All it took was "Straight Up." Great dance-pop production, a great monochrome video from then up-and-comer David Fincher, some promotion thanks to Arsenio Hall, and Paula Abdul was a star and her debut album, Forever Your Girl, was a phenomenon. "The Way that You Love Me" was, at least in one of its radio versions, the first exposure to house music that many had on mainstream radio, "Forever Your Girl" was spritely pop that again clicked thanks to a good Fincher video, and "Knocked Out" finally connected on a second release. "Opposites Attract," even minus its strained concept video featuring MC Skat Kat and The Stray Mob, seems kind of odd, but it still has a nostalgic value.
The sterling moment from the first record is, of course, "Cold Hearted," which is the kind of icy hot club smash that even today sounds nervy and fresh (Love those synth strings). There's nothing from Abdul's Shut Up and Dance remix compilation, even though several of those reworks seem better suited to how her material became and defined the dance-pop playing field of the transition from the eighties to the nineties.
The enduring joy of this compilation are the material from the Spellbound album. I remember being surprised and pleased when advance word said that Abdul had enlisted The Family Stand (Peter Lord, V. Jeffrey Smith, and Sandra St. Victor) to produce the disc, and those songs remain perfect pop moments- the smooth majesty of "Rush Rush," the piano-fuelled house thump of "Vibeology," even the optimistic hippie-disco of "The Promise of a New Day" – they all sound relevant even today.
Even better, in terms of endurance, is "My Love is For Real." The first single from the sadly underrated Head over Heels record, this took background vocals by Ofra Haza, a Levantine sensuality in its strings, and a mature vocal from Abdul that sounds like nothing else she'd ever done.
There are a few more singles, as well as a track previously only included on one of the Beverly Hills 90210 soundtrack albums. Thanks to American Idol, Paula Abdul is better-known now than any of her competitors back in the day (with the notable exception of Madonna, though even that is open to debate), and it's certain that some of the millions of viewers who tune in to see the next big thing will check out this disc, just to get a feel for the Why of Paula. This is a good encapsulation of La Abdul's years as a pop star, and definitely useful for anyone looking to get back into that time and place.
