Recording information: MilkBoy The Studio, Philadelphia, PA; Sylvester Stone Studios, Chicago, IL; The Chocolate Factory, Chicago, IL.
Photographer: Randee St. Nicholas.
Arranger: R. Kelly.
Already boasting a number one R&B/Hip-Hop single in the form of "Share My Love" -- a breezy throwback to mid-'70s disco-soul -- Write Me Back is R. Kelly's 12th studio album. The artist has referred to it as a sequel to 2010's Love Letter with elements of older albums from his discography. Released just a year after throat surgery, Write Me Back arrives amid a flurry of activity, including a memoir, a raunchier in-development album (Black Panties), new chapters in the Trapped in the Closet saga, and soundtrack work for the remake of Sparkle.
Professional Reviews
Rolling Stone (p.103) - 3.5 stars out of 5 -- "WRITE ME BACK is suave, string-swathed Seventies revivalism, with tips of the hat to Barry White, OFF THE WALL-era Michael Jackson and Marvin Gaye."
Entertainment Weekly (p.69) - "WRITE ME BACK keeps the throwbacks coming, ensconsing his creamy croon in dramatic '70s-nightclub strings and funky bedspread disco." -- GradeL A-
Billboard (p.48) - "Embracing love -- his favorite subject -- Kelly jumps straight to the heart of the matter on the vibrant, rumba-esque opener 'Love Is.'"
Q (Magazine) (p.101) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "Brilliant album opener 'Love Is' starts off like a Barry White number before giving way to a chorus that nods strongly towards 'Heaven Must Be Missing An Angel.'"
