Electric Café (En Vogue album)

In 2009, the original members of En Vogue reunited and began their En Vogue: 20th Anniversary Tour. While the original quartet performed several spot dates in North America and the release of new music through Los Angeles-based Movemakers Entertainment and Funkigirl was announced. The group also appeared on A&E Private Sessions where they confirmed to be recording a new studio album. Following their reunion tour in the fall of 2011, Robinson decided not to record on the forthcoming studio album after failing to agree on business terms.[3] On September 26, 2011, Ellis, Jones, and Herron released a single titled "I'll Cry Later" from their forthcoming album that was planned for release in December 2011. In May 2012, Jones also defected from the group after failing to agree on business terms involving En Vogue being signed to Rufftown Entertainment.[4][5][6][7]

In June 2012, Bennett rejoined the group and continued to perform throughout the tour. In July 2014, the trio signed with Pyramid Records,[8] and began filming the Lifetime musical Christmas movie An En Vogue Christmas (2014) for which they recorded the two original songs "Emotions" and "A Thousand Times" as well as a rendition of the Christmas standard "O Holy Night", all of which were later released on iTunes.[9] Also that year, the band announced that they had started work on Electric Café, their first album of original material since Soul Flower.[10] In April 2015, Rufftown released the extended play Rufftown Presents En Vogue, which contained four songs recorded by the lineup of Herron/Ellis/Jones during their time with the label (prior to 2012), including the shelved single "I'll Cry Later".[11] In 2016, Herron and Ellis founded En Vogue Records and the band signed a distribution deal with eOne Music.[12]

En Vogue began recording material for Electric Café in 2014.[10] The most lengthy process out of all the times the band worked on an album, much of it was written and recorded in "about two and a half years."[10] Initially planned as an electronic dance music record, the trio reunited with their founders, producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy, to have them spearhead the album.[12] Each of their tracks were co-written by Bennett, Ellis, and Herron.[13] Recording sessions with the duo were held at the FM Studios in Emeryville, California, though much of the vocals were recorded in Foster’s house.[13] Herron described recording Electric Café different from previous albums,[14] alluding to its transition from analog to digital recording.[15] When asked about the process, she commented: "We didn’t go to a studio. We recorded in his house. He set a microphone up in a bedroom and he would sit in another room with his computer. We also didn’t have to spend as much time doing takes because so many producers want to use autotune.”[14]

With recording postponed several times due to intense touring and further songwriters and producers such as Dem Jointz, Modern Future, Kid Monroe, Raphael Saadiq, and Taura Stinson joining the project, the record started to morph into a more traditional contemporary R&B and soul album.[16] While Jointz and Stinson would contribute two tracks each, Saadiq collaborated with the band on his song "I'm Good" during recording at the Blakeslee Studios in North Hollywood.[13][17] "Rocket", a song written by singer Ne-Yo and produced by Curtis "Sauce" Wilson, was the last song to be recorded for Electric Café.[18] Speaking on the sound and title of the album, Herron elaborated: "The record kind of took on a life of its own, but we definitely stuck to our R&B roots. There are undertones of EDM, but we wanted to do a record that had a global feel to it – the record now has become more of a gumbo, a mix of different genres of music. But we loved the name Electric Café, from its dance days, so stuck with it."[19]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[20]
CommRadio	[20]
SoulTracks	(recommended)[21]
Spectrum Culture	[22]

AllMusic editor Andy Kellman gave Electric Café three and a half out of five stars and called it "a whimsical yet surprisingly steady collection of material that continuously switches eras and styles with positive energy beaming all the way through it." He considered "the six songs the singers co-wrote with [McElroy and Foster] the most adventurous" and added: "Going strictly by the unfussy ease with which this enjoyable album seems to have been knocked out, one wouldn't know that the group's status was ever in doubt."[20] SoulTracks critic Melody Charles found the album was "ambitious and enjoyable. In the ways that matter, En Vogue's trademark multiple leads and lush harmonies remain: each vocalist retains her distinct flavor throughout and the production."[21] Guardian journalist Caroline Sullivan called the album "a freshly enlightened approach to songwriting and a crisp live set to show it all off."[23]

Spectrum Culture's Dominic Griffin called Electric Café a "a jubilant comeback album produced and performed with palpable glee and inspiring self-confidence. It’s not an outsized attempt to present En Vogue to new listeners or a gambit to retake the charts. Instead, it’s an earnest, straightforward collection of songs."[22] In her review for Australian online magazine Renowned for Sound, Rachael Scarsbrook wrote: "On more than one occasion, Electric Cafe loses a sense of cohesiveness needed for a comeback album, but it’s nice to see a heritage band still committed to making music all these years later. There are good tracks in amongst the filler, but this could potentially just be one for the existing fans wanting a trip down memory lane."[24] PennState's CommRadio editor Scott Perdue declared the album a "a promising addition to En Vogue’s discography", and added: "While this album gets a little lost in its use of electric beats, a fair share of the songs have a strong presence on the album [...] Overall, Electric Café proves that En Vogue, while somewhat lost by time, hasn’t lost their relevance and is on the track to regaining their presence on the current music landscape."[25]

In the United States, Electric Café debuted and peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Independent Albums chart in the issue dated April 21, 2018.[26] This marked En Vogue's first charting since Soul Flower (2004) which had peaked at number 15 in March 2004.[26] While it became En Vogue's first album not to enter the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, Electric Café also reached number 69 on Billboard's Top Album Sales chart.[27] Internationally, the album reached the upper half of the UK Independent Albums, peaking at number 47.[28]

Electric Café spawned several singles. The album was preceded by the buzz single "Deja Vu", released in 2016,[29] followed by two further promotional singles, "I'm Good" and "Have a Seat" featuring Snoop Dogg, both released in 2017.[30] Lead single "Rocket," released in December 2017, reached number 10 on the US Adult R&B Songs in the week ending May 3, 2018, becoming En Vogue's first top 10 hit since "Don't Let Go (Love)" spent six weeks in the top 10 in February and March 1997.[31] It was ranked 25th on the Adult R&B Songs year-end chart.[32] Fifth and final single "Reach 4 Me", issued in August 2018, peaked at number 16 on the Adult R&B Songs.[33]

Notes

• ^{^[A]} denotes co-producer
• ^{^[B]} denotes vocal producer
• ^{^[C]} denotes additional producer

Credits adapted from AllMusic.[20]

• Electric Café at Discogs (list of releases)