R&B group Skyy was already a decade into their music career with eight albums when they made a comeback in 1989 with the album Start of A Romance. While New Jack Swing was taking over the radio, Skyy didn’t just hop on the latest trend train. During the late 1980s, they dedicated a significant amount of time to refining their sound. They maintained their funk-inspired ethos and incorporated upbeat disco elements to create catchy rhythms.
While I could write an ethos on Skyy’s underrated funk cuts, this is Slow Jam Saturday, and I wanted to highlight one of my favorite cuts from the group, “Real Love.” Group member Solomon Roberts wrote the wrong while handling production with Randy Muller.
Over a heartfelt five minutes, vocalist and group member Denise Dunning Wilkinson effectively croons lyrics about overcoming fear from past experiences of love and opening oneself up to real love. The song suggests that the male protagonist has experienced pain from previous relationships, which makes him hesitant to open up to love again. However, Denise encourages him not to be afraid to feel the way he does and assures him they both feel real love.
The song acknowledges that love comes without guarantees, but the only way to find true love is by taking risks and opening one’s heart. The song closes out with validation that while one is still affected by the memories of past hurtful experiences, we have to be open to giving someone else a chance. She believes their feelings for each other are natural and strong, encouraging him to give love another chance. Ultimately, the song communicates that real love can be scary, but it is worth the risk to open one’s heart and find the real thing.
“Real Love” is one of the songs I would keep repeating during my lonely nights while deployed to Qatar in 2006. Hearing Denise’s sultry yet compassionate voice reassured me that not every woman is like the others who hurt me. So when I found the one six months later, I took a chance on love.
While “Real Love” is the final crossover pop hit for the group thirty-four years later, it still holds up.
Final Grade: B+
“Real Love” from Start of A Romance is available on all streaming platforms.
There are some albums you revisit because of nostalgia, and then there are albums you return to because they remind you just how high the standard used to be. Anita Baker’s Rapture falls into that second category. Released in 1986, the album did more than make Baker a star. It helped define what sophisticated, grown R&B could sound like without losing any soul, sensuality, or personality.
Gwen Stefani had already established herself as a significant force with No Doubt when she released her debut solo album, *Love. Angel. Music. Baby* in 2004. This week, while my iPod was on shuffle, one of my favorite songs from that project, “The Real Thing,” came on. Although the original version has an upbeat new-wave feel, the Slow Jam Mix takes it to another level and is the perfect choice for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday.
Unless you’re a music purist, mentioning Randy Jackson from the famous family is likely to elicit a joke. However, any serious Jackson fan knows that Randy had musical achievements long before the punchlines. Before he was old enough to buy a drink, he had already co-written “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground)” and “Lovely One” with Michael Jackson.