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With the oddball charisma toned down and the lens zooming in on Kelis' melisma-adverse vocals, one is left with the sense that all of these songs could be bigger and more distinct, but it's hard to pinpoint how exactly. This drawback is also ultimately the album's draw: Given time to settle in, many of these songs are among Kelis's most charming, ingratiating themselves with surprising ease.
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The results are not quite Tasty, but they're pretty damn close.
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Wonderfully whimsical.
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The songs are individually good, but don't really sound like they should have been grouped together on an album.
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She does so many things right it's hard to point out any one in particular.
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New Musical Express (NME)Although the collaborations here read like pop's Yellow Pages... it feels not like desperation, but a wildly ambitious Warhol-esque art project. [9 Sep 2006, p.35]
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Los Angeles TimesFew artists could line up an ode to bondage right next to a love song so sweet that it could be played at a wedding or invoke Joan Jett right after sharing a cosmic trip with Cee-Lo. That's what Kelis does here. [20 Aug 2006]
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UncutKelis' versatility... may mean she'll never hit like Beyonce, but she's still many producers' most stylish leading lady. [Nov 2006, p.117]
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Q MagazineKelis is blessed with a unique voice. [Nov 2006, p.143]
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What makes it less successful than 1999's Kaleidoscope and 2003's Tasty is that it's extremely choppy and excessively long, and it doesn't have the range of emotions to match the varied backdrops.
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Kelis is one of the mainstream's most exciting artists right now, and she continues to defy expectations with Kelis Was Here.
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Kelis... raps, rants and successfully maintains her spacey freakiness while sailing out into even radio-friendlier waters.
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Entertainment WeeklyThe results are eclectic, erratic, and lacking anything likely to repeat the success of "Milkshake." [25 Aug 2006, p.85]
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The result? An album that could just as easily bear the name of any other pop singer working the charts today.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 32 out of 40
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Mixed: 3 out of 40
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Negative: 5 out of 40
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Oct 23, 2017
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Aug 15, 2013
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LisaNov 26, 2006