In 2004, her recent motherhood, life experiences, and growing affinity for British rock band Coldplay, caused her to shift toward a more experimental vision for her fourth studio album Afrodisiac. The album, a collaboration with producers Timbaland and Kanye West, utilized the distinctive illbient aesthetic, which fuses ambient pop, dub, and breakbeat soundscapes with progressive sampling methods. A four-year hiatus and a few life-changing occurrences caused Norwood to return to the music industry in late 2008 with Human, her fifth studio album, which discussed topics of love, heartache and honesty. Experiencing a career and personal rejuvenation in 2012, Norwood was eager to scale back her previous album's pop style and return to R&B on her sixth studio album Two Eleven. The album was a melding of both Norwood's 1990s R&B sound and the bass-heavy trends of post-2000s contemporary hip-hop.
In 2004 her recent motherhood life experiences and growing affinity for British rock band Coldplay caused her to shift toward a more experimental vision for her fourth studio album Afrodisiac The album a collaboration with producers Timbaland and Kanye West utilized the distinctive illbient aesthetic which fuses ambient pop dub and breakbeat soundscapes with progressive sampling methods A four-year hiatus and a few life-changing occurrences caused Norwood to return to the music industry in late 2008 with Human her fifth studio album which discussed topics of love heartache and honesty Experiencing a career and personal rejuvenation in 2012 Norwood was eager to scale back her previous album's pop style and return to R&B on her sixth studio album Two Eleven The album was a melding of both Norwood's 1990s R&B sound and the bass-heavy trends of post-2000s contemporary hip-hop