As Hollywood saddles up for its annual biggest night, we invite you back on a special jaunt with this week’s From The Vault.
Today’s pick is Aaliyah‘s rendition of ‘Journey To The Past’ at the 70th Academy Awards in 1998.
Serviced as a single from 20th Century FOX animated movie ‘Anastasia,’ ‘Journey’ was written by Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty. Vocally and sonically, it was departure from the brand of edgy R&B the beauty had become renown for.
As much as her vocal abilities have never been looked down upon, this very track allowed the then 19 year old to truly set all the power in her voice free.
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The single never charted in the US, but was a moderate UK hit. Still, all of that chart business didn’t prevent the song from being nominated for both a Golden Globe and an Oscar.
And though James Horner and Celine Dion ended up going home with the prizes for the ‘Titanic’ smash ‘My Heart Will Go On’, it was still an amazing look for Ms Haughton who was, at the time, the youngest artist to ever perform on the Academy stage. And oh did she make it count.
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From this performance, to the reception of her eponymous final record, all signs were pointing toward mega superstardom for this R&B princess.
15 years later, it’s hard to rationalise the loss of such a talent and we can’t stop imagining what the musical landscape would look like had she never left this earth.
Still, there’s some solace to be taken in the fact we still have showings such as this to cherish.
