Monica
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Cherish it - because again, not only is it from Monica, the Grammy Award winning singer and actress who's sold more than 10 million copies of her previous three albums, but it is what she declares "a real representation of who I am and what my life is like now. It reflects the last 11 years inside and outside of the industry. It allows people to know me. Finally."
Let’s start with her foundation. Remember, she is from the A - Born, raised and never lived anywhere else but Atlanta. So the Jermaine Dupri-produced first single "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" should really come as no surprise." 'Beat Drop', for me, is a real good representation of where I'm from," Monica says of the call to the dancefloor she crafted with Atlanta's snap music pioneers, Dem Franchize Boyz. "Plus I really liked having a record that kids can enjoy. My music has always had a message. I guess it's been just a personality thing - I've always been extremely mature for my age. Always been kind of deep. But sometimes that goes right over the kids' heads. And we all just want to dance and have fun. This is what I live. What I dance to. What I listen to when I'm in my car. So I thought, 'Why wouldn't I sing over it?' "
On this foundation, Monica has built quite the reputation for brutal honesty — from “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)” to “First Night” to “Knock Knock” and “U Should’ve Known Better.”“My audience respects my honesty,” she reminds us. “They trust that what comes out of my mouth truly comes from my heart.”
And falling right in the disc changer with those singles is "Sideline Ho."
In the Underdogs-produced dagger, she asks: "Ain't you tired of spending all the holidays alone?"And then comes back and digs deeper with: "It don't matter if he spends the night, his home's somewhere else...If you don't make his breakfast, you's a 'Sideline Ho!'
"Myself, Damon [Thomas], Harvey [Mason Jr.] and Tank came up with that. I was telling Tank about a situation where an ex of mine blatantly, openly cheated - as if people didn't know who his girlfriend was! And just the sound of her name would make my flesh crawl. So he was like, 'Well what did you call her?' I said, 'She has no name. She has no importance.' And Tank walked back into the room and said, 'The name of this song is 'Sideline Ho.'
"Why Her," also produced by Monica's longtime musical associate Jermaine Dupri, is what she calls her post-'Sideline Ho' song. "After the anger of being cheated on, instead of healing and moving forward, we get mired in all of these questions. At that point in my situation I was like, 'What was it? I don't see anything visually any better. I don't know anything any better about her. She's struggling to work on video sets. And I'm in disarray.
"I don't care what people say, people always look at themselves, ask themselves those kinds of questions once somebody cheats. That's just how love works. It doesn't cut off at the sight of a mistake. We're all like, 'Does he live with her now? Do you think they're going to have kids?' Just vulnerable."Now that's an adjective rarely used to describe Monica in her decade-plus in the business. Not the 24-year-old who was introduced to the world in 1995 on an album titled "Miss Thang."
And to think, much of The Makings of Monica happened right before our eyes: The three million-selling debut and the hit singles - "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life" - that made her the youngest female artist ever to have two back-to-back No. 1 hits on Billboard's R&B singles chart. (Both of which also topped its Hot 100 pop charts and earned a million in sales.) The million-selling contribution to the 1997 "Space Jam" soundtrack "For You I Will." Then came her 1998 CD "The Boy Is Mine," which not only had three consecutive No. 1 Billboard pop singles (the title track, "Angel of Mine" and "First Night"), but the title track with Brandy spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts, and 8 at No. 1 on the R&B listing. Not to mention the duet earned Monica a Grammy to add to her American Music, Soul Train and Billboard Awards. Then there was her last million-selling CD "After the Storm." All of which she managed while acting in the MTV movie "Love Song," the Miramax movie "Boys and Girls" and most recently, Warner Bros/Overbrook’s "ATL."
The Makings of Me is the least Monica could give you for so much support over so many projects.
Let’s start with her foundation. Remember, she is from the A - Born, raised and never lived anywhere else but Atlanta. So the Jermaine Dupri-produced first single "Everytime Tha Beat Drop" should really come as no surprise." 'Beat Drop', for me, is a real good representation of where I'm from," Monica says of the call to the dancefloor she crafted with Atlanta's snap music pioneers, Dem Franchize Boyz. "Plus I really liked having a record that kids can enjoy. My music has always had a message. I guess it's been just a personality thing - I've always been extremely mature for my age. Always been kind of deep. But sometimes that goes right over the kids' heads. And we all just want to dance and have fun. This is what I live. What I dance to. What I listen to when I'm in my car. So I thought, 'Why wouldn't I sing over it?' "
On this foundation, Monica has built quite the reputation for brutal honesty — from “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)” to “First Night” to “Knock Knock” and “U Should’ve Known Better.”“My audience respects my honesty,” she reminds us. “They trust that what comes out of my mouth truly comes from my heart.”
And falling right in the disc changer with those singles is "Sideline Ho."
In the Underdogs-produced dagger, she asks: "Ain't you tired of spending all the holidays alone?"And then comes back and digs deeper with: "It don't matter if he spends the night, his home's somewhere else...If you don't make his breakfast, you's a 'Sideline Ho!'
"Myself, Damon [Thomas], Harvey [Mason Jr.] and Tank came up with that. I was telling Tank about a situation where an ex of mine blatantly, openly cheated - as if people didn't know who his girlfriend was! And just the sound of her name would make my flesh crawl. So he was like, 'Well what did you call her?' I said, 'She has no name. She has no importance.' And Tank walked back into the room and said, 'The name of this song is 'Sideline Ho.'
"Why Her," also produced by Monica's longtime musical associate Jermaine Dupri, is what she calls her post-'Sideline Ho' song. "After the anger of being cheated on, instead of healing and moving forward, we get mired in all of these questions. At that point in my situation I was like, 'What was it? I don't see anything visually any better. I don't know anything any better about her. She's struggling to work on video sets. And I'm in disarray.
"I don't care what people say, people always look at themselves, ask themselves those kinds of questions once somebody cheats. That's just how love works. It doesn't cut off at the sight of a mistake. We're all like, 'Does he live with her now? Do you think they're going to have kids?' Just vulnerable."Now that's an adjective rarely used to describe Monica in her decade-plus in the business. Not the 24-year-old who was introduced to the world in 1995 on an album titled "Miss Thang."
And to think, much of The Makings of Monica happened right before our eyes: The three million-selling debut and the hit singles - "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life" - that made her the youngest female artist ever to have two back-to-back No. 1 hits on Billboard's R&B singles chart. (Both of which also topped its Hot 100 pop charts and earned a million in sales.) The million-selling contribution to the 1997 "Space Jam" soundtrack "For You I Will." Then came her 1998 CD "The Boy Is Mine," which not only had three consecutive No. 1 Billboard pop singles (the title track, "Angel of Mine" and "First Night"), but the title track with Brandy spent 13 weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts, and 8 at No. 1 on the R&B listing. Not to mention the duet earned Monica a Grammy to add to her American Music, Soul Train and Billboard Awards. Then there was her last million-selling CD "After the Storm." All of which she managed while acting in the MTV movie "Love Song," the Miramax movie "Boys and Girls" and most recently, Warner Bros/Overbrook’s "ATL."
The Makings of Me is the least Monica could give you for so much support over so many projects.
