En Vogue singles poll

fuck i misspelled the group name in the thread title. can a mod fix that if they feel so inclined?

"My Lovin" or "Whatta Man." I never liked these chicks as much as I should.

"Free Your Mind," which always reminded me of Labelle's rock side (despite watering down Funkadelic's words.)

yeah "Free Your Mind" seemed cooler to me before i realized it bowdlerized something from before my time, but it's still pretty great and one of those rare token 'rock moves' by an R&B act that just kind of slays no matter how credibly hard-rocking it is or isn't.

Never gonna get never gonna get it. Never gonna get it never gonna get it. Never gonna get it. Never gonna get it-bawap bam boooowooo-oooh!

Haha, I was about to write ^^^

think i'm gonna throw my vote to "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," which is my favorite that I don't anticipate being a serious contender in this poll, because it seems like something that retro from the early '90s would age poorly and covering Aretha is such dicey territory but man, they really just kill it. also the video was kind of a woah puberty moment for me.

this is way harder than i thought it would be. "my lovin" and "free your mind" are prob the frontrunners (i exclude "whatta man" cuz it's salt'n'pepa's song really), and for good reason given that they're both fucking monsters, kind of want to give love to "hold on" (harmonies almost as great as That Moment in "my lovin") and "don't let go (love)" which is one of those great songs that erodes the banger/ballad distinction quite effectively

I never liked these chicks as much as I should.

Yeah, I kind of wrote them off as some contrived pop thing and then proceeded to hum along to their songs every time I heard them.

Voted 'Whatta Man' but it was close.

This is so hard!

My Lovin' or Whatta Man, I think.

Wait I like Lex's idea of excluding Whatta Man because of S 'n P. My Lovin' it is. It's a fantastic song anyway so I'm happy to vote for it.

Yeah, based on Lex's logic, I would have voted thus too.

also the video was kind of a woah puberty moment for me.

(I love Whatta Man though - still know all the words)

ooooooOOOOOOOH

BOPP

NEVAH GONNA GET IT NEVAH GONNA GET IT
NEEEEEVAH GONNA GET IT NEVAH GONNA GET IT

I'm going to have that stuck in my head all day long now.

Also used as a great sample on Cube's "You Ain't Gonna Take My Life"

also the video was kind of a woah puberty moment for me.

Yeah, might have to vote for GHSHCF just because the video had such an impact when I was little. Had a huge crush on Dawn even as a young gay boy.

Voted "My Lovin'" on impulse but damn, they had some amazing tunes. Could have easily gone for "Hold On", "Lies" or "Don't Let Go" (like lex, I tend to think of "Whatta Man" as a Salt-n-Pepa track).

I thought about leaving out "Whatta Man," but considering that it was 1) on an En Vogue album and 2) was their only really hit collaboration, not one of many that could be a separate poll, I let it stay.

'funky divas' was one of the first cassettes i ever owned!

'my lovin' ftw. i'm not sure i remember how any of the songs post-"don't let go" even go

loved that cassette too, at a time when 'free your mind' was the hardest thing i had ever heard

i'm not sure i remember how any of the songs post-"don't let go" even go

― based god fillets with olive oil, cook for an additional 6 minutes (donna rouge), Friday, January 28, 2011 1:04 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

don't worry about it, neither does anybody else

The first music I ever owned was the cassingle of My Lovin'. It's still one of my all-time favs.

Probably "My Lovin", but "Don't Let Go" absolutely slays at house parties, wedding receptions, hens nights etc.

I was just telling Surm a couple of days ago how much I still love Don't Let Go.

"YOU'VE GOT THE RIGHT! YOU'VE GOT THE RIGHT!"

^^i just had that exact moment

voted 'don't let go' over 'hold on'.

'don't let go' is one of the best songs of all time

i sing it a lot

it's up there wit like toni ur makin me high classic

always liked "Don't Let Go"

i think opting to sing in unison for the first half of the chorus works really nicely because it gives the first half a lot of oomph, and it sets up the second half nicely when they dive into the harmonies.

yea that's like the key

wait that is actually really weird that this thread was started yesterday cuz Turangalila was JUST obsessing about this song with me

i had assumed he started the poll!

:P

What's it gonna be cos I can't pretend.

prob will vote "hold on" but also like "give it up turn it loose" a lot

What's it gonna be cos I can't pretend.

You gotta make the sacrifice, somebody's got to choose.

"Hold On" for sentimental reasons -- recall walking through my neighborhood during spring/summer 1990, hearing it blast out of so many cars, and never tiring of it. Plus, for whatever reason, I never felt the least bit sheepish about playing it myself. (Don't know if anyone had a similar experience while being in high school around that time, but males would get seriously clowned for listening to modern R&B.)

(Unless it was "Hold On" or Guy, iIrc.)

the tittle can't be edited? it awkward

I asked for it to be changed on the Moderator Request Forum already, don't know what else I can do

Don't Let Go may be my favourite ever rnb ballad, thinking about it.

I didn't remember "Don't Let Go" until I sampled it on iTunes last night, and went, "Oh! THAT one!"

I also liked it cuz the early 90's stuff sounds really really dated now and Don't Let Go doesn't.

My Lovin' because I remember the video being awesome and the demonic "You Bet" voice on the break.

thank you to abbott for the thread title fix!

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Come on, a lot of these are good but My Lovin' is straight up one of the best songs ever.

I have to agree despite my desire to throw a bone to something else.

Know what's actually really good? Masterpiece Theatre. Though my favourite tracks ("Those Dogs", "Latin Soul", "Beat of Love" etc.) weren't singles.

"free your mind" video is so fkn fierce

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i7iQbBbMAFE

i should get masterpiece theatre. only en vogue album i own in full is funky divas.

this is the rare occasion where you call something fierce and i say "otm." savor it.

i should get masterpiece theatre.

Lex tell me you've heard "Those Dogs"!?!?!?!

want to go for the lovemaking heartbreaking soulshaking but kinda wonder whether if in doing so i'd not be paying sufficient tribute to their totally amazing greek chorus-ish harmonizing (which brilliantly ridiculous 'those dogs' suggests was never used enough for a evil). could argue it's their most generic song in terms of it getting by on power fluctuation alone.

bit surprised rev hasnt been on here to reiterate 'whatever' reppage:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXaOZeB7v9Y

song isn't a classic by any means but babyface makes a nice entry into the fake timbo friki-frikipedia with it. and the video alone!! the most 1997 thing you ever did see.

Yeah, "Whatever" is dope. Not sure I've ever vocally repped for it tho? Voted for "My Lovin'" at any rate.

I guess I have.

Listened to En Vogue's greatest hits tonight. Besides the obvious world-beating songs, I never noticed how great the production on "Whatever" from 1997 is.

― Merzbox and whale songs (The Reverend), Sunday, August 23, 2009 1:54 AM Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

don't really know why i remembered that either.

"Don't Let Go" absolutely slays at house parties, wedding receptions, hens nights etc.

lol yeah when those first piano chords dawn people are SO. READY. very serious faces.

friki-frikipedia

!!!

people are SO. READY. very serious faces.

those parties are some serious shit. The promise of impending lovemaking heartbreaking soulshaking actually sounds quite real.

Lex tell me you've heard "Those Dogs"!?!?!?!

nope! i am so downloading this albu tho.

Glad I went back to the best of before voting. My Lovin, Free Your Mind and Whatta Man stuck in my mind but Don't Let Go is the tune.

"Hold On," just because it felt so needed at that moment--the first of many hip-hop-influenced '90s singles that began making late-'80s Top 40 sound as unfunky as it was, relatively speaking.

"if i could wear you close, i'd pretend i was you" - that line on "don't let go (love)" is THE EMOTIONAL PEAK

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Yeah, that's about right.

yeah, nice spread of votes, great turnout...glad i finally remembered to start this thread, had been meaning to forever

Wow. OK I had never knowingly heard "Don't Let Go" before this thread and... OMG.

Does it sound a little like a Prince song to anybody else?

Anyway. Holy shit. I have rewound this like 20 times in the last two days.

"if i could wear you close, i'd pretend i was you" - that line on "don't let go (love)" is THE EMOTIONAL PEAK

Isn't it "If I could wear your CLOTHES, I'd etc"? There are some lines I can't really decipher though. Something about the stars, and two hearts speaking to each other. Whatever. This song is the fucking nine-pound hammer.

I can't remember how Hold On went; whenever I try, I end up thinking of the Wilson Phillips song that was also popular at the time. I'm also having trouble remembering "Don't Let Go" which for some reason makes me think of Eternal's "Just A Step From Heaven" when I try to summon it.

Still, possibly one of the greatest all-female vocal groups to ever hit the charts and My Lovin' is a zenith-like example.

Man, I thought Funky Divas was good but Born to Sing is like even more next level

also lol at "Time Goes On" riffing on Electric Cafe-era Kraftwerk. This is like one of the best intros of all time.

"don't let go (love)" which is one of those great songs that erodes the banger/ballad distinction quite effectively

― lextasy refix (lex pretend), Friday, January 28, 2011 8:08 AM Bookmark

hehehe

not sure how I didn't vote for that song tbh

i don't like that song v much and it is totally not a banger.

i mean it's a power ballad maybe but certainly not a banger.

It works very well at hen's nights IME

all tru power ballads are bangers

^^^ truth

"dont let go not a banger" is surely among the most astoundingly, self-evidently rong statements i've ever read on here. epic voight-kampff fail

Also no song inspires people to move their hands in a vague approximation of the notes of the harmony so much as the "you've got the right, you've got the right!" vamping on this song.

tbh I wish I heard them more often down here. They've vanished -- TLC and Destiny's Child take their space.

I taught myself how to play "Don't Let Go" on piano

i don't like that song v much and it is totally not a banger.

you just need to hear it blasting out of surm's living room speakers and it will open right up for you, promise.

If I could wear your clothes
I'd pretend I was you
And lose control

this lyric always gives me very brief pause for reflection, before i instantly forget about it afterwards each time as the chorus sweeps back out

it's like ok wear clothes, right, metaphor... oh no wait whoa she's actually wearing them

/i don't like that song v much and it is totally not a banger./

you just need to hear it blasting out of surm's living room speakers and it will open right up for you, promise.

oh?

Listened to En Vogue's greatest hits tonight. Besides the obvious world-beating songs, I never noticed how great the production on "Whatever" from 1997 is.

― Merzbox and whale songs (The Reverend), Sunday, August 23, 2009

man this arrangement kills. Those descending BOM-BOM-BOMMMS.

My girlfriend got us En Vogue tickets as a slightly jokey Valentines present - they were so enjoyable! Ridiculously slick vocals, and bouncing around the stage like teenagers. I was shocked to learn that the oldest one is 54, you wouldn't have pegged any of them past mid thirties.

Was the the Mighty Hoop-la festival at the weekend there?

they came out with a single this year and it's great!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXneXgisr5o

feels super right that raphael saddiq produced it.

oakland! surprised they haven't worked together before

I had forgotten about “fake timbo friki-frikipedia”

Also any En Vogue thread revive is an opportunity to remind people to check “Those Dogs”.

ty :)

the bassline on my lovin is weird, its first half is all proper and then the second half just kind of floats around

FREE YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MIND
AND your ass the rest will follow

No dedicated En Vogue thread, so...this one's a jam! Includes a sample of "Musique Non Stop"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vx1fBw7F4So

And for cool continuity they put out a great track called 'Electric Cafe' just a few years back.