My Compact Diary is a project that began on March 27, 2011 to listen to every CD in my collection.
98 Degrees – 98 Degrees and Rising
Year of Release: 1998
Received as gift: 1999
Standout: Give it Up (Interlude)
Thoughts on 98 Degrees and Rising
A lot changes in a very short time. 98 Degrees’ first album came out in March ’98, the second in October of the same year. This one caught on. Maybe it was all of the inane references to heat. But Stevie Wonder is on the album with a song featured in Mulan. This brings honor to us all. This album was a very big deal for me growing up. I was 13, the internet was in its beginnings. Chat rooms were something I got into (I was a teenage catfish). I remember my friend (a stranger I met online) and I naming ourselves after Nick and Drew. I was Nick and he was Drew even though he was older. I remember we stopped talking because I told his online girlfriend he was gay. Years later I found out he is… or at least he admits it now. I had a huge crush on one of his friends, too. I wonder where he is now…
98 Degrees and Rising Songs
- Intro
- Heat It Up
- If She Only Knew
- I Do (Cherish You)
- Fly With Me
- Still
- Because Of You
- Give It Up (Interlude)
- Do You Wanna Dance
- True To Your Heart (Featuring Stevie Wonder)
- To Me You’re Everything
- The Hardest Thing
- She’s Out Of My Life
Update: Looking back on my notes I’ve begun to wonder if it was a strategic move that 98 Degrees’ career began in 1998. What do you think? I also think my friend, “Eric,” was actually Erik because he was special that way.
