Most people our age don’t really know who Aaliyah is. This could be because she and along with her music died. If you have heard of her, maybe you’ve heard of her on the radio or you have maybe heard some of her music on TV.

Recently, Aaliyah’s family decided to release her music 20 years after her tragic death.

Her fans all have one burning question, “what took them so long to release all of her songs and albums?”

All of Aaliyah’s fans have been trying to answer that question for 20 years. Heading back home from the Bahamas,  the plane Aaliyah was in crashed. This was due to there being too much luggage and a pilot who wasn’t even authorized to fly a plane. No one wanted to believe it; it was a heartbreaking event for all the Aaliyah fans in the world. According to the New York Times, when Aaliyah died, it seemed that she was very close to a major career. As the music business evolved in the digital age and Blackground Records output slowed down, her music largely disappeared.

We now know that Aaliyah’s music was taken from the scene because her family was disputing over the copyrights.

 The Estate of Aaliyah Haughton shared a statement on Aug. 4, saying how it was  “battled behind scenes, enduring shadowy tactics of deception with unauthorized projects targeted to tarnish.” 

   Aaliyah’s uncle, Barry Hankerson, is the founder and producer of Blackground Records. He also released eight of her albums. According to the New York Times, Barry plans to release 17 of her albums over the next two months. 

As soon as fans found out about Aaliyah’s music being released, she quickly started to grow more and more popular by the day.  As of this month, she has had 3.8 million listeners on Spotify, and 10.3 million total listens to her hit single “One In A Million.”

 To me, Aaliyah’s music resurfacing is absolutely amazing. Her music is inspirational, uplifting and just overall beautiful. 

Songs that I recommend are “One in a Million” and “At Your Best”. “One in a Million’ is an old classic of Aaliyah’s and is actually one of her most listened to songs. “At Your Best” is one of her best songs that just shows how beautiful her voice is, the way she didn’t really need to auto tune, her voice was so authentic and I would like to share that with my audience.

Her story and music is also very inspirational.  Aaliyah never really gave up and always tried her best to spread positivity and the way she did it was very unique. It was Aaliyah’s fashion choices, her beauty and overall style. Young people these days are all about beauty and fashion. Of which, Aaliyah plays a part in today’s fashion.

Personally, I grew up listening to her and many other Old School R&B artists.  Listening to her music gives me a sense of nostalgia. “One In A Million”, “Rock the Boat” and “Are You That Somebody”, were the songs that gave me the most nostalgic feeling.

Bringing back her music basically felt like my childhood was coming back.  For the people who have heard or grew up on Aaliyah’s music, know how important it is that her music resurfaced.

As Aaliyah says, “There are times when I find you wanna keep yourself from me. But at your best, you are love. You’re a positive motivating force within my life.” Listeners can take these lyrics and somehow relate them to their personal life. You could have someone in your life that gives you so much motivation or is there for you when you need them. Even though she is gone, her legacy and her inspiration will live on forever. It’s our job to keep that legacy alive.

 Now for all of Aaliyah’s fans of course, they need to know what platforms the albums are being released on. They will be released on Spotify,  Pandora,  iTunes, Tidal and Youtube Music. According to the New York Times, Barry is also planning on putting her music on vinyl and CD.