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[Young]

https://ratedrnb.com/2020/07/monica-miss-thang-25th-anniversary-revisit/

In the case of many popular genres, particularly R&B, honorifics used in stage names for Black female artists have gained cult status over the last few decades.

Many refer to Beyoncé as Mrs. Carter; Lauryn Hill as Ms. Lauryn Hill; and Janet Jackson, at one time, as Miss Jackson — if you were nasty.

Long before Monica earned the beloved alias Mo, she was simply Miss Thang. In fact, it was the respected title of the 14-year-old's breakthrough debut album; an introduction that she made into the high society of music in the summer of 1995.

As the R&B scene evolved from its traditional soul nature in the early 1990s, it was fresh, hip, and blazed a trail for new tenants of the genre to be their most authentic selves.

By the time Monica released her first album, a couple of other young, gifted and Black female acts had shaken up the airwaves and spawned phenomenal success for their sonically diverse sounds: A pristine new jack swing swag and a good girl-next-door narrative.

For Dallas Austin, who served as executive producer on Miss Thang, mapping out a definitive album concept for the burgeoning singer under those conditions had to be a concern at some point.

Austin and Monica ultimately opted to pursue a logical progression lyrically and thematically from the teen idols that preceded her debut. Miss Thang applied the palpable sense of intergenerational wisdom and experience that Monica absorbed from her lineage and Atlanta heritage.

For instance, the album opened with the assertive title track that explicitly defined her innate tough-girl persona and featured a funky instrumental that had an affinity for Blaxploitation films. It masterfully used an unspoken latchkey kid relation to add mature depth to her unique tale of young adulthood.

Vocally, she had an aggressively confident tone that made listeners her age see themselves as authoritative figures in the world. Still, the sassy song came off respectful enough that it didn't offend her elders.

Monica continued to make a strong argument for complexity as a female adolescent on the album's lead single, "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)." Decorated in a collage of rugged hip-hop backbeats from the likes of LL Cool J and Public Enemy, Monica simply tells it like it is to her man about the turbulent mood swings she and many women alike experience from time to time.

"Don't Take it Personal" acts as a sort of mood piece itself — not only describing the emotional periods she endures but also touching briefly on the idea that men have those days, too.

With the growing influence of hip-hop, and its ability to sound and look like the various hoods that birth the genre, R&B songwriters started to take note, whereas executives couldn't catch on.

Artista Records' head Clive Davis was seemingly out of touch with pop culture, according to Austin. He says the music mogul not only asked about the absence of the bridge but the reason slang existed in the title of Monica's first single.

"He says, 'I don't understand why [the lyrics] say 'Dem Days' instead of 'Those Days'" (laughs)," Austin told SongwriterUniverse in 2019. "But I said, 'That's not what we say in the environment. We say it's one of 'dem days'.'"

Austin's advocacy to normalize hip-hop aesthetics and intellectual property law of Black people isn't to be taken lightly. In between helping brand Monica as a cultural lifestyle artist, Austin reinforced the idea of preserving the important cultural markers, particularly language, that reflect the Black identity.




Following its April 1995 radio release, "Don't Take It Personal" rocketed to the top of the Billboard Hot R&B Singles chart the week of June 10. The platinum-selling song also put up a good fight on the Hot 100, vying for the number one spot against chart-topper contenders Bryan Adams ("Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman") and TLC ("Waterfalls").

Had Monica's era-launcher displaced one of the two aforementioned Hot 100 leaders, it would have put her name in the history books as the youngest female singer to achieve this feat.

While none of the singles from Miss Thang peaked at the pole position on the Hot 100, their true chart dominance occurred on R&B soil. Monica followed up with a dual A-side single that consisted of the Toni Braxton Secrets extra "Before You Walk Out My Life" and the Mr. Malik- assisted "Like This and Like That."

Best of the two tracks is the former, a younger sibling of sorts to the quiet storm frontwoman Anita Baker's 1994 hit "I Apologize." Here, the lovelorn Monica shows that she has the ability to put out a single that isn't sourced from a sample.

She also employs various musical timbres that weren't noticeable on the lead, like the sweet and street swagger ingrained in her layered harmonies and maturely expressive vocals.

This soft-soul single about the rationalization of her wild mood swings builds on the conceptual aspect of its lead, making her more welcoming than before. Urban radio received the Soulshock & Karlin-produced track with open arms, resulting in Monica's second time at the R&B summit.

By making the same chart move as "Don't Take It Personal," the follow-up single earned the Atlanta star her first of two pairs of back-to-back number singles on the Hot R&B Singles chart.

The chart triumph entered Monica's name in the Billboard history books as the youngest act ever to score two consecutive number-one singles on the aforementioned chart.




Shifting from intense sensitivity to uncomplicated joy, Monica's final single "Why I Love You So Much" is a tender ballad that emancipated her guarded emotions and feelings from the chains of doubt.

Daryl Simmons —whose diverse track record years prior included hits for megastars Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Toni Braxton, and Boyz II Men — had one seemingly glaring disadvantage against him when he created this great love song. He hadn't yet worked with an artist as young as Monica.

How would he appeal to the younger audience, while staying true to a performer who expressed great interest in making sure the album reflected everything about herself?

Simmons optimally accomplished both tasks, respectfully giving her a skillfully written track that wasn't a replica of songs performed by her likely musical mentors but distinctly Monica.

Songs like "Why I Love You So Much," her third top ten pop hit, became Monica's signature in a career that nears three decades. Owning a debt of gratitude to Simmons for cracking the glass ceiling in her street-tough persona, if only for under five minutes, heartfelt tunes like "For You I Will" and "Love All Over Me" show that she possesses all the qualities to sing about love and agony.

Was there such a thing as perfect collaborators at that time for talent Monica's age? Sure, there is. Where Aaliyah's Age Ain't Nothing But A Number operated mostly on the street penmanship of a certain Pied Piper and Brandy's eponymous debut album was chock full of songs written and produced by Keith Crouch, Miss Thang leaned on Atlanta's major players Tim & Bob for those fine deep cuts.

The duo, who emerged from Austin's D.A.R.P. production collective, worked notably well with Monica on a series of tracks. Greatest of all is "With You," a laid-back groove that channels the slick vocal cadence of an Xscape jam. Its suggestive lyrical content wasn't exactly the same speed as Adina Howard or the Atlanta-based quartet; but its PG message about droptop, alone time kept it from receiving a parental advisory sticker.

Monica aligned herself with another significant D.A.R.P. collaborator: Arnold Hennings. Having only one placement on TLC's the multi-platinum seller CrazySexyCool a year prior, the musician flexed his songwriting and production on Miss Thang for three tracks, including the everlasting score "Never Can Say Goodbye."

It's like most of the recordings on the album, straddling the tightrope of age-appropriate context for someone who was 14-years-old. She sings in an invitingly deep yet subtle key about true commitment, while deposits of inexperienced nuances of womanhood come up midway in the song. While her seemingly unversed nature in the love department could come into question here, the deep sense of honesty in her emotive voice negates spectators.

On the acoustic-laden "Forever Always," another top tier moment by Hennings, Monica deals with unrequited love. Still, her heavy heart belongs to him only — forever always. Fifteen years later, a collaboration between rapper Trina and Monica manifested simply titled "Always." Its chorus, verses, and closing reprise powered by the Grammy winner have a more contemporary analogy to the Miss Thang number.


Mature. Authentic. Atlanta. Monica embodied all those elements into her confidently saucy debut album. By the end of the year-long promotional run for Miss Thang, Monica had fully-developed into not yet a grown woman but a bonafide superstar.

She had her first platinum-selling album, as well as platinum plaques for her first two singles. She had rightfully earned countless chart victories, a Billboard Award win and other prestigious award nominations. She also had the "that girl can sing" approval from one of her biggest inspirations, Ms. Whitney Houston.

Those music merits aren't the things that have sustained this R&B vet for the last two decades. Perhaps, it's the sheer greatness that lies dormant in the songs she recorded while only 12 and 13.

The complicated love stories of her hits and album fillers seemed like first-hand accounts, singing those raw feelings of longing and angst with authority and passion in ways that were far beyond her youth. In fact, 25 years later, it's that genius in her relatable narrative from then to now that hasn't changed; she's still Miss Thang.

[Young]

https://urbanbridgez.com/2019/07/18/ub-celebrates-the-debut-of-monica-miss-thang/


UB Celebrates: The Debut of Monica 'Miss Thang'

Jul 18, 2019

Monica is currently sitting at #1, on the Urban AC chart with her latest single "Commitment." Monica's new album Chapter 38 is expected this fall.

However it was today, 24 years ago she released her debut album, "Miss Thang."

The three million-selling debut features the hit singles "Don't Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out of My Life." Monica was the youngest female artist ever to have two back-to-back #1 hits on Billboard's R&B singles chart.

Both singles also topped the Hot 100 pop charts and went platinum. Monica followed that with the platinum contribution to the 1997 "Space Jam" soundtrack "For You I Will."

Then came her 1998 release "The Boy Is Mine," which not only had three consecutive #1 Billboard pop singles (the title track, "Angel of Mine" and "First Night"), but the title track with Brandy spent 13 weeks at #1 on the pop charts, and 8 at #1 on the R&B chart. Not to mention the duet earned Monica a Grammy to add to her American Music, Soul Train and Billboard Awards.

Monica's debut album is an R&B classic! An album that was way more adult, than most albums recorded by 14 year old's.

To celebrate the Anniversary of "Miss Thang," take a look back at the debut of Monica. Her Arista label 1995 biography.


Monica Arnold may be young, but she knows about attitude. Confident. Intelligent. Self-possessed and self-assured. Wise beyond her years, but still playful.

Some people might wonder just what a teenager could possibly have to say. The answer, for Monica, is plenty.

MISS THANG is Monica's Rowdy Records debut, and it's a potent, persuasive and personal statement from a young woman who's heading up the new breed of R&B; singers. Such is the depth of soulfulness of MISS THANG and of Monica's powerful vocals that it's hard to believe she only turned fourteen in October and has just entered the ninth grade.

With songs written and produced by the incomparable Dallas Austin and his all-star DARP producers Tim & Bob (Boyz II Men), Colin Wolfe (Dr. Dre, Madonna) and Arnold Hennings (TLC, Tracie Spencer), MISS THANG is a solid, funky, sassy and knowing collection that represents both Monica and the way young girls are living.

More than just a collection of songs written by a man trying to perpetuate teenage reality, the album was composed with Monica's input, and with one particular young lady in mind: Monica herself.

Take the powerhouse first single, "Don't Take It Personal." Straight-ahead funky, both in the beat and in the message, "Don't Take It Personal" is Monica's credo. Directed to a boyfriend who's sweating her to spend more time with him, the track is a soulful announcement that Monica can walk the walk, talk the talk, and live her life with pride and confidence. Lines like "It's just one of them days when I wanna be all alone...It's just one of them thangs...Don't take it personal" set the tone.

Monica has an amazing sense of self, especially for someone her age, and this clearly comes across in her music. The title track take the assuredness of "Don't Take It Personal" to the next level, as Monica asserts, "It's all right for me to think it's all about me..." commenting on Monica's confident and sassy personality, Dallas sates, "She's a young girl with an old soul. She had to have been a jazz or blues singer in a past life."

The strength of Monica's album and attitude caught the attention of Queen Latifah, who happened to hear an advance of MISS THANG while visiting Atlanta. Latifah arranged to meet Monica, and immediately offered to manage her through Flavor Unit Management Company.

Born and raised in Atlanta's College Park, Monica's musical ambitions have always been supported by her family. Monica began singing in her local church choir at the tender age of four, and quickly rose from the chorus to a soloist. Word of the child prodigy with phenomenal skills began to filter around Atlanta. Vocally inspired by the likes of Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, and Rachelle Farrell, Monica was encouraged to enter local talent contests and eventually won over twenty of them. It was at one of these shows that fate, in the persona of Dallas Austin, intervened.

Dallas' rep is well known. A bit of a wunderkind himself at twenty-three, his list of credits is diverse: Madonna, Joi, TLC, Boyz II Men, Grace Jones and Highland Place Mobsters, to name a few. Noted for his visionary approach to soul and pop, Dallas saw and heard that "certain something" in Monica and immediately offered her a deal with his Arista-distributed Rowdy Records label.

"Working with Dallas was hard work, but he made it fun. He really helped me feel the meaning of the songs and bring my own point of view in," Monica says of her "daddy" Dallas, who claims, "Monica is the most gifted and innately talented singer I've ever worked with. Her phrasing and interpretation came very naturally."

Monica's got the wisdom, the attitude and , most of all, the voice to deliver. Monica is a real singer, with serious talent, and MISS THANG is just the opening salvo from a young woman that has a lot to say and her own unique way of saying it.

[reekz]

Great album. 

[CREAM.]

Don't like this album but ack

She was so mature wow

[Young]

She looks the exact same still omg

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[FRANCE]

her vocal peak

[JAJA]

A fucking classic! People still make babies and get married to these records. Timeless ass album. She did that 

[JAJA]

her vocal peak

Loved Miss Thang's vocal but she wasn't seeing this

[Young]

A fucking classic! People still make babies and get married to these records. Timeless ass album. She did that

[Young]

her vocal peak

Loved Miss Thang's vocal but she wasn't seeing this

Ack

Amazing showcase of her range
Amazing, heartfelt sense of conviction in her voice
Beautiful gowns etc

But baybeeeeee; between the funky runs and scats...it's the Miss Thang vocals , for me!

[Ulysses]

Her best album. It's a shame she never grew as an artist. She could have been one of the greats. 

[FRANCE]

her vocal peak

Loved Miss Thang's vocal but she wasn't seeing this

f
im making mention to her live vocal more than anything. i still to this day hate her vocal on the chorus. her tone and how thin her voice and whiney her voice gets. and she never pulled it off live. almost brought the key way down and was still flat and sharp throughout. monica's best live vocal performance, give and take, are from the 90s.

[Young]

Her best album. It's a shame she never grew as an artist. She could have been one of the greats.

She IS one of the greats

[Young]

her vocal peak

Loved Miss Thang's vocal but she wasn't seeing this

f
im making mention to her live vocal more than anything. i still to this day hate her vocal on the chorus. her tone and how thin her voice and whiney her voice gets. and she never pulled it off live. almost brought the key way down and was still flat and sharp throughout. monica's best live vocal performance, give and take, are from the 90s.

Don't sit up here and lie

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[Young]

A Vocal Queen omfff