| A Rose Is Still a Rose | ||||
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| Studio album by Aretha Franklin | ||||
| Released | March 23, 1998 | |||
| Recorded | 1997–1998 | |||
| Genre | R&B, soul | |||
| Length | 51:38 | |||
| Label | Arista | |||
| Producer | Dallas Austin, Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jermaine Dupri, Lauryn Hill, Daryl Simmons | |||
| Professional reviews | ||||
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| Aretha Franklin chronology | ||||
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A Rose is Still a Rose is the thirty-sixth studio album by American recording artist Aretha Franklin. Released in 1998, it resulted in the singer's best critically acclaimed and best-selling album of the nineties and her first gold-certified album in twelve years.
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By 1997, Aretha Franklin hadn't recorded a studio album in six years following the release of 1991's ill-fated What You See Is What You Sweat. Franklin remained active providing songs on soundtracks of films such as Malcolm X, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit and Waiting to Exhale. Franklin also released her first greatest-hits album of her Arista tenure in 1994, which included two new singles produced by Babyface including the top 40 hit, "Willing to Forgive". In the meantime, word reached that Franklin was working with younger producers trying to reconnect with a new audience that had advanced to embrace neo soul and hip hop soul artists such as Mary J. Blige, Erykah Badu and The Fugees. When reports began emerging that Franklin's new album would include Sean "Puffy" Combs, Jermaine Dupri and The Fugees' Lauryn Hill, fans and critics each gave the moves mixed reviews not knowing what to expect from the collaborations since the last attempts to modernize Franklin's classic soul sound with the current scene met with mixed results – her last hit album was 1986's Aretha.
Prior to releasing the album's first single, Franklin made headlines for two stand-out performances at the Grammy Awards in February 1998. The first was her 1967 classic, "Respect", which she sang in a renewed version inspired by her role in the sequel to The Blues Brothers, she later present a Grammy. Minutes later, just seconds before Luciano Pavarotti was to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award, Pavarotti called in sick. Struggling to find a replacement, Franklin opted to fill in as she had sung for Pavarotti weeks earlier. Franklin later said it took thirty minutes to get prepared for the performance and the singer admitted having fright over how the performance would go. Franklin's worries were unfounded when she performed "Nessun Dorma" in Pavarotti's musical key. Her performance won a standing ovation.
Shortly after the Grammy performance, the title track was quietly issued to radio stations in the late winter of 1998. The title track was produced by Hill, who also provided background vocals. The song's lyrics focused on a wiser woman giving advice to a younger woman going through relationship problems and self-identity issues. With a modern soul production by Hill and a vocally rejuvenated Franklin, who began singing in her higher register again after years of singing in lower registers due to declining vocals brought on by years of chain smoking, the song also was given its own video, which gained heavy rotation on BET. The video featured not only Hill but other modern female soul artists, who were admittedly influenced by Franklin including Faith Evans. The single became a success upon its release and crossed over to pop radio where the song peaked at number twenty-six on the Hot 100 marking the forty-fifth top 40 hit of Franklin's long career. The album was issued in March 1998, a month following Franklin's showstopping Grammy performance.
The album brought in a successful performance too peaking at number thirty on the Billboard 200 and number seven on the R&B chart. Though the album failed to give Franklin any more hits – the follow-up "Here We Go Again" (produced by Jermaine Dupri) only did modestly peaking at number 76 on the Hot 100 and number 24 on the R&B chart, it still sold well enough to give Franklin her first gold album in twelve years.