Kelis Was Here is the fourth studio album by American singer Kelis, released on August 22, 2006, by Jive Records. Originally titled The Puppeteer, the album features production by Bangladesh, Raphael Saadiq, Max Martin, Sean Garrett, and Scott Storch, among others, and also features collaborations with will.i.am, Nas, Cee-Lo, Too Short, and Spragga Benz. It is Kelis's first album not to feature longtime collaborators the Neptunes. Kelis Was Here received a nomination for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards.
Release and promotion The album's lead single, "Bossy", features rapper Too Short. The song peaked at number 16 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was certified double platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) on December 11, 2006. The second single from the album, "Blindfold Me", featuring Nas, was released solely in the United States. It failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100, while peaking at number 91 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. "Lil Star", which features Cee-Lo of the duo Gnarls Barkley, was released internationally as the album's third and final single. The track reached number three on the UK Singles Chart, earning Kelis her fifth UK top-five single as a lead artist.
Due to the use of "I Don't Think So" in a promotional advertising for Big Brother Australia 2008, the song entered the Australian ARIA Singles Chart at number 49 on April 21, 2008. The following week it rose to number 29, ultimately peaking at number 27. It also reached number eight on the ARIA Urban Singles Chart.
Critical reception
Kelis Was Here received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 70, based on 23 reviews. Ann Powers from the Los Angeles Times praised its eclectic music and said that it "mines a memory of R&B as the playground of category-dismantling individualists." NME magazine wrote that it feels like "a wildly ambitious Warhol-esque art project." Kelefa Sanneh from The New York Times described the album as "typically garish and glorious", with sounds that range from "space-age hip-hop ... to space-age guitar pop". Q magazine said that the album is "chock-full of surreal soul diamonds." Pitchforks Tim Finney wrote that, like Wanderland, the album is "formally varied but feels consistent—even monochrome in parts." In a review for The Observer, Peter Robinson commented that the album "occasionally misfires ... but there's still sass and creativity here." MSN Music's Robert Christgau gave Kelis Was Here a one-star honorable mention, indicating "a worthy effort consumers attuned to its overriding aesthetic or individual vision may well like." He cited "Blindfold Me" and "What's That Right There" as highlights, and quipped, "Good for sex and not much else, which in a fantasy object is plenty."
In a mixed review, Slant Magazine critic Preston Jones said that, although it is "an intriguing mishmash of sounds, beats, and vocal affectations", the album is "far too long" and lacks a song on-par with "Milkshake". Chris Salmon of The Guardian wrote that without the Neptunes, "contributors such as Black Eyed Peas' Will.i.am and [...] Shondrae reject all subtlety for songs that caricature Kelis as sexy, bolshy and not much else. The results are shallow and unconvincing, driven by the kind of brash holler and breathy schmaltz you would expect from J-Lo or Pussycat Dolls (complete with the rubbish guest raps)." Mikael Wood of Spin said that Kelis "consolidates" her previous "allure" and "turns up sex, turns down sass". Andy Kellman of AllMusic felt that it lacks first-rate material and "the range of emotions to match the varied backdrops." Quentin B. Huff of PopMatters argued that "[t]he songs are individually good, but don't really sound like they should have been grouped together on an album."
The album was nominated for Best Contemporary R&B Album at the 2007 Grammy Awards, but lost out to Beyoncé's B'Day.
Commercial performance Kelis Was Here debuted at number 10 on the Billboard 200 with 58,000 copies sold in its first week, becoming Kelis's highest-peaking album on the chart to date. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the album had sold 160,000 copies in the United States as of May 2010.
The album debuted at number 41 on the UK Albums Chart, selling 6,709 copies in its first week. It was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) on September 29, 2006, and by May 2010, it had sold 32,083 copies in the United Kingdom.
Track listing
Notes signifies a co-producer
Sample credits "What's That Right There" contains a sample from "(Not Just) Knee Deep", as performed by Funkadelic.
Personnel Credits adapted from the liner notes of Kelis Was Here.
Musicians
Kelis – vocals Too Short – vocals will.i.am – drum programming ; clavinet, Moog bass ; synth, drums ; vocals, keyboards Keith Harris – keyboards ; Rhodes guitar ; additional keyboards, Moog bass Printz Board – trumpet George Pajon Jr. – guitar Chuck Prada – percussion Raphael Saadiq – bass, guitar Bobby Ozuna – drums, turntables ; percussion Charles Jones – piano, keyboards Meneradini "Bridge" Timothee – piano, keyboards Cheryl Evans – background vocals Smoke – vocals Cee-Lo Green – vocals Lukasz Gottwald – all instruments Max Martin – all instruments Teddy "Bear" – programming, keyboards Joseph Edwards – choir Sandra Riley – choir Erika Schimdt – choir Julio Hanson – choir Jim Gilstrap – choir Kerry Paxton – choir Dawn Beckman – choir John Patrick – choir Jason Brown – choir Renee Bowers – choir Damon Elliott – arrangement Grecco Burratto – co-arrangement Renato Brasa – percussion
Technical
Bangladesh – production ; recording Sean Garrett – co-production ; production Doug Wilson – recording Charles McCrorey – recording Too Short – recording John Frye – mixing will.i.am – production Padraic Kerin – recording Joe Peluso – engineering assistance ; mix engineering assistance Ethan Willoughby – mixing Raphael Saadiq – production Jake and the Phatman – co-production Danny Romero – recording, mixing John Tanksley – Pro Tools engineering James Tanksley – Pro Tools engineering assistance Wesley Morrow – production coordination Polow da Don – production Brian Sumner – recording Brian Stanley – mixing Mike Makowski – mixing assistance Cool & Dre – production Robert "Brizz" Brisbane – recording Phil Tan – mixing Josh Houghkirk – mixing assistance Scott Storch – production Jason "Poo Bear" Boyd – co-production Conrad Golding – recording Marc Lee – recording Wayne "The Brain" Allison – recording Vadim Chislov – recording assistance James Roach – recording assistance Fabian Marasciullo – mixing Chad Jolley – mixing assistance Knobody – production Tatsuya Sato – recording Kevin Crouse – recording Neal Pogue – mixing Jean-Marie Horvat – mixing Colin Miller – mixing assistance Cee-Lo Green – production Ben H. Allen – recording Serban Ghenea – mixing John Hanes – Pro Tools engineering ; additional Pro Tools engineering Tim Roberts – Pro Tools engineering assistance Max Martin – production Dr. Luke – production Darien Gap – mixing Damon Elliott – production Teddy "Bear" – co-production Renson Mateo – recording Nathan Connelly – recording assistance Dave "Hard Drive" Pensado – mixing The Blitzburg Group – mixing assistance Dave Mattix – recording assistance Chris Athens – mastering Kelis – executive production Mark Pitts – executive production J. Erving – executive production
Artwork Denise Trotman – art direction, design Markus Klinko – photography Indrani – photography
Charts + Chart performance for Kelis Was Here Chart (2006) Peakposition Australian Albums (ARIA) 96 Australian Urban Albums (ARIA) 8Canadian Albums (Nielsen SoundScan)60 Japanese Albums (Oricon) 109
Certifications
Release history + Release history for Kelis Was Here Region Date Label Canada August 22, 2006 Sony BMG United States Jive Germany September 8, 2006 EMI Netherlands United Kingdom September 11, 2006 Virgin Sweden September 13, 2006 EMI Italy September 15, 2006 Australia September 16, 2006 Japan September 29, 2006
Notes
References