“Back and Forth” was the debut single from late teen R&B sensation Aaliyah. The bass-heavy midtempo song featured unison female background vocals and rapped male chants that combined for a singalong-ready single. Its smooth and easy R&B sound became synonymous with summertime and 90’s party music.

The music video for the hit song established Aaliyah’s enduring street-but-sweet persona which paired her girl-next-door beauty with hard beats and hip-hop gear. Among the trademarks established were over-sized baggy pants, exposed boxer shorts, midriff-exposing half-shirts, sunglasses, and stark black straight-pressed hair under a bandana. This style would be associated with the singer throughout her career.

The song was written, produced by, and featured R&B singer R. Kelly who was still riding the wave of his wildly successful and sexually overt 1993 album 12 Play. “Back & Forth” was released May 10, 1994 and would eventually knock Kelly’s own “Your Body’s Callin'” out of the #1 spot.

Before the year’s end, Aaliyah (then aged 15) and Kelly (age 27) would be embroiled in a controversy surrounding an alleged underage marriage. The controversy lent a strangely charged feel to her mature-leaning debut album auspiciously titled Age Ain’t Nothing But A Number. The marriage was reportedly annulled in February of the following year.