Kelis' New Album Will Make You Sweat
These days, Kelis is pulling double duty as a new mother and veteran songstress. With her four-month old infant Knight in tow, the 30-year-old Harlem native is stepping back in the booth for her fifth album. Only this time, she’s talking about life’s intricacies rather than her “milkshake.”
Her first single, the techno-infused “Acapella,” is replete with personal and uplifting sentiments. “It’s about my son, it’s about the love of God,” she reveals to staging-rapup.kinsta.cloud. “It’s kinda about the power of life, really.” David Guetta, the track’s producer, initially approached Kelis for another project. “He wanted me to be a part of his record, [One Love], and it just didn’t end up working out,” says Kelis. “Then I fell in love with some tracks that he had sent me. I ended up writing [‘Acapella’] for my album.”
Though she’s the sole star shining with no guest appearances yet to speak of, Kelis did tap several well-respected producers to round out her fifth opus. “I worked with Boys Noize, Jean Baptiste, Diplo and Switch, Burnz, [and] this cat named Replay,” she states. “I have a nice, eclectic group of guys there.”
One song to look forward to is the Jean Baptiste-produced record “Carefree Americans.” According to Kelis, “super-size me” is the motto of the nation. “It’s kinda like the back and forth between what we know that’s wrong with Americans and being in America, yet the things we love about it,” she continues, “and at the end of the day we don’t really sacrifice that much. I put myself in it as well; we are Americans and we like everything super-sized.”
For an album housing tunes designed for the dance floor, fans are guaranteed to perspire. “It’s an album you can get sweaty to,” Kelis says with a laugh. “[The album is] called Fleshtones. But don’t hold me to that. I’ve been feeling animalistic and kind of carnal in my approach to things lately. It sort of seems fit.”
Kelis’ tentatively titled fifth album, Fleshtones, is set for a spring 2010 release.
–Georgette Cline