Throwback Thursday: Blaque – “Bring It All to Me”

Throwback Thursday: Blaque – “Bring It All to Me”

In July of ’99, Blaque released “Bring It All to Me” as the second single from the group’s self-titled debut album.

(Sidebar: Did you know Blaque stood for Believing in Life and Achieving a Quest for Unity in Everything? The more you know.)

Co-written and co-produced by Cory Rooney, the song samples Shalamar’s “I Don’t Wanna Be the Last to Know.” Take this as more evidence that Shalamar is the most underrated group ever, and that much of the R&B music before 1985 didn’t get a fair shake. Honestly, R&B still doesn’t get a fair shake, but we’ll table that for another post.

The album version of “Bring It All to Me” features the only real vocalist in *NSYNC, JC Chasez, but the whole group is credited. The video version doesn’t include his vocals, which is odd — artists don’t put collaborations on album just to exclude the collaborator when the single is released. My guess is that *NSYNC’s label didn’t want the group to lose pop appeal by associating with a black girl group so early in the group’s career.

And how’s this for random: One of the song’s remixes features a then-unknown 50 Cent.

From the piano line to the beat to the mellow vocals, “Bring It All to Me” is song is so late ’90s smooth. The song would become the group’s biggest hit, peaking at No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100.

This week’s TBT selection is in honor of Blaque member Natina Reed, who passed away in 2012. Yesterday would’ve been her 40th birthday.