This week’s From The Vault pick is lifted from the catalogue of one of R&B most underrated acts, Blasian beauty Amerie and her signature smash ‘1 Thing’.
Boasting incredible production from Grammy-winning producer Rich Harrisson, ‘1 Thing’ was taken from Ms Rogers sophomore set, ‘Touch’, and served as her breakthrough single, giving her an exposure that was lacking at the time she released her fantastic debut ‘All I Have’.
The Go-Go cut was a Top 10 hit in the US where it charted at #8 on the Hot 100 and #1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop charts. Its #4 placing on the UK Singles Chart as well as it reaching #13 on both the Australian one and the European Hot 100 Singles Chart has cemented its status as a global blockbuster.
Also notable about the gem is its incredible music video. Directed by Chris Robinson and the singer herself, it depicted the diva in a markedly different light than on her previous visuals. Leaving the girl-next-door image in her periphery, Amerie channels her inner femme-fatale sporting high-fashion clothing and engaging in stellar choreography courtesy of Tanisha Scott.
Regrettably, the ‘Why Don’t We Fall In Love’ belle was never quite able to reproduce the triumph of ‘1 Thing’, although her subsequent material has always been qualitatively up-to-par.
And while this has never prevented us from enjoying her more recent offerings – especially the classic ‘Because I Love It’ LP, we feel she should definitely get a share of the “commercial success pie”. After all, she is part of modern R&B’s finest.
![She's Back! Amerie Teases New BANGER 'Undeniable' [Listen]](https://thatgrapejuice.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/amerie-undeniable-new-song-2024-thatgrapejuice-album-464x260.jpg "She's Back! Amerie Teases New BANGER 'Undeniable' [Listen].")
this was my song back in the day!
Great song.
Off topic: She has such a flawless skin. She’s beautiful.
It’s so sad that she hasn’t been able to replicate this success because her albums are amazing! I can’t wait to hear new music from her.
Damn I love this song! I still listen to it nowadays!
this and her other song GOTTA WORK were awesome…She is s*** as hell
I blame artist for their own downfalls. I remember when Amerie Beyonce Ciara Monica Ashanti and Brandy could all be out at the same time. Now everybody is trying to bottleneck. They are now all doing the same music, same weaves, same everything. Music has lost it’s diversity. If everybody did something different people wouldn’t have to fight and argue. There would be no competition. Everybody would be doing their own thing.
Race plays a factor. Look how Rita Ora is given star quality treatment; from going on her own mTV tour; GQUSA, TV shows. Etc, if these black girls had that they would be huge. If a black girl had flopped with their 1st single, they would of been dropped. Riat Ora gets rewarded for failing. The more she flops, he more they give her. despite her second single failing to chart in the USA, she has been rewarded with TV show 90120; she has take meetings at VOGUE USA; had a second feature in seventeen magazine. Will be doing a ‘ when I was 17 ‘ on MTV and headlining her own mMTV sponsored tour….you think they would do that for a black flop?
I blame record companies previously and now stans!!!! Amerie was signed just as the last of the Urban Divisions were being cut from record companies, thus being able to produce the fantastic “all i have” Then with no urban division record companies decided to drop artists or make them more commercial, hense Amerie version 2, 1 Thing = beyonce for the record company. If a major lable is now signing a black female artist she has to fit the mould of an already familiar artist to try and guarentee success.
All that aside, all these crazy stans who dont seem to beable to like more than artist and want to fight,curse and act crazy for no apparant reason.
@Honest, your perspective is a little naive given the power that labels have to shelve albums, not promote albums and drop artists when they feel like it. Of the artists you mentioned only Beyonce is considered a ‘cash cow’ for her label. The others have had label issues which was no fault of their own and whether you believe it or not, race DOES play a huge part in why yt people aren’t buying r&b by Black artists like they used to back in the day. Monica, Amerie, Brandy & Ashanti DO contemporary r&b while Ciara does more pop-laced r&b.
god i used to love this song!!! memories memories
TUNE!!!!!!
The reason these artist don’t reach superstardom is b/c they don’t keep up with the momentum. They reach their breakthrough then decide to take a break, which kills the momentum and buzz try built. It’s like they get breakthrough and peak confused, breakthrough means you just got their peak means you are at the top. Look at Beyonce when she released crazy in love she was in the Austin powers movie then she did dream girls and released B’Day she maintained the momentum. Same with Rihanna when Good Girl Gone Bad hit big she released reloaded then she did Rated R, Loud, Talk that Talk, and Unapologetic. She is riding the momentum she has. People don’t understand breaks will kill you unless you are a one of a kind talent like Sade, Lauryn Hill, Adele, etc.
I always thought beyonce should have sang this song
Beyonce actually did a song quite similar to this. Green Light. Even the video is quite similar.
The industry. How many talented people, I mean REALLY talented people are on the top? Like the top of the charts are selling albums? Rihanna’s topping the charts, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj (has been charting, not w/ every single, but more than the talented artist). Then you have people like Gaga who use Gimmicks to sell rather than her talent. Adele is selling to me because of the way they marketed her as this pop soul singer, kind of like what The-Dream was saying about the industry not wanting African American’s to sing soul music, but people praise other races for doing it. All the talented people, where do you see them at? Not really on the charts, but usually their products are on point. I don’t always blame the artist: Ciara (she clearly had a label situation), ask K. Michelle how @ the time with her they wanted the Black Britney Spears, I link that to Ciara’s situation (they wanted to mold her into that), but since she didn’t really do just that, they shaded her career. Or like Ameriie, Def Jam clearly didn’t try to promote “In Love & War”, or JoJo, how you gone blame artist @ Honest when people like JOJO has DONE albums & wants the singles out, but they label won’t do such. A lot of this isn’t on them. They can only push so much, once you sign that dotted line, you’re label in so much controls your career & if they aren’t controlling it in the right direction you’re trapped. We have few artist like Miguel that’s on labels that his label allows him to do his thing creatively & his way, or like Elle Varner (gave her creative freedom, but didn’t really promote her), or Lupe Fiasco (gave him creative freedom, but his fans had to protest to get that started & they basically told him you can do that, but we may not give you a budget & promote you). So research before stating this. Idc if Ameriie doesn’t have a successful single anymore. What really is success? It can have many different meanings. I’m just happy she’s independent & has control over her music, product, & career, that’s success to me. Her continuing to release stellar quality album is success to me. Being happy with the music you make it success to me. Inspiring & helping others through music is success to me. The charts don’t mean much to me anymore, because that’s all people focus on, we forget about the music, which is why we have such crappy music nowadays. Just support the artist, especially the talented ones, then we can talk. I also blame the people because standards are really low, people will support these non-talented acts, then complain about music being so subpar, then you have these artist releasing amazing albums, & now those same people are hiding under a rock.
& these people Rihanna, Katy Perry, Nicki Minaj are selling albums too, not like what it used to be, but they’re getting certified. Gold, Platinum, that’s still selling albums.
Rich Harrison
Touch was a great album her and Beyonce was on the same label and I think at that time after one thing success they really pushed her aside and I never knew the reason she had the whole package!!
Whenever I hear this song, it reminds me of Beyonce’s Crazy in Love. Now I know why, Rich Harrison produced it!
Rihanna ruined this girl’s career. Def Jam had to drop her lol.
Amerie was a victim in the music business ..
I’m not a fan .. BUT Beyonce is such a jealous m*****
She used her power in the beginning of her solo career,
AKA Jay Z and his thugs to destroy all the super talented black female singers
to get the perfect breakthrough bedut solo album ..
Singers such as Amerie, Ashanti, Christina Millian, Mya and many others!
They all in a sudden fade away and lost their stardom because of Negro-yonce
NOW, after all the success she had
she’s trying to play the diva who’s helping other female artists in the buz
gurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr? I can’t .. bye
In Ameriie situation it was the labels fault. 1 Thing was done before Crazy In Love. It was just the fact that Beyonce was the biggest name between the 2. Which is sad an ashamed because Ameriie was a solo act before Bey was. A had to give the song to DJ’s who started to play the song and people started liking it which Columbia had to finally release her cd. People don’t know the real behind the scenes. A is just as talented as Bey but has more originality than Bey. Plus she can play instruments as well. That’s why she wanted off that label. I hope she grace us with another album it will be ashame if she doesn’t because she is a musical gem!!!!
the answer is : BEYONCE !!
BUT Rihanna have taken care of her as well 😈 😆 😆 😆
come back strong ameriie!
What happened to her? She was extremely pretty.
From the perspective of a family of music lovers (of which I & my nephew are the only Amerie fans), one thinks her voice is too strident, two think that she has no sustained “image” and therefore cannot relate to her. I’ve heard both statements from others on blogs & sites regarding why they don’t like Amerie. Amerie hasn’t been able to build up a loyal fanbase I think in part because she took that hiatus to act and host that BET after ALL I HAVE came out.
I truly think that she was blocked while @ Columbia and Beyonce swagger-jacked elements of her music style and then low key black-balled when she dared to speak out about her “issues” at the label. I also think that she fell out with Rich Harrison after he used their signature sound to produce for other artists which diluted HER sound and forced her to go back to the drawing board so to speak.
When she finally got off Columbia she unfortunately went to Def Jam where another cash cow in Rihanna was a label priority to the detriment of other label artists. Amerie received no label support for her last album which although not as solid as BECAUSE I LOVE IT, was still a solid album and better than a lot of albums released that year. If I’m being honest as a fan, the wrong lead single was selected which slowed interest in the album.
I like her approach to her music & the way she THINKS about her music and can intelligently discuss it without sounding trite & phony so I will always be a fan of hers and continue to hope for her breakthrough success whether it’s in music or film.
lol i did not read your comment before i posted mines but we basically said the same thing about her labels and priorities. scroll down :).
and yea beyonce jacked that “oh oh” thing amerie does in the background of her songs.
She’s a BEAUTIFUL girl, but I don’t really like her voice.
classic !!
Amerie & Ashanti both BEAUTIFUL girls, but have nothing to make them stand out besides their looks ..
First she was on a label whose priority was Beyonce and then she went to a label whose priority is Rihanna. But that did not stop her from recording quality albums, she makes good music, period.
She is very beautiful and humble. Her labels just didn’t promote her too well. She makes great music.
She does have two gold, and or one gold and one platinum album.
Beyonce had nothing to do with this girl flopping. Crazy in love was created 3 years before 1 thing. Amerie just wasn’t interesting enough. She got lucky with her first album and 1 thing was a huge hit and the album still didn’t do platinum and that was in 2006.
Amerie,Mya,Ashanti, and the countless forgotten many female singers of the early 2000’s sadly weren’t built to last. None of those girl had more talent than Beyonce..none and if you think amerie is better than Beyonce you’re a hater.. Simple as that… The things you f****** come up with
And then we have Rhianna! What a joke, Amerie may not get the sale figures or the media coverage of the aformentioned, but for those of us who know true talent, Amerie is up there with the best in todays world of RnB. But in a way im kinda glad she has not sold out to Euro pop like Rhianna and Usher amongst others and kept it REAL.
Lmao U can tell some of these idoitic people on here, no nothing about music. How the hell did Beyonce steal the uh oh from Amerie’s 1 Thing? When CIL came out n 03 and 1 Thing 05. Lumidee was doing the uh oh n her song bac then too. So i guess she stole from Amerie too. Learn the facts people, before u open up ur raggedy a*** mouths. Amerie just didnt have the drive to compete or maintain an ongoing career. Ex: Kelly Rowland. She started her solo career @ the same time..2002. Ten years later, she still here pumping out albums, successful or not. She faced a mirror of things Amerie faced on labels. Amerie just wasnt built to withstand and power through like an Survivor. Amerie never followed up with to hits off one album. U cant have a successful album that way. People was n to her but she would always release on or two singles and thats it. Its still an audience out therer for her, shes just gonna have to want it!
That DUMBASS name change to “Ameriie”.
Y’all forgot to post her leaked song called “In The Meantime” and I’m thankful because that song was terrible in my opinion; fyi it was demo that’s why lol.
And ummmmm….. TGJ, Tinashe has ‘Loyal Fans’ I’m tired of stressing it. #1 at Rhythmic charts for 4weeks? That’s something big for a debuting R&B artist.
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@CherylSoldierr what you think boy? -> http://goo.gl/aRWPuA
This performance was alright but y’all should of posted her best recent one at ‘Dane Country Fair.’
http://youtu.be/iQRMzuQgb3g