JULY/AUGUST 2011 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM JULY/AUGUST 2011 ISSUE MMUSICMAG.COM Q&A

was right I was done with the album and was The single “Motivation” features Star Search and actually made it on the show able to turn it in. I made sure everything told Lil Wayne. How did that come about? [in 1992], and we lost against an older rock a story from one track to the next, and that I collaborated with him with Destiny’s Child band. I remember it just completely broke our it all sounds fun and the songs seem right [on “Soldier,” 2004]. I saw him at a Miami little hearts. We went back and revamped going into each other. Heat game right after I recorded “Motivation” everything and got better. and told him about the record. He invited me Why save the more techno-style tracks to the studio to play the record. He heard Is it important for you to be known as for the end of the album? it, and got on it. It was just that simple. a solo artist? It was just telling the story of the record. It I love Wayne. That really is a great feeling. But it’s also made sense to me and to my fans. Everybody not such a bad feeling for people to say is like, “You take us through so many different Some of the tracks are a bit risqué. “biggest female group of all time.” That’s emotions, and we get to have a party at the There was more of a sensual side that came an amazing title as well. I’m just so thankful end.” That’s the best part. That’s exactly what out. That was about being in the studio and I’ve been here for 15 years and I’m I wanted to do. That was the goal. Because just trying it out, saying, “Oh my goodness, still here, able to put out records and I made an album with dance music and I’m really comfortable singing this song. I’m able to have fans and gain fans as well. urban music, nobody is going to put me in grown. I’m 30. I can defi nitely sing those I’m so blessed. So when people a box. No matter where I am in the world, songs.” My mom is like, “Girl, you’ve grown.” bring up Destiny’s Child, that’s not I’m going to perform every song. It doesn’t matter where I am, because I love them all, At the Los Premios MTV Latinoamérica and it’s a refl ection of me. Awards, Los Angeles, 2009

Did any favorites get dropped? I did a song called “Grown Woman” with [producers] Stargate. I wish that one would have worked, but it didn’t make it. It got leaked, and everyone heard it. [The song was eventually released as a stand- alone single.] A lot of the new songs that I recorded, fans hadn’t heard. I wanted people to still have that element of surprise, because they deserve that. Randall Slavin How do you pick producers? It’s just about trying them out. Some producers I’ve worked with forever, like KELLY ROWLAND Rodney. Some producers I’ve only known in passing but then got a chance to go into From Destiny’s Child to full-fl edged solo star, here she is the studio with them and organically create something, like I did with Rico. He challenged ALTHOUGH SHE IS INEVITABLY Beyoncé as teenagers in the 1990s (third Recorded over three years with big-name me the most. He would say, “Come on, Kelly, overshadowed by media darling and former member Michelle Williams joined in 2000). producers and songwriters like Rico Love, you’ve got to kill ’em this time!” He was a

bandmate Beyoncé since the breakup of Destiny’s Child eventually sold more than Tricky Stewart, Rodney Jerkins and RedOne, great cheerleader. Mario Anzuoni/Reuters/Landov R&B powerhouse Destiny’s Child, Kelly 17 million albums in the U.S. alone, Here I Am has endured numerous delays to Rowland has been quietly and surely building becoming one of pop music’s biggest acts make its way to an eager audience. “I wanted How else do they all differ? That’s always the fi rst thing she an estimable career all her own. Worldwide for almost a decade before amicably splitting to make sure it was perfect,” the Atlanta- All of the producers I worked with had some says. She’s proud of me, and that ‘Destiny’s Child is not sales of Rowland’s fi rst two solo albums are in 2006 to pursue their separate paths. born Rowland explains. “Doing anything less sort of atmosphere. I remember going into makes me most happy. something I run away approaching 4 million total, and her latest, But now Rowland’s focus is rightfully wouldn’t have been fair to myself as an artist, the studio with RedOne, and his whole crew Here I Am, looks primed to continue that on Here I Am. The new album refl ects or to my fans.” was in there. They have the best energy. Any advice for X Factor from. We support success. Since 2002, when she memorably more than ever her own increasingly When the music starts playing, everyone is hopefuls? sang the hook on rapper Nelly’s chart- eclectic musical tastes, including a taste How did you pick the track listing? dancing. It’s like a party. Everybody I worked Defi nitely have thick skin, but also each other.’ topping smash “Dilemma,” she has become for techno—in fact, she plans to release a I went with my gut. I sat on a plane, during with on this album loves music and is so remain focused and keep your eye a staple on R&B radio and racked up a list of “more uptempo, dance-y” version of the a six- or seven-hour trip, and listened to happy and still has a passion for it. I love on your goal. So many people tend to get off something I run away from. That’s awards that includes three Grammys. album for the European market, where she’ll everything back to back and finalized putting together the vocals and even playing course when the cameras are there. Never an accomplishment. All this on top of her contributions to her also be acting as a judge this season on the the thing out of all my favorites. Then I around with production, which I did on “Keep lose who you are. Just think, “I’m here to win, former trio, which she helped found alongside popular TV talent competition The X Factor. sequenced them. Once the sequencing It Between Us.” I was learning different period.” It’s a competition. It’s just that Will you ever reunite? things, calling up Chris [“C4” Umana], the simple. It’s important to remain focused I know it’s going to happen, and I don’t trip off producer, and saying, “Let’s try this right and have fun. of it. Me and B have known each other since here.” “This doesn’t fi t, can we try this out?” we were 10. We spent so much of our lives ‘I wanted to make sure it was perfect. Doing “Let’s speed up the tempo,” or, “Let’s do Did you ever try talent shows? together. We’re comfortable in our spaces as anything less wouldn’t have been fair to my fans.’ this,” or “Let’s do that.” That was really cool Destiny’s Child did, but we were called women, and we support each other. to tap into this time around. Girl’s Tyme then. We tried out for –Kenneth Partridge

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