I-Search Paper (Aaliyah)

How Has Artist Aaliyah Made a Monumental Impact in the Music Industry for the Past and Present?

Part 1: The Search Story

Aaliyah once said, “I want people to remember me as a full on entertainer and good person.” Although her career was short-lived, her legacy lives in the music industry from back then to this day. As I heard one of her songs on various platforms, it made me want to look up more about her. It’s interesting I didn’t know about Aaliyah and her tragic death until I was a lot older. I remembered that our school psychologist from my high school told me she unfortunately passed away in a plane crash. I specifically wanted to find out what made her iconic and ended up seeing that she has made a lot of achievements throughout her life. My research of Aaliyah answered my topic question by looking at a timeline of how she became famous and remarkable.

To begin with, Aaliyah is a unique individual that has touched many lives both creatively and emotionally before she died and even long after. According to NewsOne Staff, she mentioned, “I also would like to make bigger impact on the world by giving back, and using my celebrity to raise money for people who need it the most. What good is having money and being famous if you can’t share with others less fortunate than yourself? I always felt that you should treat others how you yourself want to be treated.” This shows that Aaliyah was such a kind person and wanted to help those in need. Her songs are the epitome of the saying “old but gold.” Therefore, multiple artists are greatly influenced by her style of music. “Artists admire her, as fans do, for many reasons, but at the forefront of those memories was that there was an authenticity to her music, and a realness to her words, that many have tried to replicate since her time, and few have even come close.”, as stated by Aly Walansky. With that being said, Aaliyah left such a long lasting mark on music fans as well. I’m a fan of her myself and enjoy listening to her music which makes me feel like I should live my life the way I want to.

Part 2: The Search Results

With regards to Aaliyah’s song that was released in 2000, “Try Again,” “If at first you don’t succeed, you can dust it off and try again. Dust yourself off and try again.” According to Amy Mackleden from bustle.com, she says, “But in my opinion, the best Aaliyah song is “Try Again,” because of its inspirational lyrics and flawless sound…“Try Again” has an unforgettable music video and an empowering message.” It seems like Mackleden finds great inspiration while hearing Aaliyah’s music. When I myself listen to this song, it makes me feel euphoric, motivated, confident, and worthy of my existence. It helps me focus more on what’s important to me rather than feeling so insecure and anxious about the uncertainties of life. Our failures don’t define us and it doesn’t indicate that it’s the end of the world. In order to set ourselves up for success instead of having misfortunes in life, we have to constantly learn from our mistakes we make so we can thrive as a human being.

What’s more interesting is that Aaliyah earned an achievement similar to Florence Ballard who was part of the 1960s girl group, The Supremes. They are known for their hit song, “Baby Love.” “At 19, Aaliyah became the youngest African American female artist to ever perform at the Oscars during their 1998 ceremony--and soon was crowned the first artist in history to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 based solely off radio spins with her 2000 hit, “Try Again.””, as claimed by Keenan Higgins. Furthermore, during the years Ballard was active in her singing career, “...she helped spawn 10 No. 1 hits on the Billboard 100 charts.”(newsone.com) Looking at both Aaliyah and Florence, what they have in common is that they’re African American females who accomplished being on the Billboard which recognized their vocal talents. To be qualified for the Billboard 100 charts, certain criterias have to be met such as how many times artists’ songs are being played on the radio, sales of physical and digital albums, etc. After obtaining this information, I can assure Aaliyah and Florence released music they produced that caught a lot of people’s attention and interests. Another artist, Tammi Terrell, was famous during the 1960s as well. She collaborated with Marvin Gaye under the song, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” and followed a pathway somewhat related to Aaliyah’s. In their early teens, they’ve already signed with a major record label and both died in their early 20s. On the contrary, Aaliyah’s demise was unexpected whereas Terrell had an ongoing health condition that required her to have several operations which caused a lot of complications leading to her passing. I think it’s sad they’re both gone but not forgotten. Just because they’re no longer living doesn’t mean their reputation and contributions to the music industry are entirely gone. A fellow singer that was dear and comparable to Aaliyah is Gladys Knight who is famous for the song, “Midnight Train to Georgia.” She was also part of the group, The Pips, and started her solo career in 1989. Knight is known as “The Empress of Soul” while Aaliyah was dubbed “The Princess of R&B.” Aaliyah and Knight found success in the same genre which is R&B and both were passionate about giving back to the world by using their fame and fortune. Besides having a strength in music, they also discovered their ability to act. Knight made her acting debut as the lead role in the movie, Pipe Dreams, as Aaliyah got her first break in the movie, Romeo Must Die, and was the main character in Queen of the Damned.

As for the research process, I googled Aaliyah’s contributions that made a monumental impact in the music industry for the past and present. To name a few key terms I used to search, they are her legacy, quotes, biography, facts, comparisons to other artists from before her time, how she impacted and touched many lives before and after she died, and how she changed R&B forever. I first came across secondary sources such as articles, biographical works, opinion pieces, discography, and awards and nominations. When it comes to primary sources, I’ve discovered lyrics, images, videos, and quotes. Just as I was gathering information, it led to me finding out some pretty fascinating facts about Aaliyah that I didn’t intend to look for. For example, she maintained a 4.0 GPA in high school while establishing her singing career. This shows that she made education a priority despite being busy with the other side of her life. Rapper, songwriter, and producer, Missy Elliott, worked closely with Aaliyah on one of her albums. When she found out the shocking news about what happened to Aaliyah, she thought it was a joke. Moreover, I learned that Aaliyah was the niece of singer Gladys Knight. Also, her family was with her everytime she shot a music video except for “Rock the Boat,” which was the very last one she made. Along with everything I stated, Aaliyah’s music didn’t stream on Spotify until the 19th anniversary of her death being August 25, 2020. While conducting my search results, I’ve utilized eight websites which are newsone.com, goalcast.com, everydaypower.com, lyrics.com, bustle.com, olitunes.com, capitalxtra.com, and youtube.com. The sources I found shaped my research question since when I was reading and watching them, I’ve acquired helpful details about how influential and awe-inspiring Aaliyah’s life and talents were. At first, I thought I wouldn’t be able to find enough information for my topic. However, as I progressed with working on this paper, I was able to get a decent amount of sources to assist me in constructing an answer to my research question. I changed my search terms into more specific ones to cater the process of finding the key to better develop my skill of historical analysis. An example would be Aaliyah’s accomplishments.

In an interview with Teen People 21, it was revealed that Aaliyah performed at the White House in 1997 singing, “The Christmas Song,” to President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton. She admitted she felt nervous but great while performing for them since Bill Clinton loves music. My take on this is that it must’ve been wonderful and astounding to sing for someone who is very important to our country. However, it can be intimidating since you could make a mistake that won’t fulfill their expectation. Aaliyah also mentioned in the interview that her song, “Back & Forth,” was the first time when she thought about forming her public image by wearing baggy clothes and sunglasses. You can say that she started a trend back in the 90s. Although I was born in the 90s and have no recollection at all about this era, I like looking into how cool and aesthetic it was. The successes Aaliyah has made during her career is legendary up to this day. This primary source fed well into my topic of discussion by adequately informing me on how she demonstrated herself as a person and musical artist.

Part 3: Reflection

To sum it up, what I learned about my topic from the search process is that Aaliyah made a lot of achievements, had a unique style in fashion and music, inspired many people, and found her genuine talent in acting other than singing to mention a few. For the historical research, I looked into a lens where Aaliyah had similarities to artists that were famous in the 20th century. It was interesting how I got to dig up information about these other artists I didn’t know about until doing my research. I gained more insight when getting information to answer my topic question and had a deeper understanding of the impact Aaliyah made before and after her death. Even though I did a lot of research about Aaliyah since I would like to know more about her, the topic question stayed the same since I found what I needed to look for. As I was working on this, it made me want to listen to more of her music so it can push ideas on what I should research about.

In conclusion, the primary sources I’ve used answered my research question since it showed facts that are related to what I’m writing about such as Aaliyah saying motivational quotes, talking about how she embarked on her journey to her career in one of her interviews, and singing well-known yet uplifting lyrics from her song, “Try Again.” This is the same topic I started with due to it giving me a sense of what direction my paper will be going. Aaliyah’s one of a kind reputation has led her to nothing but positive acquirements. If she was still alive today, I’m sure she would be making more hits, getting recognition for her gifts, and be known globally. I truly believe Aaliyah was exemplary in proving that you just have to be yourself so you can leave bigger footprints for others to follow your hopes and dreams. With that being said, I think all that was stated displays the monumental impact she exhibited for the world of music and entertainment that took place in the past up to now.

Aaliyah (https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/aaliyahs-top-10-billboard-hits-227937)

Florence Ballard (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4041/florence-ballard)

Tammi Terrell (https://thebluemoment.com/2020/03/15/tammi-terrell-1945-1970/)

Gladys Knight (https://www.thehairstyler.com/hairstyles/casual/short/straight/gladys-knight)

Primary Sources: (Music Video, Aaliyah-Try Again (HD) YouTube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRcAvsZgjXA)

(Aaliyah Teen People 21 Interview, YouTube.com https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpy9zGyqEpM&t=16s)

(“Try Again” Lyrics, Lyrics.com

https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/25554165/Aaliyah/Try+Again)

Secondary Sources: (“Black Women Icons We Lost Too Soon,” NewsOne.com

https://newsone.com/1885865/black-women-icons-lost-too-soon/)

(“Aaliyah’s Forgotten Light: Her Powerful Legacy Beyond Death-- and R. Kelly,” Goalcast.com https://www.goalcast.com/2019/08/22/aaliyah-forgotten-powerful-legacy-beyond-death-and-r-kelly/)

(“Why “Try Again” is Still Aaliyah’s Best Song,” Bustle.com https://www.bustle.com/articles/180683-the-best-aaliyah-song-is-try-again-thanks-to-its-inspirational-feminist-message)

(“Aaliyah: A Brief Analysis Of Her Career & Relevance To Music,” Vibe.com https://www.vibe.com/2012/08/aaliyah-brief-analysis-her-career-relevance-music)

(“How Much Music Do You Need To Sell To Get On Billboard Charts,” OliTunes.com https://olitunes.com/much-music-need-sell-get-billboard-charts/#:~:text=In%20order%20for%20artists%20and,could%20make%20it%20to%20%23200)

(“39 Things You Didn’t Know About Aaliyah,” CapitalXtra.com https://www.capitalxtra.com/features/lists/aaliyah-facts/)

(“50 Aaliyah Quotes and Lyrics That Still Inspire Us Today,” EverydayPower.com

https://everydaypower.com/aaliyah-quotes-and-lyrics/)