Whether it's the kiss-off on "Frontline," or the unabashed come-ons on "Truth or Dare," Take Me Apart is a subtle, sexy LP from a woman who knows what she wants, and clearly aims to write anthems for fans feeling the same way.
Take Me Apart is well worth the wait. Working with a dream team of modern music makers—Arca, The xx's Romy Madley Croft, Kingdom and Ariel Rechtshaid—Kelela navigates from the abstract fringes of club music towards the pop center on her own terms.
On Take Me Apart, her first studio album, she takes the cerebral, corporeal world she’s built into the domain where it can historically live best: a new, outré, rhythmic pop galaxy that honors but outpaces its peers.
Take Me Apart is a multi-faceted sidewinder of a release that refines the aesthetics of Kelela’s previous projects and painstakingly marries them to exemplary result.
It’s this invitation into her most confidential thoughts that makes the album equal parts sensual as it is unflinchingly confident, and it’s the ability to inhabit so many subtleties of the emotional turmoil of relationships that makes Take Me Apart such a memorable album.
Take Me Apart may not appear as immediately interesting and unique as Kelela's previous work but there are layers upon layers of elements to be explored.
Kelela’s vocal stops Take Me Apart ending up as a fragmented series of sounds: consistently exquisite as it dances between lovesick confusion and shrewd sensuality.
Take Me Apart is a very spacious operation in which the 34-year-old ponders love, lust and hurt as soundbeds break down around her.
There’s another EP in here that’s every bit as good as Hallucinogen, but as an album, Take Me Apart remains more proof of Kelela’s talent and still-unrealized potential.
Take Me Apart isn’t always immediately gratifying, but in being loud in its vulnerability (and quietly radical for it), Kelela’s first album is a powerful addition to the feminist, futurist RnB canon.
For the most part, Take Me Apart is sonically more akin to a soundtrack, one for neon-tinged late-night driving. Or for bedrooms with ceiling mirrors — those slippery reflections…
I'm not sure I'm ready to dive in once again after millions of listens, to this album which I found to be one of the best R&B albums in history. Kelela's sophomore album 'Take Me Apart' is incredibly cleaver, well produced, well written and has a set of rhythms that most artists wish they had. Personally is one of my favorite albums ever, I listen to it religiously every week, and it blows my fucking mind every single time just like it was in the first time.
The artwork is also so ... read more
This is my favorite album of all time. I could probably write volumes on what it means to me and the intricacies of each song. Perhaps I will one day. For now though, I just want everyone to know that this album is the pinnacle. The storytelling, the production, the VOCALS, the everything is perfect. Kelela knows exactly what she's doing. If for some reason this album hasn't dug its claws into you yet, turn all the lights off, press play, and let it move your body without you seeing it. The ... read more
Since I discovered Kelela nothing has been the same before. Phenomenal, groundbreaking and one of a kind record. Kelela you are majestic.
I’ve never floated so high to an album in my life.
The production and Kelela’s performances across this album are incredible. Entrancing and captivating to the highest degree, and it doesn't let down one bit.
I do think this album is at its best when it’s more ambient and ethereal in its direction, but the more contemporary rnb tracks here stack up to the others just as strongly and it wouldn’t be the same otherwise, given just simply how well made they are.
Kelela perfectly meshes contemporary flare of rnb and electronic synths! Works really well and the way the album is orchestrated does not bore you at all.
1 | Frontline 5:39 | 93 |
2 | Waitin 3:15 | 91 |
3 | Take Me Apart 4:02 | 93 |
4 | Enough 5:09 | 91 |
5 | Jupiter 2:05 | 85 |
6 | Better 4:26 | 89 |
7 | LMK 3:38 | 93 |
8 | Truth Or Dare 4:12 | 88 |
9 | S.O.S. 2:22 | 84 |
10 | Blue Light 3:36 | 92 |
11 | Onanon 4:31 | 94 |
12 | Turn To Dust 4:29 | 87 |
13 | Bluff 1:12 | 85 |
14 | Altadena 5:10 | 88 |
#2 | / | Dummy |
#3 | / | Mixmag |
#4 | / | Cosmopolitan |
#4 | / | NOW Magazine |
#4 | / | Pitchfork |
#5 | / | Junkee |
#6 | / | Complex UK |
#6 | / | Dazed |
#6 | / | Highsnobiety |
#6 | / | Mashable |