Programming note: It’s 2000s week! I'm spotlighting some of my favorite records released between 2000 and 2009. Like previous decade-themed newsletter posts, I've selected albums that cover multiple genres and deliberately avoided the well-worn titles that top all "best of" lists for this decade. In other words, no Kid A, Marshall Mathers LP, and so on.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s 2000s music pick is Aaliyah’s final project, a transcendent portrait of a star at the height of her powers.
Genre: R&B, Neo-Soul, Hip-Hop
Label: Virgin
Release Date: July 7, 2001
Vibe: 🤩🤩🤩
By the time “Rock the Boat” became a single in November 2001, R&B fans were already mourning the premature end of Aaliyah’s reign as that decade’s pop culture queen. Her tragic passing in a plane crash following that track’s music video shoot remains one of the 21st century’s biggest music “what if” moments, primarily due to how captivating her self-titled (and final) LP is. It was her first full-length project in five years, a span that helped her evolve as an artist and human being. She’d begun to blossom as an actress (she was supposed to appear in both Matrix sequels) and, more importantly, had cut off what we now know to have been a predatory relationship with former mentor R. Kelly. Despite all that public scrutiny and the fact that this LP was recorded across multiple cities and continents, it’s remarkable how cohesive and contemporary everything sounds. The R&B and neo-soul vibes of the day (remember Jill Scott and Macy Gray?) are present and accounted for, as are some influences from alternative rock, Latin samba, and Middle Eastern styles. The more you listen, the more you’ll find intriguing little sonic nuggets buried in the corners of the mix.
Aaliyah also features the singer’s most fearless approach lyrically and vocally. All angles of relationship intricacies are explored, from unrequited frustration (”I Care 4 U) to uninhibited bliss (”More Than a Woman”) to sly passive-aggressiveness (”We Need a Resolution”). There are also unrelenting feminist rebukes throughout the track listing, quick to put down men who insist on being unfaithful, delusional, or physically abusive. Long before the #MeToo movement gave long-overdue platforms to victims’ voices, Aaliyah’s approach was powerfully ahead of its time. While everything is packaged for maximum mainstream accessibility, plenty of darkness lurks in the dense, string-heavy arrangements, providing the correct backdrop to what plays as both a confessional and emancipation. It sounds like Aaliyah was breaking free of a past that haunted her and was on the brink of the kind of superstardom Rihanna would cultivate a few years later. Of course, the pop music world would be a better place if she were still with us, but with records like Aaliyah aging like fine wine, at least we have a lasting document of a magnificent talent shining her absolute brightest.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈