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Tasty is the third studio album by American R&B singer Kelis, released in December 2003 (see 2003 in music). Unlike her previous albums, Tasty opted for a more pop/alternative-oriented tune which led to a greater success outside Europe with "Milkshake" being the first single from Kelis to have critical acclaim in the U.S. and a peak position of number three on the Billboard Hot 100. Eventually selling over one million copies worldwide, it was known for being Kelis' breakout album and being a spinoff in Europe.

About the album

The album is less experimental than her previous album, however it does incorporates genres which are not generally associated with R&B like the ska on "Trick Me" and the strong Rhodes guitar on "Rolling Through the Hood", as well as the electro space-funk delivered on the André 3000-featured "Millionaire" and the '70s flavor on "Protect My Heart". The overall feeling of the album is more laid-back with a tendency to drift more towards soul than hardcore hip hop.

The singles and the album immediately found success in Europe. The album's second single, "Trick Me", once again proved successful on radio and music video channels in Europe, and went to the top ten in many European countries during mid-2004. However, the song did not enjoy success in America, where its music video was not released. This was due to the fact that her American label Arista Records folded at the same time that Tasty was released. Kelis was then transferred to Jive Records, who were not interested in continuing with the album. Despite this, Kelis' success grew in Australia, where the album went gold selling over 35,000 copies. Both "Milkshake" and "Trick Me" went platinum in Australia selling over 70,000 copies. In New Zealand, the album Tasty went gold selling over 7,000 copies.

The success of Tasty was most obvious in the United Kingdom?the album sold over 300,000 copies in the UK alone and reached platinum status. The first single "Milkshake" went silver according to the BPI and sold over 200,000 copies in the UK alone. The four singles from the album were released. After "Milkshake" and "Trick Me" came "Millionaire" and "In Public". Her European label, Virgin Records, who she had been with since the start of her career there, decided to persist with the album. Due to her various splits with U.S. labels, promotion for both of her previous projects Kaleidoscope and Wanderland were ended prematurely, just as she was finally breaking through in the UK. Virgin UK did not want her to lose the fan base that she was building up yet again by ending promotion early, because of the U.S. and other territories deciding not to continue with the album. This paid off and Kelis finally cemented her UK status, with four top twenty hits from the album (including three top three hits) and Tasty going platinum there.

In the week of September 24, 2006, three years later after its release, Tasty re-entered the albums chart in the UK at number sixty-four?surprisingly, it even got to number three on the UK R&B Albums Chart the week of October 1?while her latest album, Kelis Was Here, had fallen off the chart the same week.

Track listing

1. "Intro" ? 1:30
2. "Trick Me" (Dallas Austin) ? 3:26
3. "Milkshake" (Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo) ? 3:02
4. "Keep It Down" (Dallas Austin, Dionne Wilson, Lonnie Lynn) ? 3:26
5. "In Public" (featuring Nas) (Kelis Rogers, Dana Stinson) ? 4:25
6. "Flashback" (Kelis Rogers, Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo) ? 3:25
7. "Protect My Heart" (Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo) ? 4:24
8. "Millionaire" (featuring André 3000) (Kelis Rogers, André 3000, Douglas Davis, Ricky Walters) ? 3:44
9. "Glow" (featuring Raphael Saadiq) (Raphael Saadiq, Glenn Standridge, Robert Ozuna, Taura "Aura" Jackson, Kelvin Wooten) ? 4:00
10. "Sugar Honey Iced Tea" (Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo) ? 3:23
11. "Attention" (featuring Raphael Saadiq) (Raphael Saadiq, Glenn Standridge, Robert Ozuna, Taura "Aura" Jackson, Kelvin Wooten) ? 3:24
12. "Rolling Through the Hood" (Pharrell Williams, Chad Hugo) ? 4:45
13. "Stick Up" (Kelis Rogers, Damon "Grease" Blackmon) ? 3:51
14. "Marathon" (Raphael Saadiq, Glenn Standridge, Robert Ozuna, Taura "Aura" Jackson, Kelvin Wooten) ? 4:35

Japanese edition

15. "Milkshake" (X-Press 2 Triple Thick Vocal Mix) ? 9:30
16. "Milkshake" (DJ Zinc Remix) ? 5:59

Unreleased/non-album tracks

• "Everyday Story" ? produced by Dame Grease
• "Freak Me Slow" ? produced by The Neptunes
• "Guilty Girl" ? produced by P. Diddy and co-produced by Mario Winans, which was released as a bootleg vinyl in 2005 under the title of "About to Hate Me"
• "Harlem Streets" (featuring Raphael Saadiq) ? produced by Raphael Saadiq and co-produced by Jake and the Phatman, which was released as a bootleg vinyl in 2005 under the title of "Emergency"
• "Running Mate" ? produced by Timbaland
• "Oasis" ? produced by Henri Charlemagne
• "He Don't Know" (with Mario Winans) ? produced by Mario Winans, initially recorded to appear on his debut album, Hurt No More, but left out of it
• "That's the Way (I Like It)" (with Van Hunt) ? produced by Rich Harrison, recorded to be featured in one of the Gap TV advertisings for their Fall/Winter 2004 Ad Campaign

All of the tracks above leaked to the Internet in one or other way, except "Everyday Story", "He Don't Know", and the full-lenght version of "That's the Way (I Like It)".

Personnel

• Kelis ? vocals
• André 3000 ? drums, keyboards
• Greg "Ruckus" Andrews ? DJ
• Jake & the Phatman ? percussion, scratching, drums
• Kevin Kendricks ? piano, keyboard
• Tony Reyes ? guitar, background vocals
• Raphael Saadiq - bass, guitar, vocals
• Kelvin Wooten ? piano, keyboard, sitar

Production

Charts

• U.S. chart debut

The album debuted at twenty-seven on the U.S. Billboard 200. However, it sold a strong 94,000 copies in the first week and is at 760,000 copies sold in the U.S., being certified gold (500,000 copies).

• UK chart debut

The album debuted quite low on the UK Albums Chart, at number forty-seven, but it climbed strongly after the smash hit "Milkshake" was released, landing at its peak, number eleven.

Release history

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