Robbed hit of the week 10/10/22 - India.arie's "Video"...
"Video" - India.arie
from the album Acoustic Soul (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #47
This week's "robbed hit" comes from R&B singer/songwriter India.arie (Simpson), who grew up in Denver and Atlanta before starting out on her music career. Making her first big appearance at the Lilith Fair touring festival in Georgia, India was signed to Motown Records, where she released her debut album Acoustic Soul in the spring of 2001. The lead single from the set was "Video" written by the singer with producer Carlos Broady and Shannon Sanders. The song has India asserting her femininity while eschewing the patriarchal expectations of women, from their clothes to their hair to their own features. Its laid-back cut-down of the tropes demanded of women, especially in the music business, reminds me of Erykah Badu's effortless soulful with a rap cadence-like delivery. The production uses two prominent samples, the laid-back disco track "Fun" by Brick (giving that band's Regi Hargis a writing credit) and rap duo Audio Two's cult classic "Top Billin'" from 1987. The music video has India embodying the message of the song, but somehow getting corralled halfway in to "audition" for a music video. It's a happy and positive but still defiant track that deserved much better than the charts gave her...
While "Video" climbed to #14 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, it stopped right above the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 in May of 2001. On the radio, the song made it to #22 on the Pop Airplay chart, #9 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list, and #6 on the older-skewing Adult R&B format. Internationally, the single did make the top-40 in the United Kingdom at #32. The Acoustic Soul album, released in March of that year, peaked at #10 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, spending a hefty 75 weeks on the list, and #3 on the R&B Albums chart, going on to sell over two million copies.
At the Grammy Awards in 2002, India.arie was nominated in seven categories, but unfortunately this was Alicia Keys' debut year as well, and she took Song of the Year, Best Female R&B Performance, and Best R&B Song for "Fallin", as well as Best R&B Album for her Songs In A Minor and Best New Artist. India was also up for Record of the Year, which U2 won for "Walk On", while Acoustic Soul was amazingly up for Album Of The Year, which went to the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. Nevertheless, the exposure from the Grammy really helped her momentum among music aficionados.
The second single from India's debut was "Brown Skin", which continued the self-assuring Afrocentric theme of the set. While it missed the Hot 100 chart despite being released as a cassingle this time for the sales points ("bubbling under" the list at #109), the song made it to #39 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, #9 on the Adult R&B format, and was her biggest success in the United Kingdom at #29. That was followed by "Strength, Courage, & Wisdom", which stalled at #76 on the R&B Singles chart and #16 on the Adult R&B list. Also, the hauntingly beautiful album track "Ready For Love" "bubbled under" the R&B chart at #125.
During that time, India.arie was featured on John Mellencamp's rock single "Peaceful World" in 2001, which "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #104, while just missing the top ten on the Adult Top-40 chart at #11, getting to #27 on the Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") format, and popping on the Mainstream Rock radio list at #38, while spending five weeks at #1 on the Triple-A (Adult Album Alternative) Rock airplay chart, her sole appearance on three of four of those tallies (she'll be back on the AC format).
India returned in 2002 with her sophomore effort, Voyage To India. The record got to #6 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and spent a week at #1 on the R&B Albums list. The set won the Grammy in 2003 for Best R&B Album, while lead single "Little Things" won for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in that category's first year. Despite all the acclaim, that single stalled down at #89 on the Hot 100, while reaching #33 on the R&B Singles chart and #3 on the Adult R&B format. It also was a minor hit in the UK at #62. Follow-up "The Truth" "bubbled under" the R&B chart at #108, hit #24 at Adult R&B, and was nominated for the Best R&B Song Grammy, losing to Erykah Badu's "Love Of My Life". She was also up that year for Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals for her duet with Stevie Wonder on Wonder's remake of the holiday classic "The Christmas Song" from the Target exclusive of the Voyage To India album, which Santana and Michelle Branch took home for "The Game Of Love". The pair reunited in 2005 for the title track to Wonder's A Time To Love album, which also got the Pop Collaboration Grammy nomination the following year, losing to Gorillaz and De La Soul for "Feel Good Inc.".
After a four year break, India.arie returned in 2006 with her third release, Testimony: Vol 1, Life & Relationship, which topped both the Billboard 200 and the R&B Albums charts, her first and only time at #1 on the former list. The first single from the set, "I Am Not My Hair", is possibly her most loved song in retrospect, even though it stopped at #97 on the Hot 100, and on the R&B Singles chart at #47 and #13 on the Adult R&B airplay list. The song was her biggest success on the dancefloor, becoming her sole hit on Billboard's Dance Club Play chart at #10. The song was nominated for Best R&B Song and Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, with both going to Mary J. Blige for her "Be Without You" hit. Testimony Vol 1 was also up for Best R&B Album, which again Blige won for The Breakthrough. Another track from the album, a cover of Don Henley's "The Heart Of The Matter", became a surprise top-40 hit in Canada at #33, while reaching #79 on the British singles chart (her most recent appearance there). A collaboration with singer Anthony David, "Words", from his Acey Ducey album, got to #53 on the R&B Singles chart, and #16 at Adult R&B, and was nominated for the Best R&B Vocal Duo/Group Grammy, which Al Green and John Legend won for "Stay With Me (By The Sea)".
The second volume of Testimony, subtitled Love & Politics, arrived in 2009, and spent a week at #3 on the Billboard 200 and hit #2 on the R&B Albums list. It became her fourth consecutive Best R&B Album nomination, which went to neo-soul singer Maxwell for his BLACKsummers'night set. The lead single from the project, "Beautiful Flower", was distinctive in that it made the Hot 100 at #56 but missed the R&B Singles list altogether, even though it was up for the Best R&B Song Grammy, losing to Alicia Keys again for her "No One". The next radio offering, "Chocolate High" with neo-soul singer Musiq Soulchld, got a better reception, making it to #19 on the R&B Singles chart (her most recent hit there) and #3 on the Adult R&B list, and even "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #114. It was up for the Best R&B Duo/Group Grammy, which went to Jamie Foxx and T-Pain for "Blame It". Also from the Love & Politics album, her collaboration with singer Dobet Gnahore from the West African nation of Cote D'Ivoire, "Pearls", did grab a Grammy trophy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance in 2010. Also the song "Therapy" with Jamaican singer Gramps Morgan became her first hit on the Adult Contemporary format as a lead artist at #22. A year later, she was part of the multi-artist cover of John Lennon's "Imagine" on Herbie Hancock's Imagine Project album, which won the Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals Grammy award.
Songversation, India's fifth album Songversation came out in 2013, and hit the top ten on both the Billboard 200 (#7) and R&B Albums (#4) charts. Two years later, she returned with a holiday release, Christmas With Friends with jazz-soul keyboardist Joe Sample, which got to #107 on the Billboard 200 and spun off two radio hits on the Adult Contemporary format with versions of "Let It Snow" (#16) and "Favorite Time Of Year" with Tori Kelly (#24). In 2017, the singer released an EP Songversation: Medicine which was designed for meditation; the record was nominated for a Grammy for Best New Age Album, which German pianist Peter Kater won for Wings.
India's most recent album, Worthy, was released in 2019, and got to #152 on the Billboard 200. It was a welcome return to the Adult R&B radio format, with lead single "That Magic" returning her to the top ten at #6, while follow-up "Steady Love" did even better, topping that list for a full month (four weeks). "Steady Love" was India's most recent Grammy nomination, this time in the Traditional R&B Performance category, which newcomer Lizzo took home for her "Jerome".
The singer has been in the news recently by taking a stand against the streaming service Spotify, who paid millions to racist and cult-adjacent podcaster/failed comedian Joe Rogan, by taking almost all of her music (and all her stellar albums) off the platforms. I admire her courage that few followed. Buy her albums, or if you need to stream, maybe check out the other platforms she's on.
(8/10)
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Next up, at the Singapore Jazz Festival in 2014...
and lastly, just the artist and her guitar in 2002...
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