Last week at spin class the instructor, among other songs, one by Paula Abdul.
I had kind of forgotten about her. When she came out with her first single in 1988 nobody, not even me, paid much attention. It wasn’t until “Straight Up” (the song at spin class) that her popularity increased, and greatly.
A few singles later and the “Opposites Attract” video helped to cement her popularity to the point where she got a spin-off, the animated rapping cat in the music video put out his own album a year later.
Then her 2nd album came out and started out with a couple of popular songs, but nothing that matched her previous efforts. My favorite might be “Promise Of A New Day” which seemed to have a bit of a budget. Other releases from the album would feature Abdul dancing in a theater for the most part.
It would be a couple of years before she put out a new album. 1995 would see the album Head Over Heels released, and the song “Crazy Cool” featured her trying perhaps a bit too hard to stay relevant. There was another video where she was a belly dancer (I think). Maybe it was the music just wasn’t as catchy, or maybe she was always meant to be a flash in the pan, or maybe the album was released a year too early, but whatever the reason, her third album would be her last.
One of the things that I liked about her was the fact she was (still is?) a dancer. She was a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers, where the Jackson family discovered her and she became a choreographer for them.
That all got her a foot in the door of the music industry, she cut a demo, got a record deal, and the rest is history. Literally. She hasn’t put out an album since 1995.
Paula Abdul has appeared on American Idol, done more choreography work, but that’s been it. You would think with more dance-pop songs on the charts these past few years she would have released a new album. It’s a shame, really, because her music was fun.