I Admit

advocated for a boycott of Kelly's music in 2018. "I Admit" was Kelly's first release since his 2016 holiday album, 12 Nights of Christmas. Both Kelly and the daughters rejected the claims at the time. In April 2018, the Women of Color branch of the Time's Up movement announced their support for the Mute R. Kelly social media campaign, which advocated for music venues to cancel Kelly's concert dates and for Sony Music to terminate Kelly's recording contract. The organization published a demand on The Root for RCA Records, Ticketmaster, Spotify, Apple Music, and the Greensboro Coliseum Complex to end their business relationships with Kelly. Spotify removed the music of Kelly, XXXTentacion, and Tay-K from their playlists after introducing a "hate content and hateful conduct" policy in May 2018, but rescinded the policy in June 2018 after people in the music industry, including Kendrick Lamar's and Top Dawg Entertainment's representatives, accused the company of censorship. Kelly played a preview of "I Admit" on Instagram Live one day prior to its full debut. RCA Records, his label at the time, did not confirm whether they were associated with the song when asked by Variety. After the January 2019 broadcast of the Surviving R. Kelly documentary series chronicling the extent of the allegations against Kelly, the singer appeared in a CBS This Morning interview on March 8, 2019, in which Gayle King asked him whether "I Admit" was his "way of confessing". Kelly responded, "That question makes no sense, no offense, but what I'm saying is this: 'I Admit' was me expressing my feelings about the things I was going through. If you're listening to it, you can hear exactly what I'm admitting." == Lyrics ==

In "I Admit", Kelly admits to various acts, including dropping out of high school and not attending church. In the song, Kelly confesses that he has been sexually unfaithful and frequented strip clubs. elaborating on the disclosures from his 2012 autobiography, Soulacoaster: The Diary of Me. "I Admit" does not contain any criminal admissions. Kelly denies accusations of domestic violence, involvement in a "sex cult", and pedophilia in his lyrics, The singer recounts a meeting with Wendy Williams in which he described his feelings for Aaliyah, whom he illegally married in 1994 when she was 15 years old, as "love". Kelly sings, "only God can mute me". Kelly expresses support for a "women's group", Kelly finishes the song by telling the audience to "stay the fuck out of my business", and inviting his birthplace of Chicago to use his image as inspiration for city youth. == Critical reception ==

'', a book by O. J. Simpson (pictured). Several reviewers characterized "I Admit" as an act of trolling, since the name of the song overstates the magnitude of the admissions contained within the lyrics. Multiple critics noted similarities between this song and If I Did It, a book by O. J. Simpson that contains a hypothetical description of the alleged murder in Simpson's murder case. Writing for The Daily Beast, Stereo Williams described the song as "20 minutes of defensive rambling and R. Kelly nailing himself to a cross". Williams asserted that Kelly "paints himself as the victim: the victim of the media, of sycophants, of his childhood abuser, of his own illiteracy" while "baiting his critics with a number of shockingly brazen lyrical references to his behavior". Ann-Derrick Gaillot of The Outline considered "I Admit" a "bad song" and "a 20-minute long plea to save his dying career", stating that the release of the song demonstrated that Kelly was "no longer invincible". In Rolling Stone, Michael Arcenaux lambasted Kelly for attempting to "invoke his own trauma to excuse the grief he is alleged to have caused in so many women and girls". Broadlys Leila Ettachfini labeled the song as "a bizarre attempt to garner some sympathy from the public in hopes that it could somehow absolve Kelly for his alleged crimes against women and girls", but remarked that "the song doesn't seem to be achieving Kelly's desired effect". == Responses ==

(pictured), shared lyrics to "Admit It", her remix of "I Admit". In interviews with Variety and Billboard, DeRogatis denied that his reporting of Kelly's allegations had been a significant factor in his own career growth. DeRogatis defended his continued coverage of Kelly by disclosing that he still received calls from sources. He said, "You're not a journalist or a human being if you get those calls and do not do your job." Regarding the song's composition, DeRogatis saw "I Admit" as a continuation of Kelly's 10-minute remix of "I Believe I Can Fly" from his unreleased album, Loveland, in which Kelly sings a plea to Saint Peter at the gates of heaven. Andrea Kelly, R. Kelly's ex-wife, shared lyrics to her remix titled "Admit It" on Instagram on July 24, 2018. In her remix, Andrea alleges that R. Kelly physically abused her and neglected their children. In response to a lyric on "I Admit" where R. Kelly describes his relationship with his deceased mother, Joanne Kelly, Andrea sings that Joanne would disapprove of his actions. Andrea also accuses R. Kelly of being a "dead beat dad" and urges him to obtain "professional help". R. Kelly's brother, Carey "Killa" Kelly, released a diss track named "I Confess" on YouTube on August 3, 2018. Replying to R. Kelly's claim on "I Admit" that Carey abandoned him, Carey echoes an April 2018 sexual misconduct allegation in which a woman accused R. Kelly of intentionally giving her a sexually transmitted infection. In "I Confess", Carey also implies that R. Kelly had sex with other men. Black Twitter responded negatively to "I Admit", with many users expressing disgust at the song's lyrical content. The song was poorly received by other artists; Talib Kweli remarked that Kelly's "lack of self awareness is atrocious" and Questlove tweeted, "#IAdmit I want my 19 mins back". The co-founder of the Mute R. Kelly social media campaign, Oronike Odeleye, called the song a "19-minute sex trafficking fundraising anthem" and interpreted its release as an indicator of Mute R. Kelly's success. In an interview with the Associated Press, Odeleye reaffirmed the campaign's efforts to eliminate Kelly's remaining concert dates. Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network spokeswoman Jodi Omear criticized the song's lyrics and stated, "Laws aren't opinions". == Aftermath ==

Kelly was convicted of nine criminal counts, including racketeering (involving sexual exploitation of a child, kidnapping, bribery, and sex trafficking) and violations of the Mann Act, on September 28, 2021. A few fans of Kelly played "I Admit" beside the courthouse shortly after the judgment was issued. On December 9, 2022, a bootleg album titled I Admit It, containing 13 unreleased, previously leaked, and previously released tracks by Kelly, briefly appeared on Spotify, Apple Music, and other streaming services before it was taken down on the same day. The collection included "I Admit", which was retitled as "I Admit It (I Did It)" and divided into three tracks. An attorney for Kelly and a representative of Sony Music both denied involvement in the album. Its copyright notice carried the name of Legacy Recordings—the catalog division of Sony Music, but lacked a Sony Music Entertainment copyright notice used by the division's actual releases. A source disclosed that the bootleg was released by the Los Angeles–based label Real Talk Entertainment and distributed by Ingrooves, which led to Ingrooves—a subsidiary of Universal Music Group—ending its relationship with Real Talk following the album's release. == See also ==