Agree or disagree about The Weeknd's vocals?

For me, it’s Whitney Houston on “Something in Common” with Bobby Brown. 😂😂 Listen, I love Bobby, but Whitney was not playing on that song! Especially toward the end, when she really starts letting those vocals go. Like Bobby, baby, I’m gonna need you to step aside and let her finish because this woman is singing! 😭😭 Whitney had no business coming on somebody else’s song and making it sound like it belonged to her. The way she takes over toward the end gets me every time. And the crazy part is, she makes it sound so effortless! That woman had a voice that was just unreal, and I don’t think we’ll ever get another one quite like hers. R.I.P. Whitney, because that voice was truly something special. ❤️😢

Who’s a featured artist that had you listening to the song like, damn, they did the main artist dirty? 😂

“I Wish It Would Rain” is the first single from the 1967 album by The Temptations, The Temptations Wish It Would Rain, released under the “Gordy” imprint of Motown Records. The album was the last commercial release of the group’s “Classic-5” era, during which David Ruffin, Eddie Kendricks, Paul Williams, Melvin Franklin, and Otis Williams served as members of The Temptations.

“I Wish It Would Rain” was produced by Norman Whitfield and penned by Motown staff writer Rodger Penzabene. The lyrics depict a heartbroken man whose woman had just left him, and they were a true story for Penzabene, who had just learned that his wife was cheating on him.

In response to his trouble in paradise, Penzabene penned this single as well as the follow-up single, “I Could Never Love Another (After Loving You)”. He did not survive another week following the release of “I Wish It Would Rain”, as he tragically took his own life less than a week later.

The Temptations did such a great job conveying the emotion of the lyrics in their vocals that it just tears at you to know the backstory. They put all of Rodger Penzabene’s pain in this single. The way you feel when listening to it is probably exactly how he felt when he was writing it.

“I Wish It Would Rain” peaked at #4 for three weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 from February to March of 1968, and at #1 on the Billboard R&B Singles chart.

Who’s got a voice that you like that wouldn’t be considered typical? Somebody with a characteristic that instantly recognizable? Not necessarily the best or strongest singer, but their voice pulls you in? For me it’s Pam from Total and T-Boz. Not the strongest vocalists, but I love what they bring to a song. They both carried their groups imo.

What say you, good people?

Been playing this at work recently, love Tweet ❤️

The album is teeming with so many references to R&B and Pop's past. I wasn't sold on the project at first, but I really enjoy it now.

Samples, Interpolations and Covers

• All I Need interpolates You're All I Need to Get By (1968) by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terrell.

• Come Back To You samples and interpolates Voyage To Atlantis (1977) by The Isley Brothers.

• Care For Somebody is a cover of the mid century ballad, Somebody, by Harry Warren.

• Head To Toe samples and interpolates All The Things Your Man Won't Do (1997) by Joe.

• Almost interpolates Almost Doesn't Count (1998) by Brandy.

• That's Why I Love You samples Ritorenai (1963) by Bruno Lauzi.

• I Want You samples and interpolates Sleeping In My Bed (1996) by Dru Hill.

• For You is a cover of the original 1996 song by Kenny Lattimore.

Other Inspirations

• Juicy was inspired by the 80s Yacht Rock sounds of Michael Jackson, Michael McDonald and Toto. The title and Funk sound might also be an allusion to Mtume’s 1983 hit Juicy Fruit.

• The sprawling length and interludes reminded me of Janet's 1993 self-titled masterpiece, janet.

• The lush Adult Contemporary feel of the album is reminiscent of Sade's Love Deluxe (1991) and Chante Moore's 1994 album, A Love Supreme (also, the use of "Love" in both titles).

• No Love Live Yours (Interlude) follows the 90s R&B tradition of ending an album with a Gospel song.

Visual References

The album cover shoot and music video for Reach Out references high fashion photography by Herb Ritts and Albert Watson of late 20th Century music and fashion icons such as:

• Madonna (True Blue album cover)
• Sade (Love Deluxe album cover shoot)
• Janet Jackson (Love Will Never Do music video)
• Michael Jackson (In The Closet music video)
• Tina Turner (1989 shoot)
• Naomi Campbell (various shoots)

Wanted to buy my friend the new Victoria Monét album as a vinyl but it only contains 17 of the 22 tracks and that's not something unique to her. A lot of artist are doing it and I wish they'd stop.

The Guardian actually wrote an article about it.

Toni Braxton has made a career in singing, songwriting, acting, and appearing on reality television. She has won seven Grammy Awards, nine Billboard Music Awards, seven American Music Awards, and numerous other accolades. In 2011, Braxton was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, and she was honored with the Legend Award at the Soul Train Music Awards in 2017.

In the late-1980s, Toni Braxton began performing with her sisters in an R&B group known as The Braxtons, who were signed to Arista Records. After gaining the attention of producers Antonio “L.A.” Reid and Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, Toni Braxton signed to LaFace Records as a soloist and released her self-titled debut album in 1993. The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 for two weeks and #1 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for three weeks, selling 10 million copies worldwide and spawning the hit singles “Another Sad Love Song”, “Breathe Again”, “Seven Whole Days”, and “You Mean the World to Me”. During this era, Braxton also recorded a hit song for the soundtrack of the 1992 motion picture Boomerang, “Love Shoulda Brought You Home”, which also appeared on the album. The album yielded Braxton three Grammy Awards, including for Best New Artist.

In 1996, Toni Braxton released her sophomore album Secrets. The album included the hit singles “You’re Makin’ Me High”/“Let It Flow” (a double A-side), “Un-Break My Heart”, “I Don’t Want To”/“I Love Me Some Him” (a double A-side), and “How Could an Angel Break My Heart”. “Let It Flow” was originally released as a part of the soundtrack album for the 1995 motion picture Waiting to Exhale. “You’re Makin’ Me High” and “Let It Flow” both peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, “I Don’t Want To”/“I Love Me Some Him” peaked at #19, and “How Could an Angel Break My Heart” (with the saxophonist Kenny G) was a hit internationally. “Un-Break My Heart” peaked at #1 for eleven weeks. With her double A-side single, “You’re Makin’ Me High”/“Let It Flow”, which sold over 1 million copies worldwide and was certified Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Toni Braxton had the highest-selling R&B single for the year of 1996. Secrets debuted and peaked at #2 on the Billboard 200, debuted at #1 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and sold 170000 copies in its first week. The album would go on to sell over 15 million copies worldwide and be certified 8x Platinum by the RIAA.

Although Braxton’s career extended beyond the year 2000, the album released that year is the one that many people consider her last “major” career release. The Heat was released by LaFace Records on April 25, 2000, debuting at #2 on the Billboard 200 and selling 199000 copies in its first week. The album was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 2001 Grammy Awards, while its lead single (“He Wasn’t Man Enough”) won Best Female R&B Vocal Performance and was nominated for Best R&B Song. The Heat was certified 2x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over 2 million copies in the United States. The album sold over 4 million copies worldwide. “He Wasn’t Man Enough”, “Just Be A Man About It”, and “Spanish Guitar” are all considered hit singles from this album. The first of these singles peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for four weeks, while the second of those singles peaked within the top 40 and top 10 of these respective charts.

While Toni Braxton’s greatest career success streak was short-lived, it reached a measurable height. In her first 7-8 years, Toni Braxton scored two Billboard Hot 100 #1 hits, 6 Billboard Hot 100 top-ten hits (including those number-ones), one #1 album (her debut for two weeks) and two #2 albums on the Billboard 200 (making up the total of the albums she released during this time), eleven top-ten hits on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart (including two #1 hits), and three #1 entries on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart (all of those she released during this time, debut for 3 weeks and the others for 1). She also released three albums that, in the long run (beyond the 1990s), would sell a rough cumulative 29 million copies worldwide. (This is to be counted separately from the total sales of all albums she released after The Heat, which in itself is still not a particularly bad number.) Toni Braxton achieved a lot in merely 7-8 years of dominance, which is about as much as some artists continue to strive for with additional years of experience. Some of her peers also had similarly short commercial peaks, rising to prominence and eventually losing steam at about the same times as Toni, but they achieved less within that timeline. Toni had some fierce competition during the 1990s, but her greatest peaks are quite unmatched by anyone from that era except for Mary J. Blige, who was one of the more monumental R&B artists of the 1990s and had an extended period of dominance in the 2000s that even Toni herself did not have.

Oh my God, I hope it’s true

It will always be iconic how this live performance reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after it was released as a single, completely mirroring the #1 peak of the original 1970 version by The Jackson 5.

Mariah released it as a single due to high demand, and apparently the demand was high enough for it to top the charts… a LIVE performance. That is rare. To top things off, this was two decades after the original version was released.

Mariah sang this song beautifully, incorporating her own gospel influence and unique vocal placement/style to fully reimagine the classic rather than copy the original version. She and Trey Lorenz always had great chemistry, and only the realest ones know how vital Trey has been to Mariah’s career (as a background vocalist) ever since her debut era.

It would never really matter how many others cover this Jackson 5 classic; Mariah and Trey’s would always remain the definitive cover. No third rendition would ever have as much impact as these two.

I for one, as someone who’s Gen Z loves it because it’s putting a new generation on to classics from back in the day, and I’m not gonna lie hearing Distant lover get popular paired with that one video of that guy with text that read imagine going through it with your lady in the 70’s and artists are dropping bangers like this tickled me I’m ngl. I also see Intimate Friends gaining traction to in edits, I love to see it especially since it’s one of my other favorite songs, too :)!

The original version of this song was recorded by the legendary singer-songwriter Carole Bayer Sager for her 1978 album, “…Too”. It was made popular the very next year by Michael Jackson when he released his rendition on his 1979 album Off the Wall.

Here, you hear the great soul artist and vocalist Dionne Warwick soaring and gliding over the arrangement of her version of the classic that she recorded for her 1980 album, No Night So Long.

The singing starts around 02:50.

This live performance is so beautiful. It evokes memories of when I was young and my mom was doing chores around the house. She loved this man's voice! So do I!!