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.
As the King of Pop’s biopic continues to perform well at the box office, I wanted to revisit one of Michael Jackson’s overlooked solo albums, “Forever, Michael”, released in 1975, for my first Second Listen Sunday of 2026.
As Joe prepares for his upcoming Tiny Desk performance, it’s a fitting time to revisit “U Should Know Me,” one of the hidden gems in his catalog. This song, which he wrote and produced himself, first appeared in 1998 on the soundtrack for “Caught Up”, a hood drama starring Bokeem Woodbine and Cynda Williams.
As fans look forward to his upcoming co-headlining “Nights Like This” tour with Akon, Ne-Yo is smoothly transitioning into country music while still maintaining his R&B roots with his latest single, “Ms. Tundra.” This infectious track is the third release from his forthcoming tenth studio album, “Highway 79,” set for release on July 10 via Compound Entertainment.