Monica 'All Eyez On Me' album

"With my third album, I'm getting a chance to express myself in a whole new way." For Monica, whose illustrious recording career has yielded over six million album sales, a Grammy Award and numerous accolades, that means exploring her skills as a songwriter, collaborating on many of the songs on her much-anticipated J Records debut. "Honestly, I hadn't thought about writing much," says the upbeat 21-year old. "I was thinking more about getting songs from great songwriters. We were working on the third tune for the album and I had this idea for it. That was "I Wrote This Song" and after we finished it, I got the confidence to keep going..."

With her voice exhibiting what she calls "a more soulful sound," Monica has co-written a set of songs that are at once personal, honest and real. Hitmaking producers Rodney Jerkins, Jermaine Dupri, Dallas Austin and the team of Soulshock & Karlin provide the perfect blend of contemporary R&B, pop and hip-hop tracks giving Monica a strong musical backdrop for tunes like the groove-oriented "All Eyez On Me" (which features Michael Jackson's "Pretty Young Thing" written by Quincy Jones and James Ingram for Jackson's "Thriller" album), the jeep-flavored "Ain't Gonna Cry No More" and the standout slow jams "Breaks My Heart," "Down 4 Whateva" and "Searchin.'" She reflects, "All of the producers made it easy for me and along with my manager Melinda Dancil, they all encouraged me to write. I didn't have one concept in mind: I just thought about the situations and that they might be worth sharing...

The subject matter Monica chose to deal with on her all-important third record "is quite serious. I think more adults will be comfortable with my music. The truth is, I've grown up." Produced by Dupri, "U Should've Known" is "about a relationship where everything is positive until something negative happens and the guy gets incarcerated.

Yes," Monica states, "it is a situation I have experienced..." In the same way, "I Wrote The This Song" (produced by Soulshock & Karlin) is based on real life: "It took a lot of courage for me to write that one. It's about my first love who committed suicide and the song was my way of sharing the intimate situation between us. Some days, when I think about what happened, I cry. Writing the song was like a healing for me. I knew if I could write about that, I could write about anything..."

With a novel twist on the dynamics in a male-female relationship, Monica's "If U Were The Girl" (co-written and produced by Jermaine Dupri) begs the question, "how would you deal with it if you were in my shoes! You know, all that coming home whenever you want to, staying out all night, that kinda stuff!" Stepping up with a lighter look at love, Monica describes "All Eyez On Me" as "a party record. The world has had plenty of tragedy to deal with recently so I wanted to do something that had a ?feel good' flavor to it."

No doubt, Monica's third album showcases her natural development as an artist and performer who has created a strong, loyal global audience over the past seven years. No surprise that the Atlanta-born singer and performer has achieved so much in such a short time: a career in music seemed inevitable, for at the tender age of two, Monica was following in her mother's footsteps and singing in church. By the time she was ten, Monica was touring with a local gospel group and in 1992, after performing Whitney Houston's classic "The Greatest Love Of All" at a talent show organized by female rapper Yo Yo, the budding vocalist was introduced to producer Dallas Austin who signed her to his Rowdy Records label distributed at the time by Arista.

J Records President Clive Davis (then head of Arista) was immediately impressed with the young teen's vocal prowess and provided the necessary resources to help catapult Monica's exciting debut set MISS THANG to multi-platinum status after its release in 1995. The major hit singles, "Don't Take It Personal (Just One Of Dem Days)" and "Before You Walk Out Of My Life" gave Monica the distinction of being the youngest female artist ever to have two back-to-back No. 1 hits on Billboard's R&B Singles chart, both also climbing into the upper reaches of the Hot 100 chart and achieving platinum status in the process. A third single from the three million-selling album, "Why I Love You So Much" went gold in 1996 and that same year, she performed at The Olympic Games as well as giving audiences nationwide the chance to see her dynamic live show during her first national tour.

In 1997, Monica scored another major success with the track "For You I Will," a million-selling pop and R&B smash single from the soundtrack of "Space Jam." Not content with picking up numerous American Music Award, Soul Train and Billboard Award nominations in the wake of her debut album, Monica reached new heights with the 1998 release of "The Boy Is Mine," a duet with Brandy which spent thirteen weeks at No. 1 on the pop charts and eight weeks at No. 1 on the R&B listings. With its much-acclaimed video, "The Boy Is Mine" earned Monica a Grammy Award for "Best R&B Performance By A Group Or Duo With Vocal."

The song also became the title for a hit-filled second album released on Arista in the summer of 1998. THE BOY IS MINE featured the pop and R&B chart topper "The First Night" and the No. 1 pop single "Angel Of Mine." Celebrating another three million-plus sales for her sophomore set, Monica took some time away from touring to focus on expanding her creative skills, specifically in the arena of acting. In 2000, she starred in the MTV movie "Love Song," portraying a young woman whose life is turned upside down by a New Orleans blues musician. The film featured Monica's recording of the Diane Warren-penned, David Foster-produced "What My Heart Sings."

Monica's acting credits continued with a role in the 2000 Miramax movie "Boys And Girls" starring Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jason Biggs; she was also featured on the best-selling soundtrack for the 2001 Chris Rock movie "Down To Earth" with the lead off single, "Just Another Girl." The recipient of Atlanta's Phoenix Award, named one of "The 50 Most Beautiful People In The World" in 1999 by People magazine and voted one of the "21 Hottest Stars Under 21" by Teen People magazine, Monica has been nominated for Nickelodeon, Teen Choice and Lady Of Soul Awards. She has received an NAACP Image Award and an RIAA Public Service Award and, expressing her commitment to a variety of important charities, Monica has worked with The Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Inner City Games and the worldwide "READ" campaign. As a personal guest of famed fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld of The House Of Chanel, Monica went to Paris for an exciting four-day trip that resulted in MTV and Fashion Television tapings.

But with all that she has achieved in just the past few years, Monica has kept her feet firmly planted on solid ground. Referencing the opening cut on her third album, aptly titled "I'm Back," she notes, "I took some time between the last record and this new one because I wanted to relax and enjoy my life. I've been recording since I was twelve and I needed time to just look at how much work I have done. Now, I want the audience who knew me as a young girl, as a pre-teen, to know me as a young woman. I want them to see my strength, that I'm comfortable in my own skin, that my life is more than just about music...that I'm able to handle other things now..."

Dealing with the joy and pain of life, love and relationships with truth-tellin' tunes like "Hurts The Most," "U Deserve" and "Girl, Please," Monica's J Records up close and personal debut set is a soulful showcase for this multi-talented entertainer. In her own words, "It's like my ?coming of age' record and with this album, I want to establish the kind of fans who will be with me for the next ten years and more..."

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Monica - All Eyez On Me