The self-titled album represented a mature artist, embracing her identity as an adult woman. "Loose Rap" was the first chosen to be her first single[17] but when "We Need a Resolution was released," it featured a signature production from Timbaland, an eerie electro-goth skittering rhythm over which Aaliyah breathily sang about needing an end to a confusing relationship. The video showed a grown-up and sexually confident Aaliyah, writhing with a snake in slick modern backdrops. During an April 2001 interview with MTV,[18] she explained:

"I first dealt with snakes when I was in Australia and I did the photo shoot for the album. We used five pythons in the shoot. At first, I was a little nervous, but once I started to handle them, I totally fell in love and felt an affinity toward them. They're very mysterious creatures. They live in solitude, [and] there are times in my life [when] I just want to be by myself. There are times I can't even figure myself out. I feel they are very complex creatures, [but] at the same time, they're sexy, too. That's why they represent Aaliyah pretty well. They're dangerous, but quite beautiful. I thought that it would be an animal that could represent me on this album, so I wanted to take it from the photo shoot to the video and probably throughout the whole project."

Aaliyah was released three months later on July 17, 2001 to excellent reviews. The All Music guide gave the album high praise. "Urban albums rarely come any better than this, and there haven't been many records better than this in 2001, period."[19] Aaliyah introduced a darker and edgier side to her music and was noted as showcasing her growth both as an artist and as a person.[20] She recorded much of the album while working on her second film, The Queen of the Damned. The album debuted at number two on the Billboard 200 chart,. In the week following her death, the album sold 305,000 units[21] and went double platinum in the US by October.