"Feels So Real (Won't Let Go)" by Patrice Rushen

Song#:  1957
Date:  06/30/1984
Debut:  89
Peak:  78
Weeks:  6
Genre:  R&B



Pop Bits:  Rushen's most successful recording would be her 1982 album Straight from the Heart, which featured the #4 R&B hit "Forget Me Nots" (#23 Pop, #2 Dance). Two years later she issued her follow-up LP, Now. It started off a bit slow when the lead single "Get Off (You Fascinate Me)" only got to #26 R&B/#40 Dance. This second single would help turn things around. It would become her biggest hit at R&B reaching #2 while getting to #10 at Dance. The tune then crossed over to Pop, but it was only for a few short weeks. The album would reach #7 on both the R&B and Jazz charts in addition to peaking at #40 at Pop. Unfortunately, it would be Rushen's final song to reach the Pop chart.

ReduxReview:  This song slinks along with a jazzy, 80s groove, but there is not much here that brings to mind her fabulous "Forget Me Nots." In fact, it is nearly lackadaisical. The delivery is too laid back. It needed a little spice and sultry sexiness and I just wasn't getting it from Rushen. It's almost like someone put on a groovy loop on a lazy Saturday afternoon and Rushen and the band just kind of fiddled with it for something to do. I don't mean to have that sound like they didn't really care what was going on, but there was just no spark to it. Rushen is a brilliant musician and I think she is capable of writing better material than this. However, I'm sure she had to deal with the pressures of being a mainstream artist and trying to come up with potential hits for the label.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  After her Now album, Rushen would have a series of label issues that pretty much sidelined her major label mainstream career. It would take three years for her follow-up Watch Out! to come out on the Arista label and although it would feature the #9 R&B title-track, results were not as strong as her previous efforts. Finished with Arista, it took until 1993 before Rushen would sign with Hollywood Records. She recorded an album for them, but the label rejected and shelved it. The following year the indie label Sindrome picked it up and released it as Anything But Ordinary, but it came and went to little fanfare. Her next album, 1997's Signature, would take her back to her jazz roots and her efforts paid off. The LP reached #9 on the Contemporary Jazz chart and earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Contemporary Jazz Performance.

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