Jody Watley‘s “Flower” Album Turns 27: Timeless Music Of Growth and Renewal. The Grammy winner came together with an esteemed array of collaborators for her 6th solo album. From select members of Organized Noize (Ivan Matias), Masters at Work (Louie Vega, Kenny Gonzalez), Tony! Toni! Toné! (D’Wayne Wiggins and Randall Wiggins) and Groove Theory (Bryce Wilson) as well as Rahsaan Patterson, Malik Pendleton, Cassandra Lucas, Phil Galdston, Deric Angelettie, and Derrick Edmonson all assembled to get down to the business of record making. Out of all these new faces, Edmonson was the only carry over from Flower’s antecedent Affection, as a Watley co-writer, co producer, the first release of Jody Watley’s independent offering from her Avitone Recordings, established in 1995.
While it’s true that the genesis of Flower had a bumpy start, the project eventually took on a joyful upswing during its creation. All of those assembled respected Watley’s progressive form of soul and sought to make it accessible to the black radio format of the late 1990s. Obvious hooks are planted among the fluid funk of Flower, none of them blocking the intelligence or sexiness of the lyrical thrust of the LP.
Watley’s way with a groove, whether a simmering midtempo (“Flower,” “Everything You Do”) or a punchy uptempo aimed squarely for the dancefloor (“Baby Tonight,” “I Don’t Want You Back”), was second to none. “Off the Hook” functioned at both paces on the affair, becoming its launching single. It’s original incarnation favors Quiet Storm posture, whereas its secondary shape—the D-Dot Remix—is that of an undeniable hip-hop banger that reunites her with one of that movement’s defining voices after their inaugural partnership on “Friends” in 1989: Rakim.
There are at least four formal downtempos on Flower, all of them prepossessing, but it’s the acoustic warmth of “16” that rises above that pretty pack to become not only the best ballad on the set, but one of the standout entries in Watley’s entire discography. On “16,” Watley writes and sings for young womanhood and captures all of the feelings of that unique, if sometimes bittersweet, journey. A year after its release on Flower, it found its way onto The Writings on the Wall (1999) as “Sweet Sixteen,” the second LP from a soon-to-be iconic girl group known as Destiny’s Child. – Quentin Harrison, Albumism –
Singles: Off The Hook
# 1 Hot Dance Club Play (Remixed by Masters At Work & D-Dot Hip Hop Remix)
# 23 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles
# 73 Hot 100
“If I’m Not in Love” (The Remixes)
# 2 Hot Dance Club Play
It’s Spring – be like a “Flower – continue to bloom and grow.
Revisit or Listen for the first time! “Flower” is streaming at all digital platforms. Learn more about the Jody Watley Discography.
Watch the NEW exclusive video upload on The Jody Watley Youtube Channel – Here