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?