Throwback Thursday- Babyface
Happy TBT Musicheads! Do y’all remember that time that Babyface went full-on “midlife crisis,” and started thinking he was Eric Benet? Yeah, neither does most of the record buying public. I think the majority of us just tried to write it off like it didn’t happen….But it’s in fact, a “seminal moment” in Black Music history. Somebody give that boy a Snickers, cause he clearly wasn’t quite acting like himself…Maybe he was hungry, I dunno.
The worst part is that 2001’s Face2Face wasn’t nearly a bad album by any means; it just that most people didn’t know what to make of it. This was Babyface, the hitmaker, the balladeer, the cat who always dressed in full-length suits and ties, singing songs of love and heartache. So when he ditched all that for short dreds, cutoff shirts, an airbrushed 5 o’clock shadow…..and worst of all, a badly sung falsetto? Most people thought that he had lost his damn mind….Myself included.
I distinctly remember my reaction when I first saw the video for “There She Goes.” I was traumatized:
“Hold up! First off, whoever this dude is in this video, claiming to be Babyface is clearly an imposter.”
Nah fam, tell me it ain’t true! Babyface doesn’t try to fit into the formulaic Neptunes sound that ran throughout EVERY. DAMN. SONG. in the early 2000’s. Babyface doesn’t try to be “sexual.” Nah, Babyface was easy-going, non-threatening, dependable. I mean, this was the go-to guy for crafting a beautifully poignant love song that was bound to not only be a hit, but a monster hit that you would hear on the radio 15 times a day, everyday for the next 9 months (See “End of the Road,” “Breathe Again,” & ”My, My, My,” to name a few).
So imagine my surprise when he showed up thinking he was cool, doing some strange “one-handed clap” in the daggum video. I suddenly felt like singing Tamia’s “Stranger in My House” (remember what time is was, yall). To a kid who came of age in the 90’s, if Babyface wasn’t putting out sad-ass love songs, there just wasn’t anything left to believe in. Simply put, the devil is “lyre” (pronounced “lye-ra”)!
Thankfully, this was only a one album experiment, and “Face” finally came back to his senses by 2005’s, Grown and Sexy. Let’s just hope he doesn’t make any sudden moves like that again. I don’t think my already weak heart could handle hearing Babyface do trap music. I’m just sayin….
There She Goes…..and thankfully, There He Went….!
