Funky Divas is the second studio album by American recording group En Vogue, released by Atlantic Records division East West on March 24, 1992, in the United States. Conceived after the success of their Grammy Award–nominated debut album Born to Sing (1990), En Vogue reteamed with their founders Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy to work on the entire album. As with Born to Sing, the pair borrowed from contemporary R&B, new jack swing and hip hop, while also incorporating classic soul, blues and doo-wop elements, particularly on its on two Sparkle cover versions, as well as, in the case of "Free Your Mind", heavy metal sounds. The album became the quartet's second album to earn a nomination for the Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 35th Annual Grammy Awards, while winning American Music Award for Favorite Soul/R&B Album at the American Music Awards of 1993 and the Sammy Davis Jr. Award for Entertainer of the Year at the 1993 Soul Train Music Awards.
Funky Divas debuted at number one on the US Billboard Top R&B Albums chart, and at number eight on the Billboard 200, while peaking at number four on the UK Albums Chart. It reached triple platinum status in the US, where it sold 3.5 million copies, becoming the seventh highest-selling R&B albums of the year as well as En Vogue's biggest-selling album to date. The album spawned five singles, including "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)", Aretha Franklin cover "Giving Him Something He Can Feel", "Free Your Mind", "Give It Up, Turn It Loose" and "Love Don't Love You".
Critical reception
Funky Divas received generally positive reviews from music critics, but has since earned retrospective acclaim. Parry Gettelman from The Orlando Sentinel complimented Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy's production on the album. While somewhat critical with the slower songs, she wrote that "the pair has a knack for both melodies and killer grooves, and they're gifted, playful arrangers." With the performances, Gettelman found that "En Vogue interprets both the McElroy & Foster tracks and three covers with style, verve and a lot of soul."
Arion Berger, writing for Entertainment Weekly, felt that Funky Divas "delivers flirtatious R&B set to a mechanized beat [...] The four sweet-voiced members of En Vogue are versatile enough to handle reggae-, gospel- and doo-wop-tinted dance music with game if not very deep enthusiasm. Still, Funky Divas has an awkward charm." while Complex magazine listed it 45th on its The 50 Best R&B Albums of the '90s listing in 2017. Complex editor Craig Jenkins stated that while "En Vogue's 1990 debut Born to Sing introduced Cindy, Dawn, Maxine, and Terry's throwback quartet-style harmonies to the world, the 1992 follow-up Funky Divas fashioned it into a weapon." He found that the album paved the way for other female bands such as TLC and Destiny's Child. In 2020, Enio Chiola of PopMatters named it the most "overlooked and underrated" album of the 1990s.
Chart performance
In the United States, Funky Divas debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 album chart and reached the top spot on Billboards Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart with first week sales of 60,000 units. It was eventually certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on March 24, 1993. Billboard ranked Funky Divas 25th on its Billboard 200 year-end chart,
Singles
Lead single "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" became an instant hit, peaking at number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number 4 on the UK Singles Chart. The accompanying video for "My Lovin'" won a MTV Video Music Award for Best Choreography at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards. The song samples the funk guitar line of James Brown's 1973 song "The Payback" from the album of the same name. Second single "Giving Him Something He Can Feel," a cover of the Aretha Franklin hit from the film Sparkle (1976), also became a top ten hit in the US. Funky Divas third single, the rock-infused "Free Your Mind", became another top ten hit. In the UK, the song made the top 20. The video for "Free Your Mind" won three MTV Video Music Awards for Best R&B Video, Best Dance Video and Best Choreography at the 1993 MTV Video Music Awards.
By the time the fourth single, "Give It Up, Turn It Loose", was released in late 1992, the Funky Divas album was already certified triple platinum in the US by the RIAA. The single gave the group another UK top 40 hit. The fifth and final single released from Funky Divas was "Love Don't Love You", which was remixed for its release. The video for the single consists of clips from previous En Vogue videos "Giving Him Something He Can Feel", "Free Your Mind", as well as two of their 1990 videos "Lies" and "You Don't Have to Worry". A second edition of the album containing the later hits "Runaway Love" and "Whatta Man" (with Salt-N-Pepa) was released in the UK in 1994. This edition of Funky Divas also includes remixed versions of "Hip Hop Lover", "It Ain't Over Till the Fat Lady Sings", and "Love Don't Love You" (a different remix from the US single release in 1993), along with slightly altered artwork inside the CD booklet.
Track listing
All songs written and produced by Denzil Foster & Thomas McElroy, except where noted.
Notes
- <sup></sup> denotes additional producer(s)
- <sup></sup> denotes additional co-producer(s)
Samples
- "My Lovin' (You're Never Gonna Get It)" contains a sample of the guitar riff from the James Brown song "The Payback" from the album of the same name, which is looped throughout the entire song and forms the basis of the melody.
- On first pressings and the 2022 remaster, "Hip Hop Lover" contains a sample of "Funk You Up" By The Sequence. The sample was later edited out of the song on later pressings but was re-instated when the 30th Anniversary Expanded Edition was released to streaming services in 2022.
Personnel
Credits are taken from the album's liner notes.
En Vogue
- Terry Ellis – vocals
- Cindy Herron – vocals
- Maxine Jones – vocals
- Dawn Robinson – vocals
Musicians
- Denzil Foster – keyboards, drum machine programming, dialogues
- Thomas McElroy – keyboards, drum machine programming, dialogues
- Jinx Jones – guitars, guitar solos, bass
- James "Jinx" Gardner – guitars
- Michael Fellows – drums
- Jon Bendich – percussion
- Juan Escovedo – percussion
- Peter Michael – percussion
- Les Harris – saxophones
- Jeffrey McCormick – saxophones, sax solos
- Chris Mondt – trombone
- Tony George – trumpet
- Chuckii Booker – dialogues
- Wayne Jackson – rap (3, 7)
Production
- Denzil Foster – executive producer, producer, arrangements
- Thomas McElroy – executive producer, producer, arrangements
- Steve Counter – engineer
- Neil King – additional engineer
- Michael Seminack – additional engineer
- Ken Kessie – mixing at Can-Am Studios (Tarzana, California)
- John Jackson – mix assistant
- Brian Gardner – mastering at Bernie Grundman Mastering (Hollywood, California)
- Kay Arbuckle – production coordinator
- Elizabeth Barrett – art direction
- Larry Anderson – logo design
- Daniel & Louise – photography
- Reisig & Taylor – photography
- David Lombard Management – management
Charts
Weekly charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ Weekly chart performance for Funky Divas
! scope="col"| Chart (1992–1993)
! scope="col"| Peak<br>position
|-
! scope="row"| Australian Albums (ARIA)
| 66
|-
|-
|-
! scope="row"| European Albums (Music & Media)
| 41
|-
! scope="row"| Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)
| 39
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|-
|}
Year-end charts
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 1992 year-end chart performance for Funky Divas
! scope="col"| Chart (1992)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 25
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 7
|}
{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align:center"
|+ 1993 year-end chart performance for Funky Divas
! scope="col"| Chart (1993)
! scope="col"| Position
|-
! scope="row"| UK Albums (OCC)
| 60
|-
! scope="row"| US Billboard 200
| 46
|-
! scope="row"| US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums (Billboard)
| 37
|}
Certifications
Release history
{| class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|+ Funky Divas release history
|-
! scope="col" | Region
! scope="col" | Date
! scope="col" | Edition
! scope="col" | Label
! scope="col" | Format
! scope="col"|
|-
! scope="row"| United States
| March 24, 1992
| Standard edition
| East West Records
|
| align="center"|