Kelis Tasty CD

"Milkshake" was nominated for the 2004 Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

One of writer James Baldwin's characters once observed, "You can't sing outside the song, you've got to be the song you sing. You've got to make a confession." Few modern singers on pop and R&B radio live as deeply inside their songs as fellow Harlemite Kelis, who passionately screamed "I hate you so much right now!" on her first single, "Caught Out There." That song was equal parts punk and funk, and the rest of her excellent debut, KALEIDOSCOPE, wandered through style after style, revealing her proficiency in all.

"Milkshake," the opening single of her third effort (her second album, WANDERLAND, was, strangely enough, not released in the States), features lyrics that might initially sound gimmicky, but it adds a darkly insistent techno-garage beat for an unforgettable musical moment disguised as a pop song. Kelis takes her influences from all over the map, referencing artists from the Pet Shop Boys to the Beastie Boys. "Keep It Down" starts off with a metal guitar riff and Kelis channeling Joan Jett with a most sensual fury, spitting out lines like "soft porn doesn't do it for me." She then proceeds to slide naturally into a sweet R&B ballad with poetic lines, such as "I got nervous and laughed your love away." As a whole, TASTY sports a delicate balance of intriguing experimentation and catchy hooks to create one of the most delectable records of 2003.

Personnel: Raphael Saadiq (vocals, guitar); Tony Reyes (guitar, background vocals); Kelvin Wooten (sitar, piano, keyboards); Kevin Kendricks (piano, keyboards); André 3000 (keyboards, drums, programming); Jake & the Phatman (drums, percussion, drum programming, scratches).

DJ: Greg "Ruckus" Andrews.

Audio Mixers: Kevin "KD" Davis; Dave Pensado; Glen Marchese; Dexter Simmons; Daniel Romero; Phil Tan; Serban Ghenea.

Photographers: Indrani; Markus Klinko.

Arranger: Dallas Austin.

Personnel: Kelis (vocals); Raphael Saadiq (vocals, guitar, bass); Andre 3000 (vocals, keyboards, programming); Kevin Wooten (guitar, sitar, piano, keyboards, bass); Tony Reyes (guitar, background vocals); Kevin Kendricks (piano, keyboards); Jake & The Phatman (drums, percussion, programming, vinyl scratches); Greg "Ruckus" Andrews (DJ); The Neptunes.

Producers include: Dallas Austin, The Neptunes, Andre 3000, Raphael Saadiq, Rockwilder.

Rolling Stone (1/22/04, p.68) - 3.5 stars out of 5 - "...Her best work....a solid R&B album, one that's thickly speckled with hip-hop influences and nods to early Prince and Eighties Latin freestyle music..."
Rolling Stone (p.146) - Included in Rolling Stone's Top 50 Records Of 2004 - "[The] album proves the Harlem-raised singer's off-kilter but bizarrely catchy R&B hit was no fluke..."
Entertainment Weekly (12/26/03-1/2/04, p.140) - "Milkshake" ranked #5 in Entertainment Weekly's 2003 "Records of the Year"
Entertainment Weekly (12/12/03, pp.76-7) - "...[A] vivid, full-spectrum [album]....the beauty of TASTY is in witnessing Kelis rise to the challenge of working with multiple imaginative maestros..." - Rating: A-
Mojo (Publisher) (2/04, p.103) - 4 stars out of 5 - "Kelis shows why she continues to be contemporary R&B's most refreshing revelation on TASTY."