LOS ANGELES — Kelly Rowland opens her third solo
effort, “Here I Am,” with the roaring “I’m Dat Chick,” on which the diva
boasts a newfound confidence. And for a solo career that has seen as
much criticism as triumph, the assertion couldn’t have come at a better
time: She’s out to prove something.
“Yeah, I be the one that they love to mention / I
tell ’em keep on talking, cause I love the attention,” she sings on the
Tricky Stewart-produced track.
It’s paid off for Rowland. “Here I Am” debuted at No.
3 on the Billboard 200 after logging 77,000 copies, according to
Nielsen Soundscan — her highest out-of-the-gate charting outside of the
multiplatinum clutch of Destiny’s Child.
Though the 30-year-old appears to have found her
footing now, a year ago she was stuck on a path of stalled singles and
delays for the album, her first in four years, and with both a new label
and management.
“I wanted this record to be a statement for me. Every
song was showing every side of me from a personal side on ‘Heaven on
Earth’ to a more sensual side with songs like ‘Motivation,'” Rowland
said during a recent phone conversation. “For me, it was more so about
making that statement of ‘Here I Am.'”
Originally slated for release nearly a year ago, the
disc was supposed to trail the lightning success of her collaboration
with French dance producer David Guetta on “When Love Takes Over.”
Rowland enlisted Guetta for the album’s first single, “Commander,” which
hit the top spot on the dance charts. But subsequent singles, ranging
from Euro-pop (“Forever and a Day” and “Rose Colored Glasses”) to
R&B (“Grown Woman”), quickly cooled and were subsequently ditched
from the final disc.
“(I was) just feeling out the record. It was feeling
incomplete,” Rowland says of the stalls. “And for a second, so many
people were trying to put me in a box. And nobody better put me in a box
when it came to this record. When it comes to dance music or when it
comes to urban music, I can do it all. People are able to try things
out. If it works, wonderful. If it doesn’t, keep it moving.”
The project got a much needed boost when she teamed
with Lil Wayne on the sexy summer jam “Motivation.” The record showcased
a more sensual side of the singer, who demanded her lover “last more
rounds.” It peaked at No. 1 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart,
where it remained for seven nonconsecutive weeks, making it her highest
performing single as a solo artist. Her steamy performance at the BET
Awards in June showed she was ready to take center stage.
“I played around with different things. When I went
into the studio with Rico (Love), if it worked … I kept it. When it
came to playing around with RedOne (he produced ‘Down for Whatever’),
and I absolutely fell in love with it, then I kept it,” she said. “The
foundation is R&B. You mention a song like ‘Commander,’ and that top
line is still urban. It still has that undertone of urban, and I’ve
never left that. I’ve always kept my soul. It just happened to be to a
different tempo sometimes, and there is nothing wrong with that.”
“Motivation,” unlike “Commander,” set the real tone
for the disc, leaning as it does on urban backbeats and R&B melodies
with the aid of Stewart, Rico Love, Ester Dean, Jim Jonsin and Rodney
Jerkins and guest spots from buzzy rappers Lil Play and Big Sean, the
latter of whom appears on her new single “Lay It on Me.”
“She felt she wanted to capitalize on the success of
‘When Love Takes Over,’ which was very smart. So we did ‘Commander.’ For
whatever reason, the other records she released in the States didn’t
connect,” said Love, who produced and co-wrote the bulk of the disc.
“‘Motivation,’ it was something different for Kelly. It was a subject
matter that she wasn’t used to. And it didn’t hurt that Lil Wayne jumped
on it right after he got out (of jail).”
Looking at her back catalog, it’s been easy for
critics to dismiss Rowland as a confused ingenue. Her debut, 2002’s
“Simply Deep,” explored the rock-dance waters, while its follow-up,
2007’s “Ms. Kelly,” was strictly urban. After the disc’s commercial
disappointment, Rowland was dropped from longtime label Columbia Records
and ended her professional relationship with manager Mathew Knowles,
who managed all three members of Destiny’s Child as solo artists,
including daughter Beyonce. Rowland is now signed to Universal Motown
Republic.
Since she went solo, she hasn’t been able to escape
comparisons to her former bandmate and close friend; many critics have
found ways to compare the two, adding only more fuel to online rumors of
tension between the women (Beyonce was the last to dismiss Knowles).
Rowland says there isn’t any tension. All three
gathered to celebrate the release of Rowland’s album, and she just
filmed a cameo in the video for Beyonce’s new single, “Party.”
“People want to say whatever they want to say. We all
have our different reasons for making decisions and advancing forth in
different situations,” she said. “We’re just happy as women, and for
(myself), Bey and Michelle, I just want us to be happy. And I’m very
proud of us as businesswomen in putting one foot in front of the other
and continuing to grind it out.”
Rowland is currently prepping a joint tour with Chris
Brown, and the duo could announce dates as early as this week, she
said. She was also handpicked by Simon Cowell to join “The X Factor” in
England. She is also reportedly considering an alternate version of
“Here I Am” to be released in Europe in November that would feature a
heavy dose of dance tracks.
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(c) 2011, Los Angeles Times.
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