The music here is as diverse as before, but a lot more polished and it all just feels a lot more organic in terms of how everything from vocals and features fit together. And at this point, Kelis had truly found her voice and knew what made her unique. Fortunately, Kelis found a great team who provided her some amazing music. Ironic because I’m such a huge fan of the Neptunes, and wondered how she would sound without them. Ironically, Kelis’ best album (imo of course) is the one that includes ZERO input from the Neptunes. Grade: B + Best: Millionaire, Flashback, Milkshake A really solid album, not necessarily as adventurous as her previous two, but a good album overall. Their presence is felt on the majority of the tracks, but she employs talent like Rockwilder, Dallas Austin, Andre 3000 and Raphael Saaddiq and surprisingly those songs are some of the albums best. This is lso an important album for Kelis, as it showed her slowly stepping out of the Neptunes shadow. It’s very classic yet contemporary album that feels nostalgic on certain tracks (the Lisa Lisa and Cult Jam vibes of “Protect My Heart” and the Beastie Boys vibe of “Keep it Down”), but mostly infectious dance songs and soulful slow jams. This album is a great one for Kelis, it is definitely a solid album that has mostly Killer and very little filler. Grade: B + Best: Young Fresh N’ New, Daddy, Shooting Stars There’s also a few nice Rock records on here that really fill the album up nicely and give us a Kelis that’s a little more present and up front.
Ofcourse, Kelis makes them her own with very bold vocal delivery and this time truly letting her personality shine. This time, things are a little more funky with tracks like “Daddy”, “Scared Money”, “Junkie” and “Digital Love” matching the ultra-popular hits the Neptunes had been delivering to other artists at the time. This Europe-only release is one of Kelis’ best as she really starts to make herself stand out over the incredible Neptunes productions, which are decidely more energetic and upbeat and raw than on the previous album. Unless of course you were able to score an imported version of this sophomore album. Grade: B – Best: Get Along With You, In the Morning, I Want Your LoveĪmerica! You missed out. This was the album that truly started my love affair with the music of Pharrell and Chad, but Kelis did a good enough job putting personality and showing some range to her very sexy voice on the album. Being honest though, this album was more of an introduction to the Neptunes for me, because the production was so amaze-balls and refreshing at the time. The album is also very diverse, giving us the hyper “Caught out There” and the trippy “Mars”, that’s mixed with the funky “Good Stuff” and the breezy “In the Morning”. It’s gritty and energetic and alive and just OUT THERE. “Kaleidoscope” was a breath of fresh air in the somewhat stale Urban landscape of music at the end of the 90’s. The album is bold, and loud and we get a peak into the personality of an artist that is all over the place as far as inspiration and delivery. Kelis’ debut and it’s accompanying ecelectic mix of sounds definitely delivered what was promised with that first single “Caught Out There”. Here are short reviews of all 6 of her albums. Her first single “Caught Out There” was a bold and LOUD declaration that she had arrived, and the albums that followed showed that she was an artist who would continue to go to the left when everybody else goes right, and an artist that would continually keep switching her career and style up to keep us surprised and intrigued. From the very moment Kelis was introduced to the world, she was bold and unique and eclectic and most importantly she stood out amongst everyone else.
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