| "We Need a Resolution" | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Single by Aaliyah and Timbaland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| from the album Aaliyah | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| B-side | "Are You Feelin' Me?" (UK) "Messed Up" (UK) |
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| Released | April 13, 2001 (radio) April 24, 2001 (U.S. CD) May 22, 2001 (U.S. 12") August 14, 2001 (German CD) |
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| Format | CD single, 12" single, cassette, digital download | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Recorded | March 2001 Westlake Recording Studios (Los Angeles, California) |
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| Genre | R&B, electro hop, downtempo, hip hop, trip hop | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Length | 4:02 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Label | Blackground/Virgin | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Writer(s) | Tim Mosley, Steve Garrett | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Producer | Timbaland | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Aaliyah North America singles chronology | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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"We Need a Resolution" is an R&B/electro hop song written by Steve "Static" Garrett and Tim "Timbaland" Mosley for Aaliyah's self-titled third studio album, Aaliyah (2001). It was produced by Timbaland and released as the album's lead single and Aaliyah's first single released in the new millennium during the second and third quarter of 2001 (see 2001 in music).
The song was a moderate success internationally. "We Need a Resolution" reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and the top 30 in Canada. In October 2011, NME placed it at number 119 on its list "150 Best Tracks of the Past 15 Years".[1]
The UK single's cover features the somewhat popular cartoon version of Aaliyah that once appeared on a promotional commercial for the album, while the US CD single's cover features a close up of Aaliyah from a promo shot of the music video.
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In a 2001 interview, Aaliyah explains the background towards choosing the song as the lead single:
"This song is very smooth, but yet it's not a ballad, but it's not your.. um... average up tempo, so I thought it was a really smooth way to make an entrance back into music, with my studio album."
"It's written by Static, and on this album I wanted to speak about relationships and all kinds of relationships. Good ones, bad ones or what have you, and that song speaks of our relationship that's kind of.. in the middle, you know what I mean. It's not, either or, really, it's just at a point where they're not communicating, they have problems and they want to resolve them, then, what's actually cool about it is, not all the time, do you actually come to a resolution, you know what I mean. And at the end of the song, they don't really, they really don't resolve anything, so, and that happens in life, so that really what that songs about."
It uses a clarinet sample from John Ottman's "Tricks of the Trade". While this particular part of the song is in 10/8 time signature, Timbaland used quantization to make the "We Need a Resolution" beat completely in 4/4.[2]
The music video for the song was directed by Paul Hunter from April 6-8, 2001 and premiered on BET's 106 & Park and MTV's TRL on April 26, 2001.
The video opens with Aaliyah sitting in a dark room in a black dress and also appearing on a TV screen performing the first verse. Leading up to the chorus she can be seen laying on a glass bed with headphones on.
During the second verse and the next chorus Aaliyah is in a scene with a snake around her neck in a snake pit. As Timbaland's rap verse begins he can be seen in a dark room wearing shades. Aaliyah performs a dance routine with other dancers during Timbaland's verse. The video closes with Aaliyah in the dark bedroom scene again and Aaliyah with one of the male dancers.
The video placed at #77 on the BET: Notarized top 100 videos of 2001, and at #30 on MTV's top 50 videos of 2001.
On MTV Germany, the video was one of the most played videos of the year 2001. It ranked in the top 100 of the year-end chart.
| Chart (2001) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Singles Chart | 44[3] |
| Belgian Singles Chart | 47[4] |
| Dutch Singles Chart | 37[5] |
| French Singles Chart | 53[6] |
| German Singles Chart | 71 |
| Swedish Singles Chart | 46[7] |
| Swiss Singles Chart | 56[8] |
| Tokio Hot 100 | 17[9] |
| UK Singles Chart | 20 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 | 59 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot 100 Airplay | 50 |
| U.S. Billboard Latin Tropical/Salsa Airplay | 31 |
| U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs | 15 |
| U.S. Billboard Rhythmic Top 40 | 38 |
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