VIDEO PREMIERE: KELIS - 4TH OF JULY

With Toronto Pride being two weeks away, anticipation is filling to air in Toronto. Kelis, who is one of this year's headliners at the festival, just released this gorgeous new video for her second single off Flesh Tone, 4th of July. It's looking like her decision to head to a more electro direction is already paying dividends with feedback being overwhelmingly positive for the album, yes?

KELIS TO PLAY PRIDE TORONTO

It's official.  Kelis will be appearing at  Pride Toronto 2010 which runs til Sunday, July 4th.  She will also be doing some promotion for her perfectly-timed new album Flesh Tone, just reviewed here last week.  She sure knows her market, as does Cyndi Lauper who is also headlining this year's festivities. How exciting!  (Thanks Daniel).  Kelis will no longer be playing Pride this year due to promotional obligations in Europe.  Word of mouth has it that she never even confirmed to play the festival to begin with despite her name being splashed all over advertisements.  Something is v. suspicious.

REVIEW: KELIS - FLESH TONE

At last! An album which takes me on a journey. Cohesive, compact, engaging and very “now”, Kelis’ Flesh Tone is an album the talented singer-songwriter always deserved but never made. Recently signing with Interscope Records under will.i.am Music Group, should prove to be a wise business decision after having found some success with Arista Records.

I’ve always been supportive of Kelis, but I will be the first to admit that even some of her best albums, including 400k-selling Tasty which featured massive hit Milkshake (500k copies sold), have been patchy at best. This is an issue with artists who are dependent on collaborations with multiple producers, winding up with what sounds like a Mix CD versus an actual album. This of course does not plague Flesh Tone.

At just nine tracks - a move I am in favour of with artists of late - and clocking in at under 38 minutes, the album is Kelis’ first foray into electro-dance pop and she does it convincingly. Although I’m not certain how many of her earlier fans will feel about her change in direction, surely she will be winning many new fans over with sublime tracks like Home, 4th of July, 22nd Century and Brave which musically would fit on any Kylie Minogue or Britney Spears album, but it is Kelis’ distinct vocals and effortless lyrical ability which transport these tracks above and beyond her contemporaries. Each track is a moment and a concept linked together beautifully with segues versus those ridiculous interludes we often hear on Urban albums - pointing finger at you, Janet Jackson.

NEW MUSIC: KELIS - ACAPELLA

Kelis has been pretty quiet since her departure from Arista Records, which was responsible for propelling her to stardom with international hit Milkshake. A new single surfaced online today from the R&B singer/songwriter and it is produced by red-hot French DJ/producer David Guetta. Guetta of course, brought us two of this summer's biggest hits When Love Takes Over (Kelly Rowland) and I Got a Feeling (Black Eyed Peas). The streak doesn't appear to be coming to a halt any time soon as this new single from Kelis titled Acapella sounds every bit a hit too.

Many will note that the track contains similarities to the Giorgio Moroder-produced classic I Feel Love (Donna Summer), which has inspired many great moments in pop music like Kylie Minogue's Light Years and Madonna's Future Lovers. Lyrically, Acapella is a metaphor for how bare Kelis' life was before her son Knight came into her life; he added the music to her life and made it complete. Definitely lots of potential here and a track to listen out for. Kelis' next studio album will be released early 2010 through Geffen Records.

Listen below to Acapella by Kelis (courtesy of Geffen Records/Universal Music):