Harrison soon got to work and created a backing track from a loop of "Oh, Calcutta!", and presented it to Amerie. In 2004, while working on her second album, Amerie enlisted the services of producer Rich Harrison, who had helped produce and write her first album. Even if other factors are less than positive, there is one thing that keeps her hooked ( "It's this one thing that's got me trippin.").Īlthough the song is Amerie's biggest hit to date, it was almost not released. Built around The Meters' funky beat-driven percussion, "1 Thing" finds Amerie lamenting on an aspect of a relationship that keeps her satisfied. "1 Thing" was written by Amerie and Rich Harrison and is built around a sample of The Meters' 1970 version of the same-titled theme song from Oh! Calcutta!, written by Samuel Walden. "1 Thing" was recently certified Gold by the RIAA for selling 500,000 in ring tones.
The single was certified Platinum (200,000+ copies) by the RIAA and earned Amerie a Grammy Award nomination for " Best Female R&B Vocal Performance" in 2006. The first single from Amerie's second album, Touch, and the only single from the soundtrack to the 2005 romantic comedy film Hitch, "1 Thing" peaked at number eight in the United States and number four in the United Kingdom, becoming Amerie's first top ten single and her biggest hit to date. In any case … both songs turned out to be hits - a lot of Harrison’s tracks did, in fact - and one question a lot of people are asking as a result is … why can’t we just appreciate everyone’s achievements and let the past live in the past? Indeed." 1 Thing" is a 2005 single by American R&B singer Amerie. Upon learning this, they say Amerie went ahead and leaked ‘1 Thing’ to radio stations on her own, and because it became so popular … Columbia had to back down and let it be. This has been a recurring theme in J Lo’s music career - Fat Joe even touched on it not too long ago - but the alleged tale goes … ‘1 Thing’ was supposedly being shopped to J Lo BTS, and the Columbia label heads actually wanted it to go to her instead of Amerie. However, there’s one other element here that’s also getting some attention as it relates to Amerie and J Lo, specifically … namely, old stories/rumors that Jen was allegedly getting prioritized over labelmates/contemporaries.
Amerie and J Lo, meanwhile, came out with their songs, “1 Thing” and “Get Right,” around the same time in 2005 … with JL getting a slightly earlier release in January.Īnd spoiler alert … ALL of these songs were produced by Harrison, so of course they sound alike! Everybody was dipping their toe into the RH pool here.Īs for who did what first - between Bey, J and Amerie, that is - it would appear Beyonce was, in fact, the first of the 3 to trot out Harrison’s sound with ‘CIL’ (’04), even though KR might’ve arguably had it first with ’02’s “Can’t Nobody” - and perhaps others used it even before then. Fact is, he was making “go-go” beats for just about all them, and others in the game too … including Toni Braxton, Kelly Rowland and even Mary J. Harrison was a producer in the 2000s who was working a lot with Columbia Records - who had all these ladies under their roster in the early to mid-2000s. Norf Amaruca February 26, course, a proper timeline of events is necessary here to put things in context … as is an explanation of who the heck Rich Harrison is, because he’s at the center of all of this - and the main reason for the comparisons being made in the first place. Beyoncé snatched up her producer, Rich Harrison production & amerie’s writing style became the formula that made Beyoncé #1