The boy band resurgence of the late nineties was a time. While the Backstreet Boys and N’Sync were primed to pick up where the New Kids on the Block left off, other groups were also making quality music, including 98 Degrees, whom I chose to highlight for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday.
Signed to Motown, 98 Degrees’ first single was “Invisible Man”. A ballad written by Dane DeViller, Sean Hosein, and Steve Kpner, it was a heartbreak song, the kind that defies a radio-friendly smile. It’s a feeling you get from the opening moment of the song. Everything about it sounds naked.
From those weeping harmonies that swirl like fog around an urban landscape, to Nick Lachey’s lead vocal, there’s a yearning in the performance that you can feel in the bones. The pain of watching the woman you love laugh and flirt with another man, knowing that you’re right there in the room with them – unseen, unacknowledged, yet still laying it all out on the line. That’s R&B, however you want to classify the group.
The production has an organic feel, with live drums, the subtlest of guitar stings, and keys that sound like they could slide right off a dashboard and melt into tears. Nothing about the performance sounds artificially enhanced. It’s smooth soul for the cinema made to sound like pop; the kind of record you imagine Babyface approving in a quiet moment.
There’s no gimmick to “Invisible Man”; its timeless quality comes from how honest it sounds. Every note, every twist of melody exclaims, “I’m not perfect, but baby I love you anyway.” It’s the theme song for every man who’s been hit on by their best friend before it was trendy to be “friend-zoned” and every woman who’s ever come to regret that one too late.
Twenty-nine years later, “Invisible Man” still sounds like a silk ribbon wrapped around a broken heart. The instant when a boy band’s shiny veneer met genuine R&B aching. For my fellow slow-jam junkies, this one’s not just a trip down memory lane. It’s an illustration of how sincerity never ages.
While 98 Degrees would eventually lean more toward pop, their debut single is still a fine slice of late-nineties R&B.
Final Grade: B+
“Invisible Man” is available on all streaming platforms.
For this week’s Second Listen Sunday, I want to revisit 2004 and highlight Romeo’s debut solo album, formerly of Immature. Titled “Food for Thought” and released on June 22nd, this project marked the singer’s change of name to Young Rome in an effort to distance himself from the youthful sound of his group, much like his bandmate Marques Houston had done a year earlier.
In the nineties, Hip-Hop reigned supreme, and every label CEO wanted a share of the lucrative R&B market. One strategy was to keep singers on their roster who could deliver catchy hooks, keeping everything in-house and saving money. Bad Boy had Carl Thomas, Death Row had Danny Boy, and Roc-A-Fella had Rell, our featured artist for this week’s Slow Jam Saturday
Growing up in the eighties, I was surrounded by incredibly talented male R&B singers who could deliver unforgettable love songs. Artists like Luther Vandross, Jeffrey Osborne, and Peabo Bryson dominated the airwaves, but Freddie Jackson was another voice that truly deserved recognition.