We Cared For Her

Aaliyah's, I Care For You, reflects on a career too short, yet long enough to leave us with melodic memories to be cherished.

In the year since Aaliyah's death, Blackground Records has had to walk the thin line between keeping her spirit alive and not running her image into the ground with a bottomless pit of tributes and retrospectives. They've succeeded by staying true to the release schedule for Aaliyah, her last CD, and closing out the year with "I Care For You," a 14-song reflection of the singer's career.

Instead of bloating "I Care For You," with tearful tributes, mindless interludes or previously unheard "lost" tracks they stay the course and remain true to the R&B singer's bright and successful career.

Upon hearing the CD's opener, Aaliyah's debut single "Back and Forth," I'm reminded vividly of the summer it was released. I immediately liked the funky dance track. Heavily pregnant at the time and still in search of a name for my unborn baby girl, after hearing the name of the new artist my search was over, because I thought her name beautiful.

My 8 year-old daughter, Aliyah, has always had an affinity for Aaliyah's music. [aaliyah.jpg]I doubt there's any cosmic connection, it's simply another sign that throughout her career the artist's music spanned the generations.

As I listened to the tracks on "I Care For You," the maturity in Aaliyah's voice and musical style still surprised me, though those traits were why she had such a wide appeal. Still, it's equally as hard to reconcile the voice on "Back and Forth" with a 14 year-old as it is to connect "Rock The Boat," with a 22 year-old. Her voice quality over that 8 year span remained consistent - crisp, clean and refreshing.

"Care" is a very well balanced CD. There are seven tracks, which fall into the greatest hits category and seven new tracks including recently released, "Miss You." A stand out among the new tracks is "Come Over," an Aaliyah ballad through and through, featuring Tank in a harmony, background vocal role.

But Blackground also does something unique, offering a DVD containing videos of still more of the singer's hits. So don't be disappointed if your favorite track didn't make the CD list, it's very likely on the DVD, which is even better. At a time when videos are wildly popular, what fan wouldn't want a collection of their favorite artists' mini-movies? The DVD isn't only a nice touch, but a welcome gift to those fans that may just be realizing there will be no more Aaliyah videos.

What's best about "Care" is it's soothing effect. It serves well as a vehicle, that in a way allows Aaliyah to posthumously say goodbye to her fans. A neatly arranged package of songs and videos to remind us of her talents. It feels final, not in a bad way, but in a way that brings closure.

For as much as Tupac was loved, I find it disturbing that he's released almost as many albums and videos posthumously as in life. It feels unnatural. "I Care For You" feels like Blackground took the time to think about how to close out, albeit prematurely, the career of a young songbird. Like Aaliyah lived her life, her last CD is done with class and style.