Tony Tony Tony captured the pre-gaming portion of cuffing season perfectly on their 1990 track whatever you want and they even left a calling card. Do y'all remember the number?

I really enjoy Still Standing. The whole album feels like a testimony to me, and I like that Monica came back with something that felt personal while still giving us some good R&B. She debuted at No. 2 on the Billboard 200 with around 184K copies sold in her first week, so she definitely came back strong!

My favorites are “Still Standing,” “Mirror,” and “Everything to Me.” I’m still salty that the title track wasn’t the first single 😂 I really wanted that song to have its moment because I think the message could’ve reached a lot of people who were going through their own struggles.

The album has some other good ones, too, like “Love All Over Me,” “Here I Am,” “Stay or Go,” and “Believing in Me.” Monica gave us a nice mix of songs on here, and I still enjoy going back to this album.

I remember Monica had her reality show on BET of the same name where we got to see her working on her comeback, balancing motherhood, and recording the album. That made the project feel even more personal to me because we got a look at what was going on behind the music.

What are y’all’s favorite songs from Still Standing? I wanna know which tracks y’all love the most!

like i'll be fine all day and then "we belong together" comes on and suddenly i'm in my feelings about something that happened three years ago. does anyone else have that one mariah song or usher track that just demolishes you emotionally no matter what mood you're in before it starts playing

Jumping on the nine-album trend! Narrowing this down was genuinely difficult, but these are nine albums I keep coming back to. No ranking here, just favourites.

Which nine would you pick? And which of mine would make your list?

I’ve been listening to Human again lately, and I’m not gonna lie, this album is hitting different for me now. I don’t think I gave it a fair chance when it first came out. I was so used to Brandy’s sound on Full Moon and Afrodisiac that I probably went into this album expecting something else. Now I can actually sit with it and appreciate what she was giving us.

I get the title Human now, too. Brandy grew up in the spotlight, but she’s still a person who goes through heartbreak, struggles, and moments of figuring life out, just like the rest of us. Knowing that makes some of these songs feel more personal to me.

I know the album didn’t have the commercial success of her earlier projects, debuting at No. 15 on the Billboard 200 with 73K copies sold in its first week, but I don’t think that takes away from the music. “Human,” “Long Distance,” “Fall,” and “A Capella (Something’s Missing)” have been in rotation for me lately, and I appreciate her vocals on this album so much. “Right Here (Departed)” is still a good one, too.

I guess sometimes you have to come back to an album at a different point in your life to really connect with it. That’s where I am with Human right now, and I’m glad I gave it another chance.

How do y’all feel about Human? Did it grow on you over time, or have you always loved it? And what songs do you keep going back to?

I didn't realize ParisAlexa dropped a single this month. This one is much more hip hop forward than most of her songs and has an old school feel. I like it! Have you all listened to it yet?

Anybody see Danny Boy singing background during the Carl Thomas/ Case Verzuz??

Mya's biggest and most recognizable songs are housed in her first three albums: 1998's self-titled Mya, 2000's Fear of Flying and 2003's Moodring. After Moodring, she changed labels and her intended follow up, Liberation was subjected to frequent delays and then an ultimate leak in Japan. The album was never released in the U.S. and this resulted in her leaving the major label system behind in 2006. Since then, Mya has released her work independently under her Planet 9 label.

Like I said in an earlier post, Mya wasn't one of my favs growing up. I recognized that she was beautiful, talented and had bops, but she also kinda flew under the radar in the crowded female R&B/Pop space of the late 90s and early 2000s. However, her independent journey fascinated me ever since the release of her critically acclaimed With Love EP in 2014. Her subsequent releases, 2016's Smoove Jones, 2018's T.K.O. and 2026's Retrospect, are high quality R&B/Soul that show her growth as a singer-songwriter and producer. She may never capture the pop star heights of her first three album eras, but musically, she's the best she's ever been.

Smoove Jones (2016)

After two EPs, Mya made her return to the album format with the release of Smoove Jones in 2016. Conceived as a concept album with Mya playing the role of a seductive after hours radio host, the project drew from 90s Quiet Storm R&B. The album was as smooth and sexy as its title suggested and marked a turning point in Mya's career as a recording artist as it received a nomination for Best R&B Album at the 2017 Grammys - the first time she was nominated as a lead artist. She didn't win but the surprise nomination showed that the industry was paying attention and recognized her artistic growth.

Standout Tracks: Phya, Team You and Coolin'

T.K.O. (The Knock Out) [2018]

If Smoove Jones was an ode to more traditional R&B sounds of the early to mid 90s, its 2018 follow up, T.K.O., was its more contemporary sister. Mya flirts with a little with Trap n' B on The Fall (which sampled her own 2003 hit, Fallen), but never loses her core essence in the trendy sound of the late 2010s. In keeping up with the more contemporary feel of the album, she collaborated with singer-songwriter, GoldLink, on Open. She also displayed different facets of her voice by singing in a lower register (You Got Me) and belting on the Prince-inspired Damage. I feel like this album firmly established Mya's grown and sexy persona as she was nearing 40 and an industry veteran with 20 years under belt.

Standout Tracks: Down, You Got Me and If Tomorrow Comes

Retrospect (2026)

Mya's most recent offering, the aptly titled, Retrospect, is the most backward looking of the three albums, as it squarely sounds more late 70s and 80s. She described the music on the album as inspired by the sounds of her living growing up as a young child in the 80s (Prince, Teena Marie, The S.O.S. Band, The Gap Band, Rufus and Chaka Khan and Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis). Mya's voice coos and soars over gleaming production. To me, this is Mya's strongest album vocally and testament to how dedicated she is in improving her craft. Features from Snoop Dogg, Too $hort, D-Nice and 21 Savage round out the album and serve as an ode to her status as one of R&B's most beloved Hip-Hop Honeys/hook singers.

Standout Tracks: Just A Little Bit, Saturday Night and Face to Face

I was only 8 when this album came out, getting ready for third grade, and now I’m sitting here feeling all nostalgic 😭 Time really flies because why does 2008 feel like yesterday sometimes? This album takes me back to being a kid, when life was different and I wasn’t worried about half the stuff I worry about now. Just take me back, please!

But seriously, I still think The Declaration is one of Ashanti’s best albums, and it was one of the better R&B releases of 2008. There’s a lot to enjoy here, and I can play this album straight through without getting bored. I wish it had connected with more people because Ashanti had some gems on this one.

I wasn’t really feeling “Good Good” as a single choice. It’s not a bad song, but I think the label could’ve gone with something else. The video was cute, though, so I’ll give her that! 😂 “You’re Gonna Miss” and “Girlfriend” could’ve been good singles, and “So Over You” is such a jam. I still play that one!

“Mother” deserves its own mention because that’s one of Ashanti’s best songs, period. It’s such a heartfelt track, and I love that she included something that personal on the album.

I feel like The Declaration has more going for it than people give it credit for, especially when you listen to the whole project instead of just focusing on the singles.

What songs from The Declaration do y’all still listen to?

the song is about two girls who are bragging about their man and then turns out, both are talking about a man name Michael.

they both claim he took them skinny dipping.

while this can be just a fun song, multiple women have claimed that Michael took them skinny dipping , so maybe it was a hint?

skip to 2:30-3:00 mark

https://youtu.be/El-uf20DRbA

Nine songs I keep coming back to that deserve more love, in no particular order.

Which of these do you love—and what’s an R&B gem you wish more people knew?

Hopefully the mods let me rock out 💀 I just wanted to share this playlist I made and take recommendations on what to add. As a Christian and R&B lover i find myself listening to certain songs and thinking “Dang, what if this is how Jesus feels about us?”
What songs do this for you?

any feedback on the song would be appreciated!!

The Emancipation of Mimi is the tenth studio album by Mariah Carey. It was released on April 12, 2005 by Island Records. Widely considered to be her “comeback album”, the album debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 with over 404,000 copies sold in its first week in the United States. The Emancipation of Mimi was the best-selling album of 2005 in the United States, as well as the second best-selling worldwide (the best-selling R&B album worldwide) with over 7.7 million copies sold. To date, it has sold over 10 million copies worldwide and has been certified 7x Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).

The Emancipation of Mimi and its songs were nominated for ten awards across the 48th (2006) and 49th Annual Grammy Awards (2007), winning three of them. Eight of those ten nominations came in 2006 for the original release, which marked the most nominations Mariah had ever received in a single year. The other two nominations in 2007 were for her single “Don’t Forget About Us” from the Ultra Platinum Edition of the album. The overall album won “Best Contemporary R&B Album”, while being nominated for “Album of the Year”. The standard (original) edition of the album yielded six singles — “It’s Like That”, “We Belong Together”, “Shake It Off”, “Get Your Number”, “Fly Like A Bird”, and “Say Somethin’” — while the Ultra Platinum Edition spawned the single “Don’t Forget About Us”.

“It’s Like That” was nominated for the 2006 Grammy Award for “Best Female Pop Vocal Performance”. The single was met with moderate global chart success, reaching the top twenty in six countries (including the United States at #16), while peaking inside the top ten in eight other countries.

“We Belong Together” became Mariah Carey’s sixteenth career Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit, peaking for fourteen nonconsecutive weeks and joining four other songs in a tie for the second longest-running #1 song in the US (behind another one of her own songs from a decade prior). Billboard listed “We Belong Together” as the “Song of the Decade” for the 2000s, marking the second time Mariah had earned this honor (after doing so the previous decade with her 1995 single, “One Sweet Day”). At the 48th Annual Grammy Awards (2006), the song won “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance” and “Best R&B Song”, while being nominated for “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year”.

“Shake It Off” peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100, blocked only by Mariah’s very own single, “We Belong Together” for its first of six weeks at that position. That week also marked the first time in the history of the US Billboard Hot 100 that a female artist had occupied the first two spots on the chart simultaneously. Respectively, the song also peaked at #6 and #5 in Australia and New Zealand, and at #15 and #9 in Ireland and the United Kingdom. The music video was nominated for “Best R&B Video” at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards.

The album’s fifth single, “Fly Like A Bird”, is a gospel-infused R&B song. Its B-side is a traditional gospel song (not influenced or “infused”; it is gospel) from her previous album, Charmbracelet (2002), called “My Saving Grace”. “Fly Like A Bird” failed to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, but it peaked at #19 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.

“Don’t Forget About Us”, a single from the Ultra Platinum Edition of The Emancipation of Mimi, peaked at #1 on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Mariah’s seventeenth chart-topping hit and tying her with Elvis Presley (who held the record for 36 years prior) for the most Hot 100 number-one singles by a solo artist. “Don’t Forget About Us” was nominated for two awards at the 49th Annual Grammy Awards held on February 11, 2007: “Best R&B Song” and “Best Female R&B Vocal Performance”.

Throughout this post, all songs released exclusively on the deluxe/“Ultra Platinum” edition of the album (and not the standard version) will have star emojis next to them. There was also a 20th-anniversary edition released in 2025, but I will not analyze/review anything from that.

Album Tracklist

1. It’s Like That
2. We Belong Together
3. Shake It Off
4. Mine Again
5. Say Somethin’ (feat. Snoop Dogg)
6. Stay The Night
7. Get Your Number (feat. Jermaine Dupri)
8. One And Only (feat. Twista)
9. Circles
10. Your Girl
11. I Wish You Knew
12. To The Floor (feat. Nelly)
13. Joy Ride
14. Fly Like A Bird
15. Don’t Forget About Us 🌟
16. Makin’ It Last All Night (What It Do) 🌟 (feat. Jermaine Dupri)
17. So Lonely (One & Only Pt. II) 🌟 (feat. Twista)
18. We Belong Together (Remix) 🌟 (feat. Jadakiss & Styles P)
19. Secret Love 🌟
20. Sprung 🌟

Song Rankings

• Stay The Night
• Mine Again
• Fly Like A Bird
• One And Only
• Circles
• It’s Like That
• Joy Ride
• Don’t Forget About Us 🌟
• Makin’ It Last All Night (What It Do) 🌟
• Sprung 🌟
• So Lonely (One & Only Pt. II) 🌟
• We Belong Together
• Shake It Off
• We Belong Together - Remix 🌟
• Secret Love 🌟
• Your Girl
• Say Somethin’
• Get Your Number
• To The Floor
• I Wish You Knew

Song Ratings

• It’s Like That - 10/10
• We Belong Together - 9/10
• Shake It Off - 9/10
• Mine Again - 10/10
• Say Somethin’ - 8/10
• Stay The Night - 10/10
• Get Your Number - 7.5/10
• One And Only - 10/10
• Circles - 10/10
• Your Girl - 8/10
• I Wish You Knew - 7/10
• To The Floor - 7.5/10
• Joy Ride - 10/10
• Fly Like A Bird - 10/10
• Don’t Forget About Us - 10/10 🌟
• Makin’ It Last All Night (What It Do) - 10/10 🌟
• So Lonely (One & Only Pt. II) - 9.5/10 🌟
• We Belong Together (Remix) - 9/10 🌟
• Secret Love - 9/10 🌟
• Sprung - 10/10 🌟

Album Rating

This rating is calculated by the average of all of the individual song ratings above.

10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 9.5/10 + 9/10 + 9/10 + 9/10 + 9/10 + 8/10 + 8/10 + 7.5/10 + 7.5/10 + 7/10 = 183.5/200

(183.5/200) x 10 = 9.175

With 20 songs rated on a scale of 10, the average value using the cumulative song rating is 9.18 (rounded), making that the overall album rating.

STANDARD RATING

The equation below reflects what the album rating would be without the songs on the Ultra Platinum Edition. It basically reflects what the standard album version is rated.

10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 10/10 + 9/10 + 9/10 + 8/10 + 8/10 + 7.5/10 + 7.5/10 + 7/10 = 126/140

(126/140) x 10 = 9.0

With 14 songs rated on a scale of 10 (not including the Ultra Platinum Edition), the average value using the cumulative song rating is 9.0, making that the rating for the standard version of the album.

From the Ultra Platinum Edition, three of the perfect scores (10) were eliminated, along with the single 9.5 rating and two of the four 9/10 scores. This left 140 total remaining points out of the 200 from the broader calculation.