R. Kelly: When A Woman Loves

Posted November 10, 2010 by J Matthew Cobb in Reviews 1.0

Self-proclaimed “King of R&B” uses doo-wop-inspired soul to try to regain favor with mature R&B crowd after Untitled disaster

R. Kelly has taken a good siesta after his disastrous sex-laden Untitled album flopped, and hopes to recover with his new retro soul single, “When A Woman Loves.” To best describe the design of the song one must journey back to the roots of romantic doo-wop, like the Penguins’ “Earth Angel” and even Percy Sledge’s “When A Man Loves a Woman.” Its best to say that the “I Believe I Can Fly” balladeer didn’t do much homework to create this piece, as he belts out the opening lines: “When a woman loves/she loves for real.” Lyrically, “When A Woman Loves” severely focuses on a woman’s unconditional love to the point that it sounds a bit foolish, especially when she’s always rushing back to the bad guy. Here’s the good news – the “Colour My World” guitar lines and simple drum pacing is certain to win the affection of couples-in-love come Valentines’ Day or even at the next prom dance.

Kelly’s best contribution to the cut is, of course, his vocal performance; belting out passionate pleas and dazzling (yet appropriate) melisma action. But the cheap keyboard horns and strings orchestrations offer a cheap production touch atop the real organs and acousticguitars. Tag that to a very familiar doo-wop melody, an antithesis of Kelly’s 1998 scorn song “When A Woman’s Fed Up” and you have Kelly desperately trying to find his way back to his golden reign.

J MATTHEW COBB