I want to do an album,вЂ™вЂќ Ayeroff recalled later. After helping craft Janet JacksonвЂ™s moves for the вЂњNastyвЂќ and вЂњControlвЂќ music videos, she was signed to the then-new label Virgin Records by Jeff Ayeroff, who had worked in marketing at A&M Records with Janet. And for a brief moment, Abdul choreographed them into something unforgettable.ДЄbdul famously transitioned into the music industry when her work choreographing the Laker Girls led to her discovery by the Jacksons. Abdul did win one Grammy for a music video and two Emmys for her still-influential choreography, but ultimately, as Rolling Stone writer David Wild put it around the time of her rise, she was seen as proof that вЂњan uncanny grasp of style and image can compensate for a lack of innate musical talent.вЂќ Taken all together, AbdulвЂ™s discography is often corny in a so-bad-itвЂ™s-good way, but cheesy pop has its own rules and inspirations.

But that wasnвЂ™t necessarily the case in the early вЂ™90s. In a post-poptimism era, most people accept that an artist who isnвЂ™t a songwriter, or who doesnвЂ™t have a powerful voice, can still matter culturally the New Yorker covers Britney Spears. Abdul landed somewhere between those two extremes, maybe in part because, as she sang in her last original song (which she performed on American Idol in 2009), she was вЂњjust here for the music.вЂќ Unlike Jackson or Madonna, she was never interested in generating controversy or using her songs as a form of autobiography, and female pop stars historically havenвЂ™t been taken seriously when they just want to sing and dance.

Pop stars tend to be best remembered for being either transgressive, era-defining stars or nostalgic one-hit wonders. вЂњIt was Gemma saying, вЂDo you have a third song?вЂ™ and me making up a half-assed chorus over the phone.вЂќ 1вЂ™s, a little more bluntly: вЂњItвЂ™s not like it was Clive Davis with an amazing ear that said, вЂThatвЂ™s a hit for Whitney,вЂ™вЂќ he says. But when you havenвЂ™t had any, you donвЂ™t know any better.вЂќ Leiber describes the process of selecting вЂњOpposites Attract,вЂќ one of the albumвЂ™s No. вЂњOnce you have success, then youвЂ™re trying to always beat the success. вЂњIt was a confluence of innocence and being unafraid that brought it all together,вЂќ says Corfield. And it serves as a reminder that record companies and producers canвЂ™t manufacture big stars from the top down. The story behind the making and release of the big hits off the album, written by producers Oliver Leiber and Elliot Wolff, reveals the alchemy that resulted in its particular sound, in many ways a reflection of AbdulвЂ™s quirky humor and perspective. In fact, Forever Your Girl became a slow-burning success only after it had almost been written off as an irredeemable flop. But while there are entire cultural studies syllabi devoted to Madonna, and reclaiming Janet JacksonвЂ™s legacy has become its own genre of criticism, AbdulвЂ™s brief pop reign has largely been lost to history. вЂњShe was like Miss America in peopleвЂ™s hearts, when she was at the height of her success,вЂќ former Virgin Records A&R vice president Gemma Corfield, who worked closely with Abdul her entire career, tells BuzzFeed News. They turned Abdul into a Diet Coke-endorsing superstar, and throughout the late вЂ™80s and early вЂ™90s her commercial success rivaled Madonna and Janet Jackson. Those hits demonstrate the range of her pop persona, from the sweetheart appeal of the title track to the iconic David Fincher-directed video for вЂњStraight UpвЂќ to the deep cheese of a duet with the rapping animated вЂњskat catвЂќ in вЂњOpposites Attract,вЂќ which Abdul recently reenacted with connoisseur of corniness James Corden. But long before that, she was the original вЂњ pop princessвЂќ - an avant-la-lettre Britney Spears - initially launched to stardom 30 years ago today, with the release of her 1988 debut album, Forever Your Girl.ДЄbdulвЂ™s crisp dance moves and coy, girlish attitude eventually helped propel the album to record-setting success, garnering the first four of her six No. Paula Abdul exists in todayвЂ™s culture largely through her reality television stints: as the zany (and nice) judge on American Idol, and the tearful, memeworthy diva - mocked by Kathy Griffin - from her 2007 reality show Hey Paula.

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