Songoftheday 2/27/24 -I can't believe you had the nerve to say the things you said, it hurt so bad that they ended our relationship...

 

 

"Don't Wanna Try" - Frankie J

from the album What's A Man To Do (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #19 (three weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 12

 

Today's song comes from Latin-pop singer/songwriter Frankie J, who was born Francisco Bautista Jr. in Tijuana, Mexico and raised in California. Singing since school, Frankie has fluttered around the music business for awhile, signing with a few indie labels and having a failed attempt at a freestyle dance music career under the moniker Frankie Boy. This changed when at the end of the 1990s the singer joined the Kumbia Kings, a Mexican-American group fronted by Selena's brother A.B. Quintanilla. Frankie was with the act for four years, during which they scored their first and only Billboard magazine Hot 100 hit with the boy-band pastiche "U Don't Love Me", which peaked at #62 and also made it to #12 on Billboard's Rhythmic format chart in the spring of 2000. 

After three albums with the Kings, Frankie left for a solo career and was picked up by powerhouse Columbia Records. He released his debut album What's A Man To Do in the spring of 2003, only months after his last with the group. The lead single from the record was "Don't Wanna Try", which he wrote and co-produced with Jaime Galvez. The record starts out strikingly like Tender MC's 80s hit "Tender Love", with the lyrics having Frankie apparently breaking up with a cheating lover. But his vocal delivery is paced with the seductive phrasing that R. Kelly has locked down, which does seem a little out of place. His voice isn't the most powerful but he can carry emotion, and the piano throughout gives the single an organic touch. It's a juxtaposition of that genre of "cheating songs" that's usually flipped that would maybe seem more credible to me if he was singing to another guy? A man can dream...but the music video has him clearly cutting off ties with a woman...

"Don't Wanna Try" became Frankie J's first solo hit, reaching the top-20 on Billboard's Hot 100 in June of 2003, while making it to #80 on their R&B Singles chart (though hanging on that list for four months). On the radio, the song peaked at #8 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. The What's A Man To Do album, released in May of that year, came in at #53 on the Billboard 200 sales tally.

A second single from the album, "We Still", climbed to #22 on the Rhythmic radio chart, but missed the Hot 100 completely. 

Frankie J though will be back to the series.

(5/10)

(Click below to see the rest of the post)

The Spanish-language version of the song, "Ya No Es Igual", reached #11 on Billboard's Latin Songs chart...

and lastly, here's Frankie with an acoustic take for his AOL Sessions...

Up tomorrow: A country music veteran counts the crucifixions.