Kelis – 4th Of July (Fireworks)

Almost a week ago I celebrated the 4th of July by putting this stunning track on repeat all day. To me, Kelis has always been an underrated performer and one of the coolest ladies in the modern r&b and pop industries. I was actually pumped about seeing her transform into a club-friendly dance-diva on Flesh Tone. I was all fired up about the tantalizing lead single Acapella and she got my respect for keeping up with the times and selling a tribute to her son, dressed up as minimal technopop, to the club kids. But it was 4th Of July (Fireworks) that really blew me away and worked the magic. I’m still bummed about missing her gig in Sweden last fall. It would’ve been interesting to experience how she would manage to mix her old r&b hits with her new straightly electronic flair in a live setting.

Acapella was produced by David Guetta and that you could easily tell by the hypnotizingly austere sound of the synth buzzes and production in general. It was one of Guetta’s best productions to date. 4th Of July (Fireworks) sounds, if possible, even more like a Guetta production albeit being produced by DJ Ammo who probably have taken some inspirational cues from the titanic producer and DJ. The piano hint at the drama Kelis presents in her singing but are twisted in the production to sound pervertedly synthetic in a true Guetta manner. In reality, however, those are samples from Pilotpriest’s remix of the Lioness song You’re My Heart which you can listen to here. Still, the melody is prettier than the prettiest girl you can find in any club and gives Kelis room to show off the wide range of her voice as she half-whispers a verse where she emotes like a resurrected phoenix rising from the ashes yet still lovesick and longing.

Didn’t think I needed you
Never seemed to
But I’m living proof

Didn’t think I needed you
Never seemed to
But I’m living proof

These are fitting lyrics for Kelis’ recontextualization into the dancefloor but so far the electrohouse beat so far has only hinted that the chorus will give us so much more to dance over. The bridge, however, will offer one of the best build-ups ever heard where Kelis is forcefully and desperately exclaiming her affection to a stark but nonetheless powerful effect. I’m amazed these words haven’t become the club anthem scream-along they were destined to be.

Nothing
I’ll ever say or do
Will be as good
As loving you

The emotion is then pushed to its maximum with Kelis establishing the fact ”You make me high” sounding like she’s gonna swoon with what sounds like Timbaland doing a mini-guest appearance with ”And I don’t wanna come down” as the songs builds up to the explosion where the first verse is recited again. With the listener by this time being familiar with the words they become all the more powerful with DJ Ammo’s masterful handling of the buzzing synths in the beat. Up to this point the song has been such an emotional and danceable blast repeating stark and strong mantras it just feels superfluous to throw in yet another theme and picture, here the theme of a fireworks sky on the 4th of July. But as long as it’s Kelis singing those words over that delicious beat I’m just glad it’s this track that soundtracks my 4th of July each year. And yes, I’m glad this didn’t become a bigger hit than it deserves because it allows me to never grow tired of it.

Listen to 4th Of July (Fireworks) on Spotify!

The video is pretty and we do love seeing one of the coolest mainstream r&b-pop stars in cool outfits even if it’s quite similar to the Acapella video. Unfortunately it features none of the energy that pulses through 4th Of July (Fireworks) due to the slow editing and lack of powerful imagery to match the song’s emotional baggage. And the video edit is inferior to the album version. So I’ll post both the video and a youtube upload of the album version below.