Today’s From The Vault pick comes from yet another uniquely gifted singer, Keyshia Cole. This week, we give you ‘Love.’
The songbird’s breakthrough of sorts, ‘Love’ (in its original guise) was “the” track that got Ron Fair to sign Cole to Interscope back in 2003. It was written by the singer alongside Greg Curtis who also produced the cut.
Formally released in 2005 as the fourth single from her debut album ‘The Way It Is,’ the song was her most successful single at the time peaking at #19 on the US Billboard Hot 100. Additionally, it reached the Top 3 of Billboard’s Hip-Hop/R&B charts
The visual for the tune was directed by the mighty Benny Boom and featured the infamous Tyrese in the role of Keyshia’s love interest. During the course of the clip, the couple experience relationship issues after she suspects him of being involved in untoward activity.
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13 years on, it’s disheartening to see that the world has seemingly stopped rooting for Keyshia Cole like it used to. If you ask us, to this day no one has been able to step in that Hip-Hop/Soul lane originated by Ms. Blige quite like Keyshia has.
While the latest tracks from her repertoire haven’t been as engaging as ‘Love,’ ‘I Should Have Cheated,’ or ‘Let It Go,’ her talent still remains intact. A reality which should count for something…right?!
Now, as the industry has shown us over the years, it ain’t over until it’s over so KC, the ball is definitely in your court. Play it right and it may well bring back the ‘Love.’
TIMELESS CLASSIC
Her best song
JAM. ?
My song by Keyshia Cole will always & forever be “We could be.” What true love should be especially in this crazy gay lifestyle.
?put it back in the vault!
I remember and heaven sent will always be my favorites from her. Love me some keysh
Agreed
GOT TO GET MY HEART BACK. So impossible. I remember. Heaven sent. I want it to be over. Should have cheated. WORK it out. Low key this girl is INCREDIBLE
That album was a classic.
Hated this annoying ass crying song
As soon as I heard “I Changed My Mind” in 2004 I became a fan. I’ll always root for her ghetto a** lol.
She has SOOOOO many great songs, we can’t just throw her away
Classic
I will always love Keyshia, but this will forever be her worst song and I never understood why it was a hit. Her vocals have never sounded so strained and struggling as they do in this song.
It’s raw…you can feel her on this one! They probably used the scratch vocal/demo vocal and thought it was the most genuine…this was a song she already had and she got her record deal after singing it for Ron Fair….the production is tight tho!
I think one of the reasons Keyshia Cole didn’t have the same push and longevity like MJB is that Keyshia is MESSY af. She burned some bridges very publicly. I inadvertently became part of a flame war on Twitter between her and Lil’ Kim. There was some lightheaded back and forth between Lil Kim fans and Nikki Minaj fans. I, being old school, was Team Lil Kim so I was schooling some younguns about how much Nikki Minaj image was influenced by Lil Kim. So, it was a little disloyal for Keyshia to collab with Nikki right after her biggest hit featured Lil Kim. I had no idea that they were actually monitoring the posts at the time. It got a little wild. Missy Elliott, and later Eve, had to intervene. Later after Destiny’s Child had their surprise reunion during the Super Bowl, she praised Beyonce and Kelly Rowland then disparaged Michelle Williams on Twitter. Keyshia said that she couldn’t stand her and that she couldn’t sing. I learned my lesson about spouting off on Twitter, apparently Keyshia didn’t learn.