Kelis Gets Her Jive Walking Papers

Wed., Oct. 31, 2007 12:27 PM PDT by Josh Grossberg

Kelis' milkshake may have brought all the boys to the yard, but it's no longer bringing music buyers to the stores.

The Grammy-nominated "Milkshake" purveyor has been dropped by her label, Jive Records, Entertainment Weekly reports.

The news isn't exactly a surprise considering the crummy sales of her fourth studio album, 2006's Kelis Was Here.

Despite a slew of guest artists, including a duet with her husband, Nas, Kelis Was Here peaked at number 10 on the Billboard 200 before quickly dropping off. The album sold just 150,000 copies, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

By contrast, 2003's Jive-issued Tasty moved 533,000 copies and was certified gold, largely on the strength of "Milkshake." The suggestive single was Kelis' biggest American hit to date and earned her a Grammy nod in 2004 for Best Urban/Alternative Performance.

The Harlem-born Kelis is reportedly on the lookout for a new record deal while she finishes up working with Gnarls Barkley's Cee-Lo on an independent dance-pop record. The album is being produced by Guy Chambers, who has previously collaborated with Robbie Williams.

Kelis' manager, Jeff Rabhan, chalked up the move to economics and artistic differences.

"It was a case of being in the ever-shrinking world of the record industry and finding herself on a label she wasn't signed to and without a champion," he told EW. "She's a different kind of artist—very image- and style-driven. It's either something you get or you don't."

Kelis' first two albums, 1999's Kaleidoscope and 2001's Wanderland, were both released on Virgin. Her debut did well, selling 249,000 units in the U.S., while the follow-up did not garner strong label support and was only released in Europe.

She jumped to Arista for Tasty, but wound up on Jive after a 2004 merger between Sony and BMG consolidated the labels.

Rabhan said that Kelis is hoping to meanwhile make the jump to acting, as has been auditioning for TV and film roles as well as a hosting gig for a Project Runway-inspired VH1 reality series. The 28-year-old R&B chanteuse is also working on becoming a lifestyle guru, developing her own fashion and cosmetics lines in addition to prepping her own cookbook.