable effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well treasure." He cited "We Need a Resolution" and "U Got Nerve" as highlights and quippedly called Aaliyah "a slave to her beats, but a proud slave".

Commercial performance

The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, selling 187,000 copies in the week of August 4, 2001. Although it was the highest sales week of Aaliyah's career, it initially sold slower than her previous album One in a Million. Blackground and Virgin, which had invested heavily in the album's performance, wanted a single with a high chart placement to help increase the album's sales. "We Need a Resolution" had been released as the lead single on April 13, but underperformed on radio and only reached number 59 on the Billboard Hot 100. In August, Aaliyah shot a music video for "More Than a Woman" in Los Angeles and then travelled to the Bahamas to shoot a video for "Rock the Boat". However, after its completion, she and several members of her crew returning to the United States were killed in a plane crash on August 25. Blackground executives were uncertain when they would release the album's next single and video.

The album's sales skyrocketed after Aaliyah's death. Before her death, its sales had been diminishing since the album's release in July, and stood at over 447,000 copies sold. News of her death was reported on the last day of Nielsen SoundScan's sales tracking week, during which Aaliyah sold 62,000 copies, a 41.5% increase from its past week's sales. The following week, it sold 305,500 copies and ascended from number 19 to number one on the Billboard 200. It was the album's highest sales week, and marked the first time a recording artist climbed to number one posthumously since John Lennon in 1980 with his album Double Fantasy. It was also Aaliyah's only album to top any of Billboard's charts. The album sold over one million copies by September 19, and 2.06 million copies by February 25, 2002. Aaliyah spent 188 weeks on the Billboard 200 and, by December 2009, had sold 2.6 million copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

After ending their deal with Virgin in November 2001, Blackground wanted to send the video for "More Than a Woman" to domestic outlets, but it required both labels to work together. Blackground subsequently moved to Universal Records, and the video was first aired in Europe. In the United Kingdom, "More Than a Woman" was released as a single on January 7, 2002, and entered the UK Singles Chart at number one, while Aaliyah re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 65; it had originally entered the chart at number 25 on July 28, 2001. Two weeks after the single reached number one, the album jumped 17 spots to number five on January 27, 2002. It ultimately charted for 31 weeks in the UK. In France, Aaliyah peaked at number nine and charted for 33 weeks. It also reached number nine in both Germany and the Netherlands, where it charted for 41 and 46 weeks, respectively.

Accolades

Aaliyah was named the best album of 2001 by Slant Magazine, with the publication's editor Sal Cinquemani calling it "quintessential rhythm and blues, encompassing the boundless energy of Prince and the sexual revelation of a disco-era Diana Ross ... a varied yet seamless R&B masterpiece." NME ranked it number 39 on their year-end best albums list. Time named it the 10th best album of 2001 and called Aaliyah "a siren of subtlety, never wailing when a whisper would do," who "blended genres with alluring ease." The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also ranked Aaliyah as one of the 10 best albums of the year. It was voted number 73 in The Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop critics' poll. Poll creator Robert Christgau wrote that Aaliyah finally "develop material nobody can deny" on "a good album." German music magazine Spex ranked the album number 37 in their annual poll of critics.

For the album, Aaliyah was posthumously awarded an NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Female Artist. At the 2002 American Music Awards, it won in the category of Favorite R&B/Soul Album. Aaliyah was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album and "Rock the Boat" was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2002. In 2003, "More Than a Woman" was nominated in the same category.

In 2005, GQ ranked Aaliyah number 66 on their list of the "100 Coolest Albums in the World". Stylus Magazine ranked it number 47 on their list of the "Top 50 Albums of 2000–2005"; the publication's David Drake ranked it number eight in an individual list. Vibe included the album as one of their "150 Essential Albums of the Vibe Era" in 2007. In 2010, Slant Magazine named Aaliyah the 72nd best album of "the aughts".

Legacy

Along with her budding film career, the album was a part of Aaliyah's breakout year in 2001. Allmusic's Steve Huey cites it as her "most accomplished album" and writes that it "completed the singer's image overhaul into a sensual yet sensitive adult." The publication's senior editor Stephen Thomas Erlewine calls it "a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward," as well as "one of the strongest urban soul records of its time." BBC Music's Daryl Easlea views that it made Aaliyah's "two previous, not unaccomplished albums ... look like exercises in juvenilia". In The Rolling Stone Album Guide (2004), music journalist Keith Harris asserts that "Aaliyah had grown from studio puppet to a powerful R&B archetype—a more self-aware Ronnie Spector for a time that requires more self-awareness of its young adults."

Prior to her death, Aaliyah had planned to embark on the largest concert tour of her career in support of the album. Her recording sessions for Aaliyah produced many leftover tracks that were posthumously archived by Blackground and mostly left unreleased due to internal conflict and legal complications between the label, Aaliyah's family, and producers. The compilation album I Care 4 U was released in 2002 and featured six previously unreleased songs from the sessions.

Aaliyah's re-emergence with the album in mid-2001 had coincided with a period of peak activity in contemporary R&B, as well as the popularity of neo soul. The Guardian cites Aaliyah as "the pinnacle" of R&B's golden age at the turn of the century. The newspaper's lead critic Alexis Petridis writes that, in a year where "the real innovation happened in the world of hip-hop and R&B", Aaliyah recorded "the most exciting music of her career." The Guardian's Rebecca Nicholson opines that "Timbaland hasn't come close to creating anything as sonically stunning since" and attributes his subsequent commercial success with Justin Timberlake and Nelly Furtado to the album. Jon Caramanica of Vibe calls the album's music "daring in construction, gorgeous from conception ... damn near post-R&B", and writes that it "may be the best soul album of the young millenium, even as it redefines the category." Eve Barlow of Q credits the album for "creating a blueprint that can be heard across pop music today" with acts such as Beyoncé Knowles, The Weeknd, and The xx.

Track listing

Personnel

Credits for Aaliyah adapted from liner notes.

Charts

Certifications

Release history

See also

Template:Misplaced Pages books

• List of eponymous albums
• List of number-one albums of 2001 (U.S.)

References

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Bibliography

• Farley, Christopher John (November 27, 2001). Aaliyah: More Than a Woman. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7434-5566-5. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Harris, Keith; et al. (November 2, 2004). Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide: Completely Revised and Updated 4th Edition. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8. {{cite book}}: Explicit use of et al. in: |first= (help)
• Werner, Craig Hansen (January 9, 2006). A Change Is Gonna Come: Music, Race & the Soul of America. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 0-472-03147-3. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

External links

• Aaliyah at Discogs (list of releases)

• Pages with empty short description
• 2001 albums
• Aaliyah albums
• Albums certified gold by the Australian Recording Industry Association
• Albums certified gold by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie
• Albums certified gold by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry of Switzerland
• Albums certified gold by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique
• Albums certified multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America
• Albums certified platinum by the British Phonographic Industry
• Albums certified platinum by the Canadian Recording Industry Association
• Albums produced by Bud'da
• Albums produced by Timbaland
• Virgin Records albums