Songoftheday 4/4/23 - My heart belongs to you, so what could I do to make you feel I'm down with...
"I Love You" - Faith Evans
from the album Faithfully (2001)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #14 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 13
Today's song comes from R&B singer Faith Evans, who returned to the pop top-40 at the end of 2001 with "You Gets No Love" from her third album Faithfully. The third single from the record (lead single "Can't Believe" stalled at #56) was the mid-tempo ballad "I Love You". Originally meant to be on Jennifer Lopez's album J. Lo but not making the cut, the song was written by Lopez with Evans, Michael Jamison, and producer Anthony "Buckwild" Best using an interpolation of the Isaac Hayes song "Make A Little Love To Me" from his Groove-A-Thon album from 1976. The guitar groove is aided by the punched-up drum machine beat as Faith coos about the man in her life. The song is more of a mood that a revelation, as Evans' confesses her love to a man that doesn't even notice her. But she sells that uncertainty so coolly that it clicked with the public, making the song land her in the upper fifth of the pop chart...
"I Love You" reached the top-20 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in April of 2002, while spending a week at #2 on the R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song also went to #2 on the R&B Airplay chart, #5 on the older-skewing Adult R&B radio tally, and #13 on the dance-oriented Rhythmic format.
Another track from the Faithfully album, the Neptunes-produced "Burnin' Up", got a revamp on the single release, substituting Loon (who was on her "You Gets No Love" single) with Missy Elliott. The song climbed to #19 on the R&B Songs chart and #60 on the Hot 100. That was followed by "Alone In This World", which was a minor R&B hit at #73 (despite a feature on the single from rapper Jay-Z).
In 2004, Faith returned as a featured singer on "Hope" by rapper Twista, which came from the soundtrack of the movie Coach Carter but eventually would also be on Evans' fourth album The First Lady. The single peaked at #31 on the Hot 100, ensuring she'll be back to the series one more time (it also has become big meme song on the TikTok microvideo app). The album, which came out in the spring of the following year, came with a new single, "Again", which got Faith big to the R&B top ten for the last time so far at #7, while topping out just over the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 at #47, while also climbing to #3 on the Adult R&B format. It did even better overseas, making the top-40 in the UK (#12). But the highlight of the album was the third release, "Mesmerized", which only got to #56 on the R&B Singles chart, and missed the Hot 100 altogether, but was a big club hit in its dance remix from the Freemasons, topping Billboard's Dance Club Play list for a week. That version got Faith her most recent hit in the UK at #48. A final single from the record, "Tru Love", "bubbled under" the Hot 100 at #105 while getting to #27 on the R&B chart. The First Lady album spent a week at #2 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, her highest rank on the list, while landing her first and only #1 R&B album for a week, going on to sell over a half million copies. At the end of the year, Evans put out a holiday album, A Faithful Christmas, which got to #70 on the R&B Albums chart. It would be her final release on Capitol records.
Evans returned in 2010 with an album on the eOne label, Something About Faith, which went to #15 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the R&B Albums list. But the big single from the record, "Gone Already", stopped at #26 on the R&B Singles chart, though it did get to #6 on the Adult R&B radio format. Two years later, Faith would be in the cast of the reality show R&B Divas (including recent SOTD artist Keke Wyatt), and was on the companion album that had tracks from all the cast. One of the songs, Faith's "Tears Of Joy", placed at #79 on the R&B Songs chart, her most recent appearance as a lead artist at #79, and #4 on the Adult R&B list. A 2014 on the resurrected Chrysalis label, Incomparable, got to #27 on the R&B Albums chart, with "I Deserve It" featuring Missy Elliott and Sharaya J rising to #19 on the Adult R&B chart.
Faith's most recent album, 2017's The King & I, had her singing along with leftover tracks from her long-late husband the Chris "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace. It went to #65 on the Billboard 200, and #9 on the R&B Albums chart from name-recognition alone, but radio gave it a pass. In 2021, Faith was on the Adult R&B chart on a duet with Gwen Bunn for "Between The Lines", which made it to #15.
(5/10)
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And lastly, on an awards show...
Up tomorrow: A soul boy-band nods in affirmation.
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