When I Close My Eyes

Shanice and "When I Close My Eyes" (1999)

Shanice Wilson, professionally known simply as Shanice, was a Los Angeles-born singer who demonstrated extraordinary vocal gifts from early childhood. She began her professional career as a child performer, appearing in advertisements and television before signing her first recording contract. Her vocal range and natural technique attracted attention in industry circles well before she achieved mainstream commercial recognition, establishing her reputation as a genuinely gifted singer in an era that placed exceptional demands on vocal performance across all popular music genres.

Shanice achieved her commercial breakthrough in 1991 with "I Love Your Smile," a single released on Motown Records that became an international hit, reaching number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and performing strongly across multiple global markets. The song's cheerful, sample-based production and Shanice's exuberant vocal performance made it one of the more distinctive pop-R&B hits of the early 1990s, and it remains her most recognized recording to this day. The success of "I Love Your Smile" established expectations for a long-term commercial career that subsequent recordings only partially fulfilled, leaving Shanice in the position of many artists whose debut breakthrough outpaced everything that followed.

Through the mid-1990s, Shanice continued recording and releasing material, though she did not replicate the specific commercial formula that had made "I Love Your Smile" a smash. Her vocal abilities were never in question, but finding material that combined her technical gifts with the right commercial sensibility proved more difficult than her breakthrough might have suggested. The R&B market evolved substantially between 1991 and the late 1990s, with the rise of hip-hop-influenced production and the dominance of artists like Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey setting increasingly demanding standards for vocal performance in the genre.

"When I Close My Eyes" was released in early 1999 and became one of Shanice's most significant commercial performances since her debut breakthrough. The single debuted on the Billboard Hot 100 on March 27, 1999, at position 91, then made a dramatic leap the following week to number 16, one of the more striking single-week jumps recorded in the early 1999 chart period. The following week the song reached its peak of number 12, achieved on April 10, 1999, making it Shanice's highest-charting single since "I Love Your Smile." The track spent a total of 10 weeks on the Hot 100.

The song was produced with the polished, melodically sophisticated approach that characterized the best mainstream R&B production of the late 1990s. Its musical textures were lush without being overwhelming, providing an ideal frame for Shanice's vocal performance. The arrangement gave her space to demonstrate the upper register agility and emotional expressiveness that had always been her greatest artistic assets. Radio programmers at both pop and adult contemporary formats responded positively to the track's accessible melodic construction and professional polish, programming it alongside established artists in ways that gave it maximum audience exposure.

The spring 1999 chart run of "When I Close My Eyes" placed it in competition with a diverse range of artists across multiple genres. The single's ability to reach the top 12 on the all-genre Hot 100 while also performing strongly on the R&B charts demonstrated that Shanice retained a genuine multi-format audience nearly a decade after her initial breakthrough. The song was released through LaFace Records, which had emerged as one of the most commercially successful R&B labels of the era under the leadership of producers L.A. Reid and Babyface.

Shanice's career trajectory illustrates a pattern familiar in the R&B industry: the singer whose initial breakthrough generates enormous commercial expectations, followed by a period of more modest but consistent activity punctuated by occasional returns to the upper reaches of the charts. "When I Close My Eyes" represented one such return, demonstrating that her audience remained loyal and that her vocal gifts continued to translate into commercial music. For listeners who had followed her career since the early 1990s, the song's top-12 performance confirmed that Shanice's exceptional vocal talent remained a significant commercial asset even as the competitive landscape of mainstream R&B grew ever more crowded with skilled performers. The song stands as evidence that genuine vocal artistry retains its appeal across the shifting fashions of popular music production.