Songoftheday 4/19/24 -I know you done had your share of girls I am more than confident, you won't ever have to search any streets for affection...

 "My Love Is Like...Wo" - Mya

from the album Moodring (2003)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #13 (four weeks)

Weeks in the Top-40: 13

 

Today's song comes from R&B singer Mya, who after landing a top ten hit at the close of 2000 with "Case Of The Ex", went all the way to #1 with her collaboration with Christina Aguilera, Pink, and Lil' Kim on the remake of "Lady Marmalade" from the Moulin Rouge movie in the summer of the following year. After appearing in the Oscar-nominated movie adaptation of the musical Chicago, Mya returned in 2003 with her third album Moodring, which came out on A&M Records through Interscope (her first two were on the University imprint which went defunct). The lead single from the set was "My Love Is Like...Wo", written and produced by Missy Elliott and brothers Charles and Kenneth Bereal. The lyrics have Mya making her moves on a player, assuring him she can satisfy him all by herself. The production sets her in a mid-tempo groove that almost drowns her out, but Mya is able to get some decent runs and flourishes into the basic come-on track. The music video is even better than the song, allowing Mya to show off her dancing chops to a truckload of costume changes....

"My Love Is Like...Wo" became Mya's eighth and so far most recent hit to reach the top-40 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 in September of 2003, while peaking at #17 on their R&B Singles chart. On the radio, the song landed at #8 on the Mainstream Top-40 chart, #15 on the Mainstream R&B list, and #9 on the dance/R&B-oriented Rhythmic format. Internationally, the single made the top-40 in Poland (#20 Airplay), Australia (#25), the United Kingdom (#33), New Zealand (#33), and Ireland (#36). The Moodring album, released in July of that year, was Mya's highest-charting album on the Billboard 200 at #3 (though her first two sets spent a year on the list as opposed to 18 here) and getting to #2 on the R&B Albums list, going on to sell over a half million copies. 

The second single from the record was the jazz-inflected track "Fallen", which reached both the R&B singles chart and the Mainstream Top-40 radio list at #35, but stalled at #51 on the Hot 100. (It's a shame, it's a much better track.) 

Mya left A&M after the set and concentrated on acting for the next few years, before re-emerging with what was supposed to be her first release on Universal Motown, Liberation in 2007. Reworked from a proposed second record for A&M, the record tried to expand her sonic breadth, but ended up confusing radio and the fans. Lead single "Ayo!" with rapper DJ Kool, an attempt at a party track, stalled out at #70 on Billboard's R&B chart and didn't even make the final tracklist, and after a second single and collab with rap star Lil Wayne stiffed, the more subtle ballad "Ridin" made it to #58 on the list. With that tepid response, the record ended up shelved in the U.S.

After setting up her own label Planet 9 through Manhattan Records, Mya has released four studio albums since. Her 2016 effort Smoove Jones hit #30 on the R&B Albums chart and managed to get nominated for a Grammy Award (her first and only solo nod) for Best R&B Album, which went to Lalah Hathaway for her Live album. Mya's most recent studio album, T.K.O. (Total Knock Out), came out in 2018. Since then she's put out a series of one-off singles, most recently "Anytime" on Valentine's Day of 2024. 

(6/10)

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Here's Mya performing live on MadTV to promote the single...

Tomorrow I'll roll out my top hits of this week, then on Monday with that problematic R&B star with an indecipherable song title.