Yeo Qianhua
Known for too long as 1/3 of Destiny’s Child, and standing too long in the shadows of larger-than-life band mate Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland will perhaps finally garner the respect that has eluded her, with Ms. Kelly.
Ms. Kelly is Rowland’s highly anticipated 2nd studio album. Originally scheduled for release in Jun 2006, the year-long delay for Rowland’s fans may have been worth it after all. The album was reworked to include more upbeat party tracks, resulting in a delicate balance of soulful R&B ballads and dance beats complemented by Rowland’s powerful vocals.
Many of tracks on this album will have you grooving to their catchy beat. Indeed, even though I was caught up with the most tedious and boring task of completing my assignments, I found myself unwittingly bobbing my head to several of the songs.
2 of the most striking ones would be “Like This”, which features rapper Eve, and “Gotsta Go” with Da Brat, the song which Rowland performed at the 2006 MTV Asia Awards in Bangkok. The songs are playful, upbeat and energetic – probably appealing to even those who know nothing about R&B music. I can definitely picture these Rowland’s hits spinning in the clubs on the weekends. They are that easy to dance to, even the world’s most straitlaced politicians would find it perfectly normal to groove to them. If justice is not deaf as well as blind, these would also be the 2 songs that should occupy our airwaves for a while.
Ms. Kelly also includes R&B ballads that are a reflection of Rowland’s emotional state has been like over the past couple of years, providing listeners a peek into her love life. Some of the songs deal with her ex fiancé, Roy Williams, an American footballer with the Dallas Cowboys.
Rowland almost apologises in “Still In Love With My Ex”, leaving one to ponder if it’s actually meant for Williams (“Was about to say “I do,/When I know it wasn’t meant”). After all, Rowland only has one known ex-fiancé. While this song’s vocal delivery seems unchallenging and Rowland can undoubtedly do better, it still manages to pull at one’s heartstrings with its thoughtful lyrics that reveal a delicate internal conflict.
In “Better Without You”, Rowland celebrates her new-found independence (“I’m not reminiscing I am living/In this moment/I am moving/Forward cause the worse is far behind me”), while still admitting that she’s been hurt in the past, but it’s time to move on.
It seems like Rowland is making a genuine effort with Ms. Kelly to offer to listeners a piece of herself, for fans to get to know her on a more personal level. Yet, she has managed to maintain a fun side to this album by also infusing it with clean, fun party tracks.
However, “Put It In” is definitely a song that doesn’t deserve to be on the album. Filled with obvious and pointless sexual innuendos that are more crude than sexy, Rowland suddenly becomes a teenage sex-craving vamp from the ghettos. For an album that attempts to portray her on a personal level, it’s unfortunate that she’s just taken 10 steps back with this track. It seems to be superficially tailored to appeal to the taste of the average mainstream R&B fan, and fails to possess any real artistic value at all. What’s disheartening is that we know Kelly Rowland can do so much better than this.
With all the talent to command the respect that she wants while standing akimbo on her stilettos, why oh why did this epitome of confidence see the need to conform?
UrbanWire gives Ms. Kelly 3.5 out of 5 stars.
Ms. Kelly is out in all record stores now