This week’s From The Vault selection comes courtesy of Shanice, with her 1991 hit ‘I Love Your Smile’.
Considered the vocalist’s signature song (alongside 1999′s ‘When I Close My Eyes’), the cut remains in heavy rotation of many a music countdown globally. And with good reason too.
‘Smile’ was a major hit at the time of its release, only missing the top of both the US and UK charts by one spot. The track would go on to peak inside the Top 10 tally of many other other territories.
In stark contrast to the Electro-Pop which pervades today’s airwaves and chart, the beginning of the nineties saw the masses salivate for the sounds of New Jack Swing – a genre ‘Smile’ embodied, while also boasting a strong Pop undercurrent.
The carefree, colorful and almost whimsical aspect of the cut and its accompanying video are reminiscent to the work of another female entertainer who was also slaying something vicious at the time - Janet Jackson (side note: she can be heard at the very end of the song laughing with her then-husband Rene Elizondo).
Like Jackson and most of the biggest artists of that decade, Shanice was the total package: voice, moves, looks… We sincerely can’t wait for the time when record labels go back to looking for such triple threat talents, instead of only focusing on the fickle. For, while good looks and dirty red wigs fade with time, true talent facilities greatness and greatness lives forever.
Your thoughts?
20 COMMENTS
dee
March 11, 2012 at 6:06 am
That is not Janet’s laugh at the end. Where do you get your information? Sandra Rose!
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From The Vault: Shanice – ‘I Love Your Smile’ | Gossip File This Moment
March 11, 2012 at 6:11 am
[...] Vault: Shanice – ‘I Love Your Smile’ That Grape Juice Sun, March 11, 2012 10:56 AM UTC That Grape Juice Rate Loading … Share (function() { var po = document.createElement('script'); [...]
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Ralphy J.
March 11, 2012 at 7:07 am
Shanice is SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO underrated!
I never understood why she’s not up there with Whitney Houston, Mariah and other musical greats…her talent is too amazing to not be heard and wasted!!! Her along with Tamia, Deborah Cox…THIS GENERATION DOES NOT KNOW SANGIN’…they know autotuned “singing”
In my opinion, she’s the only one who can do Minnie Riperton’s Loving You justice
-FinallyBrave
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Ray
March 11, 2012 at 8:07 am
Inner Child is still a favorite album of mine. Shanice is a great vocalist and made some great music.
Mariah Carey is fabulous doing whistle notes, but so is Shanice (and Debelah Morgan).
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MISHKA
March 11, 2012 at 8:16 am
“In my opinion, she’s the only one who can do Minnie Riperton’s Loving You just…” — Imma let you finish but SPARKLE had one of the best renditions of ALL TIME.
Shanice is not underrated, at least she was not during her prime. She was sometimes overshadowed by girl groups (TLC, EnVogue, Salt’n'Pepa) but she got her time to shine until Brandy and Aaliyah blew up.
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JohnVidal (RIPWhitney-true great)
March 11, 2012 at 8:24 am
I agree she got her time to shine, she was good. So it´s all good. But is this person serious about not understanding why she is not up up there with Whitney and Mariah status???? Please
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steve
March 11, 2012 at 9:35 am
Just to set thing straight, Janet had the moves and looks, not the voice. Even Rihanna can sing better than Janet , Madonna and Britney
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twitter.com/sean_is_royalty
March 11, 2012 at 9:56 am
Steve hush
No one said Janet had a big voice. But she can sing. She didn’t always whisper.
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Girrrl
March 11, 2012 at 10:54 am
the random Rihanna shade though…
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Dejae
March 11, 2012 at 11:50 am
The fuck? Janet had nothing to do with this song and that is not her voice laughing at the end. Sam, your commentary tends to be wobbly. Just stop.
Yeah, this is only about a thousand times better than today’s cheesy ass electro-pop (video game music, as I call it), but still…Sam get your shit together before you editorialize.
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Stoney-Brie
March 11, 2012 at 12:30 pm
i don’t know why people choose to lie in order to make others look better… Janet Jackson has a good singing voice… she is not a belter like the likes of Whitney and Mariah but she has distinct tone to her voice, ask Rihanna to sing Rhythm Nation or even Beyonce to sing Black Cat by Janet or maybe imagine them singing those songs.
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Vandrea
March 11, 2012 at 1:17 pm
Janet does not have a good singing voice. Vocally she’s very, very mediocre and bordering on terrible. She sounds like a mouse and most of the time I can barely understand what’s saying because it’s so muffled. She’s a “better” singer than Rihanna, but that’s saying nothing. Everybody is.
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Miguel
March 11, 2012 at 1:36 pm
I remember this song vividly when I was a little boy. This was a major hit and everyone was grooving to this song. I’ve always been a big Shanice fan. Shanice is one of a kind. Her talent is undeniably incredible and her spirit is overwhelmingly brilliant. I love me some Shanice and can’t wait for some new music from her.
PS: Her Whitney tribute was outstanding.
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bpleasebelieve
March 11, 2012 at 4:39 pm
WHO CANT SING? YOU SICK JANET SLAYED THIS SONG SHE DID WITH MOTHER LOVING ELTON JOHN !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! LISTEN!
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Tr
March 11, 2012 at 5:21 pm
..A vertible diamond diamond amongst coals!!
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CzarM
March 11, 2012 at 9:25 pm
Sam, you fool. That wasn’t Janet and Rene at the end. The laugh was Shanice and the songs producer Narada Michael Walden. Where in the world did you get Janet and Rene from? They had nothing to do with this song whatsoever.
:::: laughing and shaking my head at the same time ::::
Ugh. Honestly, I think this is the straw that broke the camels back.
You don’t know what you’re talking about half the time. When you’re not late with info., you misconstrue it. You create bogus, exaggerated headlines to suck people into clicking. You instigate drama, you cater to immature teenagers and bait stans, play fan bases against each other, put words in stars mouths, write up the dorkiest little editorials and commentaries (Walter Cronkite, you aren’t), and then you suck up to certain acts in a way that almost makes it seem like you’re in cahoots with their management.
Bottom line: you’re wack. Your blog is wack. You’re just a wannabe TMZ/Perez Hilton. How long did you have to eat the cereal before you got your license to do this?
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MRDIVABITCH
March 12, 2012 at 1:05 am
Janet is a good singer, she is not a belter but she can sing in tune across a wide vocal range (she doesn’t use it a lot, but she does have 3 octaves), volume is not all, I much prefer a well controlled IN TUNE voice than a big off key uncontrolled voice.
Anyway, Shanice is talented, I like her, but she is far from being on the vocal level of Whitney/Mariah in their prime, starting for the fact Shanice would sometimes get this strained choked on her upper belting as opposed to the open throated sound of Whitney/Mariah (which is very strange because Shanice got extensive voice lessons with Seth Riggs) and also Shanice has some intonation issues sometimes.
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100% REAL
March 12, 2012 at 2:58 am
Man, you took it back with this one! Lol. This was a huge hit for Shanice. The other song that I liked from her as well is, “It’s For You”, which went to the “Meteor Man” soundtrack. She was always one of my favorite singers. The girl can blow! Too bad the industry nowadays don’t appreciate good singing like this anymore. *sigh*
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EJ
March 12, 2012 at 10:40 am
LOL @ Janet fans always trying so hard to convince people that she can sing. She can’t. Janet is the epitome of the words “studio singer.” Her voice is weak.
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Anne
March 12, 2012 at 1:49 pm
Sorry, but Janet’s voice cannot compare to Shanice. Shanice has a strong voice. Should not have mentioned Janet’s name when including Shanice as an example.
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