"The Thing I Like" is a song recorded by American singer

Aaliyah Aaliyah Dana Haughton ( ; January 16, 1979 – August 25, 2001) was an American singer, actress, dancer, and model. Known as the " Princess of R&B" and "Queen of Urban Pop", she is credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, p ...

for her debut studio album ''

Age Ain't Nothing but a Number ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' is the debut studio album by American singer Aaliyah. It was released on May 24, 1994, by Blackground Records and Jive Records. After being signed by her uncle Barry Hankerson, Aaliyah was introduced to reco ...

'' (1994). It was written and produced by

R. Kelly Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967), known as R. Kelly, is an American former singer, songwriter, and record producer. He is credited with prolific commercial success in R&B, hip hop, and pop music recordings, earning nicknames suc ...

. The song appeared on the soundtrack for the film ''

A Low Down Dirty Shame ''A Low Down Dirty Shame'' is a 1994 American action comedy film written, directed, and starring Keenen Ivory Wayans. The film also stars Charles S. Dutton, Jada Pinkett, Salli Richardson and Corwin Hawkins, who died before the film was release ...

'' (1994). It was released as the fifth and final single from ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' exclusively in the United Kingdom on August 28, 1995, by

Blackground Records Blackground Records 2.0 (legal name Blackground Records, LLC, formerly known as Blackground Records, also known as Blackground Entertainment) is an American record label founded and owned by Jomo and Barry Hankerson. Initially named Blackground ...

and

Jive Records Jive Records (later stylized as JIVE Records) was a British-American independent record label founded by Clive Calder in 1981 as a subsidiary of the Zomba Group of Companies, Zomba Group. In the US, the label had offices in New York City and Chic ...

. A moderate commercial success, "The Thing I Like" peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart, becoming her fifth consecutive top-40 single in the United Kingdom.

Composition and Reception

In his biography ''Aaliyah'' (2021), author Tim Footman described "The Thing I Like", as a "breezy song of young love with a catchy synth riff". Footman also said that it "juxtaposed Aaliyah's soft soul vocals with insistent rapping, like a grab bag of contemporary black music". In a review of the ''

'' soundtrack, David Browne from ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'' felt that "The Thing I Like", along with the other songs, was "more workmanlike than inspired".

James Masterton James Masterton (born 2 September 1973) is a British music critic and columnist, his work focusing on the UK Singles Chart having been an online fixture on various sites since the 1990s. Masterton is also a producer for talkSPORT, and has worke ...

wrote in his weekly UK chart commentary, "A fifth smallish hit single for the most alphabetically pronounced act in chart history." Masterson, also thought "her succession of small chart hits is showing remarkable consistency". Ralph Tee from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'' gave the song a 3 out of 5 rating, while also highlighting that "Aaliyah's latest single from her debut album comes in for broader styles" due to its remixes. He also felt that both the

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicl ...

and

house A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air c ...

remixes takes her into "new waters."

Commercial performance

"The Thing I Like" was released as the fifth and final single from ''Age Ain't Nothing but a Number'' exclusively in the United Kingdom, being Aaliyah's second consecutive UK-only single. It debuted and peaked at number 33 on the UK Singles Chart dated September 9, 1995. The same week, it debuted and peaked at number four on the

UK R&B Singles Chart Official Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart The UK Hip Hop and R&B Singles Chart and the UK Hip Hop and R&B Albums Chart (also known as The Official UK Hip Hop and R&B Charts, and previously the Top 40 Hip Hop and RnB Singles and the Top 40 Hip Hop and ...

. Additionally, it peaked at number 15 on the

UK Dance Singles Chart The Dance Singles Chart and the Dance Albums Chart are music charts compiled in the United Kingdom by the Official Charts Company from sales of songs in the dance music genre (e.g. house, trance, drum and bass, garage, synth-pop) in record stores ...

the following week.

Track listings and formats

UK 12-inch vinyl # "The Thing I Like" (album version) – 3:21 # "The Thing I Like" (Paul Gotel's Classic Anthem Mix) – 6:48 # "The Thing I Like" (Paul Gotel's Deep & Dubby Mix) – 6:29 # "The Thing I Like" (PG Tips Satellite Mix) – 7:21 UK maxi CD single # "The Thing I Like" (album version) – 3:21 # "The Thing I Like" (Paul Gotel's Radio Mix) – 3:57 # "The Thing I Like" (Paul Gotel's Classic Anthem Mix) – 6:48 # "The Thing I Like" (PG Tips Satellite Mix) – 7:21 # "The Thing I Like" (Paul Gotel's Deep & Dubby Mix) – 6:29

Charts

Release history

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Thing I Like, The 1993 songs 1995 singles Aaliyah songs Songs written by R. Kelly Song recordings produced by R. Kelly Blackground Records singles