Songoftheday 8/19/22 - I don't understand you look just like the man, in the picture by our bed the suspense is pounding and clouding up my head...
"Stranger In My House" - Tamia
from the album A Nu Day (2000)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #10 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13
Today's song comes from Canadian R&B singer Tamia, whose self-titled debut album in 1998 had spun off a pair of top-40 crossover pop hits with "Imagination" and "So Into You". A year later, she collaborated with Eric Benet on his single "Spend My Life With You", which topped Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart and also made the pop top-40 in the summer of 1999. During that time, Tamia left mentor Quincy Jones' label Qwest Records and moved to Elektra, where she released her second disc A Nu Day at the end of 2000. The new company set her up with producers from the hip-hop and current R&B realm, such as Missy Elliott and Bink, who helmed the lead single from the set, "Can't Go For That". That song interpolated the classic Hall & Oates hit from 1982, but even with a remix with Snoop Dogg, it stopped at #23 on the R&B singles chart while only making it to #84 on Billboard's pop Hot 100.
To rebound from this Tamia's team went for the Braxton/Carey/Janet route and released the scorching ballad "Stranger In My House" as the follow-up. Written originally for Toni Braxton by Shae Jones and producer Shep Crawford, the song gives Tamia chances to throw power-notes at every curve, as she sings about someone who's changed in their relationship. The song builds until the twist at the end, and she wrings as much emotion as she can from it. The song did decently on the radio but was kicked into high gear by the dance remixes, much like fellow Canadian Deborah Cox, for when the CD single was released with them it shot up the charts to land Tamia's biggest hit as a lead artist. The music video was from the original version...
(WMG yanked the music video, here's the album version from her channel)
"Stranger In My House" became Tamia's first top ten pop hit in April of 2001. The song spent three weeks at #3 on Billboard's R&B singles chart, while on the radio it climbed to #22 on the dance-oriented Rhythm format airplay list. The dance remixes of the track, done by Thunderpuss 2000, Maurice Joshua, and Hex Hector with Mac Quayle were even more popular, topping the Dance Club Play chart for a week. The A Nu Day album, released in October of 2000, peaked at #46 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #8 on the R&B Albums list, selling over a half million copies (her only disc to go "gold").
With that success, Tamia tried to copy that with the next single, "Tell Me Who", which the singer wrote with producer Shep Crawford. While the dance version spent a week at #2 on the Dance Club Play chart in Billboard, the original ballad stalled down at #63 on the R&B Singles list, not even making the pop Hot 100.
In 2003, rapper Fabolous used Tamia's "So Into You" for his own single "Into You", with Ashanti singing the chorus on the original album version. But when her record company refused to sign off on a single/video release, the rapper brought back Tamia to redo her song, and the result went to #4 on the pop Hot 100 and #6 on the R&B singles chart (it will be in this series, eventually). Their version also appeared on Tamia's third album More, which came out the following summer, along with the song "Officially Missing You", which also was released in 2003, and spent 26 weeks on the R&B chart but only getting as high as #31, while stopping at #83 on the Hot 100 (her last appearance there so far). But again the clubs gave her love, sending the single to #4 on the Dance Club Play after its ballad to banger transformation. A second single, "Questions", was written and produced by R. Kelly, and slipped on to the R&B top-40 at #40, while "bubbling under" the pop Hot 100 at #112. The More album, boosted by those three hits, was her highest charting disc on the Billboard 200 at #17, while getting to #4 on the R&B Albums sales tally.
Despite that, the set in total sold a lot less than A Nu Day, and Tamia and Elektra parted ways soon after. She set up her own label, Plus 1, where she's released four more albums since. The first, Between Friends in 2006, scored a pair of top-40 R&B hits, with the second, "Me", hitting #29 on the R&B chart and just missing the top ten on the Dance Club Play tally at #11. That was followed in 2012 by Beautiful Surprise, which returned Tamia to the Billboard 200 top-40 at #23. The lead single "Beautiful Surprise" went to #24 on the R&B Singles chart and #5 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio list, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Song, which went to Latin soul artist Miguel for his hit "Adorn". The album was also up for Best R&B Album, which the Robert Glasper Experiment won for their Black Radio release.
Tamia's next set Love Life in 2015 also made the Billboard 200 top-40 at #27 while making her highest rank on the R&B Albums list at #2. However only the song "Love Falls Over Me" was a minor dance hit at #21. Her most recent album, Passion Like Fire, arrived in 2018, and got to #145 on the Billboard 200. From it the song "Leave It Smokin'" hit #2 on the Adult R&B radio chart and made my top-100 of the year from my personal chart. A second song from the set, "It's Yours", also made that list's top ten at #7. She also has been fighting Multiple Sclerosis since 2003, but has been successful so far and still tours. As I mentioned, Tamia will be back to the series in a featured role.
(7/10)
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Here's one of the big remixes that helped "Stranger In My House" top the dance chart...
She performed "Stranger In My House" at the Alma Awards...
And finally in concert in 2018...
Up tomorrow: International "Cats" have a late Eurodance hit.
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