Jodeci Marks 35 Years of “Forever My Lady,” and the Slow Jam Still Has the Room

Jodeci is taking Forever My Lady on tour for its 35th anniversary, giving the group's debut album a full victory lap. Somewhere, a cassette single is being rescued from a shoebox and informed that its emotional responsibilities have resumed.

K-Ci, JoJo, Mr. Dalvin and DeVante Swing released the album in 1991, blending gospel-rooted vocals, hip-hop attitude and New Jack Swing production. It helped establish a rougher, more openly sensual alternative to the polished R&B groups surrounding them.

The set list cannot include everything

The members say some songs will be left out because the catalog has grown too large for one concert. The tour is centered on the debut, but later favorites inevitably compete for space as audiences arrive with different personal soundtracks.

That is the pleasant problem of a legacy act whose songs remained present through radio, sampling and younger artists. “Come and Talk to Me,” “Stay” and the title track did not become period pieces merely because the clothes in the videos can identify the decade from orbit.

The album changed the visual language too

Jodeci's leather, boots and streetwear pushed against the matching-suit convention of vocal groups. The image was carefully constructed, but the harmonies were the foundation; without them, the styling would have been a very dramatic trip to the mall.

People reported the group's anniversary plans on September 21, 2026.

Anniversary tours can feel like tax audits performed under stage lights. Jodeci's version has a better premise: gather the people who attached whole relationships to these songs and let the first chord do what it has been doing since 1991.

YOUR COLUMNIST

Max Rewind

Gen X Files & Pop-Culture Archaeology

Max remembers when television ended at midnight, concert tickets were affordable, and nobody called a reboot “content.” He digs through the culture we survived.

“Rewind it, verify it, and please stop remaking everything.”