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And this is to say nothing of Abdul’s Syrian-Jewish heritage which blurred the racial lines of how she was perceived. With a cunning, club-friendly aesthetic inset with a seamless blend of pop and R&B, Abdul was able to situate herself at a central location on that same genre spectrum to court both white and black consumers. Barring the occasional overlap, Madonna resided on one side of the genre spectrum (pop) and Janet Jackson on the other end (R&B)-there wasn’t always a middle ground to be found. By the top half of 1990, Abdul was in healthy competition with Madonna and Janet Jackson-the two leading ladies in popular music at that time. Issued by Virgin Records in 1988, Abdul’s inaugural set Forever Your Girl wasn’t an overnight success. Its commercial momentum built itself steadily over six months until its third single “Straight Up” caused the LP to explode. Her arrival at this watershed moment was due to a culmination of events over a three-year expanse that saw Abdul transition from an in-demand choreographer to one of the hottest musical acts of the period.
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The resulting record was a bold combination of floorfillers, plush downtempos, and a few social commentary set pieces Abdul also co-wrote four of the eleven sides on Spellbound. Abdul assembled the bulk of the long player in association with The Family Stand-an enterprising funk trio signed to EastWest/Atlantic Records additional collaborations with Prince, Jorge Corante, and Colin England could be heard on the project as well. With her second studio album Spellbound (1991), Paula Abdul sought to make a statement: she wasn’t just another faceless MTV-era flash in the pan. Happy 25th Anniversary to Paula Abdul’s third studio album Head Over Heels, originally released June 13, 1995.