Die Welt: The Buffet Review

Many fine words for the most beautiful thing in the world

The Walt Whitman of the Soul: R. Kelly has again recorded an album, his 13th The music is as usual. But he reveals himself to "The Buffet" as a great poet of love and carnal desire.

All people have their lives long believed the fact that the Eskimos would know most of the words for snow. As this summer linguist at the University of Glasgow proudly proclaimed, the Scots themselves could describe snow with at least 421 words (including "flindrikin" and "feefle"), and are therefore the leading language group of Schneebeschreiber, collapsed a world for many.


Similarly, it will give us now while listening to "The Buffet", the thirteenth album of soul singer R. Kelly going. Previously it was musicological consensus that the Bochum band The cashier uses most euphemisms for sex. But R. Kelly changes everything. In the 13 new songs he has actually found nearly 500 words for birds.

Now, it is not wrong to sing about sex. Above all, in English is allowed. And Soul was always, in addition to the music of the civil rights movement, also a music between the civic movements. "When a Man ​​Loves a Woman" by Percy Sledge, for example, of course, was wonderful, and the loud sigh Donna Summers in "Love to Love You Baby" is one, once heard, never back out of the head.

Good evening, ladies

R. Kelly songs you will never forget so quickly. This has less to his music than to himself and his life theme. Although it initially surprised that R. Kelly has now also discovered the Plug-in autotune. You know, the vocal effect of Cher's "Believe" in 1998 and of all that now R & B ie, on the voice. It also is not on the sleazy club beats. And certainly not. To the collaborations with such dubious musicians like Lil Wayne, Jeremih or Wizkid No, it is solely to the brilliant essays by R. Kelly.

R. Kelly, one of the biggest songs and soundtracks of all time wrote with "I Believe I Can Fly", namely for basketball animation film "Space Jam", where Michael Jordan in a game of golf with Bill Murray through a hole in the square to the Looney -Tunes country is drawn, is, otherwise you can not call it, today a respectable poet laureate. So is "The Buffet" with a spoken-word performance opened the "The Poem" is modest. From Walt Whitman of the Soul.

"Good evening ladies, shall we start with hors d'oeuvres? / I can tell your body's been lacking the plater of satisfaction your body deserves / We have reservations and I'm so glad That We're here / Cause I'll be toasting your juices all night like cheers. " You have to soak up first, of course. For all the complexity of the possible interpretations, but is then relatively quickly clear that R. Kelly Buffet attracts less with all-you-can-eat than with the oral pleasures of love.

In resonant space of our brain

Of course, one wonders whether this really is enough for an album. The answer is a resounding no. And yet the great musician limited a topic on this. On "The Poem" follows "Poetic Sex", which begins with the obvious line "My sex is poetic / I'm gonna get you mad pregnant". In the play "Marching Band" it goes well, you guessed it, not a chapel on Independence Day. Of course, it goes back to R. Kelly's relationship with the woman as such. "She blow me like a tuba / I beat it up like a snare drum / That girl make me want it / Cause everytime we in the bedroom / it be sounding like a marching band," it says in the chorus.

But probably there but a second level, which can easily be very difficult to decipher. Even Schopenhauer's most famous saying goes well known: "The genitals are the soundboard of the brain." As is a saying that the Germans and not understand Soul again.

USA Today: The Buffet Review

R. Kelly feasts on love, again, with 'The Buffet'

"Good evening, ladies. Shall we start with hors d'oeuvres?" R. Kelly asks on The Poem, the spoken-word intro to his new album, The Buffet (three out of ****) out Dec. 11. A smorgasbord of screamingly obvious double entendres follows, interrupted at one point by sound effects that may make you giggle, or wince. And we haven't even gotten to the metaphorical binge that is the opening track, titled Poetic Sex.

We should expect no less from this R&B veteran, who as a songwriter and performer has made sexual healing his stock in trade, even if Kelly's biggest successes include G-rated hits such as I Believe I Can Fly and the late Michael Jackson's You Are Not Alone, and his personal history is marked with accusations of misdeeds. Happily, The Buffet functions as more than a showcase for his wordplay—or play of other kinds.

With its fluid vocals, ingratiating hooks and sinuous grooves, the album sees Kelly reaffirming his place as one of R&B's great romancers. Sometimes, he meets his match: "The thing I like about you is, baby, you are freaky, too," Jhené Aiko croons sweetly on the undulating Let's Make Some Noise.

Other notable guests include Lil Wayne and Jeremih, who both appear on the restless, crisply syncopated Switch Up, and Juicy J, featured on the witty, horns-laced Marching Band, on which Kelly sings, "I know the neighbors can feel that bass."

Those neighbors are referenced and disregarded again on the blithe, funky Wake Up Everybody (which isn't a cover Teddy Pendergrass' song with Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, though Kelly likely wouldn't shy away from a comparison). The retro-soul vibe gets deeper on Get Out Of Here With Me, as Kelly veers from lust to lush romance.

Kelly's music can be less interesting when pledging love more earnestly, as he and Ariirayé both do on Wanna Be There. The spacious, eerily twinkling Let's Be Real Now starts at the other extreme, with Kelly and Tinashe's characters hurling accusations at each other.

But then, Kelly apologizes gorgeously on All My Fault, his nimble tenor shimmering over a tender but breezy arrangement, before throwing a Backyard Party soundtracked by swaggering guitars and frolicking strings.

"No one's got hatin' in their heart," Kelly sings on the latter track. And as he nears age 50, with thirteen albums in the bag and his career strong as ever, he's a man seemingly without a care in the world.

Rolling Stone: R. Album Review

★★★★ (out of 5)

Ever since Ray Charles wailed the sanctified booty call of "I Got a Woman," gospel has been a volatile part of black pop. An R&B bump-and-grind man like R. Kelly can try his hand at gospel moves — even sneaking the line "leaning on the everlasting arms" into the theme for a Bugs Bunny movie — while minister Kirk Franklin works the other side of the street, taking his spiritual jones into funky territory. Franklin made noise last year on the God's Property smash "Stomp," bellowing preacherly invocations while a choir sang hooks from an old disco hit or two. His fourth album, The Nu Nation Project, is the big payback: After decades of soul singers and rappers borrowing church flava, Franklin calls in the IOUs for his hip-hop gospel.

Rolling Stone: TP-2.COM Review

★★★ (out of 5)

Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover. A quick scan of song titles on R. Kelly's latest CD, TP-2.com (the title stands for "12 Play 2000," a reference to Kelly's 1993 album 12 Play), tells you all you need to know: "Strip for You," "The Greatest Sex," "Like a Real Freak," "Feelin' on Yo Booty." The set's anchor piece, though, is the track "R&B Thug"; the music's worldview is filtered through that contrived persona -- a combination of unchecked libido, ghetto-fabulous signifiers and self-pity. The real pity is that Kelly, one of the most talented players on the current R&B scene, repeatedly squanders his gifts. His voice simmers with an existential pain that is clearly rooted in the same secular vs. spiritual battle that defines the music of artists like Marvin Gaye and Prince. But he keeps the struggle one-sided in his lyrics -- staying largely on the bump-and-grind course -- and that wears thin quickly. He's repeating himself ("A Woman's Threat" is simply a retread of 1998's "When a Woman's Fed Up") and shamelessly playing to the charts ("Like a Real Freak" and "Fiesta" are the obligatory Latin-flavored tracks), while staying mired in ballad mode. The disc's one unqualified highlight occurs at the end of "I Wish," the first single. "Come on and braid my hair," he sings over and over, in a song that is -- in part -- about his lingering grief over his mother's death. It's in that throwaway line, sung plaintively and powerfully, that we hear the real beauty of both his literal and artistic voice.

ERNEST HARDY

Grantland: Black Panties Drops: The Nearly Perfect New R. Kelly Album

Album leaks aren't my thing. I prefer to wait until the scheduled release date, at which time iTunes will tell me my preordered purchase is ready for download. But sometimes being a traditionalist is not possible. When there's water dripping from your ceiling, you've got to get a bucket. R. Kelly's Black Panties isn't due out for another week, but someone forwarded me a link to the leak. So off to fetch a bucket I went. I wish I could say I hate myself for it, that it wasn't worth contravening my commitment to legality. But if listening to Black Panties early is a jailable offense, then lock me up and throw away the key.
 
This album is a nearly perfect achievement of bluntness, literalism, and indefatigability. It's just what you need after all the cuteness and pandering men are doing right now in popular music. For more than a decade, lust and carnality have been the women's prerogative — Missy Elliott and Khia and Lady Gaga and Rihanna, with Madonna as the living legend and Peaches as high priestess. The men are really boys who are experts in adorability. And after you've listened to good artists sing about luck and heaven and putting on a suit and tie, you've just kind of had it. Justin Timberlake understands sexiness but knows nothing about sex. For Pete's sake, he should be taking the suit and tie off.

R. Kelly has made a career — remember, he's been at it since the early 1990s — out of exposing the lie of popular music. There are no blurred lines for him. He doesn't mind making love. But he really likes to fuck. Kelly knows that if he's going to do a song called "Mirrors," it won't be a metaphor for love or self-obsession or whatever it is that Timberlake is going on about. Kelly's "Mirrors" would include cleaning instructions for the housekeeper and the mirror would be on the ceiling.

Black Panties should just be conceptual kitsch. You can read such song titles as "Legs Shakin'" and "Throw This Money on You" and marvel at the comical concision. But for 18 songs, Kelly manages to transcend the hilarious bluntness of the titles with actual songcraft. On one hand, something like "Crazy Sex" could probably exist on a Tumblr page of unrecorded R. Kelly hits. But one element of Kelly's genius is that he knows he's the purveyor of both outstanding music and alarming camp. He didn't set out to produce the latter, but his music-video opera Trapped in the Closet achieved it regardless. Audiences who had never taken Kelly seriously as a musician — and still don't — found a backhanded reason to adore him. Trapped in the Closet endeared him to people who saw nothing wrong with a little bump and grind because they had never truly seen R. Kelly. Most of those people were hipsters.

LA Times: Love Letter Review

★★★½

In all the tumult surrounding R. Kelly -- his sex scandals, his court debacles, his way with a
vegetable-as-romantic-stand-in metaphor -- one thing often gets lost. The man can sing. On recent albums, that fact got lost behind his daffy slow jams (“Sex Planet” or “The Zoo,” for instance) that disguised his melodicism and vocal powers. On “Love Letter,” he does away with the freakiness and lays down a full record of slow-simmered, grown-man emoting. And it feels like a wayward husband who’s finally come home for good.

Entertainment Weekly: Love Letter Review

The latest from the king of sex-mad R&B is a refreshingly tasteful foray into classic soul and PG lovemaking. On Love Letter, R. Kelly does falsetto valentines, flirty Motown bounce, even a Christmas remix of single ''Love Letter'' that involves zero funny business under the mistletoe. The old horndog does make one hilariously graphic appearance on ''Taxi Cab,'' which rivals Don Draper’s backseat escapade from last season’s Mad Men for 2010’s stickiest crosstown ride.

B

The Philippine Star: Write Me Back Review

Two years ago, the controversial R. Kelly released a gem of a recording with Love Letter. As is usual with his every album, the CD was marked with sensitive songwriting, flawless vocals and superior production. This was not lost on buyers who gave him another big seller and on the critics who lavished praise on his work. What made it truly interesting though is that it was really a love letter. He wrote a most special one using the entire album.

It was a love letter to his fans who stood by him come hell or high water. Remember that sex with a minor scandal and his much-publicized falling out with Jay-Z. It was also a tribute to the soul legends of old who first inspired him. Danny Hathaway, Cooke, Marvin Gaye, Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson and others. Or it was a love letter to a special girl or to all those females, young or old, that he loved before. R. Kelly was in great voice throughout and his version of You Are Not Alone, presented as a secret cut, which he first wrote and produced for Jackson was truly beautiful.

Two years later, R. Kelly is back. He comes armed with the Billboard Music Award for being the No. 1 Most Successful R&B Artist of the Past 25 Years and he really lives up to the honor with his new album. Write Me Back is another Love Letter. It is also an extraordinary piece of work with exactly the same concept. Love songs that are sexy, fun and compelling R&B. R. Kelly is again in top form as a singer, songwriter and producer. I will not be surprised if this will be another big seller steeped in critical acclaim.

Most impressive here is the way R. Kelly worked with R&B music. I am sure that those of you who remember the R&B sounds from 30 or so years ago have also noticed this. The music is not the same anymore. It has not really gone bad, it is just different, not as affecting. It makes you long for those Quincy Jones productions, for the songs of George Benson, Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, Brian McKnight and others. R. Kelly captured that in the new songs in Write Me Back. You hear all the old voices as you listen to the album. There are even hints of Elvis Presley, who was really a great rhythm and blues interpreter. And R. Kelly brings everything up to date.

Believe in Me, Feeling Single, Share My Love and When A Man Lies are the best of the batch. I am sure though that many will also enjoy Love Is, Lady Sunday, Clipped Wings, Believe That It’s So, Fool For You, All Rounds On Me, Green Light, Party Jumpin’, Beautiful In This Mirror, You Are My World, Fallin’ From The Sky and One Step Closer.

This is for everyone who loves R&B, who liked R. Kelly’s Love Letter or who simply appreciates great music.

The Province: Write Me Back Review

R Kelly subordinates his own image as a love man to morph into other singers. At various times, he’s Ray Charles,  Smokey Robinson, Al Green, Donny Hathaway Barry White or The Sound Of Philadelphia as he runs riot over decades of R&B, soul, even disco. For those who want the original R Kelly he is there in a track such as Feelin’ Single, but he seems to be having fun, so why stop him?. He also does these impersonations convincingly and, at a time when so much contemporary R&B is gimmicky and overdone, Write Me Back is refreshing.

Grade: B

The Music Radar: Write Me Back Review

It’s a little strange that I’m sitting here thinking of ways to discuss the creative merits of an R. Kelly record – the very same eccentric character that announced a revival of the (at its best) ridiculous, 22-episode saga of “Trapped in the Closet” back in March. Easily the online meme of the mid 2000s, I remember watching each episode at least a dozen times in just as many liquor/etc-laden dorm rooms (as well as the obligatory follow-on South Park spoof). Along with most of my generation, I had written off Kelly completely for having gone so far off the deep end that it was truly sad the film budget was $3M (especially coupled with his various questionable legal and moral infractions). Nonetheless, Love Letter came in late 2010 (just in time to miss most publications’ year-end listing craze) and offered a surprisingly opposite shift in direction versus the thoughtless, mainstream shit sandwiches of TP.3 Reloaded, Double Up, and Untitled with a thoughtful homage to soul classics.

As the name suggests, Write Me Back is a continuation of this idea and is more of the same well-done R&B forefather impressions. “Love Is” kicks off the record with an obvious tipped hat at Barry White’s “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe”, but there isn’t one strict era Kelly lingers in – late 60s soul-worship a-la Raphael Saadiq, Motown-inflected disco, funk, Michael Jackson (yes, the genre of), and even 90s contemporary. Lyrically, Kelly tries to stay within the confines of the era’s subject matter – still somewhat sex-crazed, but restrained and largely converted to sincere musings about love and relationships. What makes Write Me Back more interesting than merely reverie comes in the form of tracks like “Believe That It’s So”, where Kelly combines several of the styles he’s emulating together. The beat naturally shifts from classic motown to funk, then layering a modern synth driven closing refrain to a place we’ve all been – “One more shot for sure, then I’m all up on the floor / But there’s one thing that I know / I had a little too much to drink”. It’s the subtle production flourishes here or on epic slow-jam “Believe In Me” where the songwriting rises above his previous offerings.

Sure, we all may have that friend that had a friend that was an intern at Kelly’s production studio – replete with stories of Kelly’s varied idiosyncrasies involving urine storage and polyamory (maybe not all of us). But maybe middle-age (he’s 45, seriously) has tamed the lust demons within. The duology of Love Letter and Write Me Back has been his most soulful and inspired work since Chocolate Factory; hopefully next time around Kelly can expand on the moments that make them unique.

AllMusic: Write Me Back Review

★★★½ (out of 5)

Following the release of the retro-fitted Love Letter and evidently successful emergency throat surgery, R. Kelly was due for another abrupt turn with Black Panties, an album promised to continue in the vein of the classic 1993 album 12 Play. Instead, Kelly opted to prolong the nostalgia for older rhythm & blues. Write Me Back is a sequel to Love Letter, and while it does not beam as much excellence, it quickly deflects any preconceived idea that it might consist of scraps from the earlier album's sessions. Kelly's inspirations are occasionally obvious. "Love Is" and "Share My Love," the bookends of the album's standard edition, bleed the elegant, gentlemanly soul-disco of the Philadelphia International label -- Teddy Pendergrass' '70s work with and without Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes in particular. "Green Light" recalls the sensual, feather-light touch of '70s Isley Brothers ballads like "Voyage to Atlantis." "Fool for You" is pure, sly Smokey Robinson. "You Are My World," originally written for Michael Jackson, turns out to be more of an overt MJ tribute -- from quotes to grunts -- than anything recorded by Ne-Yo. When Kelly takes it back to the early '60s, as he does on the feel-good "All Rounds on Me" and "Party Jumpin'," the results are less natural sounding. Other songs, such as the smooth gliding trio of "Feelin' Single," "Lady Sunday," and "Believe That It's So," are akin to Kelly circa 2003/2004. While he might be recycling himself on these and a couple other numbers, there's too much warmth and joy to be rejective. If anything, Write Me Back proves that Kelly's mode throughout Love Letter was no fluke. It's apparent that he can be retro and urbane as instinctively as he can be cutting edge and filthy.

Gaffa.se: Write Me Back Review

Translated from a Swedish site [x]

R & B icon commutes free between madness and genius.

★★★★ (out of 6)

I was not sure how I would react when R Kelly, one of the best r'n'b artists but also one of the most disorganized, began recording new episodes of his r'n'b soap opera Trapped In The Closet earlier this year. You never know where you are with Kellz - between perfect and pompous collaborations and productions must sometimes laugh. My and my friends standing joke when both Untitled (2009) and Love Letter (2011) came, what other creative places R Rellys sex life would be taking place on and baked together into a song about how funny Pregnant was and that he joddlade in Echo.

But he is at least as productive as their younger colleagues r'n'b. Maybe it's because he rarely tours here, because of his fear of flying. On Write Me Back, he shows how easy it can be to switch between madness and genius. In the beautiful and classic soul built Clipped Wings he sings "Welcome to the love letter. Write me back." All recognize R Kelly-the sound of Believe That It's So. Then, a fantastic Motown dominos start of soul and love lyrics, where everything about all or nothing. In both the Fool for You, Share My Love, Lady Sunday and the single Feelin 'Single, will Kellz perfect soul trains with deadly hooks.

Apart from any slip, as Party Jumpin 'and terrible '50s rockabilly in All Rounds On Me, the Write Me Back R Kelly's best album in a long time. The grand Believe In Me is a given klubbhit and Love Is sounds like a young The Walrus of Love himself - Barry White.

SPIN Magazine: Write Me Back Review

7 (out of 10)

Even without his recent, more literal throwback moves, R. Kelly had already become retro. Once famously known as the Pied Piper of R&B, Robert Sylvester Kelly hasn't been leading the genre anywhere since it largely started marching to hyperkinetic Euro-dance beats in past decade. Instead, he dipped into his hot tub time machine to produce 2010’s Love Letter, a winning homage to classic soul from the 1950s and '60s sans his signature freakaliciousness. Now, Write Me Back takes things ahead another decade, with '70s musical cues recalling the Philly International sound, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, and the Isleys. If Kelly’s gonna go retro, he's going all the way. As usual.

The pretense isn't new, of course. Amy Winehouse made an entire career updating the Ronettes with post-hip-hop bon mots like "What kind of fuckery is this? You made me miss the Slick Rick gig." Raphael Saadiq meticulously recreated Motown sounds on 2008's The Way I See It, all the way down to his David Ruffin-esque eyeglasses. The whole 1990s neo-soul movement, which ran in tandem with Kelly's biggest, most salacious hits, owed its raison d'être to '70s soul superstars like Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder. (In concert, Erykah Badu and D'Angelo regularly covered Chaka Khan, the Ohio Players, and Al Green, to make the lineage crystal clear.)

But imitation is the sincerest form of biting, and R. Kelly refuses to go down that route entirely. The strings on Write Me Back highlights like "When a Man Lies" don't sound big and lush like Gamble and Huff's; they're more of the synthesized variety. And aside from a few Barry White-ish yeah, babes on the rave-up "Love Is" and his Smokey Robinson-like falsetto on "Fool for You," he doesn't vocally copy anyone in particular, staying in own lane while speeding down the '70s-soul highway.

Sometimes the best results, though, come when Kelly drops the exercise completely. "Believe in Me" could have fit on 2003’s Chocolate Factory or anything else from his au courant heyday, and it works. The track could form musical bookends with Badu's classic "Otherside of the Game," where she laments losing her man to the drug trade; told from the P.O.V. of a lover about to leave his woman for a jail bid, Kelly once again excels at what he does best, embodying elements of the (oft-downtrodden) blue-collar African-American experience. He captures the joy of that experience, though, too, changing the flavor of the uptempo "Believe That It's So" halfway through, switching over to more of a Chicago-stepper rhythm, as Kelly intones, "I had a little too much to drink!" over and over. It's easy to picture the song’s quintessential listener as a partying, overindulgent groomsman at a rollicking black wedding who's had too many Long Island Iced Teas. That guy'll love Write Me Back to death.

Meanwhile, "Feelin' Single" could be something from Off the Wall (this from the man who once wrote and produced Michael Jackson's "You Are Not Alone"), but mainly for its pop-R&B breeziness rather than any paint-by-numbers simulation. A critic once opined that R. Kelly writes songs as easily as mere humans rearrange living room furniture, and that's never been truer than now: His 11th studio album comes 19 years after his 12 Play debut, and he's long since mastered his muse well enough to set himself a task like "do a 1970s album" and execute it flawlessly in his sleep. The true trick is that the results still sound like him, instead of some '70s caricature, or an aural Austin Powers character (a fate that's befallen many talented artists, like, say, Saddiq).

Write Me Back does fall short sometimes, with generic filler like "Party Jumpin'" and "Green Light." The rockabilly of "All Rounds on Me" — with its Ray Charles organ, ticklin' piano solo, and alternating blues arrangement — sounds far more '50s than '70s. (A Love Letter outtake, maybe?) But Kelly's intent goes over like gangbusters. Like the vulgarity-free version of a ribald rap album, the result distills the melodies and lyrical flair fans love without the NC-17 lines that often make Kelly NSFW.

Still, those NC-17 lines are the other thing he does best, and even Marvin Gaye released lewd singles like "You Sure Love to Ball" (full of simulated sex sounds!) circa 1974. Similarly, Kelly has crafted a career full of both industry respectability (Grammys galore, plus pop productions for MJ, Britney Spears, et al.) and more tawdry shenanigans, personal and professional (see the so-bad-it's-bad hip-hopera "Trapped in the Closet"). A self-explanatorily titled full-length called Black Panties was reportedly jettisoned so that Write Me Back could be born, which is a shame, but retro concept albums may serve Kelly best at this point, until the cyclical R&B timetable turns back towards the days of "I Believe I Can Fly." Meanwhile, just wait until he gets his hands on a Yamaha DX7 and a LinnDrum machine for the inevitable '80s follow-up. Postage Paid?

Audiocred: Write Me Back Review

★★★ (out of 5)

R. Kelly has gone through a few phases in his — I’d call it “illustrious,” sure — career. For a man as prolific as Kelly, it wouldn’t make sense for him to do otherwise. We want our artists — our truly great artists — to challenge us and  to challenge themselves, to constantly reinvent themselves and push past their own limitations. So this is why through the years we’ve gotten straight-up sex-jam R. Kelly, the ridiculous R. Kelly from “Trapped in the Closet” and, more recently, the earnest, ode-to-his-influences R. Kelly.

That’s important to remember about R. Kelly: that at any given point in time that you’re listening to him, you’re only listening to the latest iteration of his personality. While it might be easy to write off R. Kelly as the same crazy person he was ten years ago, it’s just as easy to think of him as a mad genius that has written some of the most infectious pop and R&B songs of the last 20 years. And not just for himself: Kelly has written songs for a veritable who’s-who of pop and R&B singers, including Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, the Isley Brothers, Aaliyah and Mary J. Blige.

And so for someone so prolific, who has worked with so many greats and influenced so many others, it makes sense to view this part of his career as a self-reflective, “how did I get here” sort of time. And that’s what his last album, Love Letter, really was. A not-so-subtle shout-out to his influences. The term “love letter” evokes a romantic feeling, for sure, and it fits the mood of the songs he was singing. But it’s also his love letter to those singers that influenced him. It was his ode to Sam Cooke, and it was as beautiful as it was catchy. That is to say, it was an R. Kelly album.

Which brings us to what should be considered Love Letter’s second volume, Write Me Back. Here, R. Kelly branches out from an old, slow soul sound he was stressing on his first album and goes full on Barry White and Isaac Hayes, with an occasional Michael Jackson and Chuck Berry track thrown in for good measure. It’s driving the point home from Love Letter. “Sit down, children. I want to show you something.” In that sense, it feels sort of like the 1975 John Lennon album Rock ‘n’ Roll, in which he was doing covers of old rock songs and making them his own.

At the same time, that fits with the one fairly consistent theme throughout Kelly’s career, and that’s his complete confidence in the work he’s putting out. And so with that, Write Me Back becomes another way for Kelly to brag. Yeah, Barry White is Barry White. But R. Kelly thinks he’s Barry White, and Sam Cooke, and Otis Redding, and anyone else he wants to be. When Lennon covered “Stand By Me,” it became a song that would end up on his own Greatest Hits albums. Same goes for Kelly: when he belts out “Share My Love,” the album’s first single and easily the strongest track, he’s not just doing a Barry White impression— he’s taking that style and making it his own. Because even a deferential R. Kelly is still R. Kelly.

While Kelly loves to dabble in other people’s styles, he really wants to remind you of why you loved him to begin with. So, he’s doing his White, his Berry— but he also does his best vintage R. Kelly impression. On “Fallin on the Sky,” there’s some pretty on the nose imagery that Kelly has been known to bandy about. On “Green Light,” the aforementioned sex jam Kelly makes another appearance. Those are really nice moments, but they also come with the realization that we haven’t gotten a truly great R. Kelly moment in a really long time.

Ultimately, this is the only problem with Write Me Back, and really, it’s the same one I had with Love Letter: I love it when R. Kelly busts out an old soul/R&B jam. But I also love it when R. Kelly explores himself. The difference between this phase of R. Kelly and all of the others is that this time we’re not getting Kelly, we’re getting other artists channeled through Kelly. That’s fine, but what always made R. Kelly interesting is that he was an emotionally honest person. It’s when we dig into what makes him him — that personal exploration — and it’s when we’re along for those breakthroughs that we can experience something truly amazing.

Write Me Back is a wonderful listen, and anything the singer comes out with deserves to be taken seriously. But ultimately, these last two releases have really just been filling the time between R. Kelly albums.

The Burg: Write Me Back Review

R. Kelly returns to the roots of R&B on his new album

Depending upon the time period and often the region, the term “rhythm and blues,” or R&B, has meant very different things to very different people over the past seven-plus decades.

As the musicologist — not the “Addicted to Love” dude — Robert Palmer noted in his 1995 book “Rock & Roll: An Unruly History,” it essentially took hold as “a catchall term referring to any music made by and for black Americans.”

But even Palmer was well aware that, by the mid-’90s, his definition had long since become an anachronism — that by the end of the 1950s, R&B was rapidly being incorporated into the lexicon of rock and pop, where it has remained ever since.

That’s not to suggest that R&B hasn’t remained a uniquely vital force in music, or that there aren’t certain stylistic distinctions that can still be made.

You’ve got traditionalists like Jill Scott and Jon Legend, along with more underground revivalists like Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings.

The R&B charts have also long been a home for pop phenoms in the vein of Adele, not to mention megastars like Whitney Houston and Michael Jackson. And in more recent decades, singers whose stylings borrow heavily from hip-hop have formed something of a new and rather lucrative incarnation of R&B, populated by the likes of Usher, Alicia Keys and Beyoncé.

In fact, if you’d asked me just a few years ago where R. Kelly — a guy who is widely acknowledged to be one of the most successful R&B singer/songwriter/producers of the past 20 years — fit in to that continuum, I’d have called him the king of new jack swing, such is the ease with which he’s been able to navigate between straight, sexually charged R&B crooning and hip-hop hybrids like his collaborations with Jay-Z and his groundbreaking hip-hopera “Trapped In the Closet.”

But Kelly, who’s worked with everyone from Janet and Michael Jackson to Whitney Houston and Celine Dion over the years, has been undergoing a transformation of sorts that began two years ago with the release of “Love Letter,” a vintage-sounding, old-school soul soother that largely eschewed sexual seductions for come-ons of a more spiritual nature.

“Love Letter” came off as a heartfelt tribute to R&B greats like Smokey Robinson and, especially, Marvin Gaye. It also seemed like a fairly unabashed attempt to gain a certain credibility by raising his art to the level of those legendary artists — just the sort of respectful and respectable mid-career excursion a performer of Kelly’s stature might embark upon to cement his place in the pantheon of R&B royalty.

But with the release this week of “Write Me Back,” yet another collection of toned-down tunes that delve deeply, if a bit more widely, into the past, it appears that Kelly, whose bad boy boasting and behavior has gotten him into trouble in the past, may indeed have found a kind of redemption in returning to the roots of the music he’s so closely identified with.

Or as the titles suggest, “Write Me Back” may just be Kelly’s clever way of continuing the dialogue he began on “Love Letter,” a somewhat steamier sequel from an artist with a well-documented affinity for sequels. (As a side note, Kelly’s announced that several new installments of “Trapped In the Closet” are already in the works.)

Either way, “Write Me Back” builds on the retro foundation of “Love Letter,” with Kelly broadening his palette to incorporate stronger echoes of the smooth, string-embellished flow of classic Philly soul, along with some straight-up Smokey Motown grooves, a little Ray Charles house-rocking and more than a touch of Barry White-style disco-ball slow dancing.

The disc opens with the lite-funk of “Love Is,” a throbbing bass line and mellow piano chordings creating a cooled-down setting for Kelly’s increasingly intense testifying on the virtues of true romance, as lush Gamble and Huff-style orchestrations drive the song toward a climactic chorus of yearning, multi-tracked voices crooning, “Love is/You and me/Together for/Eternity.”

It’s a simple sentiment that might better be suited for a greeting card, but, like Marvin Gaye at his transcendent best, Kelly relies on the naked urgency of his delivery to get his point across.

Another high point is the gospel-tinged “Believe That It’s So,” an earnest track with lyrics like “There’s no mountain we can’t move/We will find strength in the groove,” that takes a playful turn from the sacred to the secular halfway through, with Kelly signaling, “We’re gonna switch it up” and moving into “fingersnapping” clubland with the refrain, “I had a little too much to drink.”

And “When A Man Lies,” with its church organ, strings and gospel groove, is the kind of fervent yet controlled anthem that, again, brings to mind the best of Marvin Gaye.

If there are missteps on “Write Me Back,” it’s Kelly’s flat attempt to rock out like early Ray Charles on the bluesy “All Rounds On Me” and the doo-woppy “Party jumpin’.”

Both fall well outside of Kelly’s comfort zone and sound a bit too much like novelty knockoffs. Kelly’s strongest when he’s chilling, seducing, laying back and going with the groove.

And “Write Me Back” reveals time and time again that he’s got the voice, the timing and the smarts to rise up to the level of a Marvin Gaye artistically. If Kelly truly believes that this is his calling, then the next step would be to move beyond making love to making larger points, like Gaye did with “What’s Going On.”

He’s got the talent and clout. All he needs now is the will.

Concrete Loop: Write Me Back Review

It feels like just yesterday that R. Kelly dropped his last album, Love Letter. Since then he has given a crowd-favorite performance on the Soul Train Awards, addressed the Trey Songz drama and survived surgery on his vocal chords. Now after teasing the web with new songs & videos, the “Pied Piper of R&B” has officially returned with his eleventh career album, Write Me Back. This time around, the soulful crooner not only puts his signature harmonies to use, but takes us all on a musical journey through different styles of music, from past to present.

Kelly brings some energy to the album by kicking it off with his tambourine-clad track “Love Is,” sending us the message that this album’s theme revolves around that four letter word we all know – love. But before we can get too far into the album, he slows it down a bit with a classy, two-steppin’ song named “Lady Sunday,” where he sings about that surprising love a man has for his leading lady.

Of course, it’s only right that Kells throw in a song about a sad reality for a lot of relationships – a man unintentionally breaking a woman’s heart through his actions and words. In “When A Man Lies,” he tells the men out there about the consequences of their actions: “When a man lies / He pierces the very soul of that woman / And I’m just telling the truth.” Three minutes later, he takes that same reality a little further with his Warryn Campbell-co-produced ballad, “Clipped Your Wings,” which serves as a regretful man’s apologetic perspective after mistreating his woman. The chorus kind of reminds you of how 90s R&B songs used to sound – rich in vocal harmonies.

Two tracks later, you’re hit with Kelly’s voice singing acappella to a melody that you wouldn’t at all expect. Once “All Rounds on Me” finally kicks in, you start feeling like you’ve been blasted into the 50s/60s, a time that was once filled with rock & roll, funky soul and Little Richard. Even the call & response portion of the song makes you want to start clapping and do the twist…Well at least, it did for me (Lol).

Thankfully R. Kelly brings us back to the 21st century with, “Believe in Me,” a song about a man in need of his significant other’s strength and support, while he’s away from home. It’s a heartfelt song that would touch the hearts of those with loved ones in the armed forces or incarcerated.

Overall this album wasn’t bad at all. I must admit that it did feel like I was jumping from one style to another, compared to his last albums. It reminded me of that mix CD in your car that has all your favorite songs ever. Despite it’s flow, this funky, yet soulful album basically proves that R. Kelly can handle any genre you throw at him. He’s so gifted with his vocal ability and songwriting that his deluxe edition track, “You Are My World” sounds like a song that would’ve been perfect for the King of Pop, Michael Jackson had he been alive to record it today. If you’re a fan, get it. If you appreciate R&B, get it. Now let’s see what Kells is cooking up for his next album, (supposedly) called Black Panties.

New Straits Times: Write Me Back Review

R&B recording artiste R. Kelly (Robert Sylvester Kelly) has done soul a good turn, again, with this 11th studio album.

Said to be a follow-up to his 2010 album Love Letter, with its throwback to the 1960s style, Write Me Back has old-school R&B with some 1970s influences.

If you like your love songs with some soul and blues, with hip-hop beats, listen to the hit single, the Marvin Gaye-ish Share My Love, or any of the other 15 tracks on this deluxe edition.

The deluxe comes with four bonus tracks including One Step Closer and Beautiful in This Mirror. The songs are all about love and relationships, gone bad or awry or on track. And even self-love, as Kelly sings in Beautiful in This Mirror:

“Your love, So 3D”. I find this funny.

He also pays tribute to the late King of Pop Michael Jackson in a few tracks, including You Are My World.

Check out Lady Sunday and the Little Richard-Elvis inspired All Rounds On Me, a rocking number.

Kelly’s R&B sound makes for a smooth ride.

The Daily Californian: Write Me Back Review

R. Kelly has been a man of many faces for the better part of two decades. As a singer, songwriter, producer and all-around freak, Kelly rarely shies away from risqué topics. Unfortunately, this unique mixture sometimes leads to uneven results with embarrassing tracks like “Sex Planet” and “The Zoo.” After all, who else would take on such topics as having sex in space and making love like zoo animals?

However, in 2009 Kelly decided to trade in the raw lyrics of past hits like “Feelin’ On Yo Booty” for the surprisingly innocent sound of his classic soul album, Love Letter. After two years away and a tonsil surgery behind him, Kelly is back with a sequel cleverly titled Write Me Back. Whereas Love Letter largely focused on recreating the sweet sounds of Sam Cooke and ‘60s-era Stevie Wonder, Write Me Back shows Kelly gravitating toward more of his natural sex-infused tendencies with a ‘70s flare. With tracks like “Love Is” and “Green Light,” he pays homage to the sensuality trademarked by such artists as the Isley Brothers and Teddy Pendergrass.

Kelly also appears intent on creating a dance album without relying on the kind of radio-friendly electro-pop arrangements sung by his R&B rivals (Think something along the lines of Usher’s latest releases.). Instead, Kelly infuses tracks like “Feelin’ Single” and “All Rounds On Me” with wobble dee wobble bass lines and some Philly soul.

On the other hand, Write Me Back is hardly the first album in recent years to pay homage to the classic sounds of ‘70s soul. But it’s Kelly’s powerful voice mixed with such expertly-created arrangements that enable Write Me Back as a stand out in a genre that seems to grow more and more crowded with each passing year. With two consecutive albums, Kelly proves why he belongs in a class above the rest.

Consequence Of Sound: Write Me Back Review

★★★½ (out of 5)

R. Kelly has always existed in a weird buffer dimension. Super talented with an evocative voice, years of Zorro masks, and sex acts with invisible women have made it difficult to always take him seriously. As a result, he’s been able to readily switch between the wackiness and serious emotional displays, a trait which has always made for entertaining music that hit just below its true potential. With the release of his 11th studio album, Write Me Back, Kelly has found a balance between both sensibilities, and forged an album that’s a definitive career landmark.

To offer his good-timey aesthetics space without ruining the heartache of the remaining tracklist, Kelly utilizes jams like “Feelin’ Single” and “All Rounds On Me”. The former is Kelly at his most typical, responding to infidelity by going out and committing the very act himself. Even the beat, that gentle, summery guitar ripped from the Al Green back catalog, is as familiar as Kelly singing about bottle service. Still, there’s an enthusiasm and a general sense of ease to his tone, his decision less a plot, and more a natural reaction to pain that anyone would have.
The post-fight make-up sex/partying of “All Rounds On Me” feels contrived, yet its end result is a profound admission from Kelly: he’s committed to love despite the imperfections. What’s even more interesting is that the song’s waves of passion, alive thanks to the old-school, blazing, rockabilly guitar, create the sense that this process will continue on for years to come. That organic, fluid sense of reality is something missing from so many of Kelly’s hits.

As much as he likes to partay, Kelly quite possibly loves the act of love even more. Specifically, he wants to celebrate the warm, gushy feelings that accompany it, as well as the amazing benefits of a truly dedicated partner. Though his career is filled with plenty of enjoyable creations that do just that, “Love Is” and “Lady Sunday” are uniquely understated. The former is a disco take on the smooth-as-silk croon of Barry White, with Kelly breaking love down as a simple bond between two people who willingly endure both good and bad. More than a more genuine portrait of love, it’s utterly uncomplicated, relying on the warm, soulful undertones of Kelly’s voice and a simple electric piano groove to get its message across.

“Lady Sunday” is perhaps even less complicated of a construct. Once more, White serves as a musical template, resulting in grand piano and bongo parts that create a sense of intimacy, like they’re being played in the living room of some grand New York loft for one lucky lady. Kelly serenades his lover, defining her as his source of joy and a shot of life when he’s in the dumps (or, as he cheekily emotes, “When I feel drained, her love is like a fountain”). Again, he’s never been overwhelmingly intricate, but pulling back as far as he has, to reveal emotions that feel almost child-like in their scope, lends an air of true universality.

All that’s musical foreplay for “Believe In Me” and “When A Man Lies”, where true vulnerability and brevity result in the most captivating ballads of Kelly’s career. “Believe In Me” goes ultra spiritual, exploring Kelly’s need for faith as he embarks on a jaunt that’s bound to test his very moral fiber. Yet what makes the earnest declarations ring truest is the music, a departure from his beloved R&B toward realms of some bass-ier, Enya-esque adult contemporary. It’s unlike many other of his choices in the past, yet the ease at which he acclimates is just another example of his prowess when he’s most focused.

“When A Man Lies” is this defining album’s apex, a veritable emotional climax. It’s as somber as anything Kelly has ever done, skillfully mixing the restraint of gospel with the minimalized chug of R&B swagger. Kelly’s performance is moving and earnest, preaching how lying “pierces the very soul of that woman” you’ve pledged yourself to. But in a cheesy twist, Kelly sings, “Mirror, I’m talking to you,” revealing himself as the no-good cheater. Logic should dictate that this song, this meaningful, heartfelt display of honesty, should be harmed by the addition of such musical gouda, yet it’s simple enough (not to mention delivered with plenty of conviction) to make it the most revealing and satisfying line on the album.

The song, and by extension the LP, is a clear example of growth on Kelly’s part, showcasing that he’s learned to unite both sides of his personality in new ways that solidify his status as a modern-day great. And nothing, not even chapter 81 of Trapped in the Closet, could ever change that.

Essential Tracks:  “When A Man Lies”, “Love Is”

mX Newspaper: Write Me Back Review

★★★★ (out of 4)