The ink was barely dry on Diana Ross's first solo album when Motown sent her back into the studio. The American singer had just watched her debut, Diana Ross, become a hit on the strength of Ain't No Mountain High Enough. On November 3, 1970, the label released her second album, Everything Is Everything, hoping to catch the same wave before it broke.
New producers and borrowed hits
The rush showed. Where the debut had been shaped by the production team of Ashford and Simpson, this time Motown handed the boards to Dick Richards and Hal Davis. The new material leaned harder into pop than the soul-drenched debut, and the track list leaned on other people's hits. The Beatles appear twice, with Come Together stretching past five and a half minutes and The Long and Winding Road getting a full reading. The Carpenters' (They Long to Be) Close to You also made the cut.
That cover-heavy strategy was a gamble. Filling an album with familiar songs could read as confidence or as a lack of new ideas. The title track Everything Is Everything sat alongside original material like Ain't No Sad Song and Baby It's Love, but the covers were the most talked-about part of the record.
Chart performance at home and abroad
The American charts were kind, not ecstatic. Everything Is Everything climbed to number 42 on the Billboard 200, a modest showing. On the R&B side, though, listeners kept her close: the album reached the top five. Sales crossed 200,000 copies, enough to prove the gamble had not backfired, but not enough to make it a triumph. The album also made its way onto charts beyond the United States. In Canada it reached number 67 on the RPM chart, while in the United Kingdom it peaked at number 31. The American Cashbox chart placed it at number 31 as well.
Britain told a different story. The single I'm Still Waiting caught fire across the Atlantic and went all the way to number one in 1971. That was the kind of validation Motown had been chasing. A follow-up single, Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoobe, Doobedood'ndoo, made it to number 12, proving the album had more than one arrow in its quiver.
Grammy nod and critical split
The Grammy voters noticed too. Call Me (I Love You) earned Ross a nomination for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1971. The song was a cover of Aretha Franklin's I Love You (Call Me), which made the nomination a little ironic: Ross was being celebrated for singing a song associated with the woman often framed as her rival.
Critics split on the result. AllMusic's Lindsay Planer later noted that the album never matched its predecessor's chart performance, but also wrote that many fans consider it a worthy companion to the debut. That tension, between a rushed release and a record that still found its audience, is the whole story of Everything Is Everything. Not every critic was as generous as Planer. Robert Christgau gave the album a C+ in his record guide, a grade that suggested he heard the rush in the grooves. Still, the expanded edition later showed how much material had been left behind, including the song My Place from the original track list. The expanded edition also included the song What Are You Doing the Rest of Your Life?, which Barbra Streisand had recorded earlier. Another addition was Wish I Knew, along with an alternate version of Baby It's Love.
That tension, between a rushed release and a record that still found its audience, is the whole story of Everything Is Everything.
The album got a second life in 2008, when an expanded edition finally arrived on CD in the United States. The reissue added remixes, unreleased takes, and even a cover of George Harrison's Something. The original November day still marks the moment Diana Ross proved she could stumble slightly and still land on her feet.