Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index

Mya

(This article is about the R&B singer Mya. For other uses, see mya (disambiguation).)

Mya is a young R&B singer who debuted in early 1998 as a teenager. Her debut album featured the singles "It's All About Me", which featured Sisqo when he was still a member a Dru Hill; "Movin' On," which featured raps from Silkk The Shocker; and the love ballad, "My First Night With You". Although the singles all had substantial airplay on urban and rhythmic radio, they all also failed to cross over onto pop radio. Nevertheless, the videos for all three songs were MTV staples through 1998.

Although Mya's own singles failed to become pop hits, Mya was a featured artist (she sang the chorus), with Ol' Dirty Bastard, on Pras' smash summer 1998 hit, "Ghetto Supastar". During the fall of the same year, she also scored a pop hit as a featured vocalist on Blackstreet's "Take Me There", which also featured guest raps from Mase and Blinky Blink.

In 2000, Mya returned to the music scene with her second album, Fear Of Flying. Its first single, "Best Of Me," was an urban R&B song that featured rapper Jadakiss and had an even more urban hip-hop remix, which featured Jay-Z. Once again, the song and its remix were huge on urban radio, but did not have any pop success. Mya's first big pop hit came with Fear Of Flying's second single, "Case Of The Ex". The song's video was also huge on MTV's TRL. The next single, "Free" was even more pop-friendly and also became quite successful on MTV, TRL, and pop radio.

In spring of 2001, Mya joined forces with Lil Kim, Pink, and Christina Aguilera, on a remake of Patti Labelle's "Lady Marmalade". The track was produced by hot hip-hop producers Timbaland and Missy Elliott and was featured in Baz Luhrman's Moulin Rouge. The song's video was memorable because it featured the four singers dressed in very skimpy clothes and heavy makeup, like women who appear at the "Moulin Rogue" would typically be dressed. The video was a huge hit on MTV, VH1, and MTV2, and won a few MTV Video Music Awards in 2001. The song was also one of the year's biggest at pop, rhythmic, and adult top 40 radio, becoming all four women's most successful single and video before or since.

Mya released her most recent single and video, "My Love Is Like...Wo," during the summer of 2003. It has since become a pretty big hit; it is currently at its peak, 13, on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 Singles chart and still rising.