Take Me Apart

She has a beautiful voice, but I don't understand how this is considered futuristic. It's very enjoyable, don't get me wrong, but it could have been considered futuristic in 2010.

Interesting and cool. Would listen again and it could definitely grow on me more.

This album cover tells me all I need to know about the album...I just know I'm going to hate it (I was correct). Contemporary R&B mixed with electronica. Like Mariah Carey mixed with Usher club music. That fucking breath-y half whispered bedroom music but with a dance beat. R&B always sounds like it's sung by someone who is actively BEING banged. I don't need to hear that shit. Omg, I can't take more than like 2 songs on this shitty album at a time.

That was absolute garbage. I feel dumber for having listened to it. Fuck this whole genre.

Favourite songs: LMK, Frontline

Least favourite songs: Enough, Better, Jupiter, and the rest of this dumpster fire

1/5

This album sounds like all R&B albums. It could be anyone, singing anything. Very meh. This one is particularly bad. I have no idea how it made the list.

Favourite song: I couldn’t pick one
Least favourite: All tracks
Album artwork: Meh

Pretty cool electronic r&b music. a few songs can be a little repetitive though.

Great vocalist! Soothing R&B for a slow evening. Very well done.

Super generic. Autotune is an automatic -1 for me. Outside of autotune, the album is not bad, but not memorable. Tracks that caught my ear in a good way: Frontline (had me hoping for a good album, but then it turned pretty generic), Better, LMK (decent, but again pretty generic). Track that caught my ear in a bad way: Blue Light - autotune must die. Next.

*before listening* : oh, interesting. This is from 2017 and I hadn't heard of it or the artist

*after listening* : oh, that's why.

Perhaps my most unfair one-star, and I recognize that this album could really hit the mark as something for others. Its smooth, candy-coated exterior is complimented by its gooey exterior that isn't dissimilar to acts like Sade, but with a modern coat of paint in the production and lyrical content to make it a truly definitive modern R&B record. However, I just find it incredibly tepid. Nothing here ever aims to do anything to get my gears actually working, or to even remotely interest me, and I just find it BORING. I know that tends to be a no-no word for music, especially slower stuff, as it doesn't define any issues I have beyond a surface level, but it is hard to help to feel anything else. I found myself completely tuning out before each song had even hit its halfway mark, and I paused the album entirely to take a break, as my eyes were glazing over, and I needed to refresh. That just isn't something I do with music normally, and for an album to disinterest me that heavily is something fierce. Songs meander and feel like they're dragging their fit so that they don't have to show the next song, which is assuredly just as sleepy. It has structure, yes, but that doesn't stop every song from seemingly going nowhere and everywhere at the same time, and it just seems scattered. Not helping is the runtime, which is frankly unnecessary, especially when there is very little variation amongst this album's tunes. Perhaps this could be something sexier, but then I can only think of better acts to cover that niche as well, leaving this album feeling uninspired on top of the boredom claims I'm fronting. I get why someone would like this, and I even understand praising it, but to me this just seems lethargic and my initial lukewarm feelings quickly developed into disdain over the course of an hour, feelings I can't really shake.

Lovely voice and I liked the chilled out vibe

I'd never heard of Kelela but would be interested in hearing some more of her stuff!

4 ⭐️

Didn't mind this tbh. 2.64

Awesome evolution of R&B, not for me, but massively talented

How is this an essential album? Feels like every other similar album from the time.

It’s a really nice 4.

This album gives a really bad first impression through its first 4 or 5 tracks, but the stretch from Better to Truth or Dare presents the actual mood of the album so much better. LMK should have been the opening track, because the trap-hop beat on Frontline just gives the wrong impression for this album overall. Relistening to those first 4 tracks after finishing the album the first time gave me a really strong appreciation for this album overall.

Kelela’s vocals on this entire album are fantastic, and this album is at its very best when just she flows on the electronica-infused beats. I can understand some of the complaints about this album, but when it all finally starts to click, the little details in the production become more apparent as the album goes on, and the sort of dullness that the first 4 tracks give gets washed away (at least, it did for me). It’s crazy how much this album improves by Better, seriously.

There are some filler interlude tracks, some of the songs do go a bit long, but what ends up being here is some really cool R&B tracks with a clear Janet Jackson influence in the vocals, and a sort of “lo-fi Timbaland” feel to the production, and it just clicked incredibly well for me. I feel comfy with a 4, and it might even bump up to a 5 the more I listen. Glad to get this one.

A recent album that Iv never actually heard of. Probably just isn’t my type of music but this really did nothing for me. Not sure why it’s on the list, I’d bet it’s removed in future versions of the book.

Pleasant enough to listen to, but utterly unmemorable.

soundtrack of every ride share i’ve ridden in nyc

Wow this is a sexy, glittering, ethereal album. The soundscapes are very open, eno inspired synth atmospheres.

Enjoyable modern RnB album. It suffers from the same issue that a lot of the recent additions to this list do - I just don't think there's been enough time to really codify this into the music canon. Time will tell.

I just don’t like modern R&B very much. I’m not even sure just what it is, maybe the way the production swivels and the vocals slowness of the vocals. I think I will probably struggle to rate R&B albums fairly, but I’ll try.

It’s music that feels sexy, but I don’t know how to listen to it when I’m just existing unsexily, which is my natural state.

I don’t really feel like she’s saying anything interesting or original with these songs, even if it’s very competently performed and produced. I feel like it’s unfair to give it 2/5 given my own struggles with this genre, but I can’t rank it with some albums I actually like that I gave a 3 to.