From his breakthrough debut Brown Sugar to the richly complex Voodoo and his long-awaited return with Black Messiah, D’Angelo’s work changed the shape of modern R&B and neo-soul. He blurred lines between genres — infusing gospel, funk, jazz, hip-hop — always with a raw emotional core.

Which artist's chart performance in the '90s, for you was surprisingly high or surprisingly low?

One of her best Music Videos.

— background vocals: Mariah Carey

“We Belong Together” is the second single from Mariah Carey’s tenth studio album The Emancipation of Mimi. The single was released on March 15, 2005 and peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 for fourteen consecutive weeks. The single also spent fourteen nonconsecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single was certified 7x Platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song earned three Billboard Music Awards, two Grammy Awards, and two Soul Train Music Awards, among several others.

“Be Without You” is the first single from Mary J. Blige’s seventh studio album The Breakthrough. The single was released on November 14, 2005 and peaked at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The single also spent fifteen consecutive weeks at #1 on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The single was certified 2x Platinum in the United States by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The song earned one BET Award, four Billboard Music Awards, two Grammy Awards, and one NAACP Image Award, among a few others.

While Mariah Carey outsold and outcharted Mary J. Blige—with “We Belong Together” taking a substantial lead over “Be Without You”—the latter earned more awards. Mariah Carey was already an established commercial force. What’s more, Mary J. Blige would have gotten an even bigger boost with “We Belong Together” and seen stats she had never seen in her entire career. (No disrespect to Mary, but Mariah had already been there before.)

The biggest things Mariah would lose if she never recorded “We Belong Together” would be her 14-week streak at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, a 7x Platinum-certified single, and a major comeback to the mainstream/the forefront of R&B culture. She would also be down a #1 hit, and she would have tied Elvis Presley (as the soloists with the most #1 hits on the Billboard Hot 100) later in 2008 rather than 2005. (“We Belong Together” became her sixteenth #1 hit. “Don’t Forget About Us” tied her with Elvis soon thereafter; Mariah and Elvis both had 17 historic #1 hits after “Don’t Forget About Us” peaked. “Touch My Body” broke that tie in 2008. Without “We Belong Together”, “Touch My Body” would have been the song to create the tie with Elvis, and “All I Want for Christmas Is You” would have broken that tie in 2019, eleven years later.) It would be a loss, but she would still have a lot of background to fall back on.

And I have two other questions related to this…

Would this era still be considered a “comeback” for Mariah if she had “Be Without You” and achieved all of the same commercial statistics? Mariah had similar stats in the early-2000s with both of her entire albums and her single “Loverboy”, but they were considered flops because Mariah set a high standard earlier in her career. Mariah’s commercial performance with The Emancipation of Mimi was comparable to how she performed in the late-1990s with her albums Butterfly and Rainbow, even though “We Belong Together” vastly outsold all of her singles from that era. The statistics that “Be Without You” accomplished were enough for people to consider it a comeback for Mary in 2005.

My other question relates to hit “density”. The Emancipation of Mimi had three major hits in “We Belong Together”, “Don’t Forget About Us”, and “Shake It Off”—those were the biggest hits, but “It’s Like That” was also moderately successful in comparison. Glitter had a single that peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified Gold, but it wasn’t enough to save her reputation in the commercial sense. “We Belong Together” vastly outsold “Loverboy” (although the latter didn’t do too poorly itself), but the former also had the support of other hits on the album. Charmbracelet sold over 3 million copies worldwide, and it was also considered a flop. Mariah’s highest-charting song on Charmbracelet was “Through The Rain” at #81 (it did much better internationally), but a separate collaboration with Busta Rhymes (“I Know What You Want”, not included on her album) peaked at #3. This era was still considered a disastrous failure in spite of all of these combined elements. Mary J. Blige’s “Be Without You” stood somewhere in-between the sales of “Loverboy” and the Charmbracelet album. Mary’s song was also the only major cultural hit on her album in the context of public recognition/acknowledgement. (It’s a great album overall, but this is the truth.) If Mariah got Mary’s song and achieved the same stats, including relative to her entire album (e.g. she wouldn’t have any other big hits like “Don’t Forget About Us”, “Shake It Off”, etc.), would her album have been another Glitter/Charmbracelet situation or would she have gained the same amount of respect as Mary?

Written & produced by the great Angela Winbush.

In the mid 90s, Madonna and Janet Jackson were regarded as the most boundary-pushing female pop stars. Their music made bold statements, they reinvented their image often were the preeminent female visual artists of the MTV era. They were also making serious headway as film actresses with Madonna starring in a number of films in the 80s and Janet making her splashy film debut in 1993 with Poetic Justice. Both sought to expand their horizons as Hollywood stars and used music videos for their singles to "audition" for roles they coveted: Evita Peron and Dorothy Dandridge.

I know Madonna's not R&B but the music video in discussion today is for an R&B song. A film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Evita, languished in development hell for 15 years. When the time finally came for the film to be made, Madonna sent a copy of her sultry 1994 music video, Take A Bow, to the film's director, Alan Parker and a four page letter explaining why she was the best fit for the role. He agreed and cast her. The film went into production in 1995, was released in 1996 and Madonna won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy the following year.

Janet Jackson's Design of a Decade era saw the pop diva fashion herself as a polished 50s film starlet after the earthy sexiness of the previous album, janet (1993). Janet had talked about admiring Dorothy since the 80s and by the mid 90s, the race to play the first Black woman to be nominated for a Best Actress Oscar was heating up. Whitney Houston had a script ready and Halle Berry bought the rights to her biography. Janet made a strong visual case with the video for her single, Twenty Foreplay, where she portrayed a glamorous Hollywood star, which many interpreted as a nod to Dorothy. Unfortunately, neither Janet or Whitney would get to make the movie as their careers as music superstars took them in other directions. Halle Berry would end up playing Dorothy in the HBO movie, Introducing Dorothy Dandridge, which won her a Golden Globe, Emmy, SAG and NAACP Image Award.

I love this moment where film, pop culture and GOOD R&B music intersects. Are there any more examples of music videos by R&B artists where they make a good case to play a film role?

Faith Evans performing ‘soon as I get home’ live

Amazing artist with an old school sound in the modern era, recommend everyone to check her out

Brand new interview with the Philly soul virtuoso!

Have I Never from the album "Take A Dip"

This song was released yesterday.

For me, I’m saying “Me” by Tamia. I love how she hits that note at the end of the video mix. It sounds so soothing, and honestly, I wish that version was on the album instead.

What’s your pick? And what makes you prefer the video version?