Aaliyah returned to the airwaves 20 years after her death on Friday, Dec. 17, 2021, with the new posthumous single “Poison” featuring The Weeknd. The record serves as the first single from Aaliyah’s upcoming posthumous album, Unstoppable, which her uncle and former manager Barry Hankerson confirmed in August will be released in 2022. The “Rock The Boat” hitmaker died in a plane crash in August 2001 when she was only 22.
Haughton’s uncle, Barry Hankerson, owner and founder of Blackground Records and sole owner of Aaliyah’s catalog, spoke with Billboard about how The Weeknd became involved with the project.
“When you put a record out, you try to start off with something that gets everybody’s attention. I’m a fan of The Weeknd, who called me out of the blue on a Friday night about three years ago. He inquired about trying to do something with some of these tracks if there was anything that Aaliyah had a vocal on. But then we never got together. So when we started on Unstoppable, I remembered that call and reached out.
“We were able to work out his schedule and get together with one of his producers, a young brother named DannyBoyStyles. After we talked, DannyBoyStyles chaperoned updating the track. Then he flew to Canada to put the vocals on,” Hankerson explained.
Unstoppable will also include collaborations with Snoop Dogg, Drake, Future, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo. Hankerson also discussed with the industry insiders what kind of vibes to expect from Aaliyah’s posthumous project.
“The body of work is pure hip-hop and R&B. I think it’s going to be big with urban and R&B stations. Some of the people that Aaliyah liked are on the album. She loved Snoop Dogg, who’s done a great record in collaboration with Future. They’re going in now to refreshen their vocals.
“Ne-Yo gave us an excellent song. as did Drake. Timbaland produced the track that Chris Brown created. It’s vintage R&B with strong vocals. I look for that one to also get a very special reaction from listeners. We’ll probably release one more single before the album comes out,” Hankerson said.
Check out Aaliyah’s new single “Poison” with The Weeknd now.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0T4N-ngxjw[/embedyt]
