More importantly, it signals just what’s so unique about Kelly as a singer and songwriter: Framed as a phone call between Kelly and Usher, the song almost plays as a musical theater piece, with the two singers trading off lines and occasionally cutting each other off.
This 2007 collaboration hits on all of Kelly’s pet themes: infidelity, bromance and kinky, very public sex. Thankfully, Kelly has been in full gear as of late: He popped up in a surprise appearance at Bonnaroo over the summer, headlined this year’s Pitchfork Festival in his native Chicago, and, most recently, lent his tequila-soaked croon to tracks for Lady Gaga and Phoenix.Īs we look forward to another Thanksgiving spent with Sylvester, Twan and the midget and prepare ourselves for Kelly’s latest, Black Panties, to drop in December, here is a look back at R. At once a clown, a lover and a dramatist, Kelly is, above all, a ubiquitous and important force in pop music, a singular voice that drives and defines the sounds of R&B even when he’s on a hiatus. The point is this: For a certain age group (ours), Robert Sylvester Kelly is a foundational artist. Maybe, like me, it was on a bleary post-dinner Thanksgiving evening, sitting next to your very confused, vaguely amused father. Maybe it was on a lazy Saturday dive deep into YouTube, or maybe it was a desperate late-night attempt at finals procrastination.
Many remember where they were the first time they watched R.
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