AALIYAH

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Aaliyah (stylized as ΛΛLIYΛH) is the self-titled third and final studio album by American R&B singer Aaliyah, released by Blackground and Virgin Recordson July 17, 2001, in the United States. The album has sometimes been referred to as "The Red Album."^[2] It was primarily produced by Keybeats, with additional production by Timbaland, Bud'da, Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker and Static Major, with lyrics by Static Major and Missy Elliott. Aaliyah features soul,pop, and neo soul styles in its sound, as well as elements of funk, hip hop and electronica.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

It was nominated for a 2002 Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, among other honors. In April 2001, Aaliyah spoke highly of the album saying, "It is my version of Control. Also selling 17 million albums worldwide."

Preparation for the album started in 1998, but with the filming of martial arts film Romeo Must Die (2000), Aaliyah postponed the recording of the album. AsTimbaland and Missy Elliott, both of whom were major contributors on previous album One in a Million, were having disagreements with Aaliyah's labelBlackground Records at the time and were unavailable to work on the project, Blackground owner Barry Hankerson, who envisioned another Bad Boy except-like label on the West Coast of the United States, consulted lesser known writers and producers signed to his publishing company, includingBud'da, Jeffrey "J-Dub" Walker, and Rapture, and E. Seats of Keybeats.^[9] Stephen "Static Major" Garrett of the R&B trio Playa, who had penned the singer's previous hit singles "Are You That Somebody? and "Try Again," became involved in the project.^[9]

Much of the album was completed in various studios throughout New York City, prior to Aaliyah's trip to Australia for the filming of Queen of the Damned(2002).^[9] While recording sessions lasted more than a year, most of the tracks were complete by late 1999/early 2000, when the production team and songwriters had secured recording time at New York Sound King Studios to work on the album together.^[9] In September 2000, Virgin Records flew the camp out to Australia, where it spent a month recording the majority of the album at the Sing Sing Studio in Melbourne with Aaliyah.^[9] With three recording studios going simultaneously, producers J-Dub, Bud’da and Keybeats each worked in separate rooms.^[9] During the sessions, Garrett and co-writer Digital Black would move from studio to studio to check each producers' progress.^[9] At peak periods, they would work on 10 songs at the same time.^[9] With filming ending in Australia in December 2000, production of the album went into full-force in America and Europe.

Aaliyah was released through Blackground on July 17, 2001. Aaliyah co-hosted MTV’s Total Request Live in July 2001 to promote the album. She performed the expected second single "More Than a Woman" on Live with Regis & Kelly, The View and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in July 2001. Aaliyah also went to France to promote the single More Than a Woman on GermanTV. She had more concerts scheduled in different countries such as Canada, United Kingdom, Austrailia, Russia, China and the Middle East, but her death intervened.^[13][14]

"We Need a Resolution" is an R&B/electrohop song written by Steve "Static" Garrett and Tim "Timbaland" Mosley for Aaliyah's self-titled third studio album, Aaliyah (2001). It was produced by Timbaland and released as the album's lead single and Aaliyah's first single released in the new millennium during the second and third quarter of 2001 (see 2001 in music).

The song was a moderate success internationally. "We Need a Resolution" reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and the top 30 in Canada.

The UK single's cover features the somewhat popular cartoon version of Aaliyah that once appeared on a promotional commercial for the album, while the US CD single's cover features a close up of Aaliyah from a promo shot of the music video.

"Rock the Boat" is an R&B song written by Static Major, Eric Seats and Rapture Stewart for Aaliyah's third studio album, Aaliyah (2001). It was co-produced by Keybeats and released as the album's second single in North America in August 2001 (see 2001 in music) and as the 3rd international single during the first quarter of 2002 (see 2002 in music). The song was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in the 44th Annual Grammy Awards. This is Aaliyah's last single released in her lifetime. The song uses an interpolation of the Westminster Quarters. It is in the key of B♭ with a moderately slow tempo in a 4/4 time signature with an 8/8 half time shuffle groove similar to songs such as Toto's "Africa" and Hues Corporation's 1973 hit of the same name. The words "high" and "dope" were censored on MTV because of the drug connotation.

In an issue of Vibe magazine, it was revealed the song was written at least two years before its actual release, but never recorded because her label didn't think she was ready for a song with explicit lyrics that "Rock the Boat" entailed.

"Rock the Boat" was included on Channel V's Vault's countdown for the top 10 beach scenes in music videos and became the first video to be played twice as a "New Joint of the Day" on BET's music countdown show, 106 & Park. After making the countdown more than 65 times, the video was retired and inducted into 106 & Park's "Hall of Fame". The follow-up "More than a Woman" made the number-one spot after "Rock the Boat" was retired. "Rock the Boat" appeared at #2 on the BET: Notarized Top 100 Videos of 2001. BET has also crowned Aaliyah "Miss 106 & Park". Some further consider the video for the song to be one of the best music videos ever made. And the song appears to be one of her best.

The music video for the song was directed by Hype Williams. It features Aaliyah walking on a beach having been inspired by the poem "Footprints", also dancing on a yacht, and on water in Marsh Harbour and swimming in the ocean. Aaliyah appears to be dancing on water, in a CGI scene. She also dances with other women, as there are no men in the video. The dance routine was choreographed by Aaliyah's close friend Fatima Robinson. Filming started on August 22, 2001 and made its world premiere on BET's Access Granted on October 9th, 2001. It remains the highest rated and most viewed Access Granted episode in the series' history.

"More Than a Woman" is a contemporary R&B/dance-pop song, written by Static Major and Timbaland for Aaliyah's self-titled third studio album, Aaliyah(2001). The music consists of a looped sample of "Alouli Ansa" as recorded by Mayada El-Henawy. The song was released as the album's third North American single in fall 2001 and the album's second single elsewhere during the first quarter of 2002. The song was nominated for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.

The music video for "More Than a Woman" was directed by Dave Meyers and shot in Los Angeles in August 2001, two weeks before the video shoot for "Rock the Boat". The video starts with a shot of W. 4th St. in Los Angeles, looking towards the Westin Bonaventure Hotel and Aaliyah riding a 2001 modelTriumph Speed Triple in the wrong direction when the camera zooms inside the exhaust pipe and shows Aaliyah dancing in a white Chanel catsuit with other female dancers between the pistons. Between cuts she is riding the motorcycle and doing wheelies and in another scene standing in front of a headlight with her back against the camera. Later in the video, Aaliyah is dancing with co-ed dancers, wearing leather pants, gloves, and boots, and a black tank-top. At the end, a silhouette of Aaliyah on her motorcycle wearing Dainese Gear is placed in front of sunset with the words "In Loving Memory of Aaliyah" above. The English Grammy-Award winning music producer Mark Ronson appears in the video as a DJ.

It premiered on January 7, 2002 and landed at #1 on BET's 106 & Park countdown right after "Rock the Boat" was retired from the countdown. In Germany the music video ranked several times at #1 on the interactive voting show Select MTV on the MTV programme Webchart. It was one of Aaliyah's most popular music videos in Germany. "More Than a Woman" landed at #11 on BET: Notarized Top 100 Videos of 2002.

"More Than a Woman" was voted by the British public as "Best Video" and received an award at the 2002 UK MOBO Awards.

"I Care 4 U" is a neo soul song written by American hip hop singer-songwriters Timbaland and Missy Elliott, and also produced by Timbaland. It is the fourth and final single overall from Aaliyah's third studio album, Aaliyah (2001).

The song was released by Blackground/Virgin Records in 2002. It managed to reach number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and number three onBillboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.^[1] Although the single was released in the U.S. only, the song achieved minor airplay on R&B stations in Europe.

In a 2001 interview, Aaliyah explains the background of the song:

"Well my favorite song on the album, it's hard to pick 'cause I love them all, but if I had to pick one, I'd say 'I Care 4 U' because that song is, it's just gorgeous to me. It's five years old, Tim and Missy did that song, right when I finished "One In A Million", and I really wanted to put it in that album but, the album was already mastered and there was no way I could put it on... so we put it aside and waited, and it doesn't sound like it's five years old at all. It's just classic, it's timeless and I like what the song is saying it's a female, you know, being the strong person in a relationship, you know saying to a guy you know, if you're upset, let me wipe your tears, let me care for you, let me prove to you that I can love you, and I just really liked that, I thought it was different."

The song was originally written by Missy Elliott and Timbaland, also the song's producer. Aaliyah recorded the song for her second album One in a Million in 1996, but the song was not finished in time to make the album but was later included on Aaliyah's final studio album, Aaliyah, in 2001, and released as a single a 12 months after her death in August 2001. The classic sound of the song received great praise and became Aaliyah's third posthumous urban hit. Aaliyah's character is asking a man if she can comfort him and be with him through his sadness after a breakup. "I Care 4 U" sold approximately 126,000 copies and was #3 on the U.S. R&B chart and #16 on the US Hot 100 chart. The song's music was sampled from The Newcomers' 1974 Stax song, "(Too Little in Common to Be Lovers) Too Much Going to Say Goodbye".

The concept of the music video was to be for Aaliyah to perform live in a concert hall similar to Janet Jackson's 1986 music video for "Control". Aaliyah had not had the chance to shoot a video for the single due to her death. The music video for "I Care 4 U" was directed by Little X as his personal tribute to Aaliyah. He edited together clips from a Japanese anime Macross Plus II. Aaliyah is portrayed as a beautiful ghostly female figure serenading a concert audience as she floats around the stadium. In the later half she is portrayed as a bright angel flying through a city. Aaliyah leaves behind several small feathers.