Before Beyoncé was Queen, the stakes were on the young Aaliyah, credited with helping to redefine contemporary R&B, pop, and hip hop. She was the “Queen of Urban Pop” and growing. But her short life ended at the age of 22, in a plane crash in August 2001 in the Bahamas.
Among the distraught fans was Alicia Keys, who, in 2003, wrote If Ain’t Got You for her while in flight, thinking about Aaliyah. “It was such a sad moment and nobody wanted to believe it. It just made it very clear to me – what matters and what doesn’t,” the singer explained in an interview. In 2005 the song won the Grammy for Best R&B Vocalist for Alicia. And now it’s the love theme between Queen Charlotte and King George III in the Netflix series Queen Charlotte.
The tradition of mixing pop with an orchestra was born in Bridgerton, in a perfect partnership with the Vitamin String Quartet. It was kept in the spin-off, which brings perfect covers of Halo, Run The World, and I Will Always Love You among others. But it’s If I Ain’t Got You that got the most attention, with the royal couple dancing at the ball. A perfect moment for the song that turns 20 in 2023. With the right to an exclusive video of Alicia with the new version.
The lyrics are perfect to express the love union between Charlotte and George.
Some people live for the fortune
Some people live just for the fame
Some people live for the power, yeah
Some people live just to play the game
Some people think
That the physical things
Define what’s within
And I’ve been there before
That life’s a bore
So full of the superficial
Some people want it all
But I don’t want nothing at all
If it ain’t you, baby
If I ain’t got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain’t got you, yeah
Some people search for a fountain
Promises forever young
Some people need three dozen roses
And that’s the only way to prove you love them
Hand me the world on a silver platter
And what good would it be
With no one to share, with no one who truly cares for me
Some people want it all
But I don’t want nothing at all
If it ain’t you, baby
If I ain’t got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain’t got you, you, you
Some people want it all
But I don’t want nothing at all
If it ain’t you, baby
If I ain’t got you, baby
Some people want diamond rings
Some just want everything
But everything means nothing
If I ain’t got you, yeah
If I ain’t got you with me, baby, oh, ooh
Said nothing in this whole wide world don’t mean a thing
If I ain’t got you with me, baby
Are you emotional again? I am!
MiscelAna 