At a time where male R&B is on the up, we’d like to pay tribute to a song that helped popularize the genre in the first place. Shaï’s ‘If I Ever Fall In Love’ is today’s From The Vault pick.
Released in a Boyz II Men-dominated era, the A Cappella track is a harmonizing masterclass that took the R&B world by storm in 1992. Written by band member Carl Martin, it was blocked from the #1 spot by Whitney Houston’s gargantuan smash ‘I Will Always Love You’ and had to settle for a #2 placing – for 8 weeks – on the Billboard Hot 100. It did get to the top spot of the Billboard Hip-Hop/R&B chart. It was also a UK Top 40 hit and placed 4th in the Australian charts.
The Ian Fletcher-directed video uses the same “less is more” approach the song does with the guys standing in a circle while singing the track and a scant beauty shots injected for good measure. For us, the simplicity allows the lyrics to really shine through, but most importantly the gentlemen’s voices to take centre-stage.
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We wish more artists today would be as vocally adventurous as Shaï and other acts from the 90’s with their vocal arrangements. Though autotune and studio trickery is a necessity for a slew of modern acts, we feel some might rely on it too much, resulting in robotic, soulless deliveries. Furthermore, the EDM era seems to have sacrificed melody in favor of anthemic hooks and repetitive riffs.
Hopefully, the reemergence of organic music will mean more melodically and vocally rich tunes that will go on to inspire the next generations the same way ‘If I Ever Fall In Love’ has inspired ours.
Shaï, we salute you, we thank you.
Who??
Oh just SHUT UP!!! Ironically your username is ‘peacemaker’ smh
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This is the type of music I LOVE! Shitt gives you chills!
Thanks TGJ for educating these mindless 90’s babies on REAL MUSIC!
Never cared for this acapella version. I preferred the remix that had music.
1993 was the year of the R&B vocal group. They popped up like weeds and were literally everywhere. During the same period, you had Shai, SWV, Jade, Silk, UNV, Xscape…plus other groups that had emerged a year or two before like Boyz II Men, En Vogue, Jodeci and to a lesser extinct TLC. All clamoring for airtime and playing to that same demographic.
Shai seemed earnest and charming at the time. They were one of the better looking groups and vocally they may have been stronger than most of their peers at the time (I would even argue that they could outsing Boyz II Men)…but lyrically they were as sappy as a tree. They were a little TOO emotional. I think that’s why they burned out so quickly. The Valentines Day card type songs that they did became less and less solid as time went on.
Can you imagine something like Whitney Houston´s eternal hit at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and this other song at #2 (and only by that you can imagine how great the rest of the top10 was) nowadays??? Seriously! 80s and 90s… that´s not going to happen again it seems… 🙁