Single Review: Kelis – ‘Rumble’
2 min read
Kelis has had a fruitful and varied career. With her early work being mostly R&B focused, she then starting sniffing around the dance/pop genres more recently with album Flesh Tone. It’s good when singers/songwriters welcome a change in direction; it allows them to experiment with other sounds and styles, and helps make them a better artist in the long-term. Those that don’t experiment can be seen as cowardly and unwilling to broaden their range, or maybe shackled by the label unwilling to take a chance. The results might not always be liked by fans and critics, but even if it doesn’t turn out well, in most cases the break from the norm usually leads to much better follow-up material, due to the lessons and skills the artist would have picked up on the way.
Kelis’ new track Rumble is hard to pigeonhole into a genre, but that’s what makes it good. Probably most closely resembling a soul-gospel-pop type mashup, it features thumping drums with Kelis’ instantly recognisable vocals pouring over the music and bringing out the style. This all winds up to a chorus heavy on the trumpets, and Kelis preaching about what can be assumed to be a past lover giving back her keys. Out of context this sounds strange, but throughout the song it seems to suggest that the singer has now found the power to operate with, or without someone in her life, and therefore glad that she can hold onto these ‘keys’ of hers.
Kelis seems to be unable to make her mind up about wanting love or not, just like being unable to make her mind up about which musical style to follow, and this is what helps keep the singer in the charts, being able to chop and change and still create decent music. The song can seem a little repetitive, but again, as always with Kelis, it’s well thought out and a little different. Rumble is a brave attempt against passive music, and the track allows Kelis to keep her head held high, being a shining example to her efforts at progression.
