May 22, 2026
Provided image/Michael Denning
Barbara Mason rose to fame in the 1960s with her Philadelphia soul ballads. Her record label just put out a compilation album with the previously unreleased track 'You Left Me Behind.'
A Philadelphia record company has unearthed and released a collection of songs from a 1960s star who is enjoying a second act on TikTok.
Barbara Mason, a Philly native who contributed to the city's unique brand of soul music, has gained a new following since her 1968 track "Forever" went viral on TikTok. Users have created nearly 500,000 videos with the song since the "melting into a kiss" trend took off last year, driving Mason's monthly Spotify listeners up to roughly 1 million.
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To meet the newfound demand, Mason's label, Jamie Record Co., released "The 1960s Archive Collection" on Friday. The 11-song compilation features "Forever" as well as the unreleased track "You Left Me Behind." Three more songs on the album are making their streaming debut: "Yes It's You," "Peace of Mind" and "Just You and Me."
Until recently, all of the music on "The 1960s Archive Collection" was, apart from "Forever," unavailable on Spotify or Apple Music. Jamie Record Co. released two EPs — "Archives I" and "Archives II" — last year in the lead-up to the compilation.
Mason's first hit was her 1965 ballad "Yes, I'm Ready," which the singer penned when she was still a teenager. It reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. Mason, now 78, ultimately released a dozen albums, most of them in the 1970s, when Philadelphia soul was at its peak popularity. Her last studio release was 2007's "Feeling Blue."
TikTok users recently latched onto her song "Forever" for the "melting into a kiss" challenge. The trend saw women putting their significant others to the test by having them stick their arms straight out and seeing if they would "melt" into an embrace.
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