Take Me Apart

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.

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 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.

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'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

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.

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

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.

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

Fucking hell. 🤦 This shit is for any sad fucker who's still rocking out to TLC's "No Scrubs" or Janet Jackson's "Again" or Destiny's Child's "Bills Bills Bills". Outdated dross. Unoriginal & boring from start to finish. This is music made by committee. Mass produced, assembly line R&B garbage. Cookie-cutter banality that I've heard 1000 times before, and will undoubtedly hear 1000 times again. Kelela has the most generic 90s/00s voice, singing the most generic 90s/00s lyrics, over the most generic 90s/00s computerized instruments. This is an exercise in mediocrity. An album I'd expect from the winner of The X Factor, and the corporate parasites who run that show. I can only imagine two sincere reactions to Kelela's "Take Me Apart": disappointment or indifference. 👎👎

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

(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.

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.

What in the world makes this album Top 1001 worthy? It's great if you like soft R&B with no beats or anything compelling to make you want to continue listening. Boring was my immediate thought, slow pace from start to finish with zero vocal gymnastics or musical groove. Apparently people listen to this there are two songs with over 11M listens. She might as well have been talking for 53 mins. Not my thing, not worth finishing. It felt like she was making up the words as she went along & the tempo rarely changed. This is a glaringly bad choice to include. One star, and that's just because it's listenable, just not enjoyable. If you like slow and boring, this is your album!!

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.

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.

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.

This album is pretty damn fantastic.

MOTHER

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

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.

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

Mostly harmless

This album sounds the same as any number of low end R&B from the late 90s to the early 00s. There are others who did it better then and the fact that this was decades later means it wasn’t even novel.

In the second track, there is this whistle wheeze that repeats through. It the sound my dog makes before he throws up on the carpet at 3 am. That kind of covers my thoughts on this. This also contains a bunch of cliche retread pop and r&b elements. This is boring.

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.

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

Beautiful voice. Smooth. FYI, the songs Spotify started playing after this were really good too.

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.

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.

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.

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…

I don't know what makes this album worthy of being on this list or any different to a million other ones of this genre.

If you like Kelela’s vocals and uninteresting backing beats then you’ll love the album because that’s all you get in every song.

amazing album by amazing artist.

Just some of the most sumptuous seductive sounds to listen to when the sun goes down my friend.

Had never heard of this artist. Very pleasantly surprised.

I LOVE IT VERY MUCH SO FAR!! MY ABSOLUTE FAVOURITE

Idk why everyone is dogging this album, it bangs. This is the alternative R&B sound I've hunted for and craved since I first heard Triligy by The Weeknd. Beautiful voice, great beats and amazing production. Also this album felt like a breath of fresh air after having like a dozen UK, ancient rock and folk albums. Nothing wrong with those genres, but damn, this was such a refreshing change.

254/1089 frontline sets the tone SO well and then the rest of the album keeps up with it. i saved every single song, there was a section where each song was better than the last somehow. what an excellent album. my favourite new discovery from this project and makes me a bit annoyed at myself for not checking out kelela sooner since she’s been on my radar for a minute faves: Blue Light, Onanon, Truth Or Dare, Jupiter, LMK 97/100

My loss for not listening to this in 2017

One of those albums that rewards multiple listens. I hear something new each time. But it is pretty subtle so you need to listen in. Some great albums work because they have a consistent mood or tone throughout. Take a breath, stick it on repeat.

I actually loved this album definitely going to check out some of her other stuff

Kelela knew very well how to combining R&B and electronic and don't make it sound messy. This a masterpiece!

Great album

fucking Astounding tbh FHJSFHJFSJFS i feel like ive been on a hot streak. liquid and silky enough that it could be easy to float aimlessly inside of but instead i feel my attention being reset with every track as a new soundscape rushes into the empty space in my ears. just the coolest production ever i fear...so natural in its blend of styles that it feels like the fifth album iteration of itself rather than a debut. the swirling soaky ambient qualities have this genuinely incredible chemistry with the stark, direct timbres of the vocal production. kelela cracks open interpersonal messiness with a kind of reassuring emotional command, art aware of its own existence as a reduction of feelings that can never be fully understood (see the closing track) and yet still fullfilling its purpose of retroactively granting order and meaning and beauty to the squishiest, most confusing parts of our lives...turning experiences into art as an assurance that you've reached the other side alive. seemed cool from the outset but just kept growing and growing and growing in stature in a way that totally took me off guard. would love to spend a lot more time with this one, and its very cool to see a pick from the past decade that is this genuinely exciting

la mitad de las canciones se sienten como ascender espiritualmente y la otra mitad se sienten como un vermú con muchas aceitunas <3

First Listen: Feb 18 2023 to whichever editor added this to the list: i love you

Apple Music labels this album as R&B/Soul, which it is at its core. But it's such fresh take on the genre. Amazing album. Each song so different. I loved it! Shades of Blood Orange perhaps. 5 Stars!

Stellar album

Yes

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.

A very good album, but not special enough to warrant inclusion here. Solange did it better.

Very average. I could’ve heard any of these songs walking around the mall.

Generic. Nothing special.

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

This isn't bad but I don't quite appreciate why it's on this list or how it is innovative to deserve a place here compared to so many other albums/artists that sound very similar. I was delighted about halfway through to hear that someone had discovered the electro snare drum button and gave it a few pushes. Innovation.

Nice voice but quite boring album. Each song was very similar and blended together for me. Surprised this was made in 2017, it felt more dated

A pleasant surprise among the morrissey, bob dylan, and old genesis albums we've been listening to in this project over the last few days. Still, I just can't seem to get really into it... I love kelela's voice and the her vibe, but the music doesn't sound harmonious or dissonant enough for me to really enjoy it. It's somewhere between catchy and unwieldy, and I just can't seem to connect with it.

tough to get through

there's simultaneously nothing wrong or right with this album

⭐️⭐️ 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!

Music for shopping malls, this is just well produced muzak.

Generic pop wuth that meth tweaker percussion the 2010s loved so much. There must be hundreds of albums just like this one, I dont get what's so cant-miss about it.

"Your call is important to us" music.

Bored out of my mind after the first 5 tracks. In the top 1,001 albums of all time? You gotta be havin' a laugh 😂 This is one star, mediocre, average stuff.

That was awful. Every single song for the 53 minute run time was about a relationship or just sex. There was nothing else. Is there nothing else going on in her life or in the world that she could have drawn inspiration from? The album felt incredibly slow and just plodding along, was super boring. Musically nothing happened (mainly because the only instrument was a keyboard) and lyrically it was just the same things over and over again. This was just not an album I needed to listen to before I died. It's supposed to be revolutionary or so the critics say. How? Is it revolutionarily bad? I think I'm actually worse off for having listened to this album.

Torture

BL: a complete blind listen. So will have to wait till after I’ve listened to pass judgement AL: I can’t help but feel massively Dissapointed by this one. I feel like this doesn’t really deserve to be on the 1001 albums list at all. There was very little that stood out in this record to me than the hundreds of other modern RnB/Neo-Soul albums that get churned out every year. The production was good value, there were some songs that I liked. But nothing at all that warranted it’s place on this list for me. I think I have to give it a 1 just for how forgettable it is. A record like “Heaux Tales” by Jazmine Sullivan did this a whole lot better. FT: “Take me Apart”, “Blue Light” 1/5

Computer, genereer muziek. Zoveel beats, ambient bedje eronder, 10% vulgair taalgebruik, afgestemd op die-en-die demografische doelgroep. Kortom, een album alsof het door ChatGPT is gegenereerd. Doe mij maar wat menselijke creativiteit, desnoods de schraapstem van Dylan, als je maar hoort dat het door een echt mens is gemaakt.

Did they just randomly pick some albums from the 20-teens? Adding R&B to electronic music doesn't improve it.

Loved this

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

How have I not heard this before?? Stunning

It's very cool I like it

Great, sultry R&B

Majestic, hadn’t heard of her before

HEEELLLLLLL YEAAAAA Ok whoever put this on here is my friend. This is one of those records that defined the last decade for me. One of the ones that ppl in the future will truly remember and respect. Plus I was I my late mid 20s it was the late mid 20teens. In the Atlanta queer art community- noone was more a paragon of cool than Kelela. That time and place was defined by Kelela, FKA Twigs, Frank Ocean, Tinashe and Solange. I was a huge fan of her mixtape when it came out. Already a believer but this album just catapulted me into devotee. Everyone loved her music but the group think was all so hyped on the Knowles sisters that Kelela was kinda treated like a side chick. More for the nerds. Since her newest record New Avatar came out I feel like I've truly gotten to see her be admired on the big stage of public opinion and it really feels so good. She deserves it.

Tasteful and unique r&b. I hadn't heard of Kelela - I like it.