‘Aaliyah’ At 25: Remembering Baby Girl’s 2001 Self-Titled Masterpiece

Steve Grayson What is there to be said about late R&B legend Aaliyah Dana Haughton that hasn’t already been eulogized in the many years since her untimely passing? Strikingly beautiful? Check. Voice of an angel? Listen to her cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best” and get back to us. Unmatched fashion icon? The [...]

Jul 17, 2026 0

‘Aaliyah’ At 25: Remembering Baby Girl’s 2001 Self-Titled Masterpiece

Aaliyah Fans Sign Mural In Tribute — Steve Grayson

What is there to be said about late R&B legend Aaliyah Dana Haughton that hasn’t already been eulogized in the many years since her untimely passing?

Strikingly beautiful? Check. Voice of an angel? Listen to her cover of The Isley Brothers’ “At Your Best” and get back to us. Unmatched fashion icon? The archives of Tommy Hilfiger and Robert Cavalli say it all. However, at the core of her eternal Black girl magic is a timeless music catalog, which finally made it to streaming platforms back in 2021 after being off the market for well over a decade.

Out of the three studio albums she was able to release in her short-yet-impactful career, the 2001 self-titled masterpiece, Aaliyah, truly reigns supreme even 25 years after its release here in the U.S.

B-Side Bangers – Aaliyah

“I decided to self-title this album, Aaliyah, and I wanted to do that because my name is Arabic and it has beautiful meaning; it means ‘the highest, most exalted one, the best,’ and I wanted the name to really carry the project,” she said in a behind-the-scenes DVD featurette (seen above) that fans who bought the deluxe DVD edition were treated to 25 years ago today (July 17). Exalted it most definitely was!

Singles “We Need A Resolution,” “More Than a Woman,” “Rock The Boat” and “I Care 4 U” were the hits that helped the late music icon achieve major success with the project. However, Aaliyah from start to finish is a sonically next level record for its time that serenades you with a genre-bending combination of soul, jazz, rock, dance-pop, funk, heavy metal and even salsa just to name a few.

Although the still-proclaimed Princess Of R&B never got a chance herself to fully see how influential this album became, selling over 13 million globally and inspiring multiple generations of successors, her musical legacy has proven to stand the test of time. One of the primary reasons for that is due to the unwavering appeal of the Aaliyah album, and we’ll always cherish this amazing body of work right along with the rest of the world as her legacy continues to push on….and on and on and on.

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