We start 2002 with two posthumous number ones, almost like how at the Oscars they do an ‘In Memorandum’ segment. Which pop stars did we lose in the past year?
More Than a Woman, by Aaliyah (her 1st and only #1)
1 week, from 13th – 20th January 2002
Well, we had lost prodigal R&B star Aaliyah in a plane crash back in August, aged just twenty-two. ‘More Than a Woman’ was her first single to be released in the UK since her death, and is a very modern, very of the moment slice of American pop.
It’s cut from the same cloth as earlier Destiny’s Child and Jennifer Lopez #1s, with an almost classical riff playing over a staccato beat. One reviewer at the time described it as ‘Baroque liquid funk’, which is a great description, if a little over the top. It does though, have a bit more beef to it than DC and J-Lo. I especially like the dirty, squelchy synths, which elevate this above some of the other US recent R&B tracks I’ve struggled to enjoy, and which take centre-stage in an extended, funky fade-out.
I was going to accuse this record of not having a real hook, but the more I play it the more it grows on me. And I’ll admit that the strange, slightly off-kilter chorus has stayed in my brain ever since it was in the charts. It’s oddly catchy. In the very ‘of its time’ video, Aaliyah and her backing dancers work it in what looks to be the inside of a combustion engine, and the churning pistons fit the thick and deliberate beat nicely.
Although this probably only got to number one as a tribute, it isn’t hard to imagine ‘More Than a Woman’ spending a January week at #1 even with Aaliyah alive and well. She had been a regular chart presence since her debut in 1994, aged just fifteen. (She was R Kelly’s protégé, something that’s come under more scrutiny since his offences came to light). Her biggest song, ‘Try Again’, had been her only US #1, and only previous British Top 10 hit, in 2000.
She was also a long-time collaborator with Timbaland, meaning that this is the first chart-topping appearance for one of the 2000’s defining producers. After ‘More Than a Woman’, for sadly obvious reasons, the hits dried up for Aaliyah. Her legacy seems to be one of what might have been, for an experimental and talented artist who had already been dubbed the ‘Princess of R&B’.
In part two of our posthumous double-header, she was replaced at the top by another recently deceased artist, whose legacy had long since been established…
The UK Number Ones Blog 
Try Again had been a Florida holiday fave for me, the rhythms are so delicious, and Timbaland is one of the great record producers of the decade, so no surprise this was a great single. I was sad that aaliyah died so young, private aircraft are just not safe, dont do it wannabe popstars! It’s a relatively long list of fatalities for the popstar overall population. I was happy this got to the top, and it still sounds good, classy, subtle, low-key melody. Ahead of its’ time.
Aaliyah was more or less groomed by Kelly aged 15, being signed to his record label, album Age Aint Nothin But A Number being a bit of a clue and all that. Happily her illegal “marriage” was quietly annulled and she escaped from his orbit, and looked to be moving into movie success as well as music, so it was all a real tragedy drama from start to early finish. Poor Aaliyah.
I’m a big Aayliah fan. Of the R&B ladies of the 2000s, she’s probably my favourite. She had the vocal talent, the charisma and the good looks to be a huge star in the 2000s. Fun fact: “Try Again” was the first song to get to No. 1 on the Hot 100 based entirely on airplay after Billboard changed the rules in 1998 to allow airplay singles to chart. Beyonce I think filled the void Aayliah left when she died (I know there are whacky conspiracy theories than Aayliah was killed to allow Beyonce to take the limelight but those are ridiculous). It’s interesting because if you listen to some of the demos for the type of music she was planning to do, it was more experimental and varied than you’d expect (she was planning to work with the nu metal band Korn and Trent Reznor from Nine Inch Nails on her next album and some of her demos had a really interesting R&B/alternative rock/pop fusion). I always forget how young she was when she died at only age 22 (and how young she was when R. Kelly married her, fuck that dude). I’m 4 years older than she was when she died and she accomplished more in one minute than I will in my lifetime.
It’s a good song, “More Than A Woman”. It gets better the more you play it. Not one of my favourites from her and the Bee Gees own that title, but it’s a good song to hit the top spot. Should’ve been the first of many, but what can you do.
And no offence to you UKers, but you listen to this and what the UK was offering at the time in pop…it’s no contest. This just sounds much more modern and I’d even say sophisticated and classy compared to the corny stuff the UK pop scene was pumping out in the time.
Yes, this is classy and sophisticated, and I do like it… But I’d generally take British pop at the time over most US R&B, hip-hop inflected stuff from the same time. Maybe its just what I grew up with.
But also, in 2002, two British groups will score their first number ones, and they set the benchmark for 00s pop. I’d say Britain won the pop battle from 2002 to the end of the decade.