later, he probably would've never heard it." The song was "very raw" during its early stages, and since Major showed strong interest, Seats continued to develop it. Seats mentioned: "Since he had an interest in it, I said, 'Let me go and continue building on it, let me embellish it, make something happen since you're feeling it.' We didn't know it was going to end up being 'Rock The Boat'." Seats "beefed" up the development process of the track by calling Dave Foreman and Rapture Stewart to add a guitar and strings to the instrumental. Music and lyrics "Rock the Boat" was described as being a Caribbean-flavored sensual and smooth mid-tempo song, that features 1970s funk influences. Meanwhile, Jeff Lorez from Yahoo! Music states that it has a retro jazziness feel. On the song Aaliyah is "reveling in her sexual freedom for the first time on record". Production wise it features an atmospheric groove, hypnotic rhythms, and fluctuating instrumentation, such as synthesizer effects. Michael Odell from The Guardian felt that "Rock the Boat" pays tribute to synth-driven 1980s soul. "Aaliyah's tentative vocal finds its way around a menu of high-octane sexual requests". She "breathlessly purrs sexual commands over an airy groove whose instrumentation swells against and then falls away from her voice". Lyrically, its female narrator instructs a lover on how to please her sexually and equates her erotic high to a drug high. Natelegé Whaley of Mic opined that "she is captain of her physical needs in the bedroom and confidently directs the voyage. She knew what she wanted and knew how to get it." According to producer Bud'da, Aaliyah debated about the song including the line "I feel like I'm on dope" because she didn't want to send a wrong message to her fans. Release Having invested in the commercial performance of Aaliyah, Blackground Records and Virgin Records wanted a single with a high chart peak to help increase the album's sales. Its lead single "We Need a Resolution" had been released on April 13, 2001, but underperformed on radio and reached only number 59 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Originally, "More Than a Woman" was chosen as the second single from Aaliyah. According to producer Rapture Stewart, "The only reason they shot 'Rock the Boat' was because the radio was already playing it, so that kind of forced it to be the second single." Despite its