Here’s what Jennifer Paige (you know, the one who sung “Crush”) is up to now
Perhaps no song in the history of music has ever articulated the feelings of playing it cool in a young relationship as well as “Crush” did. Jennifer Paige’s anthem was huge when it was released in 1998, but since then, you probably haven’t kept up with the singer. However, it’s time to crush over Paige again — because she’s still making music.
Back when Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing” was number one on Billboard’s Hot 100, Paige’s debut single “Crush” was hanging out at number three. She casually sha, la, la, la’ed into our hearts and brains with this ear worm, teaching a generation of young girls that they could hold the power when dating.
While she did release a song for the Autumn in New York soundtrack, called “Beautiful,” in 2000 (how perfectly on brand!) and was in the movie The Country Bears (you forgot about that movie, didn’t you?), Paige hasn’t really been on our radars since “Crush.”
But since the new millennium, Paige has kept busy — recording the single “Beautiful Lie” with the Nick Carter, forming a new band called Paige & Palermo, and releasing a Christmas album. But she also suffered some heartache when, according to her website, Paige’s parents died within two weeks of each other, and she was also diagnosed with melanoma in 2008.
Fortunately, this quintessential ’90s girl made a comeback and released a brand new album in 2017. She used a Kickstarter campaign to help fund the project, since she transitioned to become an independent artist. It eventually became Starflower, named for her daughter Stella Rose. She released the album on March 31st, 2017. It’s available on most music platforms and features the single “Devil’s in the Details.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qH82sGbJH8k?feature=oembed
Starflower also has an acoustic bonus track of “Crush” — and yes, it is a dream come true for ’90s kids.
Plus, the original “Crush” has made a return by being featured as the favorite song of baseball player Nelson Cruz in a recent commercial for T-Mobile. We know we’d want it to be our walk-up music if we were in the MLB. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYY9qX2jfMc
If all of this Paige crushing has you hooked on her again, she’s also got a pretty active Twitter account for you to follow, so you can keep up with all the music she’s releasing.
Ok! Who else saw the Minimalism documentary on Netflix and is currently resisting the urge to rent a dumpster and buy a Tiny House? 😬
— Jennifer Paige (@jenniferpaige1) August 10, 2017
So take heart knowing that the woman behind “Crush” is still crushin’ it nearly 20 years later.
