“R. Kelly was Aaliyah’s first love. She married him. She had to of loved him because Aaliyah don’t play…”

Dafuq??????

Um boo well I’m worried that you won’t deliver. I’m sorry that last time I checked Aaliyah never sounded like that.

Right as you read this, Lifetime is airing Aaliyah’s highly criticized biopic. And I’m not watching. I don’t want to give Lifetime the satisfaction of having high viewership on their premiere. Every number counts, and the higher the viewership, the more they will be convinced that it was right to release this in the first place.

Look, I could write so much about how I feel about this movie, as anyone who knows me in real life knows how much of an Aaliyah fan I am. And if you don’t know, you can read this to get an idea.

But this movie wasn’t worth making. Some may call me a hater, but I’d like to think of myself as a realist. Based off the trailers I’ve seen for this project, this is going to be complete trash. Wanna see what I’m referring to? Look below:

Alexandra performing as Aaliyah

Alexandra with whoever is playing R. Kelly

And if those 3 reasons (trailers and interview) weren’t enough to understand why I’m so against this movie, here are more reasons for you:

1. First and foremost, Aaliyah’s family was against it. To be quite frank, this should be the sole reason why the movie shouldn’tve been made. Even when the girl who plays Aaliyah, Alexandra Shipp, said she tried to contact the family about it, with no luck, and she continued in the making of the film. This girl claims she is an Aaliyah fan, but a REAL fan would respect Aaliyah’s family’s wishes. Instead, she chose to respect propelling her career. Talk about career suicide! See here for that interview and here for another she did with the LA Times.

2. Consequently, because of Aaliyah’s family not supporting the project, Lifetime never received the rights to her music. As a result, the only songs they will be playing throughout the movie, will be any remakes she did (as you could see in the first link), as well as their own made up songs. HOW DO YOU HAVE A BIOPIC ABOUT AN R&B PRINCESS, AND YOU CANT USE ANY OF HER SONGS TO TELL HER STORY?

3. Alexandra Shipp has shown in her interviews a lack of depth of her knowledge about Aaliyah. She even said in an Enstarz interview that Aaliyah had a 5 year career…WTF??? Not to mention, something about the way she answers her questions, tells me her knowledge of her is very surface level. Acting 101, will teach you that the first step to acting successfully is to know the character you’re are playing.

Note to Alexandra: This is not a role where you can just make it up as you go. This a role where you are portraying a real notable person, where much of their life was documented. This unfortunately not only doesn’t not work in your favor, but makes it easier to tell how great or horrible you did portraying her because us viewers will have something to compare it to.

4. Alexandra has even said herself she didn’t have enough time to prepare for this role. Hmmm, maybe that’s a sign she should’ve backed out of it like Zendaya?? #BYEFELICIA

5. It’s quite clear this project is being done for the $$$. I think Lifetime knew this would bring controversy, but they also knew it would bring in money. They steamrolled through, replacing actresses, not getting the family’s support, and rushed to create a life story about someone who was beloved ten times over, basically throwing up a big middle finger along the way. It’s obvious, nothing and no one was going to stop them from making that dough.

Dear Alexandra, you can’t just flat iron your hair, put some baggy jeans and shades on, sing a little tune, and call yourself Aaliyah. And remember, IF YOU F*CK UP, THE WORLD WILL KNOW!