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 Aaliyah and Beyoncé attend the 2001 MTV Movie Awards 
Credit: Getty Images

It’s unfathomable to think the world has been without the pillowy falsetto of Aaliyah for 15 years. Overnight, Beyoncé posted a beautifully fitting throwback video to the 2000 MTV Movie Awards where she interviewed the then-21-year-old singer.

 

Less than one year later, Aaliyah was gone. The 22-year-old was killed along with eight others in a plane crash on August 25 2001. The singer – who had just released her third album, Aaliyah – and her crew had just finished filming her music video Rock The Boat when they boarded the small charted plane en route to the United States. The unlicensed pilot reportedly warned passengers the flight was overloaded and after alleged engine issues, crashed shortly after take-off. An autopsy revealed the pilot had cocaine and alcohol in his body at the time of the flight.

Jay Z, now married to Beyoncé, was rumoured to be in love with Aaliyah, as was his friend Damon “Dame” Dash. And even Timberland revealed he too was in love with her. “I was going at her, but Jay was going at her,” revealed Dash back in 2001. “It was a situation where Aaliyah was the type of girl that would give you a shot. She didn’t care what people thought. So she’ll date you and be your friend. But you might end up in the friend zone.”

Today, Aaliyah is remembered as one of RnB’s biggest innovators. There are reportedly three albums of tracks still unreleased. 

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Natane Adcock, Dash, Aaliyah, Jay Z, Sean ‘then-Puff Daddy-now-P-Diddy’ Combs and Jennifer Lopez at a Fourth of July party in 2000
Credit: Getty Images

Full footage of Beyoncé’s interview with Aaliyah