Robbed hit of the week 10/31/22 - Aaliyah's "We Need A Resolution"...

 

 

"We Need A Resolution" - Aaliyah featuring Timbaland

from the album Aaliyah (2001)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #59 (two weeks)

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from the late R&B singer Aaliyah, who turn into acting in the movie Romeo Must Die rewarded her with two top-40 crossover pop hits with "I Don't Wanna" and "Try Again", with the latter hitting #1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in the summer of 2000. After also completing a second movie with Anne Rice's Queen Of The Damned, Aaliyah came back in the spring of 2001 with the lead single from her self-titled third album. "We Need A Resolution" was produced by Tim "Timbaland" Mosley, who co-wrote the track with Stephen "Static Major" Garrett, and also featured Mosley in a rap break on the record. The song finds the pair in the middle of an argument, with Aaliyah taking the high road and trying to work things out, though Timbaland is kind of acting crass about it but still wanting to stay together. The Middle Eastern-influenced production that Timbaland sets down for the record is instantly memorable, and Aaliyah's confident and determined delivery is way beyond her years...

While "We Need A Resolution" climbed to #15 on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, it stalled in the lower half of the Hot 100 in June of 2001. On the radio, Mainstream Top-40 stations left it alone, while the song climbed to #13 on the R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay list and #38 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single reached the top-40 in the United Kingdom (#20), Canada (#26), Belgium (#28W/#47F), and the Netherlands (#37). The Aaliyah album, released in July of that year, ended up going to #1 on the Billboard 200, but that was more due to her untimely death that I'll cover in her next "song of the day". The record ended up selling over two million copies and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best R&B Album, losing out to Alicia Keys' debut Songs In A Minor. 

(7/10)