Right now fans are still recovering from the devastating news that, after 5 years on the air, 9O21O, a continuing spin-off from the 1990’s youth drama Beverly Hills 90210, is ending this May.

As of this writing, the show is still in the middle of production for its final episode, the show’s 114th, tentatively titled “We All Fall Down”. Details are being kept under wraps save for leaked spoilers regarding a cliffhanger ending. That would most likely be retooled considering fans like me who have stucked to the show since day 1 need closure (as with any other long-running shows).

I’ll probably post my thoughts about the cancellation in a few weeks but right now, let’s take a look back on what is probably one of the many hidden gems this unappreciated drama has that made watching the show so worthwhile, the amazingly talented Jessica Lowndes.

Fans of the late vampire series Moonlight may find her voice familiar as she performed a song that was heavily featured in an episode there. In 90210, she was given the opportunity to provide some musical depth to her character, troubled ex-druggie teen mom/faded child star/struggling artist Adrianna Tate-Duncan, where she was able to write and sing her own tracks throughout the show’s run.

Many of the tracks she performed have made marks in the musical ears of fans so I feel we should list down some of those that really caught our fancy (including covers):

1. “Mama Who Bore Me” (Spring Awakening), Season 1 Episode 5 “Wide Awake and Dreaming”

In story, then-druggie Adrianna was set to star as the lead in West Beverly High’s stage adaptation of the popular musical, “Spring Awakening“. Brenda Walsh (Shannen Doherty), returned to West Bev to take over the musical as director, replacing Annie’s grandmother, Tabitha (Jessica Walter). Ade missed out on rehearsals as she was busy sniffing drugs but was given a chance by an unknowing yet suspicious Brenda to redeem herself, as shown in the clip. However, moments before the curtains could roll up, Brenda caught Ade on a high, forcing her to hire a replacement in perky Annie (Shenae Grimes). It didn’t end well for Ade a few episodes later.

Reaction: Given that the character was on a state of a drug-induced high, I think we could accept that she wasn’t at her best when she sang a sample of “Mama Who Bore Me” during this scene with Brenda. However, Jessica really shined in the 30-seconds she got to sing this song.

2. “I’m Sorry“(?), Season 2 Episode 8 “Women’s Intuition”

In story, Adrianna cheated on Navid (Michael Steger) when she started having wet dreams of her and ex-boyfriend Teddy (Teddy Montgomery), eventually going for the kill that led to the first break-up of Navianna. Ade realized Teddy doesn’t really have a thing for her so she tried to redeem her relationship by serenading Navid with her guitar. Too bad for her, it was a little too late.

3. “Jolene“, Season 2 Episode 15 “What’s Past is Prologue”

In story, during the first few minutes of the episode, Adrianna and her friend Gia (Rumer Willis) from the West Beverly Blaze, were in a car together when Ade heard Dolly Parton’s “Jolene” being played on the radio so she sang along, much to Gia’s amusement. As this was the start of a storyline between the two characters, Gia offered Ade a place in her band so she had her auditioned in front of her bandmates. Ade used “Jolene” as her audition piece and was able to win over the rest of the band.

This was also the start of a journey for Jessica’s character as she struggled for the rest of the series to become a full-time musician, which led to some highs and lows including becoming a disillusioned fame whore who swapped Silver’s (Jessica Stroup) bi-polar meds, a premature country music career and an ill-fated musical duo pairing with her former flame, Dixon (Tristan Wilds).

4. “One More Time” with Diego Boneta, Season 2 Episode 20 “Meet the Parent”

In story, the hippie mother of Ivy (Gillian Zinser), Laurel Cooper (Kelly Lynch), discovered Adrianna during her debut as lead vocalist of Gia’s band. She offered her a spot in her label which irked Gia, forcing her to break-up with Ade. Later, during her first recording session under Laurel’s turf, she was paired with young Latino superstar, Javier (Diego Boneta), in a song collaboration that eventually failed to make a dent in the charts the following season. Diego was fascinated with Ade’s beauty and voice that he asked her if she was ever in a relationship. Ade, still recovering from her break-up with Gia and happy to start fresh, said no.

A visiting Navid, holding flowers for Ade, heard her answer from nearby. He realized in the episode that he still have feelings for his ex-, which led to him breaking things off with Lila (Amber Wallace), a fellow school reporter (and Ade’s bandmate) he was dating at the time.

4. “Saying Goodbye“, Season 3 Episode 1 “Senior Year, Baby!” and Episode 2 “20/11 Vision”

In story, Adrianna survived a car crash hours after an earthquake devastated Los Angeles. Unfortunately, Javier, who was in the same limousine as her, was at the receiving end of the impact, which led to his death. During the final moments of “Senior Year, Baby!”, Adrianna was singing a song in the background as the screen was showing the downward spiral of Naomi (AnnaLyne McCord), who was raped at the end of the second season. Turns out, Ade was singing a song written by Javier that was meant for somebody else but she claimed it as hers (as she was getting insults from him for her songwriting skills just moments before his death, boasting a notebook containing his songs on her face).

Things turned for the worst when Laurel asked her to sing at Javier’s funeral, with the same song. Crazy Ade then went on a path of madness throughout the majority of this season.

5. “Fool“, Season 4 Episode 6 “Benefit of the Doubt”

In story, Dixon was due to perform for a charity event to help raise funds for Raj’s (Manish Dayal) cancer treatment but Adrianna found him in a dire state (after developing an addiction to anti-stress pills) that she took over as his replacement in the event, despite Silver, who was directing the event, objecting to the idea but eventually gave in.

“Fool” can be considered Jessica’s best song on the show to date. Regardless of what people say about Season 4, that season has its highlights and this is one of them. In story, Adrianna wrote the song as an open letter to the child she gave up for adoption, Maisie, back in Season 1, sharing this information to Dixon after she was shocked to hear a remixed version of it made by him. She would eventually be reunited, albeit for a short time, with her daughter a few episodes later.

6. “I Don’t Want You Anymore“, Season 4 Episode 23 “A Tale of Two Parties”

In story, Adrianna was invited to sing for a bachelorette party Naomi was planning for her ex-, Max’s (Josh Zuckerman) fiance. Ade, under her then-new manager Austin (Justin Deeley), was starting a country music career and her single, “I Don’t Want You Anymore”, was already getting some airplay on the radio. Several episodes later, the song was heard again in a Season 5 installment, where Ade was singing along to it with several other people inside a redneck biker’s bar. Apparently, her official “break-up” song is now a jukebox hit.

7. “Snake Charmer“, Season 5 Episode 7 “99 Problems”

In story, during a dress rehearsal to shoot a music video at Naomi’s mansion, Ade performed the song in front of Taylor (Wes Brown), a music producer she met and hooked up with back in Las Vegas the day Dixon was in car accident during the Season 4 finale. Ade was trying to keep it platonic with Taylor but found it difficult to avoid any heat sparks between her and the guy.  Unfortunately for her, a video camera she and Silver used to record the rehearsal captured Ade kissing Taylor. Dixon, who was now managing Adrianna’s career by then, discovered the footage of the affair on his computer tablet. Let’s just say, things did not go well smoothly afterwards.

Adrianna performed “Snake Charmer” again in a few Season 5 episodes, one where she opened for Ne-Yo and then another installment when she had to give in to Naomi’s request to do a production number for a toddler beauty pageant.

Notable mentions:

1. “Stamp of Love“, heard in Season 2 Episode 21 “Javianna” when Adrianna was performing on concert.
2. “Teardrops Fall“, heard in Season 4 Episode 21 “Bride and Prejudice” when Ade was performing with a guitar-playing Austin during Naomi’s engagement party.
3. “The Last Time“, heard in Season 5 Episode 21 “Scandal Royale” when right before Ade was crushed under a pile of rubble after an explosion inside the theater, she was performing this track after winning a song contest for a song she co-wrote with Michaela as a love letter to Navid. This was literally the last time that Jessica’s get to sing as her character in the show. (Updated February 4, 2014)

Out of all the songs listed, I think “Fool” is the one stand out among all the original tracks made for the show. I’d like to thank the guys from the show’s musical department for bringing J-Lowndes on the deck and letting her do her thing.

Once the show ends this May, we hope to see and hear Jessica soon. We wish her and the rest of the cast and crew the best of good luck! 90210 FOREVER!

Acknowledgement: Thanks to TuneFind.com and 90210-Media.org for the song references and pictures.

—–

Update (March 11, 2013):

Thanks to the incredibly incredible Jessica Lowndes for reading my article and sharing it to her fans on Twitter and Facebook. It is such a pleasure and honor to have someone as famous yet so humble such as you read this piece. And thanks to all the 9-Oh and J. Lowndes fans who shared and liked this article as well. I just found out that it has reached more than 2,500 views within the week after I published it. A million thanks to you all! 😀

~James