Not to be unduly arsey, but seriously – has no one figured this out yet?…
[Video][Website]
[6.67]
Jonathan Bogart: Is this a song? If Guetta and Rowland blurred the line between house and R&B, Kelis is doing the same for deep house and neo-soul. Better than that sounds, no doubt, but just as attention-slipping.
[6]
Alfred Soto: Overall Flesh Tone‘s electro grooves are too pinched for Kelis’ chalky pipes, so this one limped to the finish line after a strong start. But just because I won’t listen to it twice doesn’t mean I won’t dance to it once.
[6]
John Seroff: It doesn’t seem that long ago that lyrics mattered to Kelis; they certainly don’t seem to here. It’s no crime to stack corn as high as an elephant’s eye, but when you talk-sing your way through a poorly-considered interpolation of “Miss Mary Mack” without so much as cracking a smile, you put yourself at the mercy of your producer. When “4th of July” is what your producer gives you, choppy seas lie ahead. Between this and “Acapella”, my interest in the ickily-titled Flesh Tone is fading fast.
[5]
Anthony Easton: Oh how flames sparkle, and extend the aesthetic potential of gold lame.
[8]
Alex Macpherson: Thankfully, the still-unpalatable Guetta lead single was a red, rotten herring: Flesh Tone is a wonderful album. Its commercial filter-house beats may be unabashedly straightforward, but in an era when the urban/dance fusion vomits up fresh horrors into the charts on a weekly basis, Kelis has pulled off the rare trick of making this particularly combination of sounds seem absolutely necessary to what she’s trying to do. “4th Of July (Fireworks)” exemplifies that: shout-it-to-the-heavens rapture over rippling, tactile piano and a monster bassline that jerks you thither and yon, slamming into you with such force that you feel powerless in the face of such joy. When the beat drops out and Kelis bellows “NOTHING! I’LL EVER SAY OR DO! WILL BE AS GOOD! AS LOVING YOU!”, it’s dizzyingly vertiginous; and when she follows this with “you make me high”, the sheer obviousness is something to revel in. A quibble, though: the song could really do without those cheesy computerised responses that make me fear the entrance of a bald white rapper from Denmark or similar.
[8]
Martin Skidmore: I totally love Kelis, but I confess that I am less enamoured of her current house diva mode. I still love her voice, a unique mix of power and breathiness, but I guess I think the big electro house productions leave less space for her voice to move me. Also, despite having EIGHT writers, this is a pretty insubstantial song. Still, it is Kelis…
[7]
Chuck Eddy: Not nearly as great as the Shooter Jennings or X songs of the same name. Possibly as good as the Ani DiFranco, Soundgarden, or U2 ones (too lazy to check right now). Anyway, I guess I’m supposed to be impressed by the production, or something? Because it sure can’t be her singing. Docked a point for lasting at least twice too long.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: Calling the 4th-of-July stuff a metaphor would undersell it; it’s barely a news peg, an excuse to release the single in the general vicinity of the Fourth. Maybe Kelis should have waited; this seems like an unfinished demo, none of the parts gelling, and her voice is as exciting as a used firecracker.
[5]
Hillary Brown: Um, Kelis? I think someone’s done drunk your milkshake. This is not a bad song at all (esp the tinkly keyboards), but it’s a lot more Andre 3000 than our usual bossy girl.
[6]
David Moore: There are all sorts of shades of love and self-loathing on Kelis’s new album, expressed in occasionally surprising ways — sometimes she’s casual, sometimes romantic, sometimes devotional, all the subtlety bouncing off of the ersatz grooves at right angles. But there’s no God or babies on this one, just fireworks, minor and mildly anticlimactic but charming little pops, a modest-budget spectacle over a small lake. David Guetta either took a breather (seems that way from the credits) or iced his sore thumbs, and the song slips into a comfortable throb more suitable for lounging on the grass making out a little than exploding in the sky. Like “Acapella,” I wouldn’t recommend it too enthusiastically out of context — trust me, she’s going somewhere with all of this.
[8]
Kat Stevens: This is definitely the peak of Kelis’ foray into filter-house. Those Pacman twiddles and high-pitched mouse organ vwerps alone have been dancing in circles around my head for the last month, to the extent that I kind of forget Kelis is involved at all until I actually go back and listen to the record. It feels uncharitable to ask her to stay whispering in the background on her strongest track, but unfortunately my least favourite bits are her “Nothing!” breakdowns. I keep wanting to sing Madonna’s “Hung Up” over the top and the “You make me high“s go on just a bar too long. Too long before those wonderful wibbles come back.
[9]
Mark Sinker: Madonna’s reboot rode in on that Abba sample; so if Kelis is using her cheeky Madonna swipe the same way (from “Hung Up”, sung not sampled, and the lyric turned inside out), that makes this an answer record. Or else a review: “No. Do it like THIS.” Either way, the new Egyptian witch-queen look is fab.
[8]