Complex Simplicity is the debut album by American R&B

Contemporary R&B

Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...

-soul

Soul music

Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...

 singer Teedra Moses

Teedra Moses

Teedra Moses is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter.-Biography:Teedra Moses was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, to a gospel singing mother, Shirley Moses. She later moved to California with her mother and three siblings after her parents' separation...

, released in the United States on July 20, 2004 by TVT Records

TVT Records

TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...

. All tracks are produced by Paul Poli, except "Take Me", produced by Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq

Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...

, and "You Better Tell Her", produced by Lil Jon

Lil Jon

Jonathan Mortimer Smith , better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and occasional disc jockey who was a member of the group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Lil Jon formed the group in 1997, and the group released several albums between then and 2004...

. All lyrics are written by Moses. While underperforming on the charts and being virtually unknown in mainstream music, the album has managed to become an underground classic, a feat highly attributed to its positive critical ratings and reviews.

Critical reception

Complex Simplicity has been embraced by many fans, bloggers, and music critics. The album is said to be "awe-inspiring and cool and touching and kind of avant-garde

Avant-garde

Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....

 in a weird homegrown way." Vibe called the album "a great entry into the R&B game." Further, Allmusic's review stated boldly that Complex Simplicity "is the best R&B album of 2004—if not the best pop

Pop music

Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

-oriented R&B album since CrazySexyCool

CrazySexyCool

CrazySexyCool is the second studio album by American R&B group TLC, released by LaFace Records on November 15, 1994 in North America...

." The album compelled many critics to compare her to superstars and legends of R&B, including Mary J. Blige

Mary J. Blige

Mary Jane Blige is an American singer-songwriter, record producer and occasional actress. She is a recipient of nine Grammy Awards and four American Music Awards, and has recorded eight multi-platinum albums. She is the only artist with Grammy Award wins in Pop, Rap, Gospel, and R&B. Blige has...

, Deniece Williams

Deniece Williams

June Deniece Chandler known by her stage name Deniece Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s...

, Teena Marie

Teena Marie

Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, was an American singer, songwriter and producer...

, and Cherrelle

Cherrelle

Cheryl Anne Norton, better known by her stage name, Cherrelle , is an American R&B singer who gained fame in the 1980s...

.

Track listing

1. "Be Your Girl" – 4:09
2. "You'll Never Find (A Better Woman)" (featuring Jadakiss
   Jadakiss
   Jason Phillips , better known as Jadakiss, is an American rapper. He is a member of the group The LOX. Jadakiss is one of the three owners of the imprint known as D-Block. In early 2007, Jadakiss signed to Roc-a-Fella Records / Def Jam Records.-Early life:By the age of 16, Jadakiss was a freestyle...
   
   ) – 4:13
3. "Caution" – 4:37
4. "Backstroke" – 3:37
5. "No More Tears" – 4:11
6. "Rescue Me" – 4:06
7. "Take Me" (featuring Raphael Saadiq
   Raphael Saadiq
   Raphael Saadiq is an American singer, songwriter and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for "old school" R&B since his early days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony! Toni! Toné! He also produced songs of such artists as TLC, Joss Stone, D'Angelo, Mary J...
   
   ) – 4:44
8. "You Better Tell Her" – 6:15
9. "Outta My Head" – 3:39
10. "Complex Simplicity" – 4:16
11. "For a Lifetime" – 4:15
12. "Caught Up" – 4:14
13. "Last Day" – 3:41
14. "I Think of You (Shirley's Song)" – 6:06

UK edition

1. "Be Your Girl" – 4:09
2. "You'll Never Find (A Better Woman)" (featuring Jadakiss) – 4:13
3. "Caution" – 4:37
4. "Backstroke" – 3:37
5. "No More Tears" – 4:11
6. "Rescue Me" – 4:06
7. "Take Me" (featuring Raphael Saadiq) – 4:44
8. "You Better Tell Her" (featuring Lil' Scrappy) – 4:29
9. "Outta My Head" – 3:39
10. "Doin' You" – 3:58
11. "Complex Simplicity" – 4:16
12. "For a Lifetime" – 4:15
13. "Caught Up" – 4:14
14. "Last Day" – 3:41
15. "I Think of You (Shirley's Song)" – 6:06
16. "Still Your Girl" (featuring Raphael Saadiq, Truth Hurts
    Truth Hurts
    Share Watson , known as Truth Hurts, is an American Contemporary R&B singer-songwriter.-Albums:-Singles:* 2002: "Addictive" Share Watson (born October 10, 1971, St. Louis, Missouri), known as Truth Hurts, is an American Contemporary R&B singer-songwriter.-Albums:-Singles:* 2002: "Addictive"...
    
     and Scipio) – 4:15

European edition

15. "Be Your Girl" (Video)

The European and Asian releases of Complex Simplicity had the same track listing as the North American edition. The Asian release had an alternate artwork but was otherwise identical to the North American release. The European release was enhanced to include the video for "Be Your Girl", but was otherwise identical to the North American release. No video was included on the UK edition.

Unreleased/non-album tracks

• "Still Got Love" — featured as a B-side
  A-side and B-side
  A-side and B-side originally referred to the two sides of gramophone records on which singles were released beginning in the 1950s. The terms have come to refer to the types of song conventionally placed on each side of the record, with the A-side being the featured song , while the B-side, or...
  
   to the 12" single for "Be Your Girl". Originally listed on the Complex Simplicity track listing.
• "Cut Buddy" (featuring Kwamé "K1 Mill"
  Kwamé
  Kwamé Holland is an American emcee who enjoyed brief popularity in the late-1980s and early-1990s. He is currently a music producer sometimes credited as K-1 Million or K1 Mil.-Biography:...
  
  ) — this track was originally intended for Christina Milian
  Christina Milian
  Christine Flores , better known by her stage name Christina Milian , is an American singer-songwriter, actress, dancer, and model....
  
  , and now has been recorded by Natasha. The demo version appeared on a Trackmasters
  Trackmasters
  The Trackmasters are the successful production duo of Poke and Tone , sometimes credited as Poke & Tone, best known for their commercial hit records in the late 90s and early 2000s. Throughout their career they have worked with various hip-hop and R&B artists including R...
  
   mixtape hosted by Milian.

The following tracks were also originally intended for Complex Simplicity, but were replaced by newer tracks:

• "Blow Me Out"
• "Winter '96"
• "Cabaret"

Singles

"Be Your Girl" was Teedra Moses' first ever released song, and introduced her debut album Complex Simplicity. The track, produced by Paul Poli, is a teaser of her style, being a '90s soul-inspired track, laced by a mellow synth that takes back to the '80s funk

Funk

Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...

 music. It contains replayed elements from "One On One" (N. Jones, R. Santiago, C. Jones), as well as a sample from "Ahmad Jamal" - "The Awakening." The video for the song was directed by Hype Williams

Hype Williams

Harold "Hype" Williams , previously known as HYPE, is an American music video and film director of African-American and Honduran descent. His nickname "Hype" comes from his hyperactive nature as a child....

. Promo singles were issued in the U.S. and the UK, however retail singles were only available in Germany. The UK had several different version of the promo CD single, produced by TVT UK.

"You'll Never Find (A Better Woman)" was the first single from Complex Simplicity, but was only a radio single. It features rapper Jadakiss

Jadakiss

Jason Phillips , better known as Jadakiss, is an American rapper. He is a member of the group The LOX. Jadakiss is one of the three owners of the imprint known as D-Block. In early 2007, Jadakiss signed to Roc-a-Fella Records / Def Jam Records.-Early life:By the age of 16, Jadakiss was a freestyle...

 and contains a sample from Alicia Myers' "Better Woman or Bigger Fool" (V. Allen, A. Hudson, J. Hall), from her I Fooled You This Time LP.

"You Better Tell Her" was the third U.S. single from the album, and 12" copies were available for promotional use, with a small number of CD singles produced by Black Moses Music in circulation. It features rappers Pitbull

Pitbull (rapper)

Armando Christian Pérez , better known by his stage name Pitbull, is an American rapper, singer-songwriter and record producer. His first recorded performance was from the Lil Jon album Kings of Crunk in 2002, after which he released his debut album in 2004 titled M.I.A.M.I. under TVT Records...

 and Lil' Scrappy, and it's the third version of the song, after the no-rap version featured on the U.S. edition of the album and the only Lil' Scrappy-featured version featured on the UK release. All three cuts were produced by Lil Jon

Lil Jon

Jonathan Mortimer Smith , better known by his stage name Lil Jon, is an American rapper, music producer, entrepreneur, and occasional disc jockey who was a member of the group Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz. Lil Jon formed the group in 1997, and the group released several albums between then and 2004...

.

Song	Date	Peak chart positions
		United States R&B
"Be Your Girl"	June 1, 2004 (U.S.) May 31, 2004 (UK)	87
"You'll Never Find (A Better Woman)"	October 18, 2004 (UK)	-
"You Better Tell Her"	2005	-

Personnel

• Rich Balmer – Engineer
• Gerry "The Gov" Brown – Engineer
• Gerald Clayton – Keyboards
• Kevin "KD" Davis – Mixing
• Claire Fisher – String Arrangements
• Ryan Freeland – Engineer, Mixing
• John Frye – Mixing
• Tony Gillis – Mastering
• Mark Gray – Assistant
• Amy Johnson – A&R
• Bryan Leach – Executive Producer, A&R
• Anthony Mandler – Photography
• Nonja McKenzie – Stylist
• Teedra Moses – Executive Producer, Vocal Arrangement
• Poli Paul – Keyboards, Producer, Engineer, Executive Producer, Vocal Arrangement
• Paul Poli – Producer, Executive Producer
• Malachy Robinson – Bass, Guitar, Percussion, Keyboards
• Daniel Romero – Engineer, Mixing
• Raphael Saadiq – Bass, Guitar, Producer, Vocal Arrangement
• Greg "Frosty" Smith – Engineer
• Jonathan Smith – Producer
• Shaffer Smith – Vocal Arrangement
• Benjamin Wheelock – Design
• Kelvin Wooten – Guitar, Drums, Keyboards

Charts

Chart (2004)	Peak position
U.S. Billboard 200 Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...	168
U.S. Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums is a chart published by Billboard magazine that ranks R&B and hip hop albums based on sales compiled by Nielsen SoundScan. The name of the chart was changed from Top R&B Albums in 1999...	20
U.S. Billboard Top Independent Albums	11
U.S. Billboard Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...	10

Release history

Region	Date	Label
United States	July 20, 2004	TVT TVT Records TVT Records was an independent US record label founded by Steve Gottlieb. Over the course of its 25 year history the label released some 25 Gold, Platinum and Multi-platinum releases. Its roster included Nine Inch Nails, Ja Rule, Lil Jon, Underworld, The KLF, Sevendust, Brian Jonestown Massacre and...
Canada		EMI EMI The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
Australia	September 8, 2004	TVT
Japan	February 2, 2005	Victor Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of Japan Victor Company that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It was formerly known as...
United Kingdom	June 20, 2005	TVT
Europe (except the UK)	January 20, 2006