Songoftheday 6/8/20 - She would probably leave you alone, she'd probably curse you out and unplug her phone...

"If Your Girl Only Knew" - Aaliyah
from the album One In A Million (1996)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #11 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 15

Today's song of the day comes from the late R&B artist Aaliyah, who had burst onto the music scene in a big way with her debut album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number, which spun off two top ten pop hits with "Back & Forth" and her cover of the Isley Brothers' "At Your Best (You Are Love)", the latter in the fall of 1994. That album was produced and written by R. Kelly, who it turned out had been in a questionably at best illicit affair at worst with the teenage singer. In fact he had fudged her age on the marriage license as 18 when she really was 15, which her parents were able to help her successfully annul when the relationship both personal and professional ended. Leaving his Jive Records label to be signed by Atlantic, she started 1996 with a track on the Sunset Park movie soundtrack, "Are You Ready?", which was her first non-Kelly song. Written by Renne Neuville of the alt-soul duo Zhane, and produced by DJ Kay Gee of the rap trio Naughty By Nature, the song wasn't released as a proper single, but got enough spins on urban radio stations in the States to almost make the top-40 on Billboard magazine's R&B Airplay chart, peaking at #42. Finding a new mentor (and a more safe one) with Timbaland (Tim Mosley), she released her second album One In A Million in the summer of 1996. The lead single was written by Timbaland along with up and coming rapper/R&B superstar Missy Elliot, who gave "If Your Girl Only Knew" a whole new sound for Aaliyah. With a midtempo slinking beat, she asserts her authority over an attached man trying to get with her and how she ain't having any of it. Missy and Timbaland also appear in the music video..

"If Your Girl Only Knew" became Aaliyah's third top-40 pop hit, just missing the top ten by a notch in October of 1996. The song was much bigger on urban radio, topping Billboard's R&B chart for two weeks. Internationally the song reached the top 40 in New Zealand (#20) and the UK, where it originally came in at #21, then reappeared on the chart in 1997 when re-released with "One In A Million" on the single, peaking at #15.

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Here's Aaliyah appearing on Showtime At The Apollo in 1996 to perform the hit...

Up tomorrow: One third of some TLC gets solitary busy.