Suddenly, Kelly realized that by not playing strict R&B and honing on his natural pop instincts, he could be an even bigger superstar than he already was, so after dropping a single song in 1997 (“Gotham City” for Batman & Robin), he designed 1998’s R. However, 1996 brought forth a unique opportunity in terms of Kelly writing a song for the soundtrack to a little movie called Space Jam, and the song didn’t just go massive: it went global. These songs shared a lot of the same sonic elements, and, surprisingly, are almost all set at the same tempo, as if Kelly had found a successful formula and sure as sex wasn’t going to changing it anytime soon. The group’s next song, the surprisingly clichéd loverman groove “Honey Love”, wound up going Top 40 in the U.S., even if it sounds awfully generic by today’s standards.Īfter branching out to launch his solo career with the acclaimed 12 Play in 1993, the hits started racking up in quick succession: “Sex Me” (oh the hilariously sultry way he says “second verse”), the #1 smash “Bump n’ Grind”, “Your Body’s Callin'”, “I Can’t Sleep Baby (If I)”, and so on. but went Top Three in the UK - but it provided a nice introduction of R. The song itself wasn’t a huge hit in the U.S. Kelly’s entire discography, “She’s Got That Vibe”, an upbeat club song he did with backing group Public Announcement (and let the record show that no matter how they paint their history, “backing group” is an appropriate signifier, as none of the other members managed to have even a third of Kelly’s on-record personality, as their subsequent Kelly-free efforts proved). Things start off with one of the most energetic offerings in R. ![]() Its only faults are not to do with the track selection so much as the fact that some of his hits just don’t hold up all that well several years down the line. Coming in at an intimidating 35 tracks, it may very well be the best summation of Kelly’s career up to this point. Kelly tries to outdo his three previous best-of compilations by providing all the major hits in sequential order, telling his story all the way from his early days with his New Jack City outfit Public Announcement to his second major soul revival effort Write Me Back in 2012. That his singing voice - which had a cadence that was more closely identified with modern gospel singers than that of most manufactured R&B stars, thus making it pop on radio - was as distinct as it was, he managed to command attention for his songs no matter the context. Yet Kelly was never one to give mind to his critics, as he continued to indulge his own insular vision no matter what. On the other hand, Kelly’s muse could also lead him a bit too far off the pasture, as tracks like the ludicrous “Same Girl ”, overly-saccharine “I’m Your Angel ”, and the never-ending “Trapped in the Closet” soap opera were too obvious in their intentions, often ridiculous to the point of ridicule. On the one hand, his indulgences were so grandiose in nature that it was impossible not to get swept up in the fun, perfectly evidenced on classic tracks like the deep groove of “Bump n’ Grind”, the goofy party-lark that was “Ignition (Remix)”, and the skyscraping ballad-to-end-all-ballads “I Believe I Can Fly”. His songs were earnest to a fault, and frequently bordered on self parody. ![]() When he did a song about sex, it often pushed the limits of what was appropriate for radio play. ![]() When he did a ballad, it was filled with more schmaltz than a hundred Hallmark cards. While many best know the self-proclaimed “Pied Piper of R&B” for his dominance of the R&B charts in the late ’90s and early 2000s - or, perhaps, for his endless litany of public scandals - Kelly was never one for doing things in a straightforward way. ![]() Kelly’s strong suit, which is both his greatest gift and his greatest curse.
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