Always Aaliyah

Back & Forth

Back & Forth is the first single of Aaliyah from her album, Age Ain't Nothing But A Number. The song was written and producen by R. Kelly and lyrically the song is about a teenager's excitement for partying on the weekend with friends.

Back & Forth is an Urban-Dance cross song with pop and r&b influences with Aaliyah singing in a subtle "Laid Back" way Blackground and Jive released the song as the album's lead single on April 8, 1994

Its release the song was met with generally positive reviews with many critics praising Aaliyah's tone and overall vocal delivery on the record.

Back & Forth was performed peaking at number 5 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the week ending on July 2, 1994. The song was just as successful on the Hot R&B/Hip Hop songs where it broke R. Kelly's 13 week run at number 1 when it topped the charts on the week ending on May 21, 1994.

The song would eventually spent a total of 3 weeks at number 1 on the chart. The song also topped the Rhythmic top 40 charts on the week ending on July 9, 1994. On June 9, 1994, the song was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of American.

Towards the end of 1994 Billboard reported that the song had sold over 700,000 copies.

Internationally "Back & Forth" was performed moderately peaking within the top 20 at number 16 on the UK's offical chart. Also in the UK, the song peaked within the top 20 at number 16 on the Official Dance chart. In Europe, the song peaked within the top 40 at number 38 in the Netherlands.

The song accompanying music video was directed by Millicent Shelton in Aaliyah's hometown of Detroit.

The actual video location was at Aaliyah's high school and on the day of the video shoot many local teens were recruited to be in multiple scenes of the video.

The video was filmed at Detriot's High School for the Fine and Performing Arts (school when Aaliyah attended). Filming the video, both Aaliyah and R. Kelly worked on dance moves and the styling for the video.