AALIYAH poll

To answer the poll: 1. It's Whatever 2. Never No More 3. Rock the Boat

1. "I Care 4 U" 2. "I Refuse" 3. "Rock the Boat"

"I Care 4 U" still brings me to tears.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuWMW7hVdTs

i know this isn't from this record but i used to watch this video all the time on mtv back in the day

so many of these are just always listenable

extra extra extra smooth

"it's whatever" 4 all time man

yeah it is

man i was like, 11 or 12 when these singles were coming out

such a stupid and preventable fucking death

if I was forced by gunpoint to pick a favorite song ever I could choose "rock the boat" and be happy w/ that choice

this is one of those albums where i want to like... watch a feature length documentary on it

for some reason i don't have strong memories of her death, though i do remember her owning the music video channels i'd watch at summer camp for a minute there

i remember where i was when i heard about it but i didn't really grasp the impact of it at all

I remember I was watching MTV late at night and it scrolled across the bottom of the screen.. I was like WTF and didn't believe it until the next day, when it was a big deal everywhere.

i was in oxford hmv, on the phone to a friend, and i had to go and take a moment in the dvd aisle (which, back then, was the empty niche corner of the shop).

"i care 4 u" is my favourite on this album but i can't really imagine living without any of them.

I don't think I can ever listen to "Rock the Boat" enough or too much.

^^ her best single. More flippy floppy drums plz

yeah that song is just absolutely perfect in every way

It works the middle.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=86ZsEEPo_Tw

tbh what a fucking record

people in the pfork thread complaining about it getting a 9.3: you're right, it deserves a 10

Every song that got zero in this poll is amazing, esp. "Never No More", "U Got Nerve", "It's Whatever" and "I Can Be". There's a voluptuousness to the production that really feels like the last word on that era of R&B (and chronologically it kind of was: by 2002 it felt like Murder Inc's neo-classicism was the dominant sound).

Obviously the central tragedy of Aaliyah passing is the loss of Aaliyah herself, but one of the apparent side-effects was that it seemed to kill Key Beats' career stone-dead. I remember being so excited about their sound based on Destiny's Child's "Perfect Man" and "Independent Women Part II" and then all their work on this album.

on spotify today. still sounds like the future

It does sound great. Really wish I had held onto the promo CD that was in my sort-of possession at the time... oh well

Finally, I can place the proper "Rock the Boat" in all my playlists!

"U Got Nerve" hits so hard

I must have missed this poll if those were the days got zero