R&B Ballads - #3

#3

Jagged Edge - Gotta Be

1998

You make me whole, you make me right
Don't ever wanna think about you leaving my life

Woo-Hoo!: Don't want to give too much away about the top two songs, but this one and the top two have a common thread: emotion. The emotion in this song (as you would expect) is love, with a side of longing. And everthing in the song, the lyrics, the instruments, the beat, they all support the love/longing angle.

D'oh: Sometimes when they're singing, it almost sounds like they're singing/whispering. I almost like it, but I don't. They also have a rain storm outro their song which sounds pretty good, but it's rather random.

The Deal: This song must have come out before the internet, because I liked it, but I never knew who sang it until they're next big song came out two years later (Let's Get Married). If they had had the internet on computers back then, I wouldn't have had this problem.

R&B Ballads - #4

#4

K-Ci & JoJo - All My Life

1998

You turned my life around
You picked me up when I was down

Woo-hoo!: Classic K-Ci and JoJo on this track. If you've been counting at home, this is their fourth mention on this list (twice by themselves and twice with Jodeci) which equals the mark of Boyz II Men (take that, Philly!). The pinnacle of this song is the beginning which goes from violin, to acapella, to piano. From there, it's a gentle down slope that goes down real smooth.

D'oh!: Even though there's supposedly only the two of them, there are all these extra voices in the background. It's probably just multiple recorded voices of K-Ci and JoJo and not the rest of Jodeci, but it's still distracting. Also, what's up with the "I'm close to you just like my (INSERT FAMILY MEMBER HERE)" line. Hope their family wasn't that close.

The Deal: If they had combined the beginning of this song with the end of "Tell Me It's Real", that may just have been the perfect song. But they'll have to be content with a couple of spots in the top 10.