And here she is on the back with a less jovial facial expression from the same "black turtleneck, white background" photoshoot.
I remember liking "Looking For A New Love" back when it was getting airplay. I thought Jody Watley was a new artist at the time-- she won the Grammy for Best New Artist in 1988, after all-- but as the card back implies, she already had many years of experience under her belt by that point.
Checking out more of her stuff now, there are a few other tunes that are familiar to me from my days listening to pop radio in the late 80s, such as (Want Me,) "Don't You Want Me" and (You Were My) "Everything", that I hadn't realized (or forgot) were Jody Watley tracks. I also dig "The Second Time Around" by Shalamar, and wasn't aware Jody Watley was in that group before going solo.
Turning to her Wikipedia entry to dig in a little more, she's put out 9 studio albums, most recently 2006's The Makeover. Since then, she's also put together a new incarnation of Shalamar, first called "Shalamar Reloaded", then "SRL", before morphing into "Jody Watley & SRL".
CUSTOM CORNER
To go with 1988's Best New Artist winner, I thought I'd whip up a custom for the most recent winner of that particular Grammy Award.
I watched Chappell Roan perform a couple tracks on Saturday Night Live last year, and while I'm certainly not in her target demographic, I could dig it.
She sort of strikes me as like a more bawdy version of Taylor Swift, but I'm a middle-aged dude, so what do I know? (Don't want any young fans who stumble upon this post to be upset with me! lol)
But yeah, Chappell Roan originally debuted with a folky EP in 2017 that didn't see much success, but then she took a few years and returned with The Rise and Fall of a Midwest Princess (2023). That album was a big hit and lead to her being nominated for all the "Big Four" awards at the 2025 Grammies, ultimately winning Best New Artist.
That's it for this time. As always, let's hear it in the comments if you've got anything to add or just wanna give your 2¢ on either artist.
Loved Jody Watley in the late '80s, Looking for a New Love, Real Love, Some Kind of Lover, Don't You Want Me. I was particularly obsessed with "Still a Thrill," which you don't hear much. ... And I did know she came from Shalamar, I remember "Second Time Around" on the radio, as well as "Dancing in the Sheets" from the Footloose soundtrack.
ReplyDeleteChappell Roan is not my speed. But at least it's not vapid pop. (Though I guess that's what some people in the '80s would call Watley 😄)
Not much to say about either. Jody Watley's records are fine but I never got much into her. Funny thing with Shalamar is that they had their first hit, "Uptown Festival", before the group even existed; it was just session musicians.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started seeing Chappell Roan on the charts I assumed her name was pronounced like Dave Chappelle. But it's actually like the word "chapel".