don't call them new jill swing

when new jack swing started to falter, a new influx of girl groups, including swv, appeared circa 1992, along with mary j blige, and were hailed as 'new jill swing'. see what they did there?

this was in fact a misleading label as the music these girls were making wasn't a feminised new jack sound. it was in fact far grittier, and more likely to take its cues from naughty by nature than guy. another labelling hiccup occurred when, logically, since their names begin with a 't' 'l' and 'c', you guessed it, that was to be the group's name before the eventual tlc beat them to it within a matter of weeks.

most of these girl groups, in order to compete in the g-funk era, were forced to dress and act like men. gone were the lyrca minidresses and heels. in with the homegirl persona and lumberjack shirts. swv didn't go down this route. maybe because they were still in high school, and hadn't developed the right kind allure to carry it off. they were far from ugly, but its fair to say swv would never have been accused of possessing looks over talent.

coko, lelee and taj may have been young, but i had no idea at the time. they sang like women, in contrast to left eye's cute rapping for tlc. they dressed older than their years, unlike jade, who appeared to still be hanging out with the underage street crowd. they weren't too cool, which made them real. years later, their songs sound fresh.

their accessibility saw them enjoy huge success until their split in 1998. coko then embarked on a solo career, to lukewarm success. taj married a dallas cowboys footballer and currently has a reality show amusingly titled 'i married a baller'. lelee recently revealed that the group received little financial reward for their work and that she's been struggling to stay afloat since the group split. sound familiar?

twelve swv essentials - download here

right here

their most famous track has many versions. the most ubiquitous is definitely the michael jackson sampling human nature mix, but this g-man mix is probably lesser known and proves there was more to the song than good sampling.

i'm so into you

again, there were several versions of this track - the original and allstars mix are widely available, but this teddy riley mix featuring wreckx-n-effect bumps along nicely. the first swv track i ever bought.

weak

the original ballad is nice, but this remix is perfect midtempo 90s jeep music. it had stuttering beats before timbaland invented them and twittery, electronic background vocals. should be on every chillout playlist.

anything

again, the original is ok but this remix, featured on above the rim, with the wu-tang clan, is something else. i defy you not to dance if you hear this in a club.

can't cope
an unreleased track which sounds early 90s to me so probably a leftover from 'it's about time'. nice production, this has become one of my favourites.

all night long
featured on the waiting to exhale soundtrack, this is one of swv's best slow jams.

use your heart
this version is a duet featuring rome. a young pharrell williams produced this, and several other tracks on swv's second album 'a new beginning'.

mystery
another unreleased track, very unusual arrangement and I'm wondering why this failed to get past whichever album session it was recorded in.

can we
from 1997's booty call soundtrack, this is one swv's most popular tracks.

tell me how you want it
another soundtrack contribution, this time from the money talks soundtrack.

rain
i'm not sure many people realise this is actually a cover of an 80s vesta williams track. this is one of those rare times when the cover is better.

where you are
a jackson five cover for the hav plenty soundtrack. i prefer this version to wacko's pre-teen squeaking.

90s girl bands - premier league

though the pop decade would be dominated by boy bands such as nkotb, take that and the backstreet boys until girl power hit, on the r&b scene, girl bands were always big business in the 90s.



after the spice girls, many tried to emulate their cartoony characteristics to achieve crossover success, but the truly talented chose credibility over advertising deals.



the integration of hip hop beats into r&b tracks was first heard on en vogue's hold on in 1990 and the influence of the grittier hip hop scene saw some bands adopt a more casual or comedy image, notably tlc and jade, mostly via their clothing, to identify themselves with the more credible hip hop scene.


by 1995, it became more acceptable for girls to be girls and a more glamorous side emerged, eventually becoming the perfect complement to bad boy's patented late 90s bling scene. despite this, many of the girls were tied to bad record deals and failed to recoup much of the reward for their success.



these girls were on top of their game in the 90s - download here









en vogue - lies
in 1990, en vogue sounded like nothing else. slickly manufactured 80s soul had given way to new jack swing but some were finding the music over-produced. enter four girls, looking like the supremes, but singing over the kind of beats associated with bands like nwa and public enemy. in a rare faux pas, smash hits labelled en vogue one hit wonders in their round up 1990 - quote "...their second single currently 'lies' (arf) in the discount bin at woolies..." I think the only reason I remember this is that it was actually quite funny. but wrong.









tlc - ain't too proud to beg
colourful, cute and individual, tlc burst onto the scene in 1992. condoms flying. their first album 'oooh on the tlc tip' was slightly overshadowed by their loud image, but by the time 'crazysexycool' was released in late 1994, the girls were all grown up. if it were possible to wear out a cd i would now be on my 25th copy. though chilli and t-boz tried to carry on without left eye, it was visibly painful and they're now working on solo projects.










destiny's child - show me the way
hands up who preferred destiny's child back in the day? beyonce's voice is natural and the four girls harmonise perfectly. this track is from their debut, at age 15, and letoya is rumoured to be singing on the first verse. it does sound like her. maybe one day all six members will reunite, dreamgirls style....or not.









swv - i'm so into you
inspiration of many of today's current female r&b singers and the crown queens of new jill swing. swv were young, but looked older due to some hard times growing up. famously sampled wacko on 'right here' and went on to release five singles from their successful first album. band member lelee has recently alleged that they left their contract penniless in 1998, mirroring tlc's experience with laface.









jade - i want cha baby
game attempts to look sexy in lumberjack shirts five sizes too big paid off for jade, whose worldwide hit 'don't walk away' put them up there with swv for a time. for years, the intro to that song featured on many an answerphone. after a second successful album, like swv and tlc, jade suffered from mismanagement and split in 1994 with little financial return.









702 - steelo
in the mid 90s, 702 tried to fill the gap left by financially ruined girl groups before them. against the odds, and with scant vocal ability, they have survived well into the 00s, partly due to the clout of longtime compadre missy elliott. still, they are responsible for some nice tracks.










eternal - stay
when they arrived, eternal were revered in the uk as a band the american record buying public would lap up. their success, whilst sizable, remained slightly more local so it was rumoured that single white member louise was offloaded to improve their chances in the us r&b market. unlikely, but in any case it turned out in her favour and she's the only member still getting work. unless you count kelle bryan's appearance on celebrity love island. which is precisely the opposite of being in demand.








xscape - understanding
underrated girl group who favoured mid and slow tempo jams that allowed their vocals to shine. another young group, the then mid-teens sang at jermaine dupri's birthday party in 1991 and got a contract for their efforts. split in 1998 but now regrouped.









total - no one else
total were a bad boy project, originally singing choruses on hip hop joints for artists such as biggie smalls and ll cool j. had they stuck with this strategy, they could have disguised the fact that neither kima keisha or pam can actually sing. their debut album was painful listening and i dread to think what the untouched demo sounded like. the beats of course, were bad boy's, and wasted on them.








brownstone - if you love me
this group managed to negotiate the obvious pitfalls of being signed to wacko's label and became reasonably successful with this track in 1995. after replacing a member who left due to bronchitis (read: girlfght) they failed to recover.