Released: 2004
The problem with being a solo artist is that your success can always be someone else’s success. Kelis long standing relationship with The Neptunes had begun with her 1999 debut Kaleidoscope – which spawned the mega hit Caught Out There (I Hate You So Much Right Now) – and then it’s successor Wanderland, a more adventurous follow up whose envelope-pushing led to the singer being dropped by her label.
The daughter of a jazz playing Pentecostal minister, Kelis Rogers-Mora had studied at a New York performing arts school before meeting Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo at the outset of their production careers. Both parties would end up being successful, one much more so than the other.
By the time the singer’s third album was being recorded Williams and Hugo were in a cycle of spiralling demand which would see them recognised as Billboard’s Producers of The Decade. The duo were still in the chair however for Milkshake, a track which would serve as a lyrical reclamation of confidence by the women left screaming on Caught Out. Propelled by an acid percussion loop from a Darbuka, Kelis turned the song into a high school cheer practice for sexual confidence, batting off all comers and leaving men in her wake like some cartoon wolves.
Her career, her song, her imagery; Milkshake had only one owner. She could teach you, but she’d have to charge.
The Voice Of Unreason 