Happy 30th Anniversary to Vanessa Williams’ second studio album The Comfort Zone, originally released August 20, 1991.
No one was supposed to hear from Vanessa L. Williams again. When she became the first Black woman to win Miss America, she got death threats. That was before the frothy rage ensuing from those photos published in 1984. Public outcry invited her to disappear altogether, but she declined, instead resurfacing with funk forefather George Clinton singing on “Hey Good Lookin’” and “Do Fries Go With That Shake.” Mercury Records exec Ed Eckstine took notice and signed her in 1987.
Williams looked untouchable, but her road wasn’t pre-paved. No one believed the “beauty queen” could really sing. During a 1988 Los Angeles Times interview, Eckstine explained, “When I told (label president) Dick Asher that I wanted to sign Vanessa, he looked at me like I was crazy. But he never said no. It reminded me of your dad a little bit: ‘Yeah, go ahead, just don’t wreck the car and don’t spend too much money.’” Even then, Eckstine was getting the runaround from A-list hitmakers.
Producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid confesses in his book Sing To Me that he and Babyface were slated to anchor her first album with a smash called “Girlfriend.” Reid promised the song to Williams for $12,500, but then reneged and gave the song to singer Pebbles who offered $18,000, a Mercedes, a Jaguar—and later, her hand in marriage.
Eckstine and Williams were absolutely incensed, but determined to make Williams the star she was meant to be. Undaunted by bad business, her RIAA-gold debut LP The Right Stuff (1988) spawned two chart-topping singles (“The Right Stuff,” “Dreamin’”), and earned three GRAMMY nominations including Best New Artist. Williams was capable of more though. For her sophomore release, she would analyze everything that worked, and work it even harder.
The Comfort Zone is a precision-crafted tour de force, focused in its intent to present Williams’ talent not just as viable, but undeniable. This most potent disc of her career was an all-out assault on the marketplace. Now seeing her versatility, Mercury knew there weren’t many areas where she couldn’t thrive, so they put her everywhere.
The first operative was to make people dance, which the velocitous lead single “Running Back To You” (#1 R&B for 2 weeks, Pop #18) achieved quickly. Its passionate, catchy chorus zips on a rhythmic track. Williams gives heavy attitude on the bridge before turning “I Can’t Stop” by John Davis and the Monster Orchestra into a funky dance break. Outfitted as a defiant prizefighter at the end of its jittery, hypercolored music video, Williams raises her gloves in victory both visual and musical as if to say, “you wanted me gone, but I’m not going anywhere.”
For the second single, Mercury released the album’s paradisiacal title track. Like her first #1 single “The Right Stuff,” this titular hit was again crafted with singer-songwriter Kipper Jones. Together, they conjured a fantasy that’s a little taboo, a little indulgent, but doesn’t let on how much (“No one ever has to know what turns you on”). A first-rate solo from legendary flautist Hubert Laws elevates the daydream sensuality of “The Comfort Zone” (#2 R&B, #17 Pop).
The song was perfectly matched by its glam, surrealistic video but it took considerable self-assuredness not to downplay her sex appeal there. Williams was already a familiar target of slut-shaming, though in hindsight, the fracas was horribly overblown. A backhanded 1991 interview with A Current Affair rehashed this post-pageant scandal. Still, Williams deigned to present her femininity in full, proudly asserting that the Jean-Paul Mann-lensed cover shot of her rising sensuously from water like Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus was her own idea.
“I have a daughter who’s about 2 years old so I had worked very hard in the gym every day with my trainer and I was quite happy to finally be back to my original size,” the superstar stated frankly. “It was a personal triumph for me.”
Slightly jaundiced journalism aside, the interview finally let attention rest on a new single, one that would be the biggest of Williams’ career: the pop vehicle “Save the Best for Last.” The ‘90s ushered in a golden era of Black artists with presence in the spheres of both soul and pop. In this sweet ditty, Williams observes a parade of bad love choices by a platonic partner before they finally fall in love with each other. Its sound and aesthetic proved perfect for every wedding reception, graduation, prom, and sentimental occasion. The sweeping single shot to #1 on the US Hot 100 (5 weeks) and US R&B chart (3 weeks), also topping charts in Australia and Canada.
It seemed Mercury had discovered Williams’ lane. So they struck again with fourth single “Just for Tonight” (#11 R&B, #2 Adult Contemporary, #26 Pop). Not unlike The Right Stuff’s “Darlin’ I,” the near-magical introductory chords here reappear throughout, setting up pins for Williams’ expressive mezzo-soprano to knock down.
For a fifth and final single, Mercury issued Williams’ Isley Brothers cover “Work to Do” (#3 R&B, #8 Dance) which brought another occasion for a gorgeous visual. In it, Williams belts the refrain confidently while sporting a modern Rosie The Riveter look with feminist messaging flashed in interstitials. “Work” also tips its cap to hip-hop as a culture-moving force with a guest rap from Dres of Black Sheep.
It wasn’t the first time hip-hop came to Williams’ aid. In 1990, Digital Underground’s “Freaks of the Industry” took pains not to call her “Vanessa the Undresser,” but assert her to listeners as “Vanessa with the singing career.” On the ‘70s-meets-’90s throwback “2 of a Kind,” she samples the line into her dance breakdown with a wink and a nod.
This 14-track CD offers nothing if not variety. She revisits the atmosphere of her #1 hit “Dreamin’,” this time on a quiet storm cover of Angela Bofill’s “Still in Love,” pillowed with layers of her sumptuous vocals. In advance of her chart-topping 1993 duet “Love Is” with Brian McKnight, Williams gives their chemistry a trial run here on the lovers’ quarrel “You Gotta Go.” Jet Magazine revealed that she rejected the song’s first draft though: “This woman sounds like a wimp…I don’t want her groveling at his feet. Make her stronger.”
Though plenty strong, she could still make herself soft to interpret “What Will I Tell My Heart” for the soundtrack of the 1991 film Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man, which she co-starred in. She loved the jazz standard so much, it made the final track list.
For devotees of “Save the Best” and “Just for Tonight,” Williams and producer Keith Thomas loaded the disc with more gorgeous ballads just like it. The best of them is the feathered and enchanting last track “Goodbye,” appropriate in its reluctance (“You made your mind up, but you just can’t say it”).
To call Vanessa Williams a triple-threat would mean someone probably miscounted a threat. Apart from just singing, her beauty made her memorable, her acting made her accessible, her personality kept her unflappable, and her work ethic made her unstoppable. Despite all obstacles, The Comfort Zone (#1 R&B, #17 US Billboard 200) was certified triple-platinum. Her next project The Sweetest Days (1994) reached even deeper into high-minded soulful pop and jazz to expand her reach as an artist.
The Recording Academy took notice again, offering GRAMMY nominations in very attractive categories: Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female for “Running Back to You” (1991) and “The Comfort Zone” (1992), as well as Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female and Record of the Year for “Save the Best for Last” (1992). Even without taking home any trophies, the real prize was legitimacy. Success is the best revenge. For every naysayer, smearer, and doubter, The Comfort Zone confirmed that the career Williams desired was the career she deserved.
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