![]() The intensity level is no less on “At Your Best (You Are Love),” Kelly's masterly remake of the Isley Brothers' 1976 hit. The song that follows owes a line and its spirit to Bobby Caldwell's classic single “What You Won't Do for Love.” It’s a seductive entreaty to an older lover to forget their age difference and allow their relationship to ripen, coupled with a delicate guitar-piano interplay that echoes the urgency of her performance. “Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number” opens with Aaliyah's spoken voice noting her daily diary entry. “Street Thing” is a sultry slow jam that Alicia Myers might have sung had she started her career as a teenager. While “I'm So Into You” and “Young Nation” are undermined by unimaginative and silly lyrics, the album's other three ballads are gorgeous. Kelly’s hip-hop inserts provide a funky contrast that carries over to “Throw Your Hands Up” and “Down With the Clique,” all paeans to the fun-loving good times of adolescence.īut it’s on the ballads that Aaliyah really shines. “Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number” is that rarest of recordings - a collection well suited for its teenage target group, but one that even older listeners can relate to.Īaliyah’s silken voice caresses the beat, which swings rhythmically through “Back and Forth,” one of this summer's street anthems. Unlike her adolescent counterparts, she doesn’t try to assume emotions she’s never felt or take on material outside her range of experience. What makes her stand out is her uniquely mellifluous tone and the eloquent way she expresses the heartfelt passion of first love. It was Aaliyah’s first single, “Back and Forth,” that interrupted the record-breaking 13-week run of Kelly’s own “Bump and Grind” at the top of Billboard’s R&B chart.Īs with most of the teenage girls who have recently populated the music industry, Aaliyah’s voice has the maturity of someone much older. He has also begun to establish himself as a production force with Hi Five, the Winans, Billy Ocean, female duo Changing Faces (which recently scored with a gold single “Stroke You Up”) and Janet Jackson (Kelly’s remix of her “Any Time, Any Place” went gold). Kelly’s rough-hewn voice suggests the sexual sensibilities of Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass, and he has carved a niche for himself at the top of the charts. Both perform Saturday at USAir Arena as part of Budweiser Superfest. Kelly, and “Age Ain’t Nothin’ but a Number” is the first release from Kelly's own label, Blackground Entertainment. Read that review, Teresa Wiltz’s review of the 2001 album “Aaliyah, ”and Wiltz’s appreciation for the singer following her tragic death - all after the jump.Īaliyah: “Age Ain’t Nothin' but a Number”īy Tonya Pendleton, Special to The Washington Postĭetroit native Aaliyah is the teenage protege of R&B’s reigning loverman, R. “Her voice may be soft, but her diction is clear, and each word resonates with feeling.” ![]() ![]() “Aaliyah’s voice has the maturity of someone much older,” Pendleton wrote. She raved about the young singer in a review of her debut album “Age Ain’t Nothin’ But a Number.” ![]() (REUTERS/Rose Prouser)īut in 1994, Post contributor Tonya Pendleton knew Aaliyah was on to something. The R&B singer Aaliyah died ten years ago today. ![]()
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