Aaliyah waited nearly five years to deliver her third album, but considering that she was essentially growing up -- it was the equivalent of spending time in college -- when she came back with an eponymous record in the summer of 2001, she came back strong. Aaliyah isn't just a statement of maturity and a stunning artistic leap forward, it's one of the strongest urban soul records of its time. Where such peers as Macy Gray and Jill Scott work too hard to establish their ties with classic soul, Aaliyah revels in the present, turning out a pan-cultural array of sounds, styles, and emotions. This sound is entirely unfamiliar -- part of the pleasure is how contemporary it sounds -- but she sounds just as comfortable within the sonicscapes of Timbaland as Missy Misdemeanor Elliott and, possibly, less self-conscious. Aaliyah never oversings, never oversells the songs -- this comes on easy and sultry, and there's a lot of substance here, in terms of the songwriting and the songs themselves. Urban albums rarely come any better than this, and there haven't been many records better than this in 2001, period. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide
Career Highlights: Queen of the Damned, Romeo Must Die, Hip-Hop VIPs
First Major Screen Credit: Romeo Must Die (2000)
Biography
Young R&B star Aaliyah was poised to become a dual threat in both the recording and film industries when her life was tragically cut short in an airplane accident in August 2001.
She was born Aaliyah Haughton on January 16, 1979, in Brooklyn and moved to Detroit when she was five. By the time she turned nine, Aaliyah was performing publicly, even turning in a five-day stint at age 11 in Las Vegas with Gladys Knight, her uncle's ex-wife. Four years later, under the tutelage of R. Kelly, she recorded and released her first album, Age Ain't Nothin' but a Number. During this time, rumors surfaced that the pair married despite their significant age difference (and Aaliyah's status as a minor), but neither party confirmed or denied them, although the music magazine Vibe printed what appeared to be a marriage certificate showing it to be true.
Aaliyah quickly ended the marriage and moved on to work with producers Missy Elliot and Timbaland, who helped get some of her work onto soundtracks -- including her hit single "Are You That Somebody?" from the Dr. Doolittle soundtrack. Her work on soundtracks -- including Anastasia and Next Friday -- led to an interest in film. She composed songs and made her acting debut in 2000's Romeo Must Die. The film was a financial success, raking in 55.9 million dollars in the U.S., despite receiving lukewarm reviews.
As for Aaliyah, many reviewers overlooked her performance to comment on Jet Li's first American leading role, but those who didn't gave her more-than-passable marks. This attention helped her win parts in the Anne Rice vampire tale The Queen of the Damned -- which turned out to be her second and final film appearance (with the film still in post-production at the time of her death) -- and in The Matrix: Reloaded (the first sequel to the 1999 blockbuster The Matrix), which was only one month away from beginning principal photography when her fatal accident occurred.
Aaliyah and eight other people were killed on August 25, 2001, when their chartered plane crashed shortly after takeoff. The group was returning to the United States from the Bahamas after having shot a music video for a song from her third album. An investigation into the incident revealed that the plane had been severely overloaded with luggage, thus causing what appears to have been an entirely avoidable and unmistakably tragic accident. ~ Stephanie M. Kuenn, All Movie Guide
The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, number one on the R&B charts and was certified gold four weeks (platinum within six weeks) after its release: While it sold over 250,000 in its first week. A few weeks after its release, Aaliyah quickly jumped from #19 to #1 with sales of 305,000 beating Mary J. Blige and Slipknot from the top spot.[1] The album sold over 2 million copies in the United States, and 13 million copies worldwide to date.[2] It was also nominated for a 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album among many other awards. Physical copies of the album are out of print in the United States, but there have been rumors that the album is slated for a special edition tenth anniversary re-release in 2011. The album spent a total of 188 weeks on the Billboard 200. As of October 2009, this album is currently 2x Platinum. In April 2001, Aaliyah spoke highly of the album stating "It is Her version of Control".[3]
Though Aaliyah did not co-write any of the songs on her latest studio project, as executive producer she added more creative input during the making of the album than she did on her previous two albums. The album, which was Aaliyah's most experimental, became a crossover hit while still keeping Aaliyah's huge popularity in urban music. The album is mainly composed of soul ballads, electropop/rock songs and contemporary R&B songs. The contemporary R&B/hip hop song "We Need a Resolution", the Marvin Gaye-influenced "Rock the Boat", the dance-pop hit "More Than a Woman" and soul ballad "I Care 4 U" were released as singles worldwide. The adventurous side of the album begins with the symphonic soul ballad "I Refuse", which was exclusively released in France. The unofficial single "I Can Be" incorporates hard rock combining the melodies of both Beatles' "Come Together" and Black Sabbath's "Hand of Doom" while the album closes with "What If" which was labeled by one music critic as "R&B King Crimson" [4]
Critical response
The album received positive reviews from critics. Aaliyah was called one of the "strongest urban soul records of its time" by Allmusic, who gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. Rolling Stone gave the album 4 out of 5 stars, calling it a "near-flawless declaration of strength and independence" and noting the Janet Jackson and Alanis Morissette influences on the album. Craig Seymour of Entertainment Weekly gave Aaliyah a B+, saying it "creates a largely, up-tempo thrillingly melodramatic set" that "takes a melancholy—at times sinister—view of matters of the heart". However, Seymour also stated that Aaliyah "missteps when she tries to stretch outside of her musical comfort zones", specifically mentioning the Latin pop "Read Between the Lines" and the nu metal "What If".[5]Time magazine named Aaliyah one of the ten best albums of 2001. The magazine wrote of the album, "A siren of subtlety, never wailing when a whisper would do, Aaliyah blended genres with alluring ease. For her, hip-hop/soul and muted alternative rock came together as easily as lovers interlocking fingers. A plane crash claimed Aaliyah's life in August, but on her last CD her soul is forever in flight."
In 2004, a special edition called "Aaliyah: Edition 2004" was released in Germany. It featured a slightly altered cover, replacing the red background with brown or "gold", and the liner notes were in sepia rather than in color. It's track-listing added "Try Again" and three bonus tracks.[6] In 2005, the same version was released in Japan under the title "Aaliyah: Limited Edition" and kept the red cover.[7] In 2007, it was released again in Germany with a white cover instead of red or gold, and it also dropped the "2004 Edition" subtitle.[8]
