Background
In 1987, Abdul, who had built up her professional reputation as a choreographer for the Los Angeles Lakers and high-profile artists including George Michael, ZZ Top, Duran Duran and most notably Janet Jackson, recorded a demo using her savings. [4] Soon thereafter, she was signed to Virgin Records by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Janet Jackson. Although she was a skilled dancer and choreographer, Abdul's vocal abilities were unimpressive, and with Ayeroff's support, she underwent training until her singing range was rated mezzo-soprano. [5] [6] Ayeroff recalled signing Abdul to a recording contract years later, stating: "She said, 'I can sing, you know. I want to do an album.' Paula's in our industry. Here's someone with a personality and she's gorgeous, and she can dance. If she can sing, she could be a star. So she went into the studio and cut a demo record and she could sing." [7] The album was made on a budget of $72,000. [8]
Release and reception
On October 7, 1989, 64 weeks after its July 23, 1988 debut on the chart, Forever Your Girl hit number one on the Billboard 200 album sales chart, the longest an album has been on the market before hitting number one. [15] The album was eventually certified seven times Platinum in the US by the RIAA and has sold over 12 million copies worldwide. [16] It also includes four number one Billboard Hot 100 singles: "Straight Up", "Forever Your Girl", "Cold Hearted", and "Opposites Attract", [16] which places Forever Your Girl in a tie (with several other artists) for second most number-one songs from a single album, and ties it for the most number ones in a debut album. Forever Your Girl is also one of nine albums to have a minimum of four songs reach number one on the U.S. charts. She was the first female artist to have four number one singles from a debut album. "The Way That You Love Me" reached number three, and "Knocked Out" reached number 41.
The album also reached number four on the R&B album chart, while "Straight Up", "Opposites Attract", "Knocked Out", and "(It's Just) The Way That You Love Me" all reached the top 10 of the R&B tracks chart.
After a slow start, the album's third single "Straight Up" helped the album breakout in spring/summer 1989 after its initial summer 1988 release. Forever Your Girl hit number one for the first time on October 7, 1989. After the release of the single "Opposites Attract", the album shot to number one again on February 3, 1990, and stayed there for nine consecutive weeks.
By 1998, Billboard magazine reported that Forever Your Girl was the most successful album released by the Virgin Records label, with all five of its top 20 hits also appearing on the same chart ranking Virgin's singles. [17]
The Los Angeles Daily News called the album "a fine starmaker vehicle", stating that Abdul "applies a come-hither whisper to a likable batch of melodies... What's frustrating is that Abdul's voice is buried beneath bustling arrangements on tunes like 'Opposites Attract' and 'Knocked Out'." [12]
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