| The Way It Is | ||||
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| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | June 21, 2005 | |||
| Genre | R&B[1] | |||
| Length | 48:51 | |||
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| Keyshia Cole chronology | ||||
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| Singles from The Way It Is | ||||
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The Way It Is is the debut studio album by American singer Keyshia Cole, released on June 21, 2005, through A&M Records and Interscope Records. The album features guest appearances from Jadakiss, Juelz Santana, Metro City and Eve. Cole co-wrote every song on the album, and also worked with a number of producers and writers, including Ron Fair, Sean Garrett, Kerry "Krucial" Brothers, Polow da Don, John Legend, Alicia Keys and Kanye West. The Way It Is is an R&B album, with some tracks having hip hop and hip hop soul sensibilities. Lyrically, the album speaks of romantic relationships.
Four official singles were released from The Way It Is; all reached the top 40 of the US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The album's lead single "I Changed My Mind" peaked at number seventy-one on the US Billboard Hot 100 and number twenty-three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. "(I Just Want It) To Be Over" was released as the album's second single and peaked at number thirty on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs. The third single "I Should Have Cheated" became Cole's first single to reach the top-five on the R&B/Hip-Hop Songs as well as her first single to reach the top forty of the Hot 100. The fourth single "Love" was the album's best-performing song on the Hot 100, spending nineteen weeks on the chart and becoming Cole's first top 20 hit in the US. Cole promoted the album by performing as the supporting act, for the tours by artists such as Nelly and Kanye West.
The Way It Is received generally positive reviews from music critics, who praised Cole's vocals and musical themes and compared them to the likes of fellow female R&B singer Mary J. Blige. The album enjoyed commercial success and launched Cole's career in R&B music, selling 89,000 units in its first week, while becoming one of the ten biggest-selling R&B/Hip-Hop albums of the year. In the United States, it stayed on Billboard's Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for eighty-four weeks, and was certified gold by the RIAA within seventeen weeks, and then platinum only eight weeks later. The Way It Is was Cole's longest-charting album on the Billboard 200, remaining on the chart for sixty-four weeks in total and eventually selling over 1.6 million copies. The Way It Is also garnered Cole two Soul Train Music Award nominations for Best Female R&B/Soul Album and one for the album's fourth single, "Love" for Best Female R&B/Soul Single at the 20th Soul Train Music Awards in 2006.