Kelis - Food [R&B/Pop]

I'm not really an R&B fan. I can appreciate it, at times I've gotten drunk as hell and danced like an idiot to it, but I never really choose to put it on at home and I've definitely never listened to a Kelis album before. However, I decided to review this album anyway because a). I actually really like the song Milkshake, and b). I thought I should try to step outside my comfort zone.

So Kelis, 34 year old singer-songwriter and chef; famous for bringing all the boys into her yard and having a very public divorce with Nas, has teamed up with producer Dave Sitek; known for working with Jane's Addiction, Little Dragon and most recently Beady Eye, to make her home-cooked soul-food inspired LP, Food.

The album opens and it isn't what I expected, I was fully expecting stuff similar to, you guessed it, Milkshake. Instead the first track, Jerk Ribs, opens with funky, woody bass, subtle background synths and bright, uplifting horns. It's a soul album, it's still middle-of-the-road pop, but it's soul nonetheless.

Has this album converted me and turned me into a fully funkified soul sista? Well... no, but almost. It's vanilla, derivative, and predictable, but it's also fun, well performed and very well produced.

Take Floyd, the third track and first ballad on this album. It's a beautiful song, with Kelis lamenting how she wants to be "blown away" alongside some gorgeous keyboard, trumpet and xylophone melodies which Dave Sitek uses to create a sultry and richly textured atmosphere.

Or Friday Fish Fry; with Tarantino clearly in mind, this track has surfy guitars, Aretha Franklin style back-and-forths with the backing singers, and it's a lot of fun. Dave Sitek manages to make this track feel as "live" as possible and the chorus is memorable and catchy, despite being pretty clichéd.

But there are a number of low points; Breakfast is far too "nice" even for a pop record, and Bless the Telephone, the only cover on this album, is completely out of place on here. It's a great song, it's very well performed, but it doesn't belong on here.

I feel like Food was an attempt by Kelis to make more "grown up" music, and in that respect I think she's succeeded. Overall it's pleasant, catchy and sounds pretty damn good, but it's also so very vanilla, and for an album called Food, I was expecting a little more spice.

[5/10]