After facing allegations of an illegal marriage with her mentor R. Kelly following the success of her debut studio album, Age Ain't Nothing but a Number (1994), Aaliyah severed all ties with him as Blackground ended its partnership with Jive Records and signed a new distribution deal with Atlantic.

She subsequently began recording with producers such as Jermaine Dupri, Vincent Herbert, and Craig King, before meeting the previously unknown Timbaland and Missy Elliott, who quickly became the album's primary contributors.

Retrospectively, it has been listed among the best albums of its era and genre by numerous publications and has been credited for re-establishing Aaliyah's image, elevating careers of Timbaland and Elliott, and influencing mainstream music trends of the decades since release.

[12] However, considering the label switch and a new team of collaborators, the album was intended to re-establish Aaliyah's fanbase and broaden her mainstream appeal, as it featured contributions from a wider range of producers–unlike Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, which was produced solely by Kelly.

[17] Production for One in a Million dates back to August 1995, when Billboard reported Aaliyah was starting work on a new album; initially, it was slated for an early 1996 release and was to be produced by Sean Combs, J. Dibbs, and Dave Hall.

[18] The album was executive produced by Atlantic Records' then-executive vice president Craig Kallman,[a] Hankerson, and Aaliyah's father and manager Michael Haughton.

[22] Aaliyah recorded approximately eight songs with the pair at the Vanguard Studios in Detroit, two of which–"Choosey Lover (Old School/New School)" and "Never Givin' Up"–made the final track listing.

Kallman said that the point of their meeting became obvious when Timbaland first played beats: "This doesn't sound like anything that's out there and really had its own super exciting and electric, 'just dynamic properties.

[29] The album opens with the jungle-inspired intro "Beats 4 Da Streets", on which Elliott invites Aaliyah and the listeners into "the new world of funk", as echoing amid bells, blippy synths, and heavy bass are heard in the background.

[34] The fifth track "If Your Girl Only Knew" is a funk, pop, and hip hop song described by Connie Johnson from the Los Angeles Times as "teasingly witchy".

[40][41][42][43] On the track, Aaliyah "chide[s] a man for hitting on her when he already has a girlfriend",[40] against heavy keyboard and organ instrumentation interspersed with live drums and a thumping bassline.

[16] The sixth and seventh tracks "Choosey Lover (Old School/New School)" and "Got to Give It Up" are both covers, of songs originally performed by the Isley Brothers and Gaye, respectively.

[34][38] The latter features Timbaland "aping the sound of a live band vamping on a laid back groove" as Aaliyah performs a "call-and-response harmony routine with an imaginary concert audience over canned crowd noise".

[46] Throughout the promotional cycle for One in a Million, Aaliyah adapted a more mature and feminine image as opposed to her previous tomboy style, a switch quickly noticed by the public.

[47][48] She incorporated slimmer garments, such as bra tops, into her style alongside her signature "sweeping deep-parted bang" hairstyle, which heavily contrasted the loose-fitting, baggy and masculine clothing she sported while promoting Age Ain't Nothing but a Number.

[16] Due to Aaliyah's outstanding academic performance in high school, Blackground planned to run advertisements in React, an educational teen publication inserted in various daily and weekly papers across the US.

[16] Years after its release and Aaliyah's death, the album was reissued across Europe alongside its 2001 eponymous successor, starting February 2004 in Germany and including the bonus track "Come Over".

Writing for AllMusic, Leo Stanley viewed the album as a significant improvement over Age Ain't Nothing but a Number, noting a larger variety of material and producers, and described Aaliyah's vocal performance as "smoother, more seductive, and stronger than before".

[27] Connie Johnson of the Los Angeles Times shared Miro's sentiments, commending the range "from the teasingly witchy 'If Your Girl Only Knew' to the gently poignant '4 Page Letter'", further praising Aaliyah's self-assurance and the record's diverse production.

[31] Dream Hampton agreed, writing in her review for Vibe that Aaliyah's "deliciously feline" voice had the same "pop appeal" as Janet Jackson's and is complemented by the "solid and supportive" production.

[33] Bob Waliszewski from Plugged In gave One in a Million a mixed review, as he felt its lyrical messages of loyalty and commitment got overshadowed by sexually suggestive content.

Considine from The Baltimore Sun felt the tracks rarely gave Aaliyah a chance to exhibit her vocal strengths, but praised her performance on "Choosey Lover (Old School/New School)", which she "handles with precisely the sort of suave assurance the song demands.

"[119] A reviewer for Q wrote: "With her smooth, sweetly seductive vocal firmly to the fore, [Aaliyah] works through a set of predominantly slow and steamy swingbeat numbers, all clipped beats, luxurious melodies and dreamy harmonies".

[116] Writing for The Village Voice, Robert Christgau was less enthusiastic and cited only "Got to Give It Up" as a "choice cut", calling it "a good song on an album that isn't worth your time or money".

[140][c] Following its 2021 reissue, the album reached the top ten on the Billboard 200 for the first time ever, peaking at number 10 with 26,000 album-equivalent units;[d] it has spent a total of 68 weeks on the chart.

Similar to Madonna and Janet, Aaliyah's brand of masculine appeal laced with feminine sensuality came to life in a deluge of MTV [visuals] that played out like sci-fi epics. "

[158] Briefly discussing the album, Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times said Timbaland's "computer-programmed beats fitted perfectly with her cool, breathy voice to create a new kind of electronic music".

"[159] In 2016, Jordan Simon from Idolator wrote: "It's clear the album's deft combination of electronic and R&B set a precedent for the music of this decade, sitting comfortably on a shelf alongside recent releases from Kelela, FKA Twigs and Nao".

Brandon Caldwell from Entertainment Weekly wrote that she managed to create a singular identity detached from past controversies and become "the face of a new generation of effortlessly cool performers" with the album.

[163][33][156] The album has also been credited with elevating Elliott and Timbaland's respective careers, as they both enjoyed immense commercial success, as well as influencing mainstream music trends, in the years following the release.