I was around 8 or 9 when I got my copy of Aretha Franklin’s Young, Gifted and Black. It arrived via one of the storied, long-defunct CD clubs (some do still exist but now exclusively push DVDs). For those who weren’t attune to those clubs, they would send alluring catalogs […]
After taking control of her life, her music and her career, Janet Jackson was about to transform herself yet again. This time, as the new decade’s new face of pop music. 90’s Vixen After closing out the decade on the highest of highs, Jackson entered the 90’s as a solidified […]
Every year, on the first of November, while children are coming down from their sugar highs and parents are recouping from hours of tricking and treating, Mariah Carey awakes to announce to the world that “it’s tiiiiime!” Houses are still adorned by pumpkins and a sea of foliage, and faux […]
Toni Braxton is one of the most recognisable names and voices in R&B music. In 2001, after some turmoil with her record label and her third album The Heat, she released her Christmas album Snowflakes. It would be more fitting to call Snowflakes a holiday album, or rather, a seasonal/winter […]
Mariah Carey’s honorary title as “Queen of Christmas” is attributed to the colossal success of her #1 hit single, 1994’s “All I Want For Christmas is You.” However, to be honest, that song isn’t even her best Christmas song. Nope. You didn’t read wrong. In my humble opinion, Mariah Carey’s […]
They don’t call Mariah Carey the “Queen of Christmas” for any ol’ reason. Her entire holiday canon has become a market for success, and her ever growing power during the holiday season only snowballs year after year. The key to her yuletide fortune, though, is a song she wrote back […]
In 2001, Destiny’s Child were on top of the world. In May, they released their third album Survivor which had record-breaking first week sales, two #1 singles and two more top 10 hits. They headlined MTV’s TRL tour that summer, and were literally everywhere. That fall, they announced that they would embark […]
Merry Christmas II You In 2010, Mariah Carey was pregnant with her twins, Monroe and Moroccan, and decided that creating two human lives wasn’t enough. No, she would also craft her second Christmas album: Merry Christmas II You. The lead single from the set was entitled “Oh Santa!” and was released […]
November 20, 2001, Enter M!ssundaztood Alecia “P!nk” Moore hit the scene in 2000 with Can’t Take Me Home, her debut album that was largely a pop-tinged R&B affair. Led by the She’kspere produced “There You Go,” plus “Most Girls” and “You Make Me Sick,” P!nk seemed to be yet another addition to a […]
By 1981, Aretha Franklin was finding her musical footing again. The 70’s had started strong for Aretha, producing some of the most significant work of her career, but they ended dismally. After departing Atlantic Records for Clive Davis’ Arista Records at the turn of the decade, Aretha opted for a […]
