Kelis
Tramshed, Cardiff
Thurs 26 July
Kelis Rogers’ present-day status as an 00s theme-party mainstay really began in 2003, when a slew of hit singles from her third album Tasty – Trick Me, Millionaire and the inescapable Milkshake – found their way into Top 10 positions globally. Working with long-time industry heavyweight songwriters Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo, she was enjoying a healthy popularity on this side of the Atlantic, thanks mainly to massive debut single Caught Out There, but was herein elevated to a queen of r’n’b, changing what people sang while making milkshakes forever.
After enjoying high-profile collaborations with the likes of Björk, Britney Spears, Busta Rhymes and will.i.am, label problems with 2006’s Kelis Was Here and a general disillusion with the music industry caused her to refocus her passions from her career in the charts into her love for food, taking a break from music to enrol as a student saucier at Le Cordon Bleu culinary institute. Since graduating in 2010, Rogers has allowed the various facets of her life to collide, frequently appearing as a celebrity guest across the world’s cooking shows and sharing her jerk sauce recipe with an eager YouTube audience, while also adding to her run of collabs – working with Calvin Harris, Giorgio Moroder, Basement Jaxx and Duran Duran.
Her love for roots flavours comes into its own on 2014’s Food, a genuinely organic and tasteful record with a heavy, consistent afrobeat groove, clean funk styling, and that enormous, unmistakeable Memphis soul sound, perhaps as far removed from the era of charts pop she helped define as she has ever been. Together with producer Dave Sitek, Rogers has crafted a nostalgic tribute to the classic records that got her delving into music in the first place, saying “I wanted to find out how to get that feeling.”
In a career spanning two decades – her first high-profile feature, on Ol’ Dirty Bastard’s Got Your Money, came in 1999, preceding six studio albums and two Grammy nominations – this month’s performance in Cardiff will mark Kelis’ debut in Wales.
words Jason Machlab
Tickets: £24.50. Info: 029 2023 5555