This is a timeless message from Jody Watley worth revisiting as we enter a new autumn season.
Jody Watley | Faith Heart Magazine | September 2020 Cover Story
A conversation about inspiration, self-love, fresh starts, reinvention and embracing your own light.
Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, producer and style icon Jody Watley reflected on how she uses her voice — through music, lyrics, her career journey, motivational messages, interviews and a positive online presence — to encourage others to be themselves and live fearlessly.
Her message remains timeless:
•Accept where you are.
•Live in the moment.
•Surround yourself with uplifting energy.
•Don’t define yourself by age or the expectations of others.
•Take care of your mind, body and spirit doing your best to make healthy choices.
•Embrace Your Wattage and Never Let Others Dim Your Light
And perhaps the simplest reminder of all:
“Every day is a FRESH START! I always say — Just BEGIN.”
Explore the lasting impact of Jody Watley’s Video Classics, Vol. 1 (1991), the RIAA Gold-certified music video collection that helped redefine the MTV era. From groundbreaking visuals and high-fashion imagery to iconic hits like “Looking for a New Love” and “Friends,” discover how Watley became a pioneering force in music video history and visual storytelling.
Long before visual albums became the norm, Jody Watley was setting the standard.
Jody Watley helped transform the intersection of music and fashion with Video Classics, Vol. 1. This retrospective highlights the cultural significance, visual artistry, and enduring influence of one of the first major music video compilations released by a Black female artist.
Jody Watley: Video Classics Vol. 1 (1991) is an RIAA Gold Certified music video compilation, groundbreaking as one of the first by a Black female artist.
Released via MCA Records on VHS and Laser Disc, it featured music videos from her early multiplatinum solo albums, including iconic hits like “Looking For A New Love” “Friends” featuring Eric B & Rakim, and the 6 time MTV VMA nominated video “Real Love” alongside insightful interviews discussing her visual style and video inspirations specific to each director and filming on location in London, England and Paris, France.
Tracks Included: “Looking for a New Love,” “Still a Thrill,” “Don’t You Want Me,” “Some Kind of Lover,” “Most of All,” “Real Love,” and “Friends”.
Impact: Validated Watley as a visual innovator in the MTV era and highlighted her collaborations with directors.
Significance: Showcased her transition from Shalamar to a pioneering solo dance-pop artist with high-fashion imagery.
Jody Watley is a GRAMMY-winning artist, multi-platinum singer, songwriter, producer, and global style icon.
Named Best New Artist in 1988, she ranks among Billboard’s Top 60 Female Artists of All Time, with six Top 10 Hot 100 hits – including iconic hits “Looking For A New Love,” “Don’t You Want Me,” “Friends” featuring Eric B. & Rakim, and “Real Love” and more.
She’s also earned seven No. 1 Dance hits, two No. 1 R&B singles, and success across R&B, pop, dance, electronica, and jazz—building a genre-spanning catalog that continues to evolve.
A true visionary in music and fashion, Watley broke barriers for Black women globally—becoming the first artist and woman of color to appear on the cover of a Japanese fashion magazine, and among the first artists to merge music, branding, and lifestyle with her Dance To Fitness movement.
Recognized by Vogue, People, and Harper’s Bazaar, her influence extends beyond music through iconic campaigns for GAP, LA Eyeworks, and Saks Fifth Avenue.
Her honors include Black Music Honors’ Crossover Music Icon Award, induction into the Women Songwriters Hall of Fame, and multiple nominations from the American Music Awards, MTV VMAs and NAACP Image Awards.
A pioneer of independence, she founded her own label, Avitone, in 1995—well ahead of today’s artist-owned movement.
Decades into her career, Jody Watley continues to thrive with critically acclaimed, chart-topping releases. Her latest album, Let’s Dance Vol. 1, reached No. 1 on iTunes Dance and Amazon UK charts.
Her influence endures—timeless, trailblazing, and still setting her own standard – authentically, independently.
OTD February 23, 1987 — A Cultural Reset in Pop & R&B
On this day, Jody Watley released her self-titled debut album, JODY WATLEY— a groundbreaking statement of independence, innovation, and style that redefined what a modern female pop & R&B artist could be.
More than a debut, this was a bold artistic rebirth.
Emerging from group success to claim her own creative vision, Watley delivered a genre-blending body of work that fused pop, R&B, dance, and fashion-forward imagery — helping shape the sound and visual language of late-’80s pop culture and the MTV era.
✨Certified Multi-Platinum (3 million U.S. / 4+ million worldwide)#1 R&B Album / #10 Top 200 Albums
The project also featured a duet with global superstar George Michael and production from production team including André Cymone, David Z., Bernard Edwards, and Patrick Leonard.
Even more significant — Watley co-wrote 6 of the album’s 9 tracks, establishing herself not just as a performer, but as a songwriter, visionary, and architect of her own image.
At a time when few Black women in pop were granted full creative authorship and fashion autonomy, Jody Watley stood at the intersection of music, high style (blending couture, vintage, custom designs) into her own Jody Watley Style, and most importantly empowerment to “Believe In Yourself” “Be Yourself” no matter what — influencing generations to come.
Jody Watley Grammy winning music style icon, singer/songwriter/music producer was celebrated in 2017 as “Crossover Music Icon” on the television broadcast presentation Black Music Honors. As March kicks off Women’s History Month let’s take a look back at an everlasting honor. The delightful tribute performances by R&B stars Vivian Green and Sevyn Streeter are now viewable on YouTube if you missed the original airing. Watch it Here: OmazingTV
Crossover Music Icon Honoree – Jody Watley Black Music Honors 2017Crossover Music Icon Honoree Jody Watley with performers in tribute Sevyn Streeter and Vivian Green
Black Music Honors 2017: As quiet as it’s sometimes kept, Grammy award winning artist, songwriter, producer Jody Watley, one of Pop /R&B and Dance music’s most enduring pioneers has been at the forefront of some of the most groundbreaking trends and movements in modern pop culture – political statements, music and music video innovation, and the place where all those tracks meet. Check just a fragment of her résumé:
The video for her classic 1987 song “Still a Thrill” (from her Grammy-winning eponymous debut album of that same year) dazzlingly incorporates waacking, the underground freestyle dance (think of it as an even more beat-driven cousin to voguing), and is the first time a major pop star used their artistic platform to showcase this particular means of body expression. But Ms. Watley had actually brought the dance to widespread American attention a few years earlier as a teenage dancer on the iconic TV show Soul Train. Now, waacking has fans and practitioners around the globe, many of whom use the music of Ms. Watley in their routines as a show of respect for an OG who has kept the flame burning.
Jody Watley was the first black woman and artist to release a million selling fitness video in 1989. An early adapter to what was to come with artists taking control of their potential extensions in business as “brands” with her vision forward “Dance To Fitness” set to her own Pop/R&B hits from her first 2 albums.
Jody Watley was one of few black female artists selected to crossover into groundbreaking celebrity ad campaigns for GAP and l.e. Eyeworks 1988 and 1989. Later she would be featured in an unprecedented 15 pages in the prestigious Fall Catalog for luxury retailer Saks 5th Avenue in 1996.
Her groundbreaking 1989 cut “Friends” carved the template for both R&B/hip-hop and pop/hip-hop fusions to come, as it was the first time a rapper (the legendary Rakim, of Eric B. & Rakim) wrote original verses for an R&B/pop song.
The video for “Friends” was a landmark of subversive/progressive representation that has still not yet been matched – or given its due as a taboo-shattering cultural artifact. Set in an underground New York dance club, and featuring performances by Ms. Watley and Eric B. & Rakim, the club’s denizens are made of up straight, gay, and transgender folk, of all races, body shapes and sartorial aesthetics. B-boys jostle alongside drag queens, Rakim rocks the mic, and Jody serves face and fierceness. It’s a warm utopian vibe. The gathering is organic, and lacks the opportunistic marketing tactic of gay-friendly advocacy that is now on trend for pop divas.
The catchphrase “Hasta La Vista Baby” for her mega debut single “Looking for a New Love” became a pop culture phenomenon along with her signature jumbo hoop earrings and eclectic swag separating her from other artists; a freestyle girl mixing high, low funky couture with high end and vintage.
Long before making his mark as a film director, David Fincher (Se7en; FightClub) cut his stylistic teeth on Ms. Watley’s sleek, hugely influential music video for the 1989 smash “Real Love,” perfecting a signature visual look that he would later impart to other pop divas.
Unhappy with the constraints of being on a major label, she parted ways with her industry home and started her own label Avitone Recordings in 1995. Through it she has released four critically acclaimed CDs (Affection, 1995; The Saturday Night Experience, 1999; Midnight Lounge, 2001; The Makeover, 2006, Paradise, 2014) which have collectively spanned the genres electronica, ambient, R&B, and House. They’ve also reinforced her roots in and solidified her ties to the global dance underground, as everyone from 4Hero and King Britt to Masters at Work and Junior Vasquez jumped at the chance to work on these projects. She has also collaborated recently with Modern Funk Impresario Dam-Funk, and folk artist Peter Harper continuing to reflect an artist not confined to a stereotypical music boxes.
A fashion-forward visionary from her Soul Train days, Ms. Watley never used a professional stylist but, as a solo artist with a singular vision and keen instincts, carved her own look by weaving vintage clothing and contemporary street fashions from her own closet with high-end pieces from fashion designers who hadn’t yet caught the public or industry eye (Jean-Paul Gautier; Rifat Ozbek.) Photographers from the legendary Francesco Scavullo to firebrand Steven Meisel lined up to work with her. For her iconoclastic and influential eye, she was honored with a feature in VOGUE Italia’s groundbreaking “Black Issue” in 2008.
• • Jody Watley in 2016 was ranked by Billboard Magazine as one of the Greatest Dance Artists of All Time on a list that includes Madonna, Beyonce, Rihanna and Katy Perry. – Ernest Hardy
Jody Watley is a GRAMMY award winning multi-platinum singer/songwriter/producer/entrepreneur. Some of her iconic Top 10 singles include “Looking For A New Love” “Don’t You Want Me” the groundbreaking “Friends” ft. Eric B & Rakim, and “Real Love”.
With a diverse music discography spanning R&B / Pop / Dance /Hip Hop / Electronic / Jazz / Adult Contemporary 80s, 90s, 00s, 10s, 20sJody Watley is recognized as a style icon and one of the architects of 21st century Pop/R&B/Dance music. Jody Watley was 2017 recipient of the Black Music Honors ‘Crossover Music Icon’ Award for her early cultural influence and impact as a solo artist; other accolades include 2007 Billboard Dance Lifetime Achievement Award, along with nominations from the American Music Awards, MTV Awards, NAACP Awards and Soul Train Awards.
In 2018 Billboard Magazine included Jody Watley in the Top 60 Hot 100 Female Artists Of All Time and Top 25 Top Female Dance Artists Of All Time. A 2022 Inductee into the Women’s Songwriters Hall of Fame, Watley has also been recognized by performing rights organization BMI (Broadcast Music). “I’m really most proud to have songwriter and producer be a part of my resume and legacy as an artist.”
Very insightful and in depth feature and interview – Jody Watley with Andy Argyrakis.
“Her body of work as a Grammy-winning singer/songwriter with dozens of chart-topping pop, hip-hop, R&B and dance singles, alongside being the first artist to ever combine vocals and rap in the same track, more than earned Jody Watley a Billboard Lifetime Achievement Award.
But the foresight to start her own record label 25 years ago, intermingle music with high fashion even earlier and explore a variety of entrepreneurial endeavors should also put this multi-hyphenate in a similarly groundbreaking category as Madonna or Janet Jackson, while leaving the likes of Beyoncé or Rihanna eternally indebted.” — Read the full feature: Here — http://chicagoconcertreviews.com/2020/11/20/jody-watley/
