Thursday Throwback is a weekly colour scheme inspired by an iconic album cover of yesteryear. This week’s throwback is the 1985 album “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” by Aretha Franklin. The colours are as follows:
| Colours | HEX | RGB | HSB | CMYK | LAB |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colour 1 | #F2EA79 | 242, 234, 121 | 56, 50, 95 | 0, 3, 50, 5 | 91, -11, 55 |
| Colour 2 | #5C2673 | 92, 38, 115 | 282, 67, 45 | 19, 66, 0, 54 | 26, 37, -33 |
| Colour 3 | #0896A6 | 8, 150, 166 | 186, 95, 65 | 95, 9, 0, 34 | 56, -26, -17 |
| Colour 4 | #0D0000 | 13, 0, 0 | 0, 100, 5 | 0, 100, 100, 94 | 0, 3, 1 |
| Colour 5 | #8C6464 | 140, 100, 100 | 0, 29, 55 | 0, 28, 28, 45 | 46, 16, 6 |
“Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” is the thirtieth studio album by renowned American singer Aretha Franklin. Released on 9th July 1985 by Arista Records, this album marked a significant departure from her previous albums “Jump to It” (1982) and “Get It Right” (1983). While these earlier works were characterised by an adult contemporary sound under the production of Luther Vandross, “Who’s Zoomin’ Who?”, Franklin wanted to create a record that resonated with a younger audience, so she collaborated predominantly with producer Narada Michael Walden, who went on to produce hit 80s songs like “How will I know“ by Whitney Huston and “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now“ by Starship. Consequently, this album showcased influences from several popular genres from the mid-1980s such as dance-pop, synth-pop and contemporary R&B.
“Who’s Zoomin’ Who?” was met with positive reviews upon its release and became Franklin’s most successful album since “Young, Gifted and Black” in 1972. It was her first and only studio album to receive a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), signifying over a million physical copies distributed. The album also achieved significant success in New Zealand and Sweden, earning platinum status in Canada and silver in the United Kingdom. The lead single “Freeway of Love” not only enjoyed commercial success but also marked a significant milestone in Franklin’s career. It won her a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance while topping Billboard’s Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart for five consecutive weeks.
The album ‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who?’ represented a notable revival in Franklin’s career, drawing parallels to Tina Turner’s successful career transformation with her 1984 album ‘Private Dancer’. This era also marked the beginning of several collaborations with Walden. The album contributed significantly to establishing Franklin as an icon in music videos, with the videos for “Freeway of Love”, “Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves” and “Another Night” being regularly broadcast on MTV. In 1989, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the album at number 89 in their compilation of the “100 Best Albums of the Eighties”. Upon its launch, Franklin herself regarded ‘Who’s Zoomin’ Who?’ as one of her best works.
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