So how did Aaliyah, who scored 11 top-10 hits on BillboardвЂ™s R&B chart, shape the future? For starters, she embraced the very notion of looking ahead. But in 2021 its absence on the services used by hundreds of millions of listeners was conspicuous. The music could be found on YouTube, of course, by anyone willing to do a little searching.

вЂњShe set the blueprint for so many artists that came after her,вЂќ says Mjeema Pickett, head of R&B at Spotify - and this despite the fact that, until very recently, most of AaliyahвЂ™s music was unavailable on streaming platforms due to a protracted legal dispute between her estate and her record label. Last month, Normani became the latest act to pay tribute with a sensual new single, вЂњ Wild Side,вЂќ that appears to interpolate a beat from AaliyahвЂ™s song вЂњOne in a Million.вЂќ 25, 2001, in a plane crash in the Bahamas, has since become one of the most revered figures in modern R&B, with an army of devoted A-list fans (including Drake and Cardi B) and a clear influence on successors like SZA, Tinashe, Syd and JhenГ© Aiko. Two and a half decades later - and 20 years to the day after the singerвЂ™s tragic death at age 22 - everyone seems to share JamвЂ™s view: Aaliyah, who died Aug. Our people wanted to hear your opinion to form their own.вЂ™вЂќ вЂњI called the guy back and I said, вЂListen, this is brilliant,вЂ™вЂќ Jam says. She was carrying something off that most singers couldnвЂ™t have. ThatвЂ™s what made all the disjointedness work, because it was so grounding. But by the end of it, I wasnвЂ™t listening to the production - I was listening to AaliyahвЂ™s melody and her voice. вЂњThe production was so avant-garde, with the baby crying in the sample and everything bouncing from speaker to speaker. вЂњI was like, вЂWow, thatвЂ™s a weird beat!вЂ™вЂќ he says with a laugh.

A million a million song