A “new” song by Aaliyah has hit the airwaves, two decades after her death.
via: New York Post
However, some fans are already dragging “Poison,” her new posthumous song with The Weeknd, as the “worst thing I’ve ever heard.”
The legendary Princess of R&B’s royal collaboration with The Weeknd, a k a pop’s Dark Prince, dropped Friday. “Poison,” the new single described as “deceptively sweet” by Billboard, is being hyped as a teaser for her upcoming 20th-anniversary album of “new music” on Blackground Records 2.0 in conjunction with the Empire label.
Fans, as they typically do these days, are already sounding off, pumping the track into a top 10 trending slot on Twitter within hours of its release.
However, not all devotees of the iconic “baby girl” were feeling it. One unimpressed guardian of her legacy sniped on Twitter: “If Aaliyah’s vocals on the demo were too unclear to the point that your engineers couldn’t mix and master them to sound good, this song shouldn’t have been released. Shame on y’all.”
if aaliyah’s vocals on the demo were too unclear to the point that your engineers couldn’t mix and master them to sound good, this song shouldn’t have been released. shame on y’all https://t.co/2Xo1UiGB70
— ? (@betterpositionz) December 17, 2021
Another critic accused the song as yet another attempt to profit off of Aaliyah Haughton from the grave: “I know Aaliyah wants to be left alone. My goodness. And, no one sampling her music/voice is doing anything worth a damn. Let it go. Please.”
I know Aaliyah wants to be left alone.
My goodness.
And, no one sampling her music/voice is doing anything worth a damn. Let it go.
Please.
— i think somebody popped (@KirkWrites79) December 17, 2021
Again, the sound mix quality was a major issue for many fans: “Aaliyah’s vocals in the song literally sounds like someone snuck in and plugged up one of her old hard drives but didn’t have time to copy the files so they recorded them in their voice notes.”
https://twitter.com/gothamqueen_/status/1471826124309155842?s=20
If these Aaliyah songs being used are unfinished demos either keep the music & get the original producer to finish it the best they can w/Aaliyah in mind obviously & make em long ass interludes or get the artists she wanted to work with on them or just give us the damn acapella.
— Jay (@YoungNation92) December 17, 2021
Another listener chimed in with a more middle-of-the-road “IT’S KINDA NOT THAT BAD.”
ITS KINDA NOT THAT BAD.. pic.twitter.com/n2WvMfncJY
— andrew (@safetyncts) December 15, 2021
https://twitter.com/justicesoiam/status/1471772683889115138?s=20
The Weeknd previously sampled Aaliyah’s 2001 hit “Rock the Boat” on the track “What You Need” from his 2012 compilation album “Trilogy.” The anti-Grammy Award activist’s track was revived this spring when his debut 2011 “House of Balloons” mixtape was rereleased on streaming services.
The Weeknd sampled Aaliyah’s ‘Rock The Boat’ on ‘What You Need’ in 2011. pic.twitter.com/lIfvVrf5QK
— AALIYAH LEGION (@AaliyahLegion) December 14, 2021
Meanwhile, Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah’s uncle and founder of her former label Blackground Records, has hinted that The Weeknd isn’t the only A-list recording artist featured on her upcoming album of new music: He also name-dropped Drake, Future, Ne-Yo, Chris Brown and the O.G., Snoop Dogg.
For years, Blackground Records — and Uncle Hankerson, who owns her masters — battled with the singer’s estate, which is controlled by her mother Diane Haughton, over the digital release of her music.
Aside from her debut album, 1994’s “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number,” none of her other music — including hits such as “One in a Million,” “Try Again” and “Are You That Somebody?” — was available to stream or download for decades, until the 20th anniversary of Aaliyah’s death.
That ban was lifted on Aug. 20, 2021, exactly five days to the 20-year anniversary of Aaliyah’s death on Aug. 25, 2001.
What do the love muffins think about the song.
