Here’s the video for the second single from Kelis‘s forthcoming fifth album Flesh Tone. It’s her first new studio album in almost 5 years; her first album under her freshly inked deal with the will.i.am Music Group and Interscope and also the first record since she became a mother (by rapper Nas). The DJ Ammo-produced “4th of July (Fireworks)” follows closely behind the amazing “Acapella”, which (not for nothing) topped Billboard‘s dance charts earlier this year. That song dropped the sex kitten act that gave Kelis her biggest hit (“Milkshake”), in favor of an earthier, more soulful vocal reminiscent of classic Donna Summer on a song that was a soaring and spiritual celebration of new motherhood. “4th of July”, accompanied by another visually stunning video, is another song about the transformative powers of love. It may lack a bit of its predecessor’s immediacy, but for “dance pop,” this song comes harder than a lot of what qualifies as rock these days and Kelis has never been more compelling or more disciplined as a singer. It advances the case that Kelis, at the start of her second decade in the showbiz, is making the best music of her career right now; and that, with Flesh Tone, we may be in the presence of a dance pop masterpiece. This is one album I cannot wait for.
