Kelis was born and grew up in Harlem, this is a very gang affiliated area. Her inspiration for music came from her father who is an African American Jazz singer. Her mother was a fashion designer but always pushed Kelis to persue her music career. Kelis is one of four girls and was the only child who found she had inherited a musical talent from her dad. Her other sisters became physicians. From a very young age she played the violin and she also sang in church. She attended a private school from a young age. She discovered her musical talent and at the young age of 16 she attended a music and performing arts school which was known for the film 'Fame' . She learnt to play the saxophone and managed to get into the schools choir. Here she formed a music group that contained her and two other girls. The group was called BLU (Black Ladies Unite). During this time she felt uncomfortable at home and so she moved into her own apartment as soon as she was old enough too.
Kelis graduated in 1997 and then found herself drifting from music and just having lots of little jobs that kept her occupied. However, later on she managed to get herself the part of a backing singer to the song "fairytalz' released by Wu Tang Clan member RZA. Kelis soon found herself being noticed by more and more people across New York. This lead to the formation of another band with The Neptunes, Chad Hugo and Pharrell Williams, this lead to her getting a record deal with the help of her other band members. Kelis first got signed to Virgin record label in 1998. This lasted until 2001. Star Trak/Arista (2003–2005), LaFace/Jive (2006–2008), will.i.am music group (2010–present).
In 2004 Kelis released milkshake in 2004. It was such a hit it was nominated for an MTV Europe Music Award for best R and B. She was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.
The song 'milkshake' featured on her album 'Tasty' and was singled out as a hit song. It reached the Billboard top 100. This song changed the way Kelis marketed herself. She worked with other artists to produce songs that changed her genre and audience slightly. Many DJ's use the song Milkshake for a remix and this is where we have taken our song from.
The song Milkshake was written by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo. The song has a moderate beat rate of 113 beats per minute.
The music video for the song was directed by Jake Nava and shows the artist in an american diner. The video features Kelis being sexually suggestive by eating a cherry in a sexual way and bending over showing off her bottom in an obvious way. The song reached second in the UK charts but unfortunately didn't ever become number 1. When Kelis was asked what the meaning of the song she said that there was no meaning and that people can interpret the meaning in there own way. The song became very popular and has been featured in many films e.g. Mean Girls and Norbit. Kelis stated that she believed that this particular song changed the female side of music. The song was produced by The neptunes and is portrayed as a low beat R&B sound.
Kelis has continued her success from the song Milkshake and is still producing solo songs and even collaborating with other artists. Since she broke out in 2003 she has taken the opportunity to open her own fashion and clothing line. She has even take on animal rights activists because she loves fur and animal clothing so much. On her official website there is Kelis merchandise available to buy which features some more brutal and hard hitting clothing. from looking at the fans on the website we can see that she is someone who has reached a very wide range of people over time and her audience can change over time. The majority of her fans are women but because of the sexual image that she has portrayed she does have some male fans. Kelis has always throughout her career stayed within the R&B genre however her audience has changed over her career.
Kelis has faced a lot of controversy and had spoken about being judged by people racially however the singer has always stayed true to her music and believes that she has been blessed with a musical gift. The racial insult that she has been insulted with had been reached to by people such as Boris Johnson and other influential politicians.
She is currently in the charts with Calvin Harris with a song called 'Bounce'.
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