Robbed hit of the week 2/21/22 - Kelis' "Caught Out There"...

 

 

"Caught Out There" - Kelis

from the album Kaleidoscope (1999)

Billboard Hot 100 peak: #54

 

This week's "robbed hit" comes from singer Kelis Rogers, who grew up in New York City, where he finished high school at an arts-based school before pursuing a music career, using just her first name. Her first big break came at the close of 1999, where she had a featured vocalist spot singing the chorus on the single "Got Your Money" by Wu-Tang Clan rapper Ol' Dirty Bastard.  That record got her into the top-40 on the pop chart and the R&B singles list. At the time that was peaking, Kelis released her debut album Kaleidoscope, produced by Pharrell Williams and Chad Hugo of the Neptunes, who also helmed "Got Your Money". The pair wrote all the songs on the disc (including three co-writes with Kelis), including the lead single "Caught Out There". A break-up track to end all break-up tracks, the instantly identifiable skittish beat has Kelis singing about her man doing her wrong, as she catches him cheating and proceeds to lose her damn mind. The chorus is just her screaming "I hate you so much right now!" repeatedly followed by a scream that was the most realest thing to come in a record in a long time. It certainly grabbed people's attention, and while pop radio in America was a little hesitant on it, urban stations (as well as the rest of the sane world) couldn't deny it. The music video, directed by Hype Williams, only amplifies the mood...

While "Caught Out There" rose to #9 on Billboard magazine's R&B Singles chart, the song stalled under the halfway mark on the pop Hot 100 in January of 2000. It did make the top-40 on the Rhythmic Airplay format chart at #37. But internationally, it was a different story, as "Caught Out There" reached the top ten in the UK (#4), the Netherlands (#4), Iceland (#5), Canada (#10), Italy (#10), and Sweden (#10), while making the top-40 in Norway (#11), Belgium (#14W/#15F), Ireland (#23), Australia (#26), New Zealand (#32), Switzerland (#35), and Germany (#40). The Kaleidoscope album, released in December of 1999, got to #144 on the Billboard 200 sales tally, and #23 on the R&B Albums chart in Billboard. 

The second single from Kelis' debut, "Get Along With You", stopped at #57 on the R&B Singles chart, but the remixes of the track done by David Morales were more successful, giving the singer her first club hit at #19. A third effort, "Good Stuff", featuring rapper "Terrar" (who would go on to change his name to Pusha T), wasn't released in America, but did land in the top ten in Belgium (#5W) and Iceland (#3), and made #19 in the UK. She will eventually make the top-40 in the States, but it'll take a few years, a label change, and something that brings all the boys to the yard.

(10/10)

Here's Kelis before she broke in 1999 on the Chris Rock Show...

Next up, with a live band on the British show Later With Jools Holland...

 

and lastly, live in Glastonbury in 2000....