On July 7th, 2001 Aaliyah released her self-titled third and final studio album 'Aaliyah'.
Aaliyah flawlessly transitioned from tomboy teenager to confident woman with the release of her third studio album. The album is considered to be one of the pioneering soul records from the early 2000s, helping to shape the sound of what R&B is today.
Aaliyah received highly positive reviews from critics and debuted at number two on the Billboard 200, but sold diminishingly afterwards. When Blackground and Virgin wanted a high charting single to increase the album's sales, Aaliyah shot a music video for the song 'Rock the Boat' in the Bahamas, but died in a plane crash on a return flight to the United States on August 25. After her death, sales of the album skyrocketed and propelled it to number one on the Billboard 200.
It's pretty incredible that her songs have stood the test of time, especially since she began her career at such a young age. So many of these hits are timeless. From her beauty, music and style, to her ‘ jazz personality, G mentality,’ the princess of R&B left behind an everlasting legacy.
Even before her death that record was hot, which was probably the reason the 'Rock The Boat' video was being pushed so hard after the single started climbing the R&B airplay charts at the same rate as her former airplay-only chart-topper 'Try Again.'
In 2002 the video for 'More Than a Woman' was voted by the British public as "Best Video" and received an award at the 7th annual UK MOBO Awards. In 2003 the song was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. The song was featured on Rolling Stone's Ten Best Apocalyptic Dance Music Videos list.
'We Need a Resolution', the lead single from Aaliyah.
"I wanted that to be the first single because I felt it was a good way to come back out after 'Try Again,' Aaliyah says. 'Try Again' was a very upbeat song -- very in your face. While this isn't a ballad, 'We Need a Resolution' wasn't an upbeat song either. It's midtempo -- very sexy and very smooth -- yet I felt that all radio formats could get into it because you can still dance to it." - Aaliyah (Billboard, 2001)
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