"Imagination" is a song by Canadian recording artist

Tamia Tamia Marilyn Washington Hill (born May 9, 1975) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and producer. Born and raised in Windsor, Ontario, Tamia performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child. In 1994, after signing a development dea ...

, released as the first single from her self-titled debut album (1998). It was written and produced by

Jermaine Dupri Jermaine Dupri Mauldin (born September 23, 1972) is an American rapper, songwriter, record producer, record executive, entrepreneur, and DJ. Early life Jermaine Dupri Mauldin was born on September 23, 1972, the son of Tina (Mosley) and Michael ...

and his protégé

Manuel Seal Manuel L. Seal, Jr. (born September 26, 1960) is an American multi-instrumentalist, record producer, composer, singer, songwriter, vocal coach, and arranger. His credits include artists as Mariah Carey, Janet Jackson, Usher, TLC, Aretha Frankli ...

and features additional vocals by the former. "Imagination" is a mid-tempo R&B song that contains an interpolation from

The Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

's 1969 song "

I Want You Back "I Want You Back" is the first national single by the Jackson 5. It was released by Motown on October 6, 1969, and became the first number-one hit for the band on January 31, 1970. It was performed on the band's first television appearances, on ...

", written and produced by

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

's The Corporation team consisting of

Berry Gordy Berry Gordy III (born November 28, 1929), known professionally as Berry Gordy Jr., is a retired American record executive, record producer, songwriter, film producer and television producer. He is best known as the founder of the Motown record la ...

Alphonzo Mizell The Mizell Brothers were an American record producing team in the 1970s, consisting of Larry Mizell (born February 17, 1944) and Alphonso "Fonce" Mizell (January 15, 1943 – July 5, 2011). They worked together on a string of jazz or R&B albums. ...

Freddie Perren Frederick James Perren (May 15, 1943 – December 16, 2004) was an American songwriter, record producer, arranger, and orchestra conductor. He co-wrote and co-produced songs including "Boogie Fever" by the Sylvers, "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gay ...

, and

Deke Richards Deke Richards (born Dennis Lussier;"Jackson 5 producer Deke Richards dies aged 68"

. "Imagination" was released as Tamia's second overall solo single, after "Make Tonight Beautiful" the previous year from the ''Speed 2: Cruise Control'' soundtrack. Earlier appearances include featuring on mentor

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

's singles "

You Put a Move on My Heart "You Put a Move on My Heart" is a song by British recording artist Mica Paris, written and produced by Rod Temperton for her third studio ''Whisper a Prayer'' (1993). Reception Though not released as a single, the song received general acclaim fr ...

" and "

Slow Jams "Slow Jams" is a song by American musician Quincy Jones, taken from his studio album ''Q's Jook Joint'' (1995). Written and produced by Rod Temperton, vocals for the song were initially recorded by Babyface, Portrait, Barry White and Coko. A r ...

", as well as " Missing You", a song she recorded with singers

Brandy Brandy is a liquor produced by distilling wine. Brandy generally contains 35–60% alcohol by volume (70–120 US proof) and is typically consumed as an after-dinner digestif. Some brandies are aged in wooden casks. Others are coloured with ...

Gladys Knight Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944), known as the "Empress of Soul", is an American singer, actress and businesswoman. A seven-time Grammy Award-winner, Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Kn ...

and

Chaka Khan Yvette Marie Stevens (born March 23, 1953), better known by her stage name Chaka Khan (), is an American singer. Her career has spanned more than five decades, beginning in the 1970s as the lead vocalist of the funk band Rufus. Known as the " Qu ...

for the soundtrack of the 1996 motion picture '' Set It Off''. While not as commercially successful as the latter, "Imagination" peaked at number 12 on the

Hot Canadian Digital Singles The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

chart and entered the top forty in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

and on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. An accompanying music video was directed by

Paul Hunter Paul Alan Hunter (14 October 1978 – 9 October 2006) was an English professional snooker player. He was a three-time Masters champion, winning the event in 2001, 2002, and 2004, recovering from a deficit in the final to win 10–9 on a ...

and references French playwright

Jean Cocteau Jean Maurice Eugène Clément Cocteau (, , ; 5 July 1889 – 11 October 1963) was a French poet, playwright, novelist, designer, filmmaker, visual artist and critic. He was one of the foremost creatives of the su ...

's classic film version of ''

Beauty and the Beast ''Beauty and the Beast'' (french: La Belle et la Bête) is a fairy tale written by French novelist Gabrielle-Suzanne de Villeneuve, Gabrielle-Suzanne Barbot de Villeneuve and published in 1740 in ''La Jeune Américaine et les contes marins'' ( ...

'' (1946).

Background

"Imagination" was written and produced by

and protégé

. The song is built around a sample of "

" (1969) by American band

the Jackson 5 The Jackson 5 (sometimes stylized as the Jackson 5ive, also known as the Jacksons) are an American pop band composed of members of the Jackson family. The group was founded in 1964 in Gary, Indiana, and for most o ...

. Due to the inclusion of the sample,

's the Corporation team, consisting of

, and

Deke Richards Deke Richards (born Dennis Lussier;"Jackson 5 producer Deke Richards dies aged 68"

, is also credited as songwriters. "Imagination" was among the last songs that Tamia recorded for her debut album. Commenting on its recording process, she elaborated: "When you work with Jermaine upri you party on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Then you have like six hours left and then you have to go in the studio and work."

Music video

An accompanying music video for "Imagination" was directed by

. For the highly stylized clip which features circus stars such as fire blowers, Hunter referenced French playwright

's classic film version of ''

'' (1946), resulting in a contrast in styles between the video and the song. In a 1998 interview with ''

MTV News MTV News is the news production division of MTV. The service is available in the US with localized versions on MTV's global network. In February 2016, MTV Networks confirmed it would refresh the MTV News brand in 2016, to compete with the likes ...

'', Tamia elaborated that "I think the video really caught a lot of people's attention. Because it wasn't the same fish lens with a shiny gloss and glitter falling from the sky and I think people were like, 'OK, it sounds like a hip-hop song to me, but she has a

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN and stylized as NIИ, is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland in 1988. Singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Trent Reznor was the only permanent member of the band ...

video, so what's up with that?'." In a retrospective 2018 article for ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'', she commented that initially, she did not understand the concept of looking into the camera while filming. Feeling distracted by people walking around on set, the crew had to put a black screen by the camera for her. The video received a nomination in the Urban/R&B Video of the Year category at the 1999 Music Video Production Association Awards.

Track listings

Notes * denotes additional producer Sample credits *"Imagination" contains an interpolation from "

" (1969) as performed by

Credits and personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of ''Tamia''. *

– writing (sample) *

– production, rap *

– writing (sample) *

Deke Richards Deke Richards (born Dennis Lussier;"Jackson 5 producer Deke Richards dies aged 68"

– writing (sample) *

– co-production, backing vocals *

Phil Tan Phil Tan is a Malaysian-American music and audio engineer. Early life and education Tan was born in Malaysia. He attended Full Sail University in Florida in the U.S., where he attained a degree in Recording Arts in 1990. Afterwards he moved to Atla ...

– mixing * Tamia Washington – lead vocals, backing vocals

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Imagination (Tamia Song) 1998 singles Music videos directed by Paul Hunter (director) Tamia songs Songs written by Jermaine Dupri Song recordings produced by Jermaine Dupri Songs written by Mario Winans Songs written by Berry Gordy Songs written by Alphonzo Mizell Songs written by Freddie Perren Songs written by Deke Richards Songs written by Manuel Seal 1998 songs