Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, October 7, 1995 TAG: 9510100001
SECTION: EXTRA PAGE: 9 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: NEKESA MUMBI MOODY ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: ALBANY, N.Y. LENGTH: Medium
Over the past year, 14-year-old Monica, 16-year-old Usher, 16-year-old Aaliyah and the teen groups Immature and Soul 4 Real have all enjoyed hits with soulful tunes on life and romance. And even more are slated for album releases this fall.
So far, the biggest winner of the under-age set is 16-year-old Brandy, whose self-titled album has sold over a million copies and spawned three hit singles since its debut last year. Her latest single, ``Brokenhearted,'' is currently climbing the Billboard Top 20 charts.
Brandy's typical trendy teen-ager looks and candy-sweet lyrics have won her as much admiration as her powerful voice.
``[Fans] appreciate that because any girl who wants to be positive knows she can go after me and she can make it, because that's what I did,'' she said earlier this year.
But many child stars are winning success with much different - i.e. more, ahem, mature - material.
Usher burst onto the scene last year at age 15 with the hit song ``Can You Get Wit It?,'' a sultry ballad in which he asks a young lady to go to bed with him with the lyrics, ``I ain't got much money, I can't buy a diamond ring, I'm not tryin' to be funny, but it's only a sexual thing ...''
He knows some may have concerns over his sexy style of singing, but he insists he's only reflecting what's really going on with teens in the modern world.
``Kids do have relationships,'' Usher says. ``They may not be as dramatic as older people's relationships, but they do experience relationships. I'm not advising kids to have sex - I'm just speaking on it.''
And it's not just the guys. Aaliyah, who scored big with her hit ``Back and Forth,'' also raised eyebrows with ``Age Ain't Nothin' But A Number,'' in which she sings about going ``all the way'' with an older man. She was 15 when she recorded the single.
The suggestive lyrics some teens are singing merely reflect what their older counterparts are doing, says J.R. Reynolds, the R&B editor for Billboard magazine.
``I think that there's just a fundamental relaxing of acceptable behavior in American society,'' Reynolds says, ``and it's all the way across the board.''
While Monica has not taken that provocative route, she tries to keep a balance in her music that will attract both adults and the younger set. Her mature-sounding voice was behind the platinum summer smash ``Don't Take It Personal.''
``My lyrics are set for all ages,'' she says. ``They're not so far to the left that a young person couldn't walk around and sing in front of their mother. [But] it's not so kiddie to the point where grown people say `Ooh, turn that off.' ''
Besides, for many teen artists in the adult world of show business, things reminiscent of childhood years quickly become things of the past.
``I don't consider my album grown, but sometimes when I think about it, I almost can consider myself grown,'' says Monica, who travels on the road with her 21-year-old cousin.
``[There's] nobody to wash these clothes for Monica, nobody to keep these hotel rooms clean for Monica ... I pay taxes. I don't think people understand the seriousness of my job,'' she says.
The 14-year-old takes that same seriousness into the studio with her, refusing to assume the role of a docile child who follows her producers' every lead.
``I'll let them change the whole song around before I sing it and not know what I'm talking about,'' she says. ``How can you make [listeners] feel it if you don't know what you're talking about?''
by CNB