Continuing Amnesty Week, we put some old school R&B on the stereo…

[Video]
[5.50]
Thomas Inskeep: Sumptuously smooth grown folks’ R&B about love & devotion that gets me right here (points at heart) — which is funny, since I’m quite happily single these days and have no interest in anything otherwise. But Kem does this so flawlessly, from the lyrics (apparently written to his now-wife shortly after they met), to the track (I especially love the horns spiced throughout), to especially those utterly distinctive vocals. When you hear a Kem song on Adult R&B radio, you know that it’s Kem instantly, which is I think part of his appeal. This comeback, his first new music in six years, was one of the few things that helped to make 2020 even remotely tolerable.
[10]
Alfred Soto: Skittery rhythm guitars and references to shining stars — Kem’s got Earth, Wind & Fire in his veins by way of Lenny Kravitz’s “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over.” Only six years since hitting the R&B chart, he returns as even more of a throwback, his very own dream factory. Fans admire his sincerity.
[6]
Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: Even as the Jukebox’s foremost Lenny Kravitz supporter, I must draw a line in the sand against this blatant “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over” revisionism. Retro styling can’t be all artifice! You gotta have some kind of personality underlying the mannerisms!
[5]
Rachel Saywitz: I was all in for the first few seconds: the soft sounds of electric guitars playing off each other, the funky bassline, some dulcet piano notes. Then I heard, “You’re listening to Love 101” and was immediately turned off. I just can’t take the rest of the song seriously after that! Kem’s voice doesn’t do it for me either — his tone is much too nasally for me to seriously think he’s “ready to wife you, girl.” At least Kem seems to appreciate honesty, so maybe he won’t react too harshly to this review.
[4]
Will Adams: The opening “hey, girl” threw me; is this a charming and flirty song or an aural transcription of a Kate Beaton comic? Spoiler: the latter.
[4]
Nortey Dowuona: Smooth, curling bass warms up beneath drifting butterflies of guitar and washed horns while soft, plush keys and professional drums lurk behind. Kem gently stirs the pot, a bright and knowing smile on his face, keeping steady as the horns wash over him. Kem keeps stirring, drizzling in new echoes and making the mix softer, watching it waft over to the lady in the corner.
[6]
John Seroff: As an inveterate fan of grown and sexy R&B, I’m annoyed I didn’t get the memo that Kem dropped a new album over the summer. Better late than never; “Lie to Me” holds up well as a hanging-on-to-normal, winter-pandemic monogamy jam. It’s just the thing to accompany masked walks in the park, cocoa in front of the fire with your quarantine pod, and couch-bound holiday Netflix garbage-watching.
[7]
John S. Quinn-Puerta: This song would be so good if it weren’t for the vocals. I don’t know if it’s the microphone, the mix, or a regional accent, but Kem’s voice sounds too nasal for my tastes. The chorus melody gets stuck in your head, and some of the lyrics manage to rise above the clichés, but it all feels like it’s hiding underneath a voice without enough power.
[4]
Katherine St Asaph: A neo-soul track that could have run Thicke with over-effusive sleaze instead, thanks to Kem’s voice, has an earnest everyday charm: your own personal wife guy.
[7]
William John: A failed attempt to outdo Chance The Rapper in the wife-guy stakes, mostly down to its unobtrusiveness. “Lie to Me” is too restrained to really impart the required amount of passion and melodrama for a song about someone you’re ready to marry but aren’t even in love with yet.
[5]
Ady Thapliyal: In a post-streaming world where the last hundred years of music are available at your fingertips, what use is a song that is pale imitation of smooth soul in the verses and Ashanti’s “Rock Wit U” in the chorus? Stokley’s “She…” did the contemporary soul revival better, and it’s the better love song to boot.
[2]
Ian Mathers: Sometimes, even thought it seems like it ought to be, smoothness alone is not quite enough.
[6]