Kelly is heading off any allegations that he's a criminal by painting himself as a saved sinner who still struggles with temptation, struggles that are chronicled joyfully on Happy People and with remorse on U Saved Me. The first, Happy People, is a seductive, late-night album about positivity and love, the second all about salvation and God. That, in a nutshell, are the themes of Happy People/U Saved Me, a double disc containing two distinct albums (just like OutKast's Speakerboxx/The Love Below). Instead of getting defiant - as did Michael Jackson, when he attacked prosecutor Tom Sneddon in the embarrassing, barely veiled "D.S." - Kelly spins his notoriety for sympathy, acknowledging that he's a flawed man and a sinner, but he believes in God and he's just looking for love and peace. Without them, he can't play the martyr, which he eagerly does, both directly and indirectly, on the music he's made since the scandal. The heightened graphic sexuality of his oeuvre feeds suspicions that the allegations, even if they can't be proved, have weight, which makes it very hard for some listeners to hear Kelly's music without thinking of the scandals.Īnd, when it comes down to it, Kelly doesn't really want you to forget those scandals either. His catalog is soaked in sex and gleefully shallow, celebrating the pleasures of the moment, whether it's carnal ("Bump n' Grind") or corny ("I Believe I Can Fly"). Of course, a whirlwind of similar charges, including an annulled marriage to the teenage Aaliyah, doesn't exactly help matters either, nor does his music.
If the child pornography allegations leveled against him weren't so heinous (not to mention detailed and allegedly supported by videotapes), and if he weren't so quick to paint himself as a martyr - highlighted by, but not limited to, him bizarrely empathizing with Osama Bin Laden in a 2003 interview with Blender Magazine - it might be easier to ignore his trials and tribulations and focus on the art. Kelly implore listeners to separate the music from the man, which is a good rule to follow in general, but the specifics of his case make it a little harder to do.
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