FEATURE:
Groovelines
Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam - Lost in Emotion
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A classic track from 1987…
PHOTO CREDIT: Lynn Goldsmith
I wanted to feature the magnificent Lost in Emotion from Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam. The album it is from, Spanish Fly, turned thirty-five in April. A number one single in America, it made a minor dent in the charts in the U.K. It is a song that some might know recognise by name but, once heard, it will strike a chord! Spanish Fly is such a varied and eclectic album, I would encourage everyone to listen to it. 1987 was a great year for music. Whilst some feel 1986 was awash with same-sounding songs and too many drum machines, there was something about 1987 that washed away the clouds and brought something fresh to the table. A song like Lost in Emotion, whilst containing tropes and hallmarks of mid-‘80s music, was certainly different. With a sound both familiar and original, Lost in Emotion is a song that has stood the test of time and continues to be played around the world. I am going to come to an article about Lost in Emotion. It provides background about the track and details about its success and legacy. Accompanied by a video that is both extremely ‘80s and charming at the same time, one cannot help but be carried away by the song! It is impossible to dislike it. When charting number one singles, Stereogum spent some time with Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s classic when covering 1987:
“As a singer, Lisa Velez was never quite as polished as Mary Wells, but her voice had the same kind of breezy, innocent confidence. She’s able to broadcast personality all over the place, and on “Lost In Emotion,” she pushes the dizzy sweetness home. “Lost In Emotion” is a song about being drunk on feelings to the point where you’re saying stuff that you probably shouldn’t say: “Just how true are the rumors I am hearing about the crush you have on me?/ Oh baby, I’m blind ’cause I just don’t see it, but I wanna believe what they see.” It’s charming, adorable high-school shit, and Velez, barely out of high school herself, sells it. I don’t really like Velez’s one weird little Frankie Valli-style high note, but her offhanded, shrugging deliver of the “que sera, que sera” bit on the chorus is perfect.
“Lost In Emotion” is a simple, bubbly song that works. It evokes oldies-radio feelings without being entirely beholden to oldies-radio aesthetics. It keeps up a buoyant mood without ever pandering too hard. These are all difficult things to pull off. But “Lost In Emotion” is also slight. It doesn’t have the sheer, hungry force of previous Lisa Lisa jams like “I Wonder If I Take You Home” or “Can You Feel The Beat” or even “Head To Toe.” “Lost In Emotion” is a breezy, likable little jam, but it’s not more than that. I like hearing it when it’s on, but then I forget all about it. And given that Lisa Lisa blew up as part of a forward-thinking musical movement, it’s a bit of a bummer that her second and final #1 hit is so fundamentally retro.
The “Lost In Emotion” video is retro, too, but nothing about it bums me out. Director Jon Small, who made a lot of Billy Joel videos, films Lisa Lisa at New York’s 116th Street Carnival, and it’s mostly just her bopping along and being charming. Lisa Lisa has said that she refused to do a lot of fancy performance stuff in the video, that she wanted it to just be fun. Mission accomplished. The bit at the end where she has to be coaxed onstage is great.
“Lost In Emotion” was the last top-10 hit for Lisa Lisa And Cult Jam. The group came back in 1989 with the album Straight To The Sky, and its weirdly muted lead single “Little Jacky Wants To Be A Star” peaked at #27. Where the first two Cult Jam albums went platinum, Straight To The Sky and 1991’s Straight Outta Hell’s Kitchen were relative flops. (The group’s clubby 1991 single “Let The Beat Hit ‘Em” reached #37, and that was the last time they charted.) Cult Jam broke up shortly after Straight Outta Hell’s Kitchen came out.
After Cult Jam ended, Lisa Lisa went solo, dropping a few dance-pop singles that didn’t do too well. Later on, Lisa Velez played the mom on Taina, a Nickelodeon sitcom that started in 2001 and only lasted one season. She had a single with Pitbull in 2009, but that didn’t go anywhere either. (Pitbull will eventually appear in this column.) A couple of years ago, she signed on with Snoop Dogg’s management company, and it’ll be cool if anything comes out of that. (Snoop Dogg will also be in this column one day.) But even if Lisa Lisa never makes a big pop comeback, she’ll be fine. There’s a thriving freestyle-nostalgia circuit, and big package shows full of ’80s hitmakers always seem to draw big crowds on the East Coast and in California. I’ve never been to any of those shows, but I bet they’re fun as hell”.
I will wrap up in a second. A song I have loved ever since I heard it as a child, Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam’s Lost in Emotion is music that will lift you up and make you smile. Even though the production and sound is dated, I think the reason Lost in Emotion continues to affect people and is played widely is because of a universality of the lyrics. Written by Curt Bedeau, Gerry Charles, Hugh L Clarke, Brian George, Lucien George and Paul George, I could happily listen to Lost in Emotion over and over. One of the highlights from the excellent Spanish Fly album, this fabulous track turns thirty-five on 7th June. Even though it reached number one in America for a week, its status as a classic is confirmed. I think Lost in Emotion is a song that will be passed down through the generations and still be known decades from now! This might be a track that you have not heard for a while. It might be one that you have never heard and know nothing about. I think, as it comes up to its thirty-fifth anniversary, it is a perfect opportunity to bond with a song with that incredible Full Force production. Whilst we in the U.K. did not really bond with this cut and give it the chart position it deserved; American buyers made sure it got to the top spot. 1987’s Lost in Emotion is one of those effortlessly catchy and bright songs that gets into the head and elevates the mood. For that reason alone, it is a good time to…
GIVE it a spin.