Aaliyah, “Poison” | Track Review

Aaliyah returns in 2021 posthumously with “Poison,” an unfortunate single featuring The Weeknd that does nothing to amplify her legacy.

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mm, a new Aaliyah song, huh? How does that happen, I ask? The archives, of course, as well as modern recording technology and such.  The point is, the contemporary R&B singer has released a new posthumous single where she duets with The Weeknd.  So, is “Poison” worthwhile or another example of cashing in on deceased musicians when we should let the music released while they were alive speak for their legacy? It’s more of the latter, sadly, as I question and lament why this musical happening actually happened.

“Poison” features okay (respectable) production by DANNYBOYSTYLES and Nick Lamb, but it’s not particularly ear-catching.  Aaliyah is the first voice heard, which is an important statement if nothing else.  On the one hand, who doesn’t love to hear her voice.  The problem is, I loathe the vocal production and my biggest beef is with the quality of the audio.  Yes, it’s Aaliyah singing, but let’s cut the bull – this isn’t a top-notch vocal and the quality is clearly compromised. As far as the song itself, “Poison” is merely okay.  It doesn’t really resonate, however – it’s forgettable.  The Weeknd, who has been on a million songs this year (love him), doesn’t even do enough to salvage this so-so record (at best).  He sounds better than Aaliyah, which is blatantly obvious, but if she’s the lead artist, shouldn’t she be and sound like the star?

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Final Thoughts  

“Poison” shouldn’t have happened, period.  Aaliyah was a fantastic artist with many hits during her short lifetime.  Those hits still stand today, particularly working with Timbaland who was ahead of his time on the production end of things. It’s the classics that solidify that legacy.  Having a substandard, unreleased, and mediocrely finished single released posthumously is a slap in the face to her legacy.  Even The Weeknd can’t make this misstep right.

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Aaliyah (Ft. The Weeknd) • “Poison” • Blackground Records 2.0 / EMPIRE • 12.17.21
[: Blackground Records 2.0, Brent Faulkner, EMPIRE, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay]

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