If there’s one artist who really got overlooked by the music industry, it’s Amerie. Have you ever thought that Beyoncé might have been influenced by her? It’s not surprising that when people talk about why Amerie’s career seemed to fade, they mention names like Beyoncé and JLo. And let’s face it, these two have been accused of taking inspiration from other artists quite a few times. Honestly, some might say Amerie was the original Beyoncé.
Do you see the connection? Just compare the “Crazy In Love” video to Amerie’s style. And when it comes to the music, I dare you to listen to both songs and not notice how similar they sound.
But what’s the real story? How did Amerie end up being pushed out of the music industry? For those who remember, in the summer of 2002, Amerie dropped a hit with “Why Don’t We Fall in Love.” It was an incredible song. When her debut album All I Have was released in July 2002, it shot up to number two on Billboard’s R&B/hip-hop chart. Fans believed she had real staying power. Then in 2005, she released “One Thing,” which earned her multiple award nominations, including a Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 2006.
So, that song ended up on decade-end lists for two different decades and is trending on Twitter right now. People keep mentioning it to me, and I think it’s all because of “One Thing.” That’s what it’s about—everyone’s talking about “One Thing” being one of the songs of the decade. The funny thing? It’s not even from this decade! But hey, I’ll take it. Being recognized as one of the best songs of the past 20 years? I’m all for it.
Now, back in 2004, when Amerie was working on her second album, she linked up with producer Rich Harrison. This is the same guy who’s worked with JLo and Beyoncé, by the way. So, Rich and his team cranked out the lead single, “One Thing,” in just a couple of hours. But when they sent it over to Amerie’s label, Columbia Records, they kept rejecting it—over and over, for months. Amerie later said that the people at Columbia just didn’t get her sound. And that’s where things get interesting.
Enter Beyoncé.
When Beyoncé talked about making “Crazy In Love,” she said the song’s horn hook was what made it a hit. She explained, “It’s got this go-go feel, this old-school vibe. I wasn’t sure if people were gonna get it.” Now, remember how Amerie said that people didn’t get her sound, which also had that go-go, old-school vibe? The Beyhive is quick to deny any talk about Beyoncé copying Amerie’s sound, especially since “Crazy In Love” came out before “One Thing.” But here’s the twist: Rich Harrison was Amerie’s producer first, and he had “Crazy In Love” in his back pocket while he was still working with Amerie, before Beyoncé even got involved. So, there’s a pretty good chance that he might’ve originally had that track in mind for Amerie. And just because “Crazy In Love” dropped first doesn’t mean it was the first one written or produced. Amerie’s sound could’ve been borrowed way before anyone even knew it.
And here’s another thing: Beyoncé’s dad, Mathew Knowles, brought Rich Harrison in to work with her. Rich even said this about “Crazy In Love”: “Yeah, I had it ready to go. I didn’t shop it around much because, sometimes, if you put something out there too soon, people might not get it, and it could leave a bad taste in their mouth.”
For those who claim they were into the go-go sound before Amerie, she’s made it clear that she was pushing to bring it into the mainstream. She once explained, “You don’t hear go-go outside of DC. We tried it first on ‘Need You Tonight’ from the last album, but we slowed it way down. This time, we decided to go with an up-tempo track. I was like, ‘We have to do it fast because that’s how you hear it on DC radio. It’s a fresh sound for everyone else, but people in DC, Maryland, and Virginia already know what it is.'”
From where I stand, it looks like Amerie and Rich were carving out their own musical niche, heavily influenced by go-go music from DC, where she’s from. Then, Beyoncé or her team caught wind of this fresh sound and ran with it, which ended up overshadowing Amerie’s career. Maybe that took a toll on Amerie, and she decided to step back from the limelight and live a more normal life. It would make sense, especially when you consider Beyoncé’s first solo single, “Work It Out,” which had a completely different vibe and didn’t do so well. That debut track flopped, to be honest.
Now, before the Beyhive comes for me, I’m not saying this is all on Beyoncé. If anything, it was probably Rich who handed over Amerie’s potential hits to someone with more star power. Beyoncé just happened to become wildly successful, and of course, Rich would want to work with a big name like her. Besides, we can’t ignore the fact that Amerie’s record label played a big part in her career taking a downturn.
It was really about bouncing from one label to another, and that was a huge part of the struggle. For Amerie, it always seemed to take forever. She even mentioned that her label hardly put any effort into promoting her brand because they were more focused on artists who were already big. And things got even sketchier. When she was pushing to release “One Thing,” there were rumors that Columbia Records was trying to bury the single because JLo was about to drop her own album, Rebirth. Some people even said Columbia wanted JLo to record the song instead of Amerie, which led Amerie to leak it to radio stations herself.
It’s pretty clear JLo was into Amerie’s unique DC-inspired sound, which is why “Get Right” sounds so similar to “One Thing.” And when Amerie was trying to put out her third album, Because I Love It, Columbia was dealing with internal issues, which caused some delays. The album was released overseas in 2007, but in the U.S., it was only available digitally. And since digital music wasn’t as big back then, the album didn’t even chart on Billboard in 2007. Amerie later said that her label really dropped the ball on promoting Because I Love It.
Recently, Amerie opened up about how she had to fight with male executives who wanted her to follow their vision, even though she had a completely different idea of what she wanted. Every few months, the debate about whether her sound was stolen pops up again, with fans insisting that Beyoncé definitely borrowed Amerie’s style. One fan even replied to a post about smaller artists being sabotaged, saying, “The same thing happened with Amerie. JLo and Beyoncé came in and swooped up her music and DC go-go style.”
“On the other hand, many people have jumped to Beyoncé’s defense. One person put it perfectly, saying, ‘At some point, people need to stop making these baseless accusations against Beyoncé just because it fits some agenda. It’s coming off as more hater behavior than anything else.’ Others blame the whole thing on her record label. As one fan said, ‘No, that’s not true. The only thing Beyoncé might have taken from Amerie was some dance moves, and nobody owns dance moves—they could’ve had the same choreographer. Amerie’s issues were more about her label not supporting her, not Beyoncé.’
As for Amerie, she’s been keeping busy. She’s started a YouTube channel and an Instagram page for her online book club, where she reviews books and interviews current authors. Plus, she’s become a successful author herself and is even working on new music, so keep an ear out for that. In the meantime, what do you think? Do you believe Beyoncé and JLo borrowed Amerie’s sound? And do you think Amerie would’ve been a bigger artist with better support from her label? Let me know your thoughts in the comments
