Artist
Enrique Iglesias Feat. Kelis
Why we feature this artist A flirtation with a sharp reply Not in Love gives Enrique Iglesias's soft-edged delivery somebody less easily persuaded to sing against. The 2004 radio mix with Kelis turns attraction into an exchange of competing attitudes: he circl…
- From
- Spain, United States
- Sound
- Pop, R&B
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Tracks to explore
The artist, in context
The story of Enrique Iglesias Feat. Kelis
Why we feature this artist
A flirtation with a sharp reply
Not in Love gives Enrique Iglesias's soft-edged delivery somebody less easily persuaded to sing against. The 2004 radio mix with Kelis turns attraction into an exchange of competing attitudes: he circles around a feeling he will not quite name, while she brings a more clipped, knowing presence. The record is polished pop, but the duet gives that polish a useful scratch.
A change of voice changes the scene
Iglesias often makes intimacy sound tentative, letting the breath around a line become part of its appeal. Here that approach meets a performer whose tone can suggest amusement and impatience at once. Kelis does not simply echo the main vocal. Her arrival changes how its uncertainty is heard.
The rhythm keeps the conversation moving without demanding a huge vocal climax. Short phrases, little pauses and the contrast between the singers carry the drama. The production leaves enough space around those details for the record to feel like two people testing one another rather than a single declaration doubled in volume.
The radio mix as a performance
This shared credit belongs to the Kelis version, whose release history is distinct from hearing Iglesias sing the song alone. That distinction is musically useful: the guest performance gives the words an answering personality and makes the title sound less settled than it first appears.
The track sits comfortably between the romantic side of Iglesias's catalogue and the sharper rhythmic confidence of early-2000s R&B pop. Its best moments are the small exchanges. A phrase that could sound sentimental in one voice becomes playful when another singer answers it with a raised eyebrow.
Essential releases
Not in Love — Radio Mix featuring Kelis
The shared vocal version makes contrast its main attraction: Iglesias’s close, breathy phrasing meets Kelis’s firmer rhythmic presence.