Missy Elliott on writing for Aaliyah, Beyonce and herself

Missy Elliott, who has a history of writing and producing some of pop music’s most creative and catchy songs, breaks down some of the hits she’s written for herself and other stars. Elliott is one of the nominees for the 2019 Songwriters Hall of Fame.

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AALIYAH, “ONE IN A MILLION”

Aaliyah had been coming off the major success of her 1994 debut album, the R. Kelly-produced “Age Ain’t Nothing But a Number,” when newcomers Missy Elliott and Timbaland were called in to work on ONE song with the R&B goddess.

But one song turned into eight, and “One In a Million” — the song and the album — was born.

“I was scared. I don’t know if Tim was scared when we first played it because it was a different sound. It was a different way to attack records because people were really singing then; that world of rap-singing didn’t really exist,” Elliott explained. “Because I wasn’t really a singer like that, that’s why I wrote like that, because I was a rapper, but I didn’t know how to do a bunch of runs, so every record that I would attack, I would attack it like I’m rap-singing it.”