Sometimes all it takes is being in the right place at the right time. Sugababes, fresh off their first lineup change and signed to a new label, were looking for a hit. Richard X, mastermind producer, was looking for someone to sing lead on his mashup of an old Adina Howard track [Freak Like Me] and a Gary Numan/Tubeway Army track [Are 'Friends' Electric?] Ergo a quickie marriage, and a product that makes both parties bigger than they had ever been before.
Y'all might not remember, but the mid-aughts were full of two things: R&B girls fated to be the next Aaliyah, and R&B girls fated to be the next Mary J. Blige. In Amerie, we potentially had both. Although I prefer the 70s soul lushness of her debut Why Don't We Fall in Love, it's hard to deny something so frenetic but so precise in its emotional shading.
The references are on-point - mid-80s Prince and Zapp and Roger. {Get thee to YouTube and listen to Computer Love right now!}Vocally, Ciara sounds young here - not quite selling it, and still retaining the athleticism she started out with. Surely even the biggest Ci-Squadron Leader can admit she would sell sex jams even better as the years went on. But, for having both eyes set in the past, it sounded pretty damn futuristic in the fall of 2006. Cruising to number on the (let's face it) Black Charts, but CRUELLY stalling at eleven on the Hot 100, Promise also made me buy my first Ciara album.
I've been enjoying Girl Aloud a lot just from following suggested videos after watching Biology though. Can't believe the US missed out on them tbh.
edit: and yaas Amerie. I always liked her.
It's good that this is introducing you to new music, but as a Girls fan I feel obligated to say that their best material are the album tracks and other unreleased things.
And not just the US, everywhere outside the UK/Ireland.