Aaliyah
has a pleasant voice, but the real reason the teenager's debut album,
Age Ain't Nothing but a Number
, was a hit is the radio-ready production courtesy of
R. Kelly
, her then-husband.
Kelly
wraps
's voice in layers of lush synths and deep grooves, while adding songs that are frequently better than the ones on his own album,
12 Play
.
Age
may have its share of filler, but its singles are slyly seductive. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine