Early career
He was born Francisco Javier Bautista (a.k.a. Frankie J.) in Tijuana and raised in San Diego from the age of 2. He comes from a musical background with his father being the lead singer of a traditional band. Frankie J grew up listening to both traditional Latin music as well as R&B. He attended Southwest High School (San Diego, CA) for his high school years.
As a teenager, he started listening to freestyle music by Lisa Lisa, Brenda K. Starr and George Lamond. He started writing his own songs and singing in the same falsetto style as Lamond. At 15, he signed a contract with a Canadian independent label working as Frankie Boy and recorded songs which failed to achieve any success. In 1997, he signed with Jellybean Benitez.
In the late 1990s, he joined Kumbia Kings and was a member of that successful Latin group touring throughout Latin America. The group played in front of 100,000 people in a concert in Monterrey, Mexico.
Frankie's ambitions were always directed to the American pop-music markets. In 2002 He approached Los Kumbia Kings mangement in an attempt to secure record deal as a solo-artist. He proposed that they record, promote, and market him to the "MTV" market. A vastly diffent music culture then what Los Kumbia Kings made their name in, but Management declined, citing the risky investment. Frankie then shopped demos to an array of record companies, and garnered a tremendous amount of interest, but his contract with The Kumbia Kings would prove to be a problem.
Frankie asked to be his released from his Kumbia Kings contract, but they declined. Frankie bolted from the group anyway, but soon found himself in court over the matter. Lawsuits were filed from both sides, and eventually settled out of court. Details of the settlement were not disclosed.
Solo Career
Frankie J signed as a solo artist with Columbia Records and released his first album What's A Man To Do in 2003 which failed to chart. His self-titled first Spanish-language album was released later in the same year. The single "Don't Wanna Try" peaked in the top 10 on Billboard's Hot 100 Singles Chart, while "Ya No Eres Igual" was top 10 on the World Latin charts.
He collaborated with Baby Bash, a relative, on another pop hit called "Suga Suga" which reached #1 in New Zealand in 2004 and was a top 10 hit in the US and Australia in the same year. Frankie J worked with a number of wellknown producers on The One including Irv Gotti of Murder Inc. on the title track. Mario Winans on a track called "Just Can't Say It's Love". The first single "Obsession (No Es Amor)" featuring Baby Bash has been a big hit on the US pop charts reaching the top 5 in April 2005. The One was released in the US in April 2005 and debuted at #3 on both the Billboard 200 chart. The follow-up singles "How To Deal" and "More Than Words" (released in conjunction with a DualDisc re-release of The One) continued the album's route to platinum sales. However, the fourth and final single, the title track featuring 3LW garnered few spins at radio.
Jermaine Dupri & Mannie Fresh are among two of the big producers for Frankie's next English studio album which will be released in the 4th quarter of 2006. The untitled album's first single will be "That Girl" which was produced by Mannie Fresh and features both Mannie Fresh and rapper Slim Thug. A version which excludes Slim Thug and replaces him with Chamillionaire exists and can be found online and on the official promo cds.
Frankie J's second Spanish-language album "Un Nuevo Dia" has already been released.
How To Deal
Frankie J Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
And do something he doesn't want to do
Do I live my life with you as my wife
Or do I go on and pursue my lifetime dream
I gotta do this for me
'Cause if I don't I'll probably regret it
But if I do I'll probably regret it
How do I cope
How do you cope when
The one you love is with somebody else
And there's nothing you could do about it
How do I deal with
The fact that you had a chance
But you chose to turn away for your career
I gotta take it though it's heartbreakin'
It's something that I had to do
But nobody said that it would hurt so bad
So how do I live, how do I deal without you
It's killing me to know
That your heart hurts with me
But you're with him cause I chose
To be in this industry
Money, shows, and hoes come along with luxury and pain
Is all you see when you think about it
But this is the life that I was given
So I have to live it to the fullest
But how do I deal in the meantime without you
How do you cope when
The one you love is with somebody else
And there's nothing you could do about it
How do I deal with
The fact that you had a chance
But you chose to turn away for your career
I gotta take it though it's heartbreakin'
It's something that I had to do
But nobody said that it would hurt so bad
So how do I live, how do I deal without you
The lyrics of Frankie J's song "How to Deal" explore the challenges of making tough choices in life. The song exhibits a struggle between commitment to love and commitment to ambition. The singer is trying to decide whether to stay with the person he loves or pursue his dream in life. He knows that either decision might lead to regret and heartbreak. In the end, he chooses to pursue his dream, even though it's hard to cope with the pain of losing his loved one. He acknowledges that wealth, material things, and fame come with the career he has chosen, but he still can't help but wonder if it's worth it without the love he once had.
The song's lyrics contain two main themes: the first deals with the singer's personal life, and the second concerns his career. The first theme deals with the relationship between two people, highlighting the pain and heartbreak that result from choosing between personal life and career. The second theme is about the cost and sacrifice of success in the music industry. It shows that fame and success come with a price, including loneliness, loss, and tradeoffs.
Line by Line Meaning
Sometimes a man has to choose
At times, a man must make a decision
And do something he doesn't want to do
And choose something that he may not desire
Do I live my life with you as my wife
Should I continue living with you as my spouse
Or do I go on and pursue my lifetime dream
Or should I go ahead and chase after my ultimate ambition
I gotta do this for me
I must undertake this for myself
'Cause if I don't I'll probably regret it
For if I abstain, I may come to rue it later
But if I do I'll probably regret it
But even if I act, I may still face remorse
How do I cope
How can I manage to handle this situation
How do you cope when
How does one deal with the fact that
The one you love is with somebody else
The person you cherish is with another
And there's nothing you could do about it
And you're powerless to change the circumstance
How do I deal with
How can I confront
The fact that you had a chance
The reality that you had a possibility
But you chose to turn away for your career
But you decided to prioritize your profession over us
I gotta take it though it's heartbreakin'
I must accept it even though it's distressing
But nobody said that it would hurt so bad
Although no one warned me that it would cause such agony
So how do I live, how do I deal without you
So how can I exist, how can I manage without you
It's killing me to know
It's torturing me to realize
That your heart hurts with me
That you're experiencing pain due to our situation
But you're with him cause I chose
But you're with someone else because of my decision
To be in this industry
To work in this particular field
Money, shows, and hoes come along with luxury and pain
Wealth, performances, and temptation accompany privilege and suffering
Is all you see when you think about it
Is what you primarily notice when contemplating it
But this is the life that I was given
However, this is the existence that I was bestowed
So I have to live it to the fullest
Therefore, I must live it to the greatest extent possible
But how do I deal in the meantime without you
But how can I handle the interim period without you
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: BRYAN MICHAEL PAUL COX, JERMAINE DUPRI, J FRANKIE, DAVID PORTER, RONALD WILLIAMS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@j-fluencer
2024 and still jamming to this song!
@tanielafaingaa6689
2023 and still putting this on full blast 👌
@FedericoVargas-mn6tn
How do I when it’ll all be gone I ain’t trying break ur heart girl
@justaguy9416
I blast the old r&b every Saturday for a couple of hours. They are just timeless songs
@amarilysvazquez1383
HELL YEA !! I know I do !!
@lexieross2309
A BANGER EVEN TODAY
@lexieross2309
The memories come FLOODING ❤
@franslouw-indongo5730
This song was always on my CD burning list... Thank you Frankie J for a lekker childhood!
@robertbennington1672
An me 😂
@todoenseriotv403
Dutch?