Songoftheda 5/26/21 - I think about yesterday somebody was talkin' to me, but I couldn't understand a word they said...

 

 

"Daydreamin'" - Tatyana Ali

from the album Kiss The Sky (1998)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #6 (two weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 16

 

Today's song of the day comes from actress and singer Tatyana Ali, who grew up on Long Island and had appeared on Sesame Street and the singing competition show Star Search. But her big break came in 1990 when she was cast as Ashley in Will Smith's sitcom The Fresh Prince Of Bel Air, which she was in until the series close in 1996. She was signed to Michael Jackson's "vanity label" MJJ Records, where she released her debut (and sole full-length) album Kiss The Sky. The lead single from the record was the "Daydreamin'", a mid-tempo love jam written by producer Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins along with brother Freddie,  LaShawn Daniels, and Shawn "Lord Tariq" Hamilton or the rap duo Lord Tariq & Peter Gunz, who provide a rap cameo on the record, which also happens to sample Steely Dan's "Black Cow" like their own top ten record "Deja Vu (Uptown Baby)", though unlike them Jerkins didn't have to sign off all rights to the song to the adult-pop duo. With a cooing voice that was pleasant but not exactly striking, she still was able to ride her name recognition onto the pop and R&B charts with the track, which sounded so much like Mariah Carey's "Honey"...

"Daydreamin'" became Ali's first and only pop hit in America, reaching the top ten in September of 1998. The song also climbed to #5 on Billboard magazine's R&B chart. Internationally, the single climbed to #3 in New Zealand, and #6 in the UK. The Kiss The Sky album, released in August of that year, made it to #106 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #47 on the R&B Albums list. 

The second release from the record internationally was "Boy You Knock Me Out", which featured her old Fresh Prince castmate Smith, and sampled Bobby Caldwell's "What You Won't Do For Love" and Kool & The Gang's "Summer Madness", and interpolated the chorus of the Gap Band's #1 R&B hit "Outstanding" and Smith's own "Summertime". It was a huge success in Europe, becoming her biggest hit in Britain at #3 and reaching the top-40 in New Zealand (#12),  Ireland (#19) and France (#32), but wasn't promoted well here in the States (perhaps there was a royalty issue with either the samples or Smith), and only got to #68 on Billboard's R&B chart. A third offering, the laid back groove of "Everytime", got to #73 on the R&B list and "bubbled under" the pop Hot 100 tally at #118. 

After this album, Ali went back to concentrate on acting, appearing on the soap opera The Young and The Restless while concurrently starring in the sitcom Love That Girl on the TV One network, as well as appearing in a number of films. She got a degree at Harvard University, and worked on President Barack Obama's first-term campaign. Her most recent musical release, the EP Hello, came out in 2014.

(5/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

Here's Tatyana performing "Daydreamin'" live on a TV appearance...

Up tomorrow: New York party rappers head to the stars.