Aaliyah back with new album - SOUNDS FAMILIAR by B

Her fans were scandalized when it was revealed that the supposedly 15-year-old Aaliyah married R&B artist and producer R.Kelly in 1994. Did she lie about her age and was in truth much older? Was she ever or is she still married to R. Kelly? Some years later no one still knows for sure. And since not a peep has been seen or heard in the usual sources for entertainment news, we will have to wait and see if we will ever find out how old she really is and if she is either still married or already divorced from her supposed husband.

These, however are trivial matters compared to her output as an artist. The singer/actress who was voted the sexiest woman in the world for the year 2000 by Black Men Magazine is also a formidable talent who always delivers the goods. She is one of the most powerful women in the field of R&B today and it is not just because she is perhaps married to R. Kelly or that she has found an excellent new professional collaborator in Timbaland. The highly individualistic Aaliyah only does what she feels is right and most of the time this turns out to be an intelligent, risky, refreshing surprise.

Her new self-titled album is no different. Aaliyah takes hip-hop music to the level of grand opera. This is not just because of the sweet and soulful vocals. It is in the way she layers sounds of various textures, a complicated process that still comes across as lush, smooth and very sexy. First cut and led single is the uptempo We Need a Resolution. The ones I am betting on though are the somewhat old-fashioned ballad I Care 4U, the paean to woman empowerment I Refuse and Never No More which is immensely appealing despite the fact that it deals with domestic violence.

The other cuts included in Aaliyah are Loose Rap feat. Static from Playa, Rock the Boat, More Than a Woman, Never No More, Extra Smooth, Read Between the Lines, U Got Nerve, It’s Whatever, I Can Be, Those Were the Days, What If and Try Again.

Aaliyah, which by the way is Arabic for "most exalted one," was first introduced to the public via the hit tune Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number. This was followed by two successful albums, Age and One in a Million. Then came her acting debut with Jet Li in Romeo Must Die for which she recorded another seller, Try Again. She is at present at work on the screen adaptation of the Anne Rice novel Queen of the Damned where she plays the title role. She is also booked to appear in the Sparkle, a movie about girl groups and best of all the two very much awaited Matrix sequels where she gets to kick lots of butts again. In between all these, she might be able to find the time to come up with another album

If you are right now tuned in or was tuned in to the radio station Magic 89.9, or to Monster Radio RX 93.1, 93.9 KCFM, Campus Radio 97.1 or 99.5 RT, at any time these past few days, then you must have heard Mariah Carey’s new single Never Too Far. The song broke out in the local airlanes only last Thursday and it is the second one to come out of Carey’s new album Glitter. The first single released was Loverboy.

The Glitter album is set for release on Saturday, Aug. 25. The title comes from the forthcoming movie that will mark Maria’s first starring role in a feature film. If I remember right, she has made one or two appearances earlier but these were brief cameos. This time around she plays the lead role and if we are to believe the buzz, the movie echoes A Star is Born.

If this is true then I do not wonder anymore why Mariah is under so much pressure these days. Remember, there have been two memorable A Star is Born films produced. One starred Judy Garland and had the song The Man that Got Away plus others. The other one starred Barbra Streisand and had the song Evergreen plus others. If Glitter is to work, then Mariah has to come up close, very, very close to the work of two of the greatest singers and actresses we have ever seen. That is a tall order for any- body but for all her faithful followers. Glitter, the album and the movie are the ones to look out for.