Day 75 – Diana Ross – Diana
Looks-wise, I’ve been in a bit of a flop era recently. Not even recently, now that I think about it – I’ve been in a flop era pretty much since lockdown. I’m finally at a stage where I’m ready to shed my slob persona and make a bit of an effort again, so I needed something fun to listen to while I try on clothes and relearn how to walk in heels like I’m Bambi on ice. I wanted something fun to listen to, but not so fun I get carried away and break my ankle. I went for Diana by Diana Ross.
Album cover courtesy of Motown Records
Diana was released in 1980 as her 11th studio album. She had heard the work of Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards from their band Chic, so she approached them and asked them to work with her on her new album. They sat her down and told her they want to write an album that’s about her, and she said she wanted to turn her career upside down and have fun again, so they wrote the songs “Upside Down” and “Have Fun (again)”.
Rodgers also had a wild night out that originated the LGBTQ+ anthem, “I’m Coming Out”. He was partying at a gay club and found himself in the toilet surrounded by drag queen Diana Ross impersonators, so he called Edwards and told him to write down the words “I’m Coming Out” and giddily told him, “I am in a bathroom, filled with Diana Rosses. This is amazing! Just think about it!”
I feel like what I’m about to say is sacrilegious. I’ve been told this is one of the greatest disco albums of all time. I love a bit of Diana, she’s a queen, she has brilliant songs. Despite that, I thought this album was just fine. It’s impossible not to have a nice time listening to “I’m Coming Out”, it’s such a beautifully joyful song, but the rest of it to me is pretty much just fine. I like “Now That You’re Gone”, but nothing on the album has really blown me away. It’s just pretty good, but it’s nowhere near the best I’ve ever heard.
“Upside Down” is a good song, but man alive, us ladies are in the trenches. It feels like a song that’s written by a man for men, sung by Diana Ross. “Respectfully, I say to thee / I'm aware that you're cheating” – who in the history of man has ever said that respectfully? Also, “Tenderness” just sounds like a woman hinting to a douchebag to be nice to her, with lines like “tenderness is the best” and “tonight I'll lay with you, please be gentle”.
Would anyone read this blog if it’s just me regurgitating opinions that other people share? Probably not, but to be fair, barely anyone reads this in the first place, so that’s neither here nor there. I know it’s hailed as one of the best disco albums of all time, but it’s just a reasonable 7/10 for me. Maybe it was overhyped. Sorry to queen Diana, but it just didn’t reach the expectations that I had, it felt a little bit flat.