My friend is a BIG fan of Paula Abdul but he swears that I am lying about this..I can VIVIDLY remember that when Paula Abdul first came out in the late 80's..her first 2 singles was "Knocked Out" and "Its Just The Way That You Love Me." They did WELL on r&b. I remember BET playing the MESS outta both of those videos on Video Soul...THEN once her third single "Straight Up" crossed over..she re-released "Knocked Out" and "The Way That You Love Me" and they HIT on the pop charts in late 1989..does anyone else remember that? I KNOW IM NOT CRAZY.....I VIVIDLY remember pop radio sleeping on Paula's first 2 singles(KNOCKED OUT and WAY THAT U LOVE ME) while r&b embraced it and once Paula crossed over with Forver Your Girl, Cold Blooded and Straight Up..Paula re-released her first 2 singles and THEN they hit pop....anyone remember that?

Yes indeedy this is true.

Paula even re-shot the video for 'The Way That You Love Me', but she kept the same concept for the video, if I remember correctly.

Axchi696 said:

Yeah, it was a cheap ass video the first go-around!

I remember this too...funny the only two songs I ever dug from her...were the two R&B hits...

I remember that she had released a song that was getting some airplay and a little bit of videoplay, but the radio stations (that played entire albums) were getting a huge number of requestes for "Straight Up" -- so they started playing that. Word spread, and that song became a hit before it was even released. I believe they had to hurry and get the video out. And then they went back to re-releasing the other songs (to be hits) after she had gained a wider audience.

I do remember seeing Paula Abdul's "Straight Up" on BET's Video Soul and Video Vibrations back in 1990 and 1991. Can't fully vouch for the other vids though.

I remember that! I started thinking that I was the only one who remembered seeing "Knocked Out" and "The Way That You Love Me" before she blew up. BET played the hell out of those songs that summer and fall of 1988. I remember the first time I heard Straight Up. She was hosting Showtime at the Apollo around Christmas 88 and she when performed the song, I knew that it had to be a hit and a good 2 months later, it went to #1 on the pop charts and she was everywhere for the rest of 1989. I really liked her and I still do.

"Straight up"went through the roof then they re-released "the way that you love me"with a new video.They replaced the tap dance solo with a guitar solo.
The rest is pop life history....

purplecam said:

I remember it was right around the time you say because thats when i also remember her debut album being released...I remember the "Knocked Out" video.

I take it either your friend never watched BET back in the day when music videos were worth watching, they became Paula Abdul fans after her celebrity died down or just too young to remember when they played the hell out of those two videos. I used to set my vcr timer to tape Video Soul and I swear I have the two original videos on tape multiple times. They re-shot the videos for The Way That You Love Me and Knocked Out after she became a hit on the pop charts (neither of the two could compare to the original videos they played on BET back in the day). The original video for "The Way That You Love Me" she has dancers and she along with the dancers are dancing their butts off (I love this video). Knocked Out the original video is much better than the newer version as well. The dancing in the video itself was eye catching even though the scenery/set up in the video may appear to some to be "low budget". There was really no need to re-do two music videos that were just fine the way that they were (especially seeing that they are not nearly as good as the orginals).
[Edited 1/20/05 6:44am]

YES....
[Edited 1/20/05 8:36am]