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Kelis Was Here

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Untitled

Kelis Was Here is the fourth studio album by American singer-songwriter Kelis, released August 22, 2006 by Jive Records. It features production by Bangladesh, Raphael Saadiq, Max Martin, Sean Garrett, and Scott Storch, among others, and also features collaborations with will.i.am, Nas, Cee-Lo, Too Short, and Spragga Benz. The album received a nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards and is notable for being the first Kelis record to feature no production from longtime collaborators The Neptunes.

Release and promotion

The album's lead single, "Bossy", features rapper Too Short. The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 11, 2006.[2][3] The second single from the album, "Blindfold Me", featuring Nas, was released solely in the United States. It failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100,[2] while peaking at number 91 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart.[4] "Lil Star", which features Cee-Lo of the duo Gnarls Barkley, was released internationally as the album's third and final single. The track reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, earning Kelis her fifth UK top-five hit as a lead artist.[5]

Due to the use of "I Don't Think So" in a promotional advertising for Big Brother Australia 2008, the song entered the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at number 49 on April 21, 2008. The following week it rose to number 29, ultimately peaking at number 27.[6]

Critical reception

Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
SourceRating
Metacritic70/100[7]
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[8]
Entertainment WeeklyB[1]
The Guardian[9]
Los Angeles Times[10]
NME7/10[11]
Pitchfork Media7.5/10[12]
Q[13]
Slant Magazine[14]
Spin[15]
Uncut[16]

Kelis Was Here received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a weighted mean rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album received an average score of 70, based on 23 reviews.[7] Ann Powers from the Los Angeles Times praised its eclectic music and said that it "mines a memory of R&B as the playground of category-dismantling individualists."[10] NME magazine wrote that it feels like "a wildly ambitious Warhol-esque art project."[11] Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times described the album as "typically garish and glorious", with sounds that range from "space-age hip-hop ... to space-age guitar pop".[17] Q magazine said that the album is "chock-full of surreal soul diamonds."[13] Pitchfork Media's Tim Finney wrote that, like Wanderland, the album is "formally varied but feels consistent—even monochrome in parts."[12] In a review for The Observer, Peter Robinson commented that the album "occasionally misfires ... but there's still sass and creativity here."[18] MSN Music's Robert Christgau gave Kelis Was Here a one-star honorable mention,[19] indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like."[20] He cited "Blindfold Me" and "What's That Right There" as highlights, and quipped, "Good for sex and not much else, which in a fantasy object is plenty."[19]

In a mixed review, Slant Magazine critic Preston Jones said that, although it is "an intriguing mishmash of sounds, beats, and vocal affectations", the album is "far too long" and lacks a song on-par with "Milkshake".[14] Chris Salmon of The Guardian wrote that without the Neptunes, "contributors such as Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am and [...] Shondrae reject all subtlety for songs that caricature Kelis as sexy, bolshy and not much else. The results are shallow and unconvincing, driven by the kind of brash holler and breathy schmaltz you would expect from J-Lo or Pussycat Dolls (complete with the rubbish guest raps)."[9] Mikael Wood of Spin said that Kelis "consolidates" her previous "allure" and "turns up sex, turns down sass".[15] Andy Kellman of AllMusic felt that it lacks first-rate material and "the range of emotions to match the varied backdrops."[8] Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters argued that "[t]he songs are individually good, but don't really sound like they should have been grouped together on an album."[21]

The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards, but lost out to Beyoncé's B'Day.[22]

Commercial performance

Kelis Was Here debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming Kelis' highest-peaking album on the chart to date.[23] According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 160,000 copies in the United States as of May 2010.[24]

The album debuted at number 41 on the UK Albums Chart,[25] selling 6,709 copies in its first week.[26] It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on September 29, 2006,[27] and by May 2010, it had sold 32,083 copies in the United Kingdom.[26]

Track listing

No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro"  1:27
2."Bossy" (featuring Too Short)
  • Shondrae "Bangladesh" Crawford
  • Garrett[a]
4:34
3."What's That Right There"
will.i.am4:17
4."Till the Wheels Fall Off"
will.i.am4:13
5."Living Proof"
3:41
6."Blindfold Me"
3:48
7."Goodbyes"
Cool & Dre4:42
8."Trilogy"
  • Storch
  • Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd[a]
3:56
9."Circus"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Saadiq
  • Ozuna
  • Saadiq
  • Jake and the Phatman[a]
4:40
10."Weekend" (featuring will.i.am)
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Adams
  • Harris
will.i.am4:42
11."Like You"
Knobody3:00
12."Aww S***!" (featuring Smoke)
Crawford4:09
13."Lil Star" (featuring Cee-Lo)
Cee-Lo Green4:55
14."I Don't Think So"
3:02
15."Handful"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Garrett
  • Crawford
  • Boyd
Crawford2:59
16."Appreciate Me"
  • Elliott
  • Teddy "Bear"[a]
4:02
17."Have a Nice Day"
  • Elliott
  • Grecco Buratto
Elliott6:33
18."Fuck Them Bitches" (hidden track)
  • Adams
  • Pajon
will.i.am3:49
International edition
No.TitleWriter(s)Producer(s)Length
1."Intro"  1:27
2."Blindfold Me" (featuring Nas)
  • Polow da Don
  • Garrett
4:19
3."Bossy" (featuring Too Short)
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Crawford
  • Shaw
  • Garrett
  • Crawford
  • Garrett[a]
4:34
4."Fire" (featuring Spragga Benz)
Bloodshy & Avant3:31
5."I Don't Think So"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Martin
  • Gottwald
  • Martin
  • Dr. Luke
3:02
6."Weekend" (featuring will.i.am)
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Adams
  • Harris
will.i.am4:42
7."Trilogy"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Storch
  • Boyd
3:56
8."Appreciate Me"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Elliott
  • Elliott
  • Teddy "Bear"[a]
4:02
9."Till the Wheels Fall Off"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Adams
  • Pajon
  • Harris
  • Board
will.i.am4:13
10."Handful"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Garrett
  • Crawford
  • Boyd
Crawford2:59
11."Aww S***!" (featuring Smoke)
  • Crawford
  • Woodgett
  • Means
Crawford4:09
12."What's That Right There"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Adams
  • Harris
  • Clinton
  • Wynne
will.i.am4:17
13."Circus"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Saadiq
  • Ozuna
  • Saadiq
  • Jake and the Phatman[a]
4:40
14."Lil Star" (featuring Cee-Lo)
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Callaway
Green4:55
15."Like You"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Foster
Knobody3:00
16."Living Proof"
  • Saadiq
  • Ozuna
  • Saadiq
  • Jake and the Phatman[a]
3:41
17."Goodbyes"
  • Rogers-Jones
  • Lyon
  • Valenzano
Cool & Dre4:42
18."Have a Nice Day"
  • Elliott
  • Buratto
Elliott6:33
19."Fuck Them Bitches" (hidden track)
  • Adams
  • Pajon
will.i.am3:49
Notes
  • ^a signifies a co-producer
Sampling credits

Personnel

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Kelis Was Here.[28]

Charts

Chart (2006) Peak
position
Australian Albums Chart[29] 96
Australian Urban Albums Chart[30] 8
Austrian Albums Chart[31] 69
Belgian Albums Chart (Flanders)[32] 45
Belgian Albums Chart (Wallonia)[33] 88
Dutch Albums Chart[34] 82
French Albums Chart[35] 104
German Albums Chart[36] 77
Italian Albums Chart[37] 90
Japanese Albums Chart[38] 109
Norwegian Albums Chart[39] 35
Scottish Albums Chart[40] 72
Swedish Albums Chart[41] 51
Swiss Albums Chart[42] 22
UK Albums Chart[5] 41
UK R&B Albums Chart[43] 5
US Billboard 200[44] 10
US Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums[45] 6

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
United Kingdom (BPI)[27] Silver 32,083[26]

Release history

Region Date Label Ref.
Canada August 22, 2006 Sony BMG [46]
United States
[8]
Germany September 8, 2006 EMI [47]
Netherlands [48]
United Kingdom September 11, 2006 Virgin [49]
Sweden September 13, 2006 EMI [50]
Italy September 15, 2006 [51]
Australia September 16, 2006 [52]
Japan September 29, 2006 [53]

References

  1. ^ a b Collis, Clark (August 25, 2006). "Kelis Was Here". Entertainment Weekly (893). Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  2. ^ a b "Kelis – Chart history: The Hot 100". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  3. ^ "Gold & Platinum". Recording Industry Association of America. December 11, 2006. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  4. ^ "Kelis – Chart history: Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved June 10, 2015.
  5. ^ a b "Kelis". Official Charts Company. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  6. ^ "Kelis – I Don't Think So". australian-charts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  7. ^ a b "Reviews for Kelis Was Here by Kelis". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  8. ^ a b c Kellman, Andy. "Kelis Was Here – Kelis". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  9. ^ a b Salmon, Chris (September 8, 2006). "Kelis, Kelis Was Here". The Guardian. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  10. ^ a b Powers, Ann (August 20, 2006). "She may be bossy, but that's not all". Los Angeles Times. Tribune Media. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  11. ^ a b "Review: Kelis Was Here". NME. London: 35. September 9, 2006.
  12. ^ a b Finney, Tim (August 30, 2006). "Kelis: Kelis Was Here". Pitchfork Media. Retrieved December 7, 2010.
  13. ^ a b Columnist (November 2006). "Kelis – Kelis Was Here (Jive)". Q (244): 143.
  14. ^ a b Jones, Preston (August 21, 2006). "Kelis: Kelis Was Here". Slant Magazine. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  15. ^ a b Wood, Mikael (September 2006). "Reviews: New CDs". Spin. 22 (9): 104, 106. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  16. ^ "Review: Kelis Was Here". Uncut. London: 117. November 2006.
  17. ^ Sanneh, Kelefa (August 21, 2006). "Critics' Choice: New CD's". The New York Times. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  18. ^ Robinson, Peter (September 17, 2006). "Kelis, Kelis Was Here". The Observer. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  19. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (February 2007). "Consumer Guide: February-March 2007". MSN Music. Microsoft. Archived from the original on April 6, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  20. ^ Christgau, Robert (2000). "CG 90s: Key to Icons". Robert Christgau. Retrieved April 7, 2012.
  21. ^ Huff, Quentin B. (September 8, 2006). "Kelis: Kelis Was Here". PopMatters. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  22. ^ "49th Annual Grammy Awards Winners List". Grammy Awards. National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. Archived from the original on January 17, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  23. ^ Hasty, Katie (August 30, 2006). "Danity Kane Sidesteps OutKast To Claim No. 1". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  24. ^ Mitchell, Gail (May 26, 2010). "Kelis: Summer Album Preview 2010". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  25. ^ "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. September 17–23, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  26. ^ a b c "Key Releases: 22.05.10". Music Week. HighBeam Research. May 22, 2010. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  27. ^ a b "British album certifications – Kelis – Kelis Was Here". British Phonographic Industry. September 29, 2006. Retrieved February 26, 2015. Select albums in the Format field. Select Silver in the Certification field. Type Kelis Was Here in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
  28. ^ Kelis Was Here (CD liner notes). Kelis. Jive Records. 2006. 82876-83258-2.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  29. ^ "ARIA Top 100 Albums – Week Commencing 25th September 2006" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Pandora Archive. p. 6. Retrieved July 26, 2009.
  30. ^ "ARIA Urban Album Chart – Week Commencing 25th September 2006" (PDF). ARIA Charts. Pandora Archive. p. 16. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  31. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in German). austriancharts.at. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  32. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in Dutch). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  33. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in French). Ultratop. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  34. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in Dutch). dutchcharts.nl. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  35. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in French). lescharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  36. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in German). Offizielle Deutsche Charts. GfK Entertainment. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  37. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here". italiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  38. ^ ケリス・ワズ・ヒア | ケリス (in Japanese). Oricon. Retrieved April 23, 2015. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
  39. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here". norwegiancharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  40. ^ "Official Scottish Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. September 17–23, 2006. Retrieved June 2, 2015.
  41. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here". swedishcharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  42. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here". swisscharts.com. Hung Medien. Retrieved July 6, 2011.
  43. ^ "Official R&B Albums Chart Top 40". Official Charts Company. September 17–23, 2006. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  44. ^ "Kelis – Chart history: Billboard 200". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  45. ^ "Kelis – Chart history: Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums". Billboard. Prometheus Global Media. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  46. ^ "Kelis Was Here by Kelis". HMV Canada. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  47. ^ "Kelis // Kelis Was Here" (in German). EMI Music Germany. Archived from the original on April 1, 2008. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  48. ^ "Kelis Was Here, Kelis" (in Dutch). bol.com. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  49. ^ "Kelis: Kelis Was Here". HMV. Archived from the original on September 28, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  50. ^ "Kelis Was Here – Kelis" (in Swedish). CDON.se. Archived from the original on March 14, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  51. ^ "Kelis – Kelis Was Here" (in Italian). Internet Bookshop Italia. Retrieved February 28, 2015.
  52. ^ "Kelis – Discography". musichead. EMI Music Australia. Archived from the original on September 23, 2006. Retrieved December 5, 2010.
  53. ^ ケリス･ワズ･ヒア (in Japanese). EMI Music Japan. Archived from the original on September 30, 2012. Retrieved December 5, 2010. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |trans_title= ignored (|trans-title= suggested) (help)
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