Kelis
Flesh Tone

Have I ever mentioned Kelis, the voluptuous (and hot) booty shaker of "Milkshake" and "Trick Me"? Well, in this brand-new and original review, I will extend the analysis of the mainstream world (yes, dear metalhead colleagues, this is my main field of reflection, so make peace with that) to this still little-known (in Italy) singer.

"Milkshake" and "Trick Me" are now history. They were the years of the flourishing Urban/R’n’B/Hip Hop era of Outkast, Timbaland and the like. Until a few years ago, a huge number of stars fully embedded in the international music biz dived into these sounds that, apart from producing some gems (but also disgustingly and horrifically poorly-made fluff), managed to top the most authoritative charts worldwide and achieve astonishing sales from the various "musical goods". This melodic stream includes the Black Eyed Peas (Where Is The Love, Don’t Phunk With My Heart), Outkast (Hey Ya!) and various productions made by Timbaland (Promiscuous, Maneater by Furtado and Justin Timberlake’s SexyBack, My Love).

With the emergence of "novelties" like Lady GaGa and the electro-house revolution led by Mr. Guetta, the mainstream world, like a good little sheep, followed the tastes of the masses now all into dance floor and colored lights. Besides GaGa and Guetta, the precursors were will.i.am, Fergie & co., who, after abandoning their funky/hip-hop soul, decisively veered towards Guetta’s sound, rocking with the various I Gotta Feeling and Boom Boom Pow. And the story continues now.

But we were discussing the hot Kelis. She, having left the urban and R’n’B of Bossy and the aforementioned Milkshake, has teamed up with the omnipresent Guetta and various DJs producing the modest (due to the reduced number of tracks which are just 9) Flesh Tone, preceded by the single Acapella. I decided to procure myself this work and examine it from top to bottom. A simple mission, given the scarcity of songs on the album. Well, I was deeply and personally struck by this record. And can I express my original opinion? There is little that is predictable and déjà vu, with no presence of various GaGa and Ke$ha and other pseudo-electronics. Well done, Kelis, and let me quote Marcello Cesena who plays Dr. House in Mai Dire..., "hot and creative." Yes.

Let's start with the first single Acapella, which, frankly, didn’t impress me much on first listen (an opinion recently changed). A song produced by Guetta but hey! It's not the usual Love Is Gone with the usual sample, used in many other songs by him and others (Black Eyed Peas). It’s not Sexy Bitch. It’s something completely different. The typical euphoria of electronic beats and synthesizers here is particularly moderated. A very original techno-trance-electro track that does not overshadow or dull Kelis' warm voice, which is, to be honest, not much altered or distorted.

4th Of July (Fireworks) is fabulous, which, although it starts to gear towards a minute and a half, is an exquisitely valid electronic-dance triumph. There’s nothing Guetta-like, also because the song is produced by DJ Ammo, who, despite being unknown to me, deserves worthy compliments. Well done.

As I said, unfortunately, there are only nine tracks, so there is little to review, but what there is deserves mention. Therefore, Scream, Brave and 22nd Century are valid. In Scream the beautiful Kelis even manages to rap (if it can be said so) over a powerful yet non-chaotic electronic/house beat produced by Guetta and Tocadisco. Even more electronic and trance is 22nd Century, which broadly reminds me of Get Together by Ciccone.

It’s not new (it’s been done, for instance, by Madonna in Confessions On A Dance Floor), but Kelis' album presents a peculiarity: the tracks are all linked to each other in the sense that any song (except of course the first and the last) is connected to the next through the beginning of the melody of the following one at the end of it, to create a non-stop tour-de-force of dance music. A great idea. It seems that other Guetta-inspired artists haven’t thought of this in their respective works. Or have they?

The only slightly off notes are the initial track Intro and the concluding song Song For The Baby, in my opinion weaker than the rest of the album. In particular, Intro is not a real Intro given its excessive length to be such. Off notes but they don’t weaken the work itself too much.

A valid work, original, different from the conformist and little original pseudo-Guetta-like and pseudo-GaGa mass. Nothing banal or predictable pop, only laced with some beat speckles and with some heavy and painful distortion. The experimentation is there and it shows. Now, you fierce DeBaserians and harvesters of victims, I ask you for a small favor: listen to the album before expressing a valid judgment. Giving air to your pretty teeth without even considering the idea of listening to this album is more useless and sad than annoying and this applies to any review, not just mine. And don’t stop at the front cover: the definitely eccentric attire of the hot Kelis which many will think of as GaGa-inspired is not the real representation of the album itself. Thanks for listening.

Track List:

1. Intro

2. 22nd Century

3. 4th Of July (Fireworks)

4. Home

5. Acapella

6. Scream

7. Emancipate

8. Brave

9. Song For The Baby

Overall Rating: Kelis, Flesh Tone. 8½