Take Me Apart

Vocals are pleasant enough, but it's very one note throughout. I didn't enjoy the production at all. Sounds like PS2 menu music club mix.

I'm sure there are folks out there that appreciate this, but I'm not one of them.

I liked the first song but the rest of the album wasn't so interesting

A good album and a good contemporary choice for the book. I've come across a few tracks by Kelela when listening to some of various electronic indie and dream pop artists I have on rotation. I knew I liked it but as an old married white guy the sexy cover art may have unconsciously made me slot it into the category of "interesting but not for me."

Giving it a proper listen, though, it reminds me a lot of an artist I listen to regularly, Empress Of. Maybe slightly further into the R&B side of the spectrum, but honestly not by all that much. So I hear her as another powerhouse woman blending hip-hop, electronic, indie, and her own narrative however she wishes. Power to her.

Chillige Background Musik

This is a well produced R&B album. Whilst not an extraordinary record, ot remains quite the enjoyable listen.

7/10 [KEEP]

Wow she is talented. I don't know that I would listen to this again, but I did really enjoy it.

Perfectly nice but wouldn’t call it game changing

Well that was certainly something that played while I listened to it. What else can I say about it? It had a bit more to it than I was expecting? That's such a low bar because I was expecting very little based on the write-up and reviews. Someone absolutely nailed it by saying it's 'perfect for mid-range clothing retailers who want music to make them appear hip while blending smoothly into the background'. It's exactly that. It's almost perfectly designed as something to enter your ear but without registering at all in your actual brain. You just have this kind of vague sense of something happening, and a mild desire to go out and buy a pack of 3 basic tees on the 3-for-2 offer.

whatever

I have never heard of this before. I know absolutely nothing about it beyond that it's an R&B album. The cover is... interesting. As for the actual music, it's mostly standard R&B with a modern electronic bent. Lyrics are pretty standard for the genre, and the vocals are just OK. They're technically impressive, but don't feel as soulful as the classic greats. A lot of the sound of this record is the sound of generic late-2010s Top 40 music. It isn't bad, but nothing here is particularly great. It sounds exactly like you'd think it would sound based on the cover and release date, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. However, that sound is not a particularly memorable one, and this is mostly a collection of standard pop/R&B songs that lack great songwriting. Granted, it's not as bad as the similarly rated Back to Basics, so there's that.

Neither the R&B side, nor the electronic side of this album really brings anything special to the table. On top of that, I feel like I've been listening to the same song for 53 minutes. Overall, it's painfully generic, boring, and utterly forgettable. It sounds like the kind of thing I should be hearing in a hip corporate coffee shop, not on a list of 1001 albums to hear before I die

Boring pop that sounds like it came straight out of the 90s. I had no idea that 30 years later, there would still be a demand for it. 2/5

Couldn't finish it, didn't hold much interest for me.

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.

It was enjoyable, but a bit too long for me. I really enjoyed the beginning, but had a hard time staying invested all the way through.

I don't even know what to write about this album—I'm so shocked that such shallow mainstream pop made it onto the list. Music like this is usually hyped up for a few weeks and then, after a year at most, no one remembers it anymore. I gave up after four songs because it's just annoying, but apparently there's at least one music journalist who voluntarily subjected himself to it a second time...
Anyway, tomorrow there's bound to be another album worth listening to.

that was quite boring

3.5 Wonderful discovery

Oh boy I am really not the target demographic for this. Beautiful vocals, shimmering production and some interesting modern beats but this is really not my genres - I don't know if this is better than the next R&B (is that what this is?) record. At the risk of sounding like an old man, this whole record sounds the same.