Take Me Apart

(1/5) There are NO edges on this, is there? It's been so thoroughly sanded down there is nothing to hate -- but likewise and more damning -- there's nothing to love. I haven't been paying attention to most music from the 2010s, but everything is just coated in this slick, greasy autotune bullshit, isn't it? I can't honestly tell if she's a good singer or not. How could anyone? She's drowned out by the persistent and overpowering ambient music, and then her voice is filtered through what seems to be a dozen filters and autotune. Add to my laundry list of reasons why this isn't good -- the extremely repetitive nature of all the songs. The tempo for what seems like every song is within 10 beats of one another. MIX IT UP! What a slog of a runtime as well. I won't blame Ms. Kelela for this, because I can barely tell what she contributed. Let's blast the flattened (apocalyptic perhaps?) musical landscape of the 2010s and later when the handful of major labels and styles just sorta merged into a gooey, greasy blob of autotuned shit. This is a great example of it and could easily be placed side to side with ANY OTHER contemporaneous music and it would truly all sound the absolute same. I feel gross, and I hate what it's all become. There's a hungry totalizing algorithm that says you better not deviate from the formula because if you do the stockholders won't be rich anymore!!! Fuck them all and fuck this.

I've never heard of this girl before and it doesn't look like she ever got big. It's a fine album with a good production sound and has some well-intended musical influences that I like. Nonetheless, it was way too long in my opinion and not that significant or original for 2010s stuff.

Interesting. No familiarity with Kelela. Didn’t look at the album too much before I listened. And within one song I could place it pretty exactly in time. (I said 2018 in my head. I was only one year off.) At first I was going to badh on this. There was a lot at this time that I thought did this sound better, more originally. But I have to say, the album as a whole drew me in. So I am giving it a 4, based on my personal pleasure. But I would hardly recommend this to someone else unfamiliar with the genre as an essential listen. 4 Boolean: False

I was not expecting much from this album, especially when I saw the phrase ‘glitchy RnB’ but I heard far more melody and atmosphere than it suggested. The actual rhythm tracks showed a virtuosity in their programming and I heard some vocal stylings reminiscent of Madonna at the turn of the century. An altogether more satisfying effort than I would’ve expected from electro synth RnB. Not sure she’s set the world on fire since, but she’s a properly trained musician and sung on a Gorillaz album and made one more album since this one. Tough scene I guess…..

Pop and r ´n’ b cliches

This is the s**t, was real close to giving this a 5. Maybe I just don't listen to enough like this. It lost me a little in the second half with not as many standouts, but not really a bad track. I'd bet this is a woman that was really into the Kingdom Hearts intro.

Not a fan of this style. Some tunes seem meant for choreography geared audiences, most are slow wandering synthesizer notes and electronic high-hat, and click sounds.

This is a good example of an album that was technically and artistically solid, but still not my style. Somewhere in the mid-to-late 2010s, pop / R&B music drifted from up-beat powerhouse vocals to a downtempo, tribal-beat-influenced style with minimalist instrumentation and airy vocals. I've never been a bit fan of that transition and style, and I feel like this album has a lot of those qualities. Overall- I think objectively a 3ish, but for me personally, closer to a 2

Yay! Something modern (this was made almost 10 years ago). This woman has an absolutely ethereal voice! The vocals definitely carried this album. The instrumental was nothing to scoff at, but I can’t get over the vocals. Loved this album! 4/5⭐️ 296/1089

What an overproduced drag, just awful. Nothing organic or soulful about this.

Great album, loved the sounds and her vocals.

Feels like an upgrade to Ariana Grande (slightly better songs, production and singing), but nowhere near the sales, an Ariana Venti if you will. Still found it pretty boring and one of the tracks had a terrible AI video on streaming but other than that it was OK.

Ambient R&B? I like it. Not exactly trip-hop, but it feels like it belongs in that same wheelhouse. This is nice for background - it isn't too intrusive, but still holds my interest. Kelela has a nice voice, even if it isn't particularly unique. I like these songs the more they depart from traditional R&B. The weirder they are the better; thankfully the approach to weird here isn't "make the vocals sound like ass" - they are very clear and pronounced throughout. It is way too long. And not even from the 90s! THREE STARS

It was nice but I don’t see myself going back to listen again. Top bops: Frontline

It was some good music and she's got a great voice. It's just not what I usually listen to. I do appreciate the talent and the difference in the music than most typical R&B though. It was definitely enjoyable to listen to.

Really awesome sound design and feels very original

take it or leave it

A little slow for my liking. But it gets extra points for the cool mix of geners.

This album is almost interesting. It's got some interesting instrumentals, but unfortunately comes off as pretty one note.

If this is the best we have from the 2010 and beyond, we are truly in a musical desert. There is nothing bad about it, but also nothing great. Most of the time I felt I could be wandering around in a mall furniture store with this playing quietly in the background.

This is well produced and not badly sung, but again, why is this album on the list representing 2017 and not a million other albums?

Forgettable generic pop album.

Very pleasant, but nothing earth shattering.

Может отдельными частями альбом и интересный, но на мой взгляд это совершенно не яркий и не обязательный релиз 2017 года. Небольшое украшение классического рнб 2000х модным звучание не делает альбом обязательным для прослушивания

If Amy Winehouse had any depth

This was pretty basic and, if I'm honest, boring. I'd give it 1.5, but will round up. Don't think it belongs on this list.

Elektronisk R&B som är klart bättre än vad jag tänkt mig på förhand. Skön bakgrundsmusik.

Quite solid and not my thing — the cleanest three verdict available and the honest one. Kelela's voice does detailed emotional work over electronic production that gives everything room to breathe, the atmospheric intimacy genuine rather than manufactured. The craft is real and the artistic intent is serious. The ceiling is the same one that has held electronic R&B consistently in this project — pleasant, accomplished, and generating no pull toward return visits. A respectful three, delivered without ambiguity.

Way more exciting album title than what it delivers on. I've been barely taken apart. Maybe my sleeve has been picked apart a little, but, that's it. Boring R&B nonsense.

15 producers, yet starved for variety. A singular r&b vibe that is competently performed but has delivered all its ideas two songs in.

I usually find that I'm a little contrarian compared to other reviewers on this site, but this time I have to agree with the consensus: The songs do all sound the same, and they are overproduced. As for my own observations, this sounds like something that comes on a GTA radio station. It's vaguely vaporwave-y also, and one of the albums on this list which has come closest to being ambient while still having every song full of lyrics. Speaking of lyrics, one that stood out to me, as though speaking to my soul, was "You've had enough right now" on fourth track Enough. How true it was.

I could see listening to this again as a Sunday morning chill or quiet background music for dinner type of listen, but it wasn’t anything special for me because too much of it felt like generic 2010s pop. I like female r&b/neo soul when it gets a little more interesting in terms of production and composition (see: Hiatus Kaiyote). I did like the track Jupiter. This feels more like a true ** for me (should probably revise black flag down to *)

Production is top tier. I’ll always appreciate a modern record where the goal is to try to produce new sounds or evolve a genre. Pleasantly surprised by this one. But it does feel repetitive and the 2nd listen didn’t hit as hard as the first. 3 Stars 7.4 out of 10

I really did not like this album. And it's not that it's bad, necessarily. It's just absolutely, unequivocally not for me. It's got that contemporary R&B sound that I really struggle to connect with. Everything is so slick, so polished, so meticulously produced that it almost feels overproduced to the point of sterility. There's definitely a neo-soul thing happening here, somewhere in the universe of Frank Ocean and D'Angelo, neither of whom are particularly my cup of tea either. But where those artists at least have a certain weirdness or experimental quality that I can appreciate, this feels comparatively straightforward and conventional to me. And frankly, less interesting as a result. Kelela is clearly a talented vocalist. I don't think there's any denying that. But she's doing that sort of Mariah Carey-inspired, melismatic R&B vocal thing that just does absolutely nothing for me. I can recognize the technical ability without deriving any particular enjoyment from listening to it. It's an aesthetic that I've never particularly cared for, and there's a whole lot of it here. I can certainly appreciate that there's a lot of craft involved in making a record like this, and I understand why it might appeal to people who enjoy this particular genre. But I just found the whole experience kind of boring. Nothing really grabbed me. Nothing made me want to go back and listen again. The production, the songwriting, the vocal performances, none of it elicited much of an emotional response beyond general disinterest. And that's really all I can say about it. Sometimes an album challenges your tastes and wins you over. Sometimes you discover something completely outside your musical wheelhouse that blows you away. And sometimes you listen to an album that's probably quite good at what it's trying to do, but what it's trying to do is something you have absolutely no interest in hearing. This is very much the latter. 3.2/10

Album 344. Take Me Apart (https://open.spotify.com/album/6pw1XPub1bSMq03ASVqRVu?si=VoYWf5D3Sy2Drx52pahboQ) — Kelela (2017) Modern R&B is so boring, generic meeehh It's not bad, the sound is pleasant and chill. But that's not the kind of album that deserves extra attention. I've heard music like this a thousand times. 2/5 No liked songs

Very good R&B/Soul. Smooth and cool. (Listened to it on Apple Music)

I didn’t know the artist or any of the songs. It wasn’t unpleasant but I don’t think it will be one that sticks with me, it didn’t get its hooks in.

Gear: ZMF Bokeh Closed Artwork: 💇‍♀️😏🟥 Production: 🎛️🙄🤷 Music: 🤨🔎🫆 Rating: ⛔/5

meh..with a side order of extra meh

Sigh. Contemporary r’n’b. This bored me, and I had to peace out once the vocal trills started.

Perfectly cromulant R&B album. 3.5 stars.

no mg

A little too minimalistic of a production for me, I see how it's acclaimed.

A bit of a hidden one I guess, to me at least. Not familiar with this release at all despite how recent it is. Production was interesting, going the electro-R&B route and providing some soothing soundscapes. The album as a whole kind of began to shift into the same mold as it went on, however. Some of the reviews are a bit too critical, but I can also agree that this probably isn't *that* essential of a listen.

It was actually fun. For the first r and b/ soul music it was really good

kelela has recently been such an interesting name reocurring now and then inside my bubble from albums with gorgeous covers and looking at her discography i didn't know her carreer ranged from as back as it does or even guaranteed a place in this list. of course, as anything that is not your good and old rock, or is at least a little bit daring or different, it is misunderstood and helps with my idiosyncratic "y'all don't get it" from looking at the ratings. this is such a pretty combo of R&B and electronica/ambient! experimental R&B is one of the most pleasant things i can hear right now, just the overall uplifting, warm and familiar vibes from the vocals and bass/beat, matched up with beautiful, inovative experimantation with texture and sounds. something (visual) tells me this even ain't kelela's best work so i am pretty excited to hear the rest of hers.

Never heard of this artist before so naturally I kind of expected something interesting. And here comes the first song, not bad not bad, but with every subsequent song they all sounded pretty much the same, not much variety, yet another bland super-produced pop album, just boring through and through Im sorry. Max of 2 stars if not lower

I'm not familiar enough with the genre to appreciate the subtleties, but vocals are punchy and charismatic, and the production flows between edgy and lush with ease, always sounding fantastic.

Das nicht meine Musik

not bad but too repetitive.

alsof je op restaurant een driegangenmenu hebt besteld en enkel drie glazen water kreeg

Well crafted pablum, fairly tedious to sit through. Lots of synthesizer drones providing a hazy backdrop, rarely punctuated by a catchy melody or rhythm. And those lyrics are pretty sophomoric. I could have done without hearing this one. Apt song title: “Onanon” (as in, this album goes…).

Kind of a wistful nothing album. I break out in cold sweat every time I see a post-2005 album, and this is not improving the situation.

Not bad, but nothing unique or interesting

It was an interesting album to listen to. Not the type of thing I'd usually listen to, but I enjoyed it. I probably wouldn't seek it out, though.

just not really my thing. I thought it was fine, though. Pretty long and didnt end up finishing fave: Better Rating:5.5/10

This was difficult to make a judgement on. The smooth R&B elements aren't really my thing, so on a first listen it sounded to me like a sleepy, muffled version of Imogen Heap. But listening carefully on good speakers, there's a huge amount of interesting stuff going on with the production and harmonies. So - it's not really my thing, but I'm giving it an extra star for being by a queer Black woman. That's an achievement in the music business anyway, even before you think about the racism and sexism that makes people on here give things like this 1 star, while giving 4 or 5 to endless identikit Blues/Country/Rock Made By Hairy White Men in the Seventies.

This was much better than I anticipated. Never heard of Kelela before and the only refreshing thing I expected to find was the fact that it was an American artist instead of an English one that was the unknown singer on this list. As it turns out, this album was great. Kelela's voice is very good. There were elements of Janet Jackson in there, at least to me. She felt like a harbinger of what was to come though, things like Solange, Rochelle Jordan, etc. I really liked the blending of her voice and some of the electronic elements it was laid over. Songs were generally well written too. All in all, really surprised by this record.

6/10

meh

Nope!

It's perfectly serviceable 2017 pop R&B. I doubt I'll be listening to it again any time soon, but it wasn't torture to get through. I maintain that slbums shouldn't be consoydor inclusion until they've been around for longer, I get wanting to include more modern entries, but so often the recent ones just don't have staying power.

Amazing album wow! Really surprised me this kind of R&B/NeoSoul sound! She has a great voice!

Hypnotic grooves, stellar lyrics

This album was pretty damn good!

A potentially great album ruined by over-processing. This is why people complain about "music these days". Not the artists or their vision, but the production shortcuts. The vocals especially are over-processed into the uncanny valley. Clearly digitally manipulated. Over-compressed and it's not clear exactly what they did or why, but that they definitely moved them around and messed with them digitally. I'm sure she has a wonderful voice. Let us just hear it naturally. Go the Massive Attack - Mezzanine route and have a raw, soulful R&B voice unfiltered over the electronic beats. Or go full T-Pain or Daft Punk and intentionally digitize it for effect. But this over-compressed, pitch adjusted, quantized, and flown around execution is just a mess.

Didn't finish.

Totally nice

Not a whole lot to say about this album. I’ve never heard of her or listened to her music. I’m a fan of old school soul and R&B, but not so much anything past the 90’s other than some neo-soul types. I will say this was pleasant to listen to. It didn’t make me angry or want to stop playing. I liked that there was a story being told (though I wouldn’t have known that without Spotify telling me so). No standout songs, but a solid 3 album.

Another decent singer seduced by excessive autotune.

Who is this? And why are they here? Yawn.

Good elctrosoul record

Loved this

I like it! I'm hearing Sudan Archives and FKA Twigs. I've not seen this album, but I do remember Raven coming out, and not really understanding it. Maybe I'll try again on Raven.

A bit tedious for me personally to listen through, but a good album to fall asleep to.

the albums included from 2017 have been absolute bangers. kelela is so smooth, a modern day sade perhaps? Would I listen again: yes Deserves to be on this list: yes 4.7

Surely some people pay to be on this list.

***An ok, easy listening album

Not bad. But nowhere near a 4. Far more listenable than D’Angelo for me.

The lesser spotted Kelela Warbler sings for us. Not really a fan I'm afraid. A little bland all round and lacking in substance for me. Advert music maybe?

Overly polished and produced.

It sounds gorgeous, but it’s really not my thing, and I was bored by the halfway mark.

Not mine.

Little too much pop for me

There is nothing novel or groundbreaking about this album. I feel like its inclusion on here is a total waste. She has a decent voice, the production is o.k. but everything else is mediocre.

Not my slice of pie, 2-3.

Never heard of this album, can't imagine it was even a top album in 2017, let alone one I need to listen to. Albums like this make me wonder wtf is going on with this list.

Никогда раньше не слышал об этой исполнительнице. На мой вкус звучание чересчур басовитое – на длинной дистанции слушать становится физически тяжело. В остальном альбом довольно любопытный

Not for me but not bad

Surprised me. Very enjoyable!

I think this album's popularity and appreciation are less to do with the music, but the artist's personality.

*Neo-soul/R&B- fine but got too slow at times

Wow, was this one a slog. To be fair, this isn't really my bag to begin with, but an entire album full of overproduced, autotuned slow jams without a hint of change in tempo or style didn't do much to convince me otherwise. There's nothing offensive or even particularly awful here, just monotonous and repetitive drum machine ambience with no variety or shift in tone to speak of. The kind of music that feels slightly edgy and artistic without accomplishing much of either. Janelle Monae had a pair of much better albums out by the time this one arrived, and at a 2/5 it wouldn't convince me to turn those off in favor of this.

199. Take Me Apart - Kelela (2017) 9.9.26 Variety: 1 Adequacy: 4 Listenability: 2 Uniqueness: 1 Emotionality: 2 = 2.0 "You've had enough/ I've had enough right now" It's not usually the albums from my youth that remind me I'm old. We just had Nirvana's Nevermind, and when it popped up I wasn't thinking too much about how it was 35 years old, and how decrepit that made me feel ( though now that I mention it...). Instead, it's stuff like this, from an artist I can truly say I've never heard of, and if I've heard any of their music it would have been by complete accident. What's worse is I was like "Ooh, a new artist - this should be exciting at the very least." And then I see the year of release - "Oh, that's just a few years ag--- JESUS CHRIST THAT'S ALMOST 10 FUCKING YEARS AGO..." To be fair though, the last 10 years or so has maybe actually felt like 20, so let's call it a wash and get on with it. THE TRACKS "Frontline" - I dig me some bleeps and bloops in my modern R&B, so this started off well enough. We recently had a Janelle Monae album, and I was maybe expecting a similar vibe, but where Monae's stuff was bright and shiny, this felt darker and moodier, and maybe has more in common production-wise with stuff like the Weeknd, but the music itself feels very throwbacky to me, with some nods to both Janet Jackson and TLC ( especially) in this one. This was alright, and had some good beats. "Waitin" - This one felt a lot more generic, but the atmosphere was still solid, and the beats and production lift it up enough to make it pleasant while listening. Will I remember it ever though? "Take Me Apart" - Kelela turns the atmosphere knob to 11 on this one, and we get inundated with some enormous bass and some cool echoey effects, again with solid beats underneath. "Enough" - Sleepy, moody vibes on this one with more great atmosphere. Man, how many times have I used that word already? It's starting to feel very texture forward, with the vocals secondary to the vibe. Which is fine. I like plenty of ambient music, and this might be a good candidate for "ambient R&B" if that could be considered a genre. I just wish there would be a little bit of variety in the tempo, as it feels like these are all slow jams with a bunch of cool effects thrown over them. "Jupiter" - This track answers the question "what if R. Kelly got really obsessed with one of those Sounds of Thunderstorms cds". The slow jams keep coming, and with the pacing of the album dying before my very eyes. "Better" - Some echoey, industrial-ish beats add a bit of a different flavor here, but more uninspired Janet Jacksony vibes on here, and the album seems stuck in molasses. "LMK" - Some darker, more interesting instrumentation and a slightly more up tempo feel does WONDERS for this one. By far the most interesting track yet, and feels like life is returning to things. A "Truth or Dare" - Some great different sounding beats here, but we're dangerously close to dipping back down in energy. This mid tempo number has got me hovering just within the boundaries of consciousness though, so let's hope this back half keeps up the pace or at least switches it up a bit more. "S.O.S." - Yet another pace killer, but at least this time it's a solid example of the form. Finding it hard to say much about these at this point. "Blue Light" - Fine as well, but getting hard to differentiate things by this point. "Onanon" - Even the bouncier pace of this one still doesn't seem very energetic. In fact, it feels oddly far off and flatly mixed in comparison to the more interesting tracks "Turn to Dust" - More.... okay stuff, but now it feels like I've been listening to this for at least double the time I actually have been. The length is not pairing well with the very flat pace. "Bluff" - Very old school beat on this one perked my ears up just slightly, as I gelt more Janet/ Aaliyah vibes. Nice short length made it effective "Altadena" - We end things on a familiar note, with more decent but undifferentiable stuff that leaves me feeling like I listened to the same track maybe 10 times on here. HIGHLIGHTS - "Frontline" - "Take Me Apart" - "LMK" - "Bluff" MIDLIGHTS - "Waitin" - "Enough" - "Jupiter" - "Truth or Dare" - "S.O.S." - "Blue Light" - "Turn to Dust" - "Altadena" LOWLIGHTS - "Better" - "Onanon" FINAL THOUGHTS Top tier production and a good voice on this, with a lot of solid beats and atmosphere. I would not be opposed to hearing more from Kelela, especially to see how she might have evolved since this one. My biggest issue with it was the preponderance of slow jams, which felt like almost every song on here. If there had been a few more tracks like "LMK" sprinkled through it would have gone a long way towards keeping my attention, and would have vastly improved the listening experience. Kelela is very obviously a talent, but the strikes against her are the fact that this just isn't a subgenre of music that does much for me, and the fact that it moved at a glacial pace did not help it none. I didn't hate it though. Just didn't inspire one lick of passion for the music. The production, atmosphere, and general moody vibes I was down for though, and if anything new happened to pop up, I wouldn't necessarily change the channel. Possible turn-Offs might Include: - sloooooooooowwwwwwwww pace - throwbacky 90s R&B feels - very overwhelming production style You Might enjoy this if you like: - tight vocals - retro-futuristic slow jams - relaxed, but heavy atmosphere PLAYLIST ALTERATIONS - "LMK" might be the one track I'd keep... FURTHER LISTENING - Forever My Lady by Jodeci - The Velvet Rope by Janet Jackson - My Life by Mary J. Blige - One in a Million by Aaliyah - by Janet Jackson - LP1 by FKA Twigs

Interesting. My first thought was is this what a mature Aaliyah would've sounded like? My mind wanted to ponder that, but comparing a relatively new artist to the ghost of a dead musician and all the lost potential that may have carried is unfair to Kelela. Trying to judge this on its own merits though is hard. We are always tempted to compare. I miss the R&B production of the 90s. If this album wasn’t auto-tuned then it was over- produced to a much similar effect and not one I find appealing. The opening track of “Frontline” held enough promise to actually make me disappointed that the rest of the album didn't live up to its promise. Just stuck in the same gear for far too much of the album. 2/5

Love her vocals and some songs were bangers! It’s not something I’d intentionally reach for again, though.

Honestly, I might just love this because I’ve been listening to so much old stuff because of this website . It’s super vibey….she blends electronic and r&b very well. Overall, the album is sexy as hell front to back.

Wonderful voice.

Pas que c'est pas bon... mais j'ai pas l'temps.

😐