“It was Gemma saying, ‘Do you have a third song?’ and me making up a half-assed chorus over the phone.” 1’s, a little more bluntly: “It’s not like it was Clive Davis with an amazing ear that said, ‘That’s a hit for Whitney,’” he says. But when you haven’t had any, you don’t know any better.” Leiber describes the process of selecting “Opposites Attract,” one of the album’s No. “Once you have success, then you’re trying to always beat the success. “It was a confluence of innocence and being unafraid that brought it all together,” says Corfield. And it serves as a reminder that record companies and producers can’t manufacture big stars from the top down. The story behind the making and release of the big hits off the album, written by producers Oliver Leiber and Elliot Wolff, reveals the alchemy that resulted in its particular sound, in many ways a reflection of Abdul’s quirky humor and perspective. In fact, Forever Your Girl became a slow-burning success only after it had almost been written off as an irredeemable flop. But while there are entire cultural studies syllabi devoted to Madonna, and reclaiming Janet Jackson’s legacy has become its own genre of criticism, Abdul’s brief pop reign has largely been lost to history. “She was like Miss America in people’s hearts, when she was at the height of her success,” former Virgin Records A&R vice president Gemma Corfield, who worked closely with Abdul her entire career, tells BuzzFeed News. They turned Abdul into a Diet Coke-endorsing superstar, and throughout the late ’80s and early ’90s her commercial success rivaled Madonna and Janet Jackson. Those hits demonstrate the range of her pop persona, from the sweetheart appeal of the title track to the iconic David Fincher-directed video for “Straight Up” to the deep cheese of a duet with the rapping animated “skat cat” in “Opposites Attract,” which Abdul recently reenacted with connoisseur of corniness James Corden. But long before that, she was the original “ pop princess” - an avant-la-lettre Britney Spears - initially launched to stardom 30 years ago today, with the release of her 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl.Ībdul’s crisp dance moves and coy, girlish attitude eventually helped propel the album to record-setting success, garnering the first four of her six No. She’s also choreographed movies like Big, Coming to America, Jerry Maguire, and American Beauty.Paula Abdul exists in today’s culture largely through her reality television stints: as the zany (and nice) judge on American Idol, and the tearful, memeworthy diva - mocked by Kathy Griffin - from her 2007 reality show Hey Paula.
Abdul didn’t fare as well with her third album, 1995’s Head Over Heels, but she reestablished her celebrity in the 21st century with stints on reality shows like American Idol, The X Factor, Live to Dance, and So You Think You Can Dance.1 singles: “Rush Rush” and “The Promise of a New Day.” In 1991, she released her sophomore album, Spellbound, which spawned two more No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100: “Straight Up,” “Forever Your Girl,” “Cold Hearted,” and “Opposites Attract.” 1 spot on the Billboard 200 chart for 10 weeks. Her 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl, became the most successful debut album in history up to that point, holding the No.This would lead to Abdul choreographing many of Janet Jackson’s videos, including “Nasty,” “Control,” and “What Have You Done for Me Lately?” She was discovered at a game by The Jacksons, who hired her to choreograph their “Torture” video in 1984.While attending California State University, Northridge, she was selected for the Los Angeles Lakers cheerleading squad and quickly became the head choreographer. As a child, Abdul studied ballet, tap, and jazz.Originally known as a dancer and choreographer, Paula Abdul emerged as a superstar pop singer in the late ’80s and early ’90s, notching six No.
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