Aaliyah is the third and final studio album by American R&B singer Aaliyah. It was released on July 7, 2001, by Blackground Records and Virgin Records America. After raising her profile with hit soundtrack singles during the late 1990s, Aaliyah started to work on the album in 1998, but rescheduled its recording around her developing film career. She resumed recording the record in 2000 at Sing Sing Studios in Australia, where she shot her role for the 2002 film Queen of the Damned during the day and recorded songs at night. Aaliyah worked primarily with Blackground's in-house crew of writers and producers, including Bud'da, J. Dub, Rapture, and Eric Seats, as well as longtime collaborator Timbaland.