''Kimberly: The People I Used to Know'' is the fourth studio album by American singer

K. Michelle Kimberly Michelle Pate (born March 4, 1982) is an American singer, actress, and television personality. She is most known from VH1's '' Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta'' and after appearing as a regular cast member for two seasons on the reality televi ...

, released on December 8, 2017, through

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most i ...

. The album was preceded by the release of the singles "

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", "

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", " Make This Song Cry" and "Crazy Like You". ''Kimberly: The People I Used to Know'' debuted on the US ''Billboard'' 200 at number fifty-six with 8,804 copies sold, becoming the lowest selling debuting album of Michelle's career so far and continuing a downward trend in her commercial success. Fans openly criticized Michelle's label for the lack of support with ''Kimberly: The People I Used to Know'' and Michelle later asked to be released from her contract with Atlantic Records (Warner Bros), as a result.

Background and release

On December 21, 2016, K. Michelle announced that her fourth album would be released in 2017 via Twitter with an acronym "TCE". During the final season of her reality show " K. Michelle: My Life, the singer revealed a song titled "Heaven", calling the song "one of my most personal records on my new album". On September 8, 2017, in an interview with

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

, the album's title was revealed "Kimberly: The People I Used to Know". On October 13, 2017, the album cover, track list and release date was revealed.

Singles

" was released as the album's lead single on September 8, 2017. "

" featuring American singer Chris Brown was released as the album's second single on September 15, 2017. The song debuted at number 19 on the US Billboard R&B Digital Song Sales chart for the week beginning October 7, 2017. "Make This Song Cry" was released as the album's third single on October 6, 2017. "Crazy Like You" was released as the album's fourth single on August 12, 2018.

Critical response

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Andy Kellman gave the album four stars out of five, stating that "she has too much on her mind - and has such an imaginative and proficient way of getting it all out - to truly bail." Glenn Gamboa from ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is an American daily newspaper that primarily serves Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI", and f ...

'' wrote that "It’s a shoot-from-the-hip style given to hits and misses, but when K. Michelle connects, she hits hard." ''

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''s Alfred Soto graded it 7 points out of 10, commenting that "KIMBERLY: The People I Used to Know may lack a thumper like "V.S.O.P." or a slow jam as urgent as "Drake Would Love Me," still her greatest performance, but it continues a remarkable four-album streak." Rachael Scarsbrook of ''

Renowned for Sound ''Renowned for Sound'' is an Australian online magazine An online magazine is a magazine published on the Internet, through bulletin board systems and other forms of public computer networks. One of the first magazines to convert from a pri ...

'' gave the album 4 stars out of 5, wrote that "There is enough differentiation to maintain intrigue even if the album is some 20+ tracks long. K Michelle is never one to mince her words, and she’s certainly not going to be changing that any time soon.

Track listing

Notes * signifies a vocal producer * signifies a co-producer * signifies an additional producer Sample credits * "Make This Song Cry" contains elements of "

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", written by

Shawn Carter Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...

Background and release

Singles

Critical response

Track listing

Charts

Release history

References