Fool | 3BOPS

1. Anthony Hamilton, “You Made a Fool of Me”

🎵  “You Made a Fool of Me” • 🏷  My Music Box / BMG Rights Management • 📅  2021

On 🎵  “You Made a Fool of Me”, 🏆  Grammy-winning R&B standout 🎙 Anthony Hamilton oozes with soul and heartbreak. “You Made a Fool Me” is lushly produced, sounding idiomatic of both the neo-soul and adult contemporary vein of R&B.  Especially for us old souls, this is incredibly refreshing in 2021.  “You Made a Fool of Me” possesses the kind of production (🎛  Jermaine Dupree and 🎛  Ramon Montgomery) that always perfectly fuels the fire of Anthony Hamilton.  As always, Anthony gives an authentic, expressive, heartfelt, and nuanced performance.

One thing I’ve always ‘hearted’ about Mr. Hamilton is how he truly ‘gives his all’ in each and every performance.  Here, it is especially easy to do so given the circumstances constructed via the songwriting (Hamilton, Dupree, Montgomery, and 🎼✍  Manuel Seal).  Honestly, as the title suggests, [She] “made a fool of” [Him] and doesn’t care about him the way he cared about her.  It’s a classic case of unrequited love as well as C-H-E-A-T-I-N-G since she slept with another man – scandalous!  Hamilton perfectly captures the pain of his heartbreak on this three-and-a-half-minute contemporary soul gem. “You Made a Fool of Me” gives Hamilton another gem where he masterfully preserves the sanctity of soul music.  Everything feels right about this cut: the vocals, the lyrics and theme, and of course, the production.  Even if that weren’t enough, the vibe – the aesthetic – is absolutely awesome.

2. The Doobie Brothers, “What a Fool Believes”

💿  Minute by Minute • 🏷  Warner • 📅  1978

“But what a fool believes, he sees / No wise man has the power to reason away.” One of the more soulful pop groups you’ll encounter in music history are 🎙  The Doobie Brothers. These dudes can just flat out ‘sang.’ Of course, one of the key pieces of is none other than 🎙  Michael McDonald, who many of us still can’t believe he’s white, haha.  Why? Because the man is soul-a-fied to the nth degree, particularly handling those lead vocals on the song at hand, 🎵  “What a Fool Believes.” “What a Fool Believes” ranks among the most popular songs by the collective, hailing from their 1978 classic, 💿  Minute by Minute.  Worth noting, Doobie Brothers won the highly coveted 🏆  Grammy for Record of the Year, rightfully for this masterpiece.

“What a Fool Believes” is epic for a host of the reasons.  As aforementioned, when Michael McDonald is your lead vocalist, nothing else need to be said.  Add in incredibly vocal harmonies from the rest of the group, and heaven just might be a Doobie Brothers song – being honest! Beyond the vocals, add the production work (🎛  Ted Templeton), which is quite compelling in its own right.  It’s a fine combination of soft rock and blue-eyed soul with the keys, guitar, bass, and drums.  Of course, the final piece of the puzzle is the songwriting (McDonald and 🎼✍   Kenny Loggins).  The verses are sweet, capturing the tale of these two lovers.  The pre-chorus incredibly tuneful, as McDonald asserts, “She had a place in his life / He never made her think twice…” Of course, the centerpiece is the chorus, excerpted at the top and continued in all its glory below:

“... What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
Than nothing at all.”

3. Ashanti, “Foolish”

💿  Ashanti • 🏷  Murder Inc. • 📅  2002

Like so many successful musicians, 🏆  Grammy-winning R&B artist 🎙  Ashanti has seen her popularity wane.  But let’s not forget, Ashanti had an incredibly successful run in the early aughts. Honestly, there was nothing ‘foolish’ about her chart-topping single, 🎵 “Foolish” from her 💿 self-titled debut album.  Honestly, “Foolish” was a huge – HUMONGOUS!  While Ashanti would lose the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, the fact that this no. 1 hit was nominated should tell you all you need to know about its impact.

“Foolish” was produced by the team of 🎛  7 Aurelius and 🎛  Irv Gotti.  Like a lot of contemporary R&B at the time, the record makes use of sampling, including the DeBarge classic, 🎵  “Stay with Me”.  This is perfect fuel for Ashanti’s fire, as she informs us, “My days are cold without you / But I’m hurting while I’m with you / And though my heart can’t take no more / I’ keep on running back to you.” Sounds like foolishness to me, but of course, the heart wants what it wants right? Beyond the chorus, which appears at the top, Ashanti continues details the issues with the relationship, singing, “And though my heart is beating for you, I can’t stop crying.” Quite a contradiction to say the least.  Right or not, her pain is our listening pleasure. #Schadenfreude… well, sort of.