What I find so crazy about this is... (and yes, I’m about to add Beyonce to this convo lol) although Aaliyah is now respected beyond her knowledge, when she was alive, she was not the commercial success that her current praise would lead people to believe.

Note, Aaliyah was my first celebrity crush and one of my first favorite singer/dancers.

Saying that to say.. this comment isn’t to discredit her talent. Instead, it’s to speak to how much things have changed for artist now. The pressure to deliver at a high capacity.. at all times, is crazy now. Even when we have artist like.. BEYONCÉ, with crazy accolades and a consistent demonstration of performing arts mastery, we still act as if she’s undeserving. Or even for Ciara... if we compare her success with some of our favorite R&B artist from then ... she’s not doing as bad as many make her out to be. Or.. since Aaliyah was still a fairly new artist.. Tinashe and Normani. Some of the current commentary about them is so negatively inflated. Again, Aaliyah didn’t get her 1st billboard 100 until after her second full length album yet some see her as a young legend.

Moral of this post..
We can deserve to fallback on today’s artist and give them more credit.
Long live baby girl?