According to Consequence, Aaliyah’s estate has released a collaborative new single “Poison” featuring The Weeknd. Aaliyah’s original catalog released to streaming services earlier this year, and now a posthumous album is on the way via Blackground Records 2.0 and EMPIRE. 

The song features rough vocals that seem to be coming from an old low-quality recording that Aaliyah had once done. This could be due to the fact that the production was updated with a more modern beat, including hi-hats, snares, and 808s. The Weeknd’s voice on the other hand fits very smoothly on the track. Their voices actually fit together on the same track as they both sing with a very high-pitched tone. 

According to Consequence, most of Aaliyah’s music had been out of print for a decade because Barry Hankerson, Blackground Records founder and Aaliyah’s uncle, refused to license her catalog to streaming services. Only her 1994 debut, the R. Kelly-produced Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number, had been on streaming services because Hankerson didn’t control its masters. In August, however, the rest of her catalog, including her 1996 album One In A Million, began streaming on all platforms. 

In August, R. Kelly’s former tour manager, Demetrius Smith, testified in court about Kelly’s marriage to Aaliyah. According to him, he was with Kelly and Aaliyah in 1994 when they applied for a marriage license, and the late singer was just fifteen years old. In August 1994, after an out of state show, Kelly and Smith travelled back to Chicago where Smith learned that Aaliyah thought she was pregnant.Kelly is currently on trial in New York on federal charges of racketeering and violating the Mann Act which is an anti-sex trafficking law. He also faces child pornography and obstruction charges as well as charges for multiple counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse in Illinois. Kelly has denied the accusations.

The Weeknd was part of another collaboration yesterday, this time with FKA Twigs on their song “Tears In The Club.”

Photo Credit: Richard Saethang