Take Me Apart

The production is lauded as being cutting edge and innovative, but this is from 2017 so I don't really understand why. If this was from 2007 I might be slightly more impressed. Perfect for mid-range clothing retailers who want music to make them appear hip while blending smoothly into the background.

I’ve been to enough pitchfork music festivals (two, in 2009 and 2010, when the website was slightly less of a joke than it is today, *slightly*) to know a “Best New Album” when I hear it. Sometime during the second track, I thought to myself, “Pitchfork gave this Best New Music, didn’t they.” Since I was driving at the time, I couldn’t verify it on the spot, but once I got home, I did. Lo and behold, my suspicions were correct. This record was given Best New Album status over at Pitchfork. In fact, all of Kelela’s records have received that honor to date, which is no small feat. If only there was a way for me to monetize this useless skill of mine. Maybe I could go to bars and bet people that I can tell if a album got Pitchfork’s highest praise. They’d play me a song from a record and I’d say yes or no, like a parlor trick for aging hipsters. I think I could probably do pretty well at it, like as a side hustle, but at best, the audience for that type of bet is small. As usual, I digress. My point is, if your tastes typically align with Pitchfork’s, you’ll probably enjoy this record. It might be the Pitchforkiest record I’ve been assigned so far - sort of a retro-futuristic take on r&b with glitchy percussion and a healthy portion of synth pads. Experimental enough to not be totally mainstream, but mainstream enough not to alienate people who might usually be put off by experimental music - the Radiohead paradox.

Every track sounds exactly like the track before it. It's not bad, exactly. It's just like ... I already heard that. I don't need to hear it again, thank you.

I tried to give this album my attention and absolutely could not. The sound was pleasant and I enjoyed the lyrics when I could focus on them but, without intense consentration, I would immediately drift off and be two more very similar sounding songs into the record. It is probably great and, if I get my hands on some adderall to keep me engaged, maybe someday I will fond out.

This is obviously a fairly recent addition to the mix, as the album is only from 2017 and has very few reviews. Is it an album I need to hear before I die? Absolutely not. I could have gone my whole life never knowing about Kelela and never been the worse for it. But I'm giving it a change here. Production is solid but musically the album doesn't stand out much. It's a bit samey and overly long and would have benefited from getting rid of a few tracks. Kelela has a nice enough voice, but it's over-tuned, like a lot of vocals of recent years. The album overall feels a little throwback, like I'm listening to 1990s R&B. Strong influence of Velvet Rope era Janet is evident. I'm not really hearing the supposed futurist vibe of the music, at least not anything that many other artists haven't done before her. Maybe it just isn't my genre. Fave songs: Turn to Dust, Enough, Bluff

I really struggled with what to give this one- over two listens it was cartwheeling between two and four stars. Contemporary R&B isn't in my wheelhouse so it was difficult to work out what I was looking for, and if I was enjoying it. One thing that grabbed me straight away was the lush production. Drums are subtle, high-pass filtered, underwater. Layers of ambience (waves, a car unlocking and driving off, vocalisations) never feel overdone. Kelela's vocals shimmer and ripple, layered to stunning effect across many of the songs. On a second listen I started to appreciate all of this much more. There are many brilliant sonic touches to spend more time with, and even before paying attention to the lyrics I blushed at the sensuality of it all like the prudish white boy I am. This is a very subtle album and didn't hit immediately, but there's a lot that hooked and intrigued me, making me very likely to spend more time "taking it apart". For that reason, I'm giving the benefit of foresight with four stars.

despite the incredible production, i found the vocals to be generic and bland.

What a slog. So much of it sounds alike and I was bored to tears. I don't get why it's here. It doesn't seem like there's anything really remarkable here. She isn't a terrible singer and the production is good, but I was begging for it to end by track 3.

an average modern R&B album. The production is nice

I really enjoyed this album. I'm a huge R&B fan, but not usually into electronic music. I don't really know what I was expecting but I was into it. It has the right amount of smooth R&B and the right amount of electronica for most tracks. My highlights from the album were Frontline, Waitin, Jupiter, Better, Bluff and Altadena.

Et allez, c'était évident que la communauté de ce générateur était complètement demeurée. Moi je mets 5 sur 5 et je vous vois venir les fans de post punk métal de mes couilles avec vos clébards pleins de boue et vos goûts musicaux dégueulasses. Sachez que vous êtes dans l'erreur, et plus généralement dans la saleté, dans l'insalubrité.

Surprised me this one, a really lovely, soulful listen.

First of all, the video for Frontline is worth the price of admission right there. I forget about videos nowadays, but there are still good ones. This one is unique and of course accompanied with a cool song. Ok, this is the most modern album I've been given yet. I've never heard of Kelela, and I am pleasantly surprised by the whole thing. Black, solo female R&B is not usually my go-to music genre, but it's mostly because I just don't have exposure. I think Kelela is a force! Her beats are so complex, especially with headphones. She knows how beautiful she is, and she exploits it in the dreamy, fantasy sensibility she sells with her lyrics, but her music is timeless. There is a tremendous mix of instrumentation going on. On one hand, there's that mellow Mariah Carey sound that calls back to the 90s/early 2000s, but then she layers on so much more that makes it sound like new music but also classic. Pretty hard to tail. Waitin' is a song that embodies what I'm saying perfeclty. Right now, she is focused on that youth, attraction, love, breakups, identity, which is as relatable as things can get. I'm excited to see where her style goes as she grows. There's a bit of a lull in the middle of the album when you hit Enough, Jupiter, and Better. But there's some really cool sounds in those sounds too and some optimism that is nice to hear about how life has beauty everywhere. Things get back on track with LMK though. I feel cooler having listened to her.

this is shit. the singing never fit with the backing track. every track was like she put on some music in the background and then just warbled around on top with no concern for what the track was doing.

This album is pretty damn fantastic.

Perfect and innovative RnB. Still sounds very fresh 5 years later. A favorite of mine.

Fantastic R&B album. Love the influences of other genres on the music, fun to listen to

No. 188/1001 Frontline 4/5 Waitin 4/5 Take Me Apart 4/5 Enough 4/5 Jupiter 3/5 Better 4/5 LMK 4/5 Truth or Dare 3/5 S.O.S. 3/5 Blue Light 4/5 Onanon 4/5 Turn To Dust 4/5 Bluff 4/5 Altadena 4/5 Average: 3,79 Thoroughly enjoyable listen.

Awesome evolution of R&B, not for me, but massively talented

Yes to the vocals. Yes to the lush soundscapes. Yes to the pretty melodies!!

Mostly harmless

They should wait at least 10 years before putting new albums on this list.

This album sounds like 100 other R&B albums. Very meh.

So “Take Me Apart” by Kelela was fairly well-done, and I appreciate the fact that she didn’t talk much about “da club”, or how she was going to be “spitting fire” with her lyrics… I also think she is a fine vocalist, and was easy to listen to… That said, if there hadn’t been the song title changes as I listened on TIDAL – I would not have known, as it really did sound like one, big, long connected song… Like I said, it was well-executed – she does have a unique voice, and I like the electronica/R&B futuristic blend to her sound HOWEVER, there was almost no diversity to be found on this album – anywhere, as all the songs sounded like clones of each other… If I had to choose 1 song that was a bit better/different from the others, I’d probably choose “Onanon”, but not much more than that… Definitely a 2, but not much more in my book…

This is the first album I couldn’t make it through in its entirety. To me, it feels more like background muzak or elevator music—something I’d typically hear at the hairdresser’s. Sorry, Kelela.

I was a tiny bit of a Tumblrina in my college years, as I think many queer, younger Millennial women were at the time, but I was also a party girl, frequenting house parties and local basement shows and dive bars of all shapes and sizes. The Venn Diagram between those two scenes is now referred to as ✨Indie Sleaze✨, although I personally perceive that term to refer to the Meet Me In The Bathroom Core™️ bands. By 2013 or so, that vibe had largely shifted over to represent folks in the Alt&B scene, which is a genre that’s gone through several rebrands. In the wake of Jai Paul, though, Cool Girl™️ party music got a lot moodier, a lot more stoned-out, and a lot more introspective, with concave 808 bass drums and mumbled vocals. This was primarily what people meant when they talked about Alt&B, despite Frank Ocean reviving the original neo-soul tradition of the genre in 2012. Because I was already a lifelong R&B fan, though, I got absorbed by this new sound and aesthetic. In fact, I loved it. I was a fiend for it, and still have a soft spot for a lot of those artists: Banks, AlunaGeorge, Blood Orange, The Internet, Tinashe, James Blake, Kaytranada and that one Boiler Room set. By 2017, though, this aesthetic was already starting to die out again, inevitably replaced by the neo-soul revival of Frank Ocean’s Blonde and Endless, and, more importantly, the slow rise in popularity of SZA off of Ctrl. This introverted aesthetic was taken out of R&B and placed in mainstream pop (Billie Eilish, The Weeknd, etc) and alt/emo-rap (XXX, Brent Faiyaz, etc), or was left alone for the art pop queens like FKA Twigs to tamper with. I think of Kelela’s Take Me Apart as this scene’s last big firework before the sparklers are all sent into the sky. It’s both a club record that encourages you to get a little high and shake your ass, and record that creates space for you to cry about your ex while you hotbox your Toyota Corolla, and sometimes, it wants you to feel like you want to do both at the same time, and that’s really what this era of Alt&B embodied. It takes a lot of cues from R&B a decade before– in particular the beat structure of Destiny’s Child– but adds emotional depth and vulnerability to the subject matter, while also deconstructing that sound to build to momentous moments. I think the best examples can be found on “Better,” “Blue Light,” and “Enough,” but the whole album has that same feeling on a full listen. I think the subtle electronica textures help, some of which are produced by Arca, which felt obvious once I learned that fact. And while emotional vulnerability is the name of the game her, there’s also more than enough moments that can be enjoyed simply as club bangers: “Waitin,” “Onanon,” and especially “LMK,” which is one of those songs I feel should have been bigger than it was. And then you have songs that split the difference, like “Frontline” and “Truth or Dare.” I will admit, I get the criticisms for Take Me Apart. It can be a little too introverted, a little too moody, and aesthetically, it can wear thin. Even as a fan, I do find myself starting to disengage over the course of the last few tracks. As a full listen, it can be a bit much. It also has a slight Pitchfork Approved™️ quality to it. But those are critiques you could throw at the entire Alt&B scene in the mid-2010s, and at that point, you’re either in or you’re out. And I am very much still in. I know this genre didn’t die– Kelela is still making excellent albums in this lane, Banks is about to release a new record, James Blake and Dev Hynes and Kaytranada are all well-regarded pop producers now, and Tinashe and FKA Twigs are more popular in 2025 than they maybe have ever been– but I feel like the moment has passed. I don’t really relisten to this era much any more, and truthfully, I kind of forgot how much I used to adore Take Me Apart. What’s more ironic is that, at the time, I would not have said this is the best album the scene ever produced. But in retrospect, I think it’s the obvious example. Like Diana for disco, it’s maybe not the last album in a genre that arguably never really died, but it’s the last important marker, a late-era release that burned so bright it made everything after it feel like a fade away.

there's nothing i love more than a pop record drawing on the burgeoning electronic sound of the era. Ray of Light takes influence from german trance and trip hop, Speak for Yourself saw Imogen Heap managing to get Jeff Beck from the 70's to absolutely shred on a glitch pop track, and all i have to say is the word Vespertine for you to get the meaning. hell, even in the world of R&B, you see stuff like Transient and One Touch popping up, bringing a taste of the dancefloor to the world dominated by the Neptunes and Timbaland's less-EDM inspired (but no less forward thinking and off-the-wall) production styles. the dance music of today, however, sounds a lot different. and can seem scarier. the bass has no limit, and neither does the percussion. Take Me Apart feels like one of those aforementioned records, but for music too weird to really be considered something you can dance to. UK bass is a hard genre to pin down, and you could argue it's not even really a genre, serving more as a production style indebted to dubstep, future garage, and the ever invaluable wonky. hell, things like PC Music and the epic collage of Elysia Crampton probably at least take some inspiration from the netweirdos of the scene, a new digital sound pulsing like a feeling through your headphones rather than a set of samples and/or MIDI-controlled pianos. it sounds like the FUTURE, goddammit. to UK bass, the future is dark, sleek, and growling. Kelela wields these sounds with the utmost confidence, melding her voice into it in an almost ghostly manner, always hitting beautiful hooks or soaring highs with her voice, and sometimes dying down to a whisper, almost centimeters away from the microphone and the inside of your brain. for some reason, the sound of the future isn't sinister to me here as it would be on, say, Faith in Strangers or even In Colour. it's dark and sleek, sure, but it's like velvet or a rabbit's fur instead of a cold, unfeeling car or the motion smoothing on your uncle's new TV. i get the feeling that there is no theatrical routine of life maintained beneath the surface -- seemingly, there is life. but i'm not 100% sure. in a way, the title serves as instructions. "Take Me Apart". i will let you find out for yourself.

Wow I was not expecting to like this as much as I do, its pretty good. Im surprised ive never heard of kelela. On the sza album I said I don't really like r&b, thats a lie. Any generalization I make about my feeling on a genre is a lie-- I think I just like music. glad this is on the list.

Yes

I'm sure it's just a coincidence that every album by a black woman that hasn't been formally inducted into the """canon""" gets poor reviews on this site

MOTHER

This is a great album, it is modern and has a lot of interesting sounds and lyrics. The right combination of electronic music and a kinda pop style of singing

Soulful, big sound R&B. Very enjoyable with high volume and plenty of bass. Wasn't always compelled to listen to the lyrics much, but I feel the production and blend of genres is something to revel in. Will listen again. 4 stars, but a high 4.

7/10 - There was a lot of really cool stuff in this album. I feel like I am not usually into this type of stuff but a lot of the instrumentals are extremely cool and the production is fantastic.

Generic. Nothing special.

⭐️⭐️ 1001 ALBUMS- # 40 How do I take you seriously Kelela with an album title and cover such as this… That is the problem I have with the image, style and presentation of music under the R & B category, it is all show for the artist over the actual art. This record production was supposedly quite groundbreaking for modern times, however pardon my ignorance for understanding how and why? They say not to judge a book by its cover, however when it comes to albums, the cover art (especially by staged performers) is often quite telling for how the music will sound. Perhaps I just prefer musicians who actual put the work in to write and perform their own material with physical instruments beyond solely utilizing a natural God given gift of singing, which in itself is often overshadowed by provocative images of said artist, Kelela being no exception. I really made an honest attempt to be open minded going into this one, however as others have stated, this ‘Alt R & B’ moniker does little to justify the tepid sound textures across each track. 🎧 Classic Track: LMK 🚫 Skip Track: Altadena Trademark sound effects- check ✔️ Backing echoing vocals- check ✔️ Sounds of snapping along to the beats- double check! ✔️✔️ 🖼️ Album Artwork: Scandulous Not offensive to listen to and the production is on point, however nothing worth returning to for me. Although given it’s ‘futuristic’ descriptors, perhaps just ahead of my time 🤣 Hit the Thumbs Up icon below if you enjoyed my hot take of the album :)

Laudable tilts to futurist ghostliness with assemblages of broken beats and synth that could have been drawn up by an architect on a beer mat make this best heard in the background - the cool production showcases a beautiful voice reading our nondescript diary entries, no groove, little in the way of refrain - this is void with an impeccable setting. I wish I enjoyed it more.

Dull, like an FKA Twigs without the talent and creativity or a Beyonce without the over-egged production. Do better!

This album has 20 people listed as producers or instrumentalists, including Kelela herself. I've no idea what they were all up to, as this sounds like something that could be knocked together on a laptop in about a week. Her voice is ok but it's just generic RnB. I gave it a second chance but couldn't last a full go through. Whatever was bumped from the previous editions to accommodate this 2017 effort was almost certainly more deserving of its place.

I'm still fighting through this as I write, but this is awful. It's not got a single song on it. Just aimless warbling over a drum machine with the odd little wibble wobble synth sound in the background. One song of it might work, but a whole album of it is torture. Only critics like tuneless rubbish like this.

Insipid and one-geared. Really dull and uninspiring. Zero stars, if it were possible.

Not my thing at all, not sure why it’s on this list

Found this particular flavour of R&B quite un-listenable.

Why, exactly, should I listen to this album before I die? Okay, it's not my sort of thing, but I can hear no recognisable merit in this that would elevate it above anything else in the genre. Bland and insipid.

The music was too empty.

That’s a very firm “no” from me.

The album is just the same shitty song playing again and again. Utter garbage.

There was not a single track on this album that made me want to listen to it again. Haven't done any research on it but not sure how it made this list.

I really enjoyed this. Reminded me a lot of Imogen Heap. I went and listened to the rest of their discography as well. I think I might have found a new favorite artist.

Perhaps the most surprising album I've loved on this list so far. Electronica & R&B is almost an impossibly bad combination for me, but this one strikes me. And I'm not entirely sure why. I was torn between 4 and 5, and I ultimately went with the 5 just to make sure it qualified for my list of vinyl to buy

Interesting

Great!

Surprising, amazing, ethereal, space R&B

This is so my vibe. Reminds me of Solange, SZA and Banks. Soulful and seductive. Dreamy, smooth vocals and harmonies. Sick beats.

Loved this album! I normally am not the biggest fan of pop but this was great!

YAS

Gold from the start! Instant buy

Track one has me pulled in... how has this never hit my radar? Track four gets a little dreamy and slow, but still a nice lounge music vibe. Feels like good bourbon and conversation.

I really jammed with this back when it was released, especially "LMK," which I definitely thought needed to a bigger hit than it was. Still think it's great, a very immersive album with some interesting sonic ideas.

Always a great day to get an album you know nothing about and being pleasently surprised. The production on this album is insane. No wonder it got put on the list. And the album just has bangers after bangers, though it's slightly too long but that's just a nitpick

More people should be talking about Kelela. It’s rare these days to find a debut so melodically rich and self-assured.

this is genuinely one of the best albums ive ever heard

Beautiful songwriting, vocal performance and production! This shows that there are still ways of being experimental without losing track of form, and that RnB and Electronica can provide sublime musical beauty.

Like I'm in the sexiest strip club and the stripper loves me, for real this time!!

one of my all-time favorites

Great. Did not think it would be this good. But it genuinely is very good.

Wow this is a sexy, glittering, ethereal album. The soundscapes are very open, eno inspired synth atmospheres.

Incredible, cannot believe I have never heard of this or her

Wow this one actually blew me away on first listen when I wasn't expecting that much. I had never heard of Kelela besides her feature on "A Seat at the Table" by Solange only realizing she was featured on it in the middle of listening. I don't think this album is perfect but it's the most I've felt while listening to an album in a long long time, first time I've felt this way to an album during these 1001 listens. The vocals, the production, the lyrics, the vocals, the vocals, and the VOCALS on this are all in credible and I cannot recommend enough. Favorite Tracks: Frontline, Take Me Apart, Enough, Jupiter, Better, LMK, Blue Light, Onanon, Bluff, Altadena

Loved this! I'm old, but I really liked the late 2010s sound, that kind of dark synth influenced by that OneOhTrix guy. But her voice adds another layer.

LOVE

Damn good

This is fantastic! Had not heard of the artist or heard her music. Great writing, outstanding performances...she's got it. Very, very cool sound.

The production is godlike

Look. I wrote a review in the office earlier today that said "boring". but I have now listened to it very loud in my ears after 3 pints on the night bus and honestly it's a vibe. Sometimes you just gotta find the right situation.

This is a mood-setting album. Perfect for driving in the rain (as I did).

Wow, this is good.

High 3/low 4, solid vibes

people think rym has a problem with women… wait until they start using this website… beautiful album with incredible vocal performances and awesome production … at least admit the arca produced songs are good i mean yeesh

Very good "slow burn" soul/R&B.

Fun to just hear a r&b album with modern production. Reminds me a lot of SZA’s CRTL which came out the same year but with some more electronic music integrated into it. Beautiful voice too. Would do a 4.5 if possible.

Relaxing music

Velvet Software Glitches This album isn’t just an experience—it’s a modulated dissection of desire, vulnerability, and letting go. It’s like: • Sade got uploaded to the cloud • And then got ghosted by a cyborg • And then wrote 12 flawless songs about it Take Me Apart is heartbreak on a hard drive. • It’s sleek, experimental, sensual, and a little haunted. • It’s what your ex’s texts would sound like if they had taste and reverb. Listen to this while walking alone at night, headphones in, city lights flickering, and a tiny part of you hoping someone stops you to ask, “Are you okay?” (Spoiler: You’re not. But you sound amazing.)

Le pongo buena nota únicamente porque al fin se acuerdan de algo que no sea rock y blanco. El álbum es muy coherente y top producción, pero siento que se volvió muy monotematico a mitad de camino. Blue light el más destacado. Nota: 3.7 pero pongo 4

Just a solid listen from front to back, it's smooth as hell and has consistently great production. Nothing groundbreaking or completely revolutionary, but there really is nothing here to dislike.

This is some cool girl vibe music.

I wasn't looking forward to this as I'm not a fan of R&B but I actually enjoyed it. The vocals and lyrical content didn't really stand out for me (although she certainly sing), it was more that the music was a kind of more abstract R&B, with a much greater sonic palette than you hear in more commercial music. Then after listening I saw it was released on Warp which is my favourite label, which makes sense. A pleasant surprise.

Very cool album, original samples and beautiful vocals.

The latter half of the 2010s is one of my least favorite eras of popular music ever, and based on other reviews of this album I was ready to absolutely hate it, but nope, I’m pleasantly surprised, do I think it’s groundbreaking? Probably not, but it’s certainly very good and I appreciate what it’s doing.

MUITO bom pqp

bom album de r&b com ótima produção. poderia ser facilmente um album recente. btw adoro a produção da arca. é nítido as músicas que tem o dedo dela!!

I was surprised to see I had 3 of her albums including this one saved in Spotify. I must have listen to this a some point. The production sound like things I listened to at the time. Hyperdub-adjacent. Some of this tilts past my tastes and feels overproduced. Blue Light is not my thing. I really like Waiting and S.O.S. Turn to Dust and Bluff might be my two favs. The ending feels more organic like a modern Sade.

4.5/5. So many of the participants in this project just hate modern pop music for no good reason. This is a vibe and the production is so clean and refreshing. God forbid an album doesn't have any guitar sounds.

easy peasy listening 4/5

Niet mijn soort muziek, wel goed

Decent

Was not expecting to like this as much as I did. Glad an album like this is on the list.

More and more enjoyable as it went on.

I loved this. An artist I’ve never heard of, a genre I’m not to keen on, yet it blew me away. The rest of the R&B community needs to catch up with Kelela.

I had heard this album sometime during the *COVID PANDEMIC* and remember liking it. Take Me Apart is such an interesting album. fantastic vocals by Kelela, but the tracks get very atmospheric, sometimes glitchy, and often have LUSH production. This is R&B by way of vapor/trap wave and video game music. The downtempo energy of the album is refreshing and makes it replay-able in most scenarios; It's that perfect balance of off-kilter and strange enough to sound fresh and interesting, but familiar enough to not be too challenging. I'll be spinning this all summer.