Happy 25th Anniversary to Monica’s debut album Miss Thang, originally released July 18, 1995.
If your new artist can’t sing, the last thing you want is to present them a capella. But if your artist is Monica Denise Arnold? The 14-year-old from College Park, Georgia? Just hand her the mic and be done.
Nothing prepared us for her Hummer of a voice that summer of 1995. B♭3 isn’t that low a note, but when Monica hit it on the fourth “baby” in the vamp of “Don’t Take It Personal (Just One of Dem Days),” its unique resonance took the listener aback.
How did that little girl do that? Wait. How old is she again? Is there a beer-swilling blues singer named Cleotha hiding in her throat? The same baited hook caught us when we first met Michael Jackson, “Little” Stevie Wonder, LeAnn Rimes, and Shanice Wilson. The public just can’t resist a musical wunderkind with advanced gifts.
That introductory single from Monica’s triple-platinum debut Miss Thang charted #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #1 Billboard R&B, making her the youngest female artist ever to achieve the latter. That was pretty gutsy to lead with a Jeep-rocker about enforcing personal boundaries when you’re on your monthly cycle. It paid off though, yielding a platinum single right out of the gate.
The next offering, “Like This and Like That,” slid nonchalantly onto radio in the fall. The bassy banger found Monica warning a non-committal beau if their relationship didn’t solidify, “I can’t wait around…I’m gonna move along!” Rapper Mr. Malik laughs off her ultimatum with a melodic 24-bar verse that rides the beat and gives respect to the Slick Rick classic “Mona Lisa” all at once. The single’s All Star Remix rocked even harder, swapping Malik’s verse for a more gutter one from Queensbridge duo Mobb Deep.
On the flipside of that double A-side single was the more chilled-out affair, “Before You Walk Out of My Life.” This singalong favorite came courtesy of Danish team Soulshock & Karlin. They wrote it with Andrea Martin for Toni Braxton’s Secrets album, but it became huge for Monica. Moreover, pairing the hip-hop “Like This” with the pop-friendly “Before You Walk Out” was shrewd. Their combined stats resulted in dual belt-notches for Monica: two Top 10 pop and #1 R&B singles for the marketing push of one.
Monica coasted on those wins until the following summer, when her next hit single revved up at radio: the Darryl Simmons-assisted “Why I Love You So Much.” Even with some “Cleotha” in her voice, she still reaffirms her girlhood on a bridge as sweet as the rainbow swirl-pop on the single’s artwork.
By the way, you cannot discuss Miss Thang without discussing its secret weapon, Debra Killings. She’s a solo artist, a group lead, the bass player on most OutKast albums, and vocalist on every TLC album. She’s considered a virtual fourth member, so if you’re a fan of TLC’s, you’re also a fan of hers. Her crushed velvet tone is a key support to the distinct sound and attitude of Miss Thang, appearing prominently on 8 of its 16 tracks. So when Monica’s alto puts its hands on its hips, Debra’s vocals are the homegirl best friend there after school to back her up, braid her hair, grease her face, and help her fight if it comes down to it.
Both come out swinging on the sassy title track (“But it’s alright for me to think it’s all about me… that’s why I’m Miss Thang!”). For those unfamiliar with this Southern-ism, “Miss Thang” is an affectionate nickname you’d give a girl who, despite her youth, moves with so much confidence it intimidates those around her. She got the name from Dallas Austin after he saw her rebuff producers who presented songs for her album that she didn’t like. “I knew who I was and what I wanted to say,” she shrugs.
Before others knew who she was, our young starlet got a profile boost from participating in an all-star Joi Gilliam redux: “Freedom (Theme From Panther).” An eventual Top 10 R&B single, this all-woman militant manifesto perched relative newcomer Monica at the same level as Mary J. Blige, SWV, En Vogue, and others in its stark monochrome music video.
Back when movie soundtracks were critical for marketing new artists, Monica got two turns on Panther (1995). Besides “Freedom,” she duetted with a fresh-faced Usher Raymond on “Let’s Straighten It Out,” a Newports-and-brown-liquor hit for bluesman Benny Latimore in 1974. She had no reason not to swipe the song and tuck it into her album, nice and smooth-like.
Monica & Usher could’ve jumpstarted an Alexander O’Neal & Cherrelle association, had they shared her cover of “Tell Me If You Still Care.” An ATLien herself, she handles this solo tribute to hometown heroes The S.O.S. Band by hopscotching between extremes of her range for the male and female parts. As faithful devotees of the Jam & Lewis sound, hitmakers Tim Kelley & Bob Robinson were a natural choice to recreate it for her here.
Another Tim & Bob highlight is “Get Down,” a braggadocious boom-bap track that lets Monica’s voice put on some Timberland boots to stomp along with it. She sits deeply into her lowest register to intonate, “I’ve heard you’re kinda nice with yours / Now is that so? / Take the time / Learn my ways / Then we can roll.” It’s as self-assured as the duck-lipped kiss blown on Miss Thang‘s cover photo.
For all its precocious portending, there was ample age-appropriate material on Miss Thang. “Angel,” for instance, is a midtempo treatise on abstinence like Janet Jackson’s “Let’s Wait Awhile,” but with some stank on it. “Skate” takes the bounce-rock-skate-roll aesthetic of the early ‘80s and coats it in ‘90s paint to make a family-friendly jam. The acoustic love song “Forever Always” brings the album to a gentle cool-down with cajón and guiro.
Unfortunately, most of the aforementioned songs were excluded from the only vinyl edition of Miss Thang ever pressed. It could use a deluxe reissue including the bouncy track “In Time” exclusive to Japan only, and “Missing You” from the 1996 soundtrack of Fled. The Nutty Professor soundtrack cut “Ain’t Nobody” deserves a place on the proper track list for locking arms with “Why I Love You So Much” and helping lift both up to #9 Pop and #3 R&B, earning a gold-certified single.
Monica’s team played their cards expertly for Miss Thang. They avoided unnecessary comparison to contemporaries Brandy and Aaliyah by delivering Miss Thang while neither artist had big singles splitting the female teen R&B market. Her manager, Queen Latifah, got her a guest role on Living Single in April 1996. By year’s end, she booked the Whitney Houston collaboration “Somebody Bigger Than You and I,” alongside Faith Evans, Ralph Tresvant, Bobby Brown, and Johnny Gill.
Great marketing made her visible and accessible, but Monica became a chart-topper on the strength of her voice alone. Beneath her old soul and short pixie haircut—usually only sported by actually grown women—Monica was still just a kid. That kid threw a hell of a punch with her debut album though. The success of Miss Thang assured that if you ever underestimated Monica from College Park? I bet you won’t do it again.
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