Came To Give Love

It's about time to segregate my new babies - Aaliyah clippings. I'm a total addict and love to add those little pieces of history to my collection. I like to sit in my room and read her interviews like it was just yesterday. It's such a great source of knowledge - a reliable knowledge. Everyone should pay a lot of attention to the good old press, especially the interviews Aaliyah gave. Words coming directly from her, her family and friends. You can learn so much about her from those. That's the proper way to learn about our idol instead of watching poor biopics .

After One In A Million I toured and promoted that album, and I was tired. I wanted to relax, be with my friends and family for a while, and prepare for the third project. So, after a year of relaxing I started to work on the next project, and then other things came up. So it kind of, wait a little bit longer than I anticipated. ~ Aaliyah on why it took so long to release the self-titled album,2001

"You know how they say sophomore jinx, and to have people really love the One in a Million album really means a lot to me. I thank the Lord every day and I thank my fans for their support." Aaliyah

I love Eddie Murphy so I wanted to do a song on the soundtrack. That song..it just really shocked me, when I first recored it I felt it was a hit, I loved it but I didn't know it was going to do what it did, so to have it become a Grammy nominated song, with such a great video that was one of the most played videos on MTV, it was just great. Highlight of my career, definitely.

“Anastasia”...that took me to The Academy Awards, never forget that! “Anastasia” was cool, my company at that time brought it to me, told me about it and I loved it. I love animated movies. At that time I haven't even thought that there's a possibility it will go to The Oscars, so when I've got that call 5:30 in the morning, like "You're going to be on The Oscars!" Oh.. I can tell you..It was just amazing, it was great.~ Aaliyah about AYTS & JTTP, 2000

Everyday we were together, we cherished. Every memory, every day was a special event. Whether it was going to a store, or going to a movie and just sit in. It was like our own little party, we were in our own little world. I loved her with all my heart, and I was going to marry her... I would do anything for her, anything to protect her from any kind of pain. She was my family, she was my bestfriend, and she was the closest person to me. ~ Damon Dash, 2001

Aaliyah & her dad Michael being interviewed while their visit in Amsterdam in 1995 ♥

Michael Haughton: I guess I'm like any father who's child doing well. So, you feel good about it.

Aaliyah: A lot of parents can be kind of strict but he's (Michael) really cool, we have fun together, like a homie you know?

Michael: She's like most daughters. She can have her little mists of time hearing. She's a very mature person for age, you know..and um.. I really haven’t have a lot of problems, really cause she's too busy to get into trouble.

Aaliyah *laughs*

Michael: She's like any other kid, you know...she has her moments, and pretty much, you know lives a normal life as we can get with, of her being in this business.

♫ Cupid's Shot Me My Heartbeat's Racing Tempt Me, Drive Me Feels So Exciting ♫

She handled herself like a lady. I definitely think anyone that has that aura that she had about her, has to have a great family. There was just something about her aura. You wanted to talk to her, you wanted to know her.

Aaliyah had a big influence on all of us. She was the first major young female artist to come out [in her generation]. We are about the same age, so it was very inspiring to see someone like that. She went to a performing arts high school and so did I. I just really related to her. It made me feel like, alright if she can come out and she’s young, so can I. It gave me inspiration and hope that we could do the same thing.

Her voice was so smooth, it was so sexy and soft. She cold do a lot of interesting things with her range. She could go very high and she could go very low. Her tone was just beautiful, it was sultry and sexy. But the most amazing thing is she could dance so well and sing so well, too. She just had this whole cool sexy vibe about her, the way she performed in videos and live. It even came across when she talked. But even though she was sexy she was still sweet and wholesome at the same time. There weren’t too many people like that. 

I would have loved to have worked wih her, definitely. Her and Timbaland, they had a whole magic when they went into a studio and I could never wait to see what the next album was gonna be like. She always had a sound that was hot. Aaliyah was the first celebrity to really embrace us. Everyone else was nice and they were cool but she was like extra sweet to us. And she hung out with us. She had just gotten her driver's license so she came to the hotel and picked us up and we went to the mall.

It was hard for us to keep in touch, because you know how it is, with us doing a record and with her doing records and movies, we were always on the go. So we only really saw each other at awards shows. But I know it was always refreshing to see her and I was excited. I interviewed her two times for the MTV Movie Awards. I did the pre-show. I was really nervous about doing that because it's hard talking to celebrities sometimes. I was so happy and relieved when I got to interview her because she made me feel so comfortable, everytime.

~ Beyonce Knowles remembers Aaliyah, 2001

Dear Aaliyah, it's been another year... It's truly hard to believe that today marks 14th anniversary of the day, when God decided he needs you more by his side...

Your art and beautiful spirit continues to live on through your fans all over the world. Yes, it's been 14 years, but nothing has changed. Your influence is even stronger, and it will keep to change people's lives like once it changed ours.. You said: "Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some people stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts and we are never the same". Since the day we have met you, we are not the same Aaliyah, we are all better.

We would like to thank you - like we thank you each and every day - for being such a positive and beautiful role model to us. For being someone who constantly guides us and help us through music. Your brave decisions, which you had courage to make in your own life, thaught us what it takes to fight for dreams and that sometimes you just need to get up dust yourself off and try again, because life ain't pretty all the time. You showed this world it's possible to achieve both: being successfull and remain yourself. You've made Originality your second name, and there is no word to describe this amazing feeling to have you in life. Thank you Princess ❤

Aaliyah & her stylist Derek Lee backstage of Regis & Kelly, right before Aaliyah’s live performance of More Than A Woman ♥

I love all kinds of music and I wanna be known as a kind of singer that can do all of that, so thats why I wanted the different varieties on the album. To showcase that, showcase each part of my personality, and definitely I love the soul, the hip-hop and r'n'b, I love it all, but I do want people to see me as the type of artist that can sing any kind of music. ~ Aaliyah about the process of creating One In A Million, and her diversity as an artist, 1996

She's got attitude which I like. I'm a very reserved, kind of shy person. When I'm around my friends I come out a little bit more, but when I get around of the people I tend to be very reserved. She has a side of her that is really spunky and will come out. She'll get histerical and loose control, and I like to do that. I like playing that part, cause I don't do that a lot, only when it's pretty much necessary. I'm on tour my band needs to get yell, all of that, and that will come out of me, but she has that attitude pretty much all the time, and I really like that, that side of her. ~ Aaliyah on playing Trish O’Day, 2000

It's definitely fun to explore that side of yourself. The side of yourself that you keep hidden in your everyday life, cause you know you're not suppose to go there, unless it's absolutely necessary. And yes...it's fun to just be that mean evil person. See how far you can really go, I like it. ~ Aaliyah on playing Akasha, 2001

It's tough to juggle both careers [singing & acting], but I try not to worry about it. This is the first time that I'll be releasing an album [Aaliyah], shooting a film and then releasing a film [Queen of the Damned]. Both careers require a lot of discipline and determination, but I enjoy it. ~ Aaliyah for UPSCALE magazine, 2001

Acting is something I've always done since I was very young. Singing was my first love, but I also acted throughout high school. Even while I was doing my albums, I was taking acting lessons... but I didn't feel I was ready. I'm a music artist, and people know me a certain way, so I wanted the first character to be similar to me. I didn't have to find her [Trish] I connected with her closeness to her family. It also helped that my coach was on the set with me. We talked about the character, and we rehearsed the lines in the script.

~ Aaliyah for UPSCALE magazine, 2001

♬ If your girl only knew That you was trying to get with me (what would she do) If your girl only knew That you was dissin' her to talk to me She would probably leave you alone She would probably curse you out and unplug her phone I bet she'd be glad that you was gone And then she wouldn't have to worry ♬

Does feeling sexy is important to me? That’s something that…I think when a person is sexy, and it’s real, they’re not really aware of it. When you try to be sexy it’s very obvious, you can tell someone is putting it on. It has to be something that exudes from you and it is happen to be a part of you. ~ Aaliyah, 2001