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- Summary: The fifth studio album from Kelis features producers David Guetta and Benny Benassi, bringing dance and techno tidbits within her soulful R&B mix.
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- Record Label: A&M
- Genre(s): R&B, Pop/Rock
- More Details and Credits »
Top Track
Acapella | |
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I was walking, was living My melody was acapella There's a beat I was missing No tune, or a scale, I could play The sound in the distance No... | See the rest of the song lyrics |
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Score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 16
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Mixed: 4 out of 16
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Negative: 0 out of 16
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Long-time Kelis fans might be initially surprised at the sonic switch-up-it's more dance than quirky R&B-but there's something totally right about the way Kelis tackles electronic music.
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Does pregnancy turn R&B singers into robots? First Christina Aguilera went cyborg for her post-baby album Bionic, and now Kelis has gone Robo-Mom on this tribute to her infant son, Flesh Tone, which blends awesomely sweaty urban pop with cold Eurodisco.
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These songs, for all their Top 40 disco glitter (will.i.am. signed her to his label and executive-produces here), compel with their tradeoffs between vulnerability and euphoria, though if you aren't paying attention, they're slick enough to pass as merely exceptional pop-radio or club-floor fodder.
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Kelis's honey-husky voice slips easily into the hypnotic repetitions of dance music vocalisation; she uses the classic language of love songs and the soaring declarations of generalized euphoria particular to house music.
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Whatever her bad luck might be down to, Kelis can take some small comfort in having made her best album since Kaleidoscope.
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She's always had an impressionistic vision of R&B, but this isn't just a curveball for the hell of it; she uses escapist tracks (written with guys like David Guetta and Jean Baptiste) to realist ends.
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The biggest crime here is that it sounds so dated-listening to Flesh Tone is a bit like watching a filmmaker failing to ape the innovation of The Matrix more than a decade after it was made.
Score distribution:
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Positive: 12 out of 14
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Mixed: 2 out of 14
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Negative: 0 out of 14
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Feb 18, 2014
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Aug 12, 2011
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Dec 3, 2010
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Jul 3, 2018
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Oct 23, 2017
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Apr 23, 2015
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Sep 26, 2011
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Related Articles
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Published: July 29, 2010Our list of the best-reviewed albums from the past month is topped by Sir Lucious Left Foot himself, and also includes discs from indie buzz band Best Coast, pop singer Kelis, and Las Vegas crooner Tom Jones. (Yes, that Tom Jones.)