Way Back: Kaleidoscope (1999)
“This is for y'all, maybe you didn't break the way you should've broke,
but I break”
- Kelis on “Caught Out There”
Kelis released her first album, Kaleidoscope, on Virgin Records on December 7th, 1999. Pharrell begins the intro track talking about “discovering” Kelis. He repeats “we found her” over nursery rhyme xylophones. She interrupts at the end, claiming “yea, yea, now I’m grown up”. You can feel the attitude and edginess from the first skit, and they would persist throughout this entire album.
“Caught Out There” was the first and most alarming single from the project. While other R&B singers of the era were chanting about togetherness and affection, Kelis took another approach. With a chorus that literally shouts “I HATE YOU SO MUCH RIGHT NOW!”, she sang the tune of a scorned lover. Over some mean Neptunes synth and guitar, Kelis details catching her partner cheating and how she will get her revenge. It was a bold choice for a first single, but definitely one that garnered attention and a budget for a Hype Williams directed music video.
The second single, “Good Stuff” certainly skews more traditional. It’s more upbeat, with a smooth bassline, emblematic of the Neptunes old minimalist style. The synth on the hook screams 90’s dance, while Kelis reminds the listener how dope she is. Oh and we get a guest verse from a young Pusha T, still under his original moniker, Terrar.
On “Game Show”, Kelis likens a flailing relationship to the popular televised competitions. “Get Along With You” has a 702 vibe in the conventional R&B ballad format.While her debut went largely unnoticed in the US, her first two singles hit the top 40 in the UK with “Caught Out There” peaking at #4.
It’s easy to think of Kaleidoscope as Star Trak’s first unofficial mixtape. Outside of Pusha’s appearance on “Good Stuff”, “Ghetto Children” would be the first song that N.E.R.D. would ever appear on. It was a project filled with that original Neptunes sound, right before it would dictate the next half decade of hip-hop. This would be the first album that the Neptunes produced entirely. They wrote and produced each track save for a Slick Rick homage and Pusha T’s feature. All o this took place behind Kelis’ vocals. She was the unique talent that allowed all of these artists to unite on one project.
Even if the album wasn’t the commercial success Virgin Records expected, it served a larger purpose for Kelis’ career. It exposed her unique voice and sense of fashion to the world, and laid a foundation for a career that’s lasted more than two decades. She recently announced a brief tour to celebrate the milestone and commemorate this album.
