Why Take Me Higher didn't catch on in U.S.

[Nitro2015]

At a time when she should have sought out the songwriters and producers making hits for Whitney, Mariah, Toni Braxton and MJB, she was still stuck in some other era.

Oddly enough, she was still determined NOT to go with Luther, Jam & Lewis, Babyface or Dave 'Jam' Hall. When she finally got Malik Pendleton and Chuckii Booker to give her a fresh sound on EIAND it was too late.

My perception is that songs like If You're Not Gonna Love Me Right, Keep It Right There, Don't Stop and Swing It sounds very contemporary for 1995. They even sounded fresh in the early 00's and could go along with anything that was being played on R&B Radio.

I Never Loved a Man Before was very reminiscent of Gloria Estefan's ballads, with that latin feel, that still sounded fresh and extremely radio-friendly through the entire 1990's. It could have been a great AC hit.

Gone sounded fresh too.

Take Me Higher, the lead single, was reminiscent of early 90's dance but still sounded contemporary through the mid-1990's.

I remember I discovered TMH in 1997 [[I was barely 13 y.o.) and was shocked with the freshness of it all and I wondered why it wasn't a big hit in U.S. For me, the album sounded perfect. The production was absolutely amazing, in my opinion, and very United States. You could see that she made the album aiming at the north american market.

For me, TMH is the perfect Diana album, the one that was expected by an artist of her caliber, that sang 18 #1 U.S. hits.

If You're Not Gonna Love Me Right deserved to be at least a Top 10 R&B hit. It sounded very 1994-1995-1996.

Take Me Higher was # 1 on the Dance chart and deserved a better performance on the Pop chart.

Keep It Right There, Don't Stop and Swing It were perfect for the Urban market.

I Never Loved a Man Before was perfect for the AC format at the time.

I don't care for her I Will Survive cover but I understand that it was a song that had an easier appeal for a larger audience, especially older fans and people who lived the disco era. I remember playing the entire album in my father's car and he wasn't very impressed [[he wasn't particularly a fan), but when IWS played he said: "This is the best song on the record!". Probably because it was the only one he was familiar with [[who didn't know the original?!). I didn't feel the same way, it was and it still is my least favorite track of the album.