In the mid-90s, we were missing a cultural icon. Somebody like the music moguls of the past who’d blurred the boundaries between fashion, the big screen and technology to innovate in all three. Somebody so effortlessly cool that everyone wanted her and wanted to be her. Somebody who truly stood apart. In a dynamic life taken way too soon, Aaliyah proved she was that somebody.
When her silky smooth vocals met fledgling producer Timbaland’s Detroit-inspired electronic beats and vocal loops on her second album, both musicians became pop’s most wanted. Together, they started knocking on Hollywood’s door to further Aaliyah’s then-future acting career with their contribution to the 1998 “Dr. Doolittle” soundtrack, “Are You That Somebody?”
The song was such a dominator on the radio airwaves that Billboard was forced to change their policy of not allowing airplay-only songs on the charts. Typically, a song would have to be available for purchase by consumers in some form to earn a place on Billboard, but “Are You That Somebody?” reached such saturation months before the soundtrack was even released that it earned Aaliyah her first Grammy nomination, and forced a change in music metrics.
Holograms, killer choreography, a live bird of prey, incredible styling, futuristic set design, and clips from the movie all came together into a 4-and-a-half minute visual you couldn’t tear yourself away from. The song & video alone helped drive and sustain ticket sales for a remake none of us asked for, but more importantly, became the blueprint for pop success. Almost every subsequent girl group and solo female pop artist can trace back to Aaliyah’s style, sound, song structure, choreography, or all of the above as a creative source.
Just 3 years later, Aaliyah’s stellar life came to a tragic end while burning its brightest. Another movie and album under her belt with more of both on the way, new love in her life, fashion collaborations, all frozen in time – left as tribute to one of the most promising young creatives in modern music and an eternal inspiration to everybody.
𝗟𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦 𝗧𝗢 𝗟𝗢𝗩𝗘:
“Sometimes I’m goody-goody
Right now I’m naughty-naughty”