20 Years Later: Looking Back At Aaliyah’s Epic 1998 Oscars Performance
#BlackGirlMagic at Oscars
Aaliyah’s performance at the 1998 Oscars was a monumental moment for her early career. The Academy Awards also known as “The Oscars” is a celebration of the world’s best actors and actresses. From Hattie McDaniel to Viola Davis, there have various black women Oscar winners over the years. There have even been black women who’ve hosted the Oscars such as Whoopi Goldberg in the 1990s.
On the 90th anniversary of America’s most watched award show, let’s flashback 20 years ago when the late Aaliyah performed at the 1998 Oscars, known as highest rated Oscars ever.
The late-R&B icon sang “Journey to the Past” from the 1997 movie “Anastasia”. The song was nominated for Best Original Song at the 1998 Oscars, but it lost to Titanic’s “My Heart Will Go On”. Aaliyah was chosen to perform the song at the awards show, and she did not disappoint.
From start to finish, the performance was astonishing and received positive reviews. The 19-year old singer was the youngest woman ever to perform at the Oscars. The more interesting part was that not only she was the youngest woman ever, but also that she was black and performing at an awards show known for its racism with McDaniel dealing with segregration at the 1940 Oscars and #OscarsSoWhite criticizing the lack of nominations for people of color in 2015 and 2016.
Just imagine being a 19-year old black woman and having to perform in front of thousands on stage and millions watching back home on national TV? It would be pretty overwhelming to say the least. Most 19-year-olds would be in college, high school, military, or workforce.
Aaliyah’s performance along with Vanessa Williams’s 1996 Oscars’ performance established prominence of female R&B figures at the Oscars. While the Oscars strictly focuses on movies, the Grammy’s and BET Awards are notorious for celebrating black excellence in the music industry, specifically for R&B and hip-hop.
One interesting fact is the “Journey to the Past” wasn’t originally sung by Aaliyah. Liz Callaway, an American actress and singer originally sang the song as the titular voice of the movie “Anastasia.” So how did Aaliyah ended up singing the song?
Then-President of Fox Music Robert Kraft (not the New England Patriots owner) wanted to promote the film to a wider audience. Kraft hired Guy Roche to produce a pop-version of “Journey to the Past” and Roche thought that Aaliyah would be the best fit because her “character, smile, and looks exuded something very, very sweet and gentle, very kind and peaceful”. The R&B singer’s version of the song would end up being on the end credits of the movie “Anatasia”.
Before her performance at the 1998 Oscars, Aaliyah sang “What Child is This” and the “Christmas Song” at the White House Christmas at Washington in 1997. Then, one of Aaliyah’s hits “Are You That Somebody” was featured on the Dr. Dolittle soundtrack and the song earned her first Grammy nomination.
Despite her tragic death in 2001, Aaliyah’s music still lives on forever and her performances at the White House and The Oscars are unprecedented, and the most impressive thing about it was 18 and 19 years old performing at the biggest stages in America.
While watching the 90th Academy Awards, let’s reflect that time 19-year-old Aaliyah made a profound statement to the world.
Kingsley Iyawe is a senior, Mathematics major from Atlanta, GA who attends Morehouse College.
