When she was writing Wanderland in 2001, Kelis in all probability didn’t know the way prescient the album title would find yourself being. It’s an apparent pun: a reference to Lewis Carroll’s traditional novel Alice’s Adventures In Wonderland, it’s additionally evocative of the will for journey and wanderlust.
Wanderland has its personal fabled story behind its launch. Amid a sequence of label mergers and different trade upsets, Kelis’ experimental sophomore album bought misplaced within the shuffle. Proper when it was launched in Europe, Kelis parted methods along with her label, and the album was by no means launched within the US. Wanderland was… wandering. However a Neptunes-produced Kelis album wasn’t going to elude followers endlessly.
A major mythology
Wanderland turned one of the storied “misplaced albums” of the period – even when it wasn’t actually misplaced, simply exceedingly laborious to return by. It was, in fact, imported, bootlegged and liked, earlier than lastly being launched within the States by way of streaming providers in June 2019, 18 years after its October 17, 2001 launch date round the remainder of the world.
Kelis wasn’t alone; this was the second time in three years {that a} Neptunes-produced undertaking bought shelved. Clipse had suffered the identical destiny with their album Unique Audio Footage, which, like Wanderland, accrued a major mythology throughout its misplaced years. The truth is, Clipse, as people, function on Wanderland as effectively, with Pusha T and Malice that includes on the tracks “Well-liked Thug” and “Daddy” respectively.
Timelier than ever
Pharrell himself lends vocals to a handful of tracks, however, like Clipse’s appearances, these spots assist tether Wanderland to our familiarity with The Neptunes’ sound somewhat than overshadowing the album’s departure from it. Finally, it is a Kelis album at the start, not a Neptunes undertaking. Even when the beats instantly determine it as being of the period (no dangerous factor), Wanderland is a welcome – if not surprising – departure from the braggadocio of N*E*R*D and Clipse… even when the Rosco P Coldchain function on “Digital World” makes you assume Ab-Liva goes to pop across the nook any second.
About midway via Wanderland, “Taking pictures Stars” begins to sound like one thing out of a late-90s shoegaze album, or Frank Ocean a decade forward of schedule. Even when it’s much less outwardly confident than the work of Kelis’ counterparts, Wanderland stays self-aware – and attractive with it. Exterior of some dated tech references, “Digital World” is timelier than ever, proving that folks have been scuffling with intercourse and know-how for many years.
Predicting the hip-hop hybrid
When “Good Day” hits, it’s an arresting second: the form of excellent hip-hop/rock hybrid that might have felt proper at dwelling on Submit Malone’s Hollywood’s Bleeding. Certainly, 20 years on from its launch, Wanderland’s crossover attraction is sort of surprising, making you surprise how anybody might have shelved the report. “Good Day” sounds just like the form of rock-rap hit Pharrell would chase for the higher a part of a decade. That it options contributions from No Doubt is sensible: they’d spent the late 90s crafting their very own status for genre-blending, whereas Pharrell and Gwen Stefani would go on to have a massively profitable working relationship only a handful of years later.
Wanderland ends on its most surprising notes: “Mr. UFO Man” and “Little Suzie.” The tracks deal with God, however are finally extra existential in nature. “UFO Man” facilities round the concept issues have gotten so difficult on the planet, solely an alien is able to regarding The Creator. Launched only one month after the September 11 assaults, it didn’t sound like such a far-fetched concept on the time.
On “Little Suzie,” Kelis casts herself as a girl conscious of the issues the world faces, whereas “simply attempting to play my half.” If she’s doing something, it’s what God willed for her. This sentiment of self-assurance, if solely a misguided half-truth, feels all of the extra highly effective within the gentle of Wanderland’s receiving the discharge it at all times deserved.
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