Source: Sal Idriss / Getty
Aaliyah’s fans are not here for the singer’s new, posthumous song “Poison,” a duet with The Weeknd that recently dropped.
Released on Blackstreet Records 2.0, — a music label originally founded by Aaliyah’s uncle Barry Hankerson — in conjunction with another label called Empire, “Poison” serves as the first new music fans have heard from Aaliyah since 2012’s “Enough Said” and a few posthumous features.
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The new single is also the first fans are hearing from Aaliyah’s upcoming album, Unstoppable, which is expected to be released in August 2022, and feature big names including Snoop dog, Drake, Future, Chris Brown and Ne-Yo.
The song was written by The Weeknd and Aaliyah’s “longtime collaborator and friend,” Static Major, according to Billboard. It was “produced by DannyBoyStyles and Nick Lamb, mixed by Mike Dean and engineered by Shin Kamiyama.”
Since “Poison” was released on Dec. 17, some listeners have condemned the song for what they believe is poor audio quality and it not being in line with Aaliyah’s standards.
Others noted that they felt the late singer is continuously exploited and that the new track isn’t doing her legacy justice.
One Twitter user went as far as to describe the song as “the worst thing” they’ve ever heard.
Hankerson said he hasn’t been in touch with Aaliyah’s camp at all during the process of developing the singer’s new album or “Poison.”
“No, not at all,” Hankerson answered concerning whether he’s discussed the rollout of Aaliyah’s new music with her estate in conversation with Billboard. “We hope they’re happy. Our door and our phone is always available if there are any comments they’d like to make about anything. We’re open to that. I don’t really know who runs that entity, but I’m not hostile at all. Anything that’s connected to Aaliyah in a positive way, we are open to be involved with and do whatever we can do. We hope it’s profitable for them. We hope that the public enjoys what we’ve done so that the estate can accomplish whatever their goals are. I just hope that out of the very terrible thing that happened to my niece that people can heal. That people can look at all the good things and not just the controversial things that may encompass their thinking. I’m not angry with anybody.”
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See some of the commentary about “Poison” down below.
