With her album, Here I Am, hitting stores July 26, singer Kelly Rowland is making press rounds to support the new release. In her latest video interview with Billboard, Rowland discusses her new music, working with Lil Wayne and a Destiny’s Child reunion.
Speaking about her new album, Rowland, who has noticeably begun to blend her chart-topping R&B sound with hard-hitting dance and pop music, explained that for Here I Am, she felt limitless in her creative freedom.
“As an artist I’ve allowed myself to try different things in the studio,” Rowland said. “Where I would have been a little scared, I allowed myself to just be. I wasn’t afraid. That was one of the best parts of this album is the fact that there was nothing holding me back. The only thing that could have been holding me back would be myself.”
For the 10-song album, Rowland worked with a slew of music heavyweights including Rodney Jerkins, Ester Dean, David Guetta, Big Sean (who guests on the album’s second single “Lay It On Me”) and most notably Lil Wayne, who appeared on her No. 1 hit, “Motivation.”
“He’s just an artist that loves music,” said Rowland of Weezy “You can tell that just by how genius he is on his records. … I was hoping he would love the record. And you can tell that it vibed with him or it connected with him in some sort of way for him to do what he did on this record because when I got it back — I literally was at a loss for words.”
Shifting gears from her solo career to her former days as a member of the succesful R&B group Destiny’s Child, Rowland answers the question that many people have been wondering; will the trio, which includes Beyoncé Knowles and Michelle Williams, one day reunite for a comeback?
“To be honest with you — myself, Michelle and B — we haven’t talked about it. It has not come up in our conversations. We talk about everything else … but we haven’t talked about that yet,” Rowland said.
Rowland also discussed the constant comparisons to Knowles, explaining that she doesn’t mind the comparisons but is bothered by the media’s constant neglect of Williams.
“It’s always going to be there. Period,” said Rowland. “What kind of angers me a bit is just the fact that Michelle is in Destiny’s Child, too, and respect her and know that it’s three of us — it’s not two.”
Despite the media’s bashing of the trio, Rowland explains that she and the other girls are nothing short of supportive “sisters” of each other.
“It’s just really great that we’re all doing different things and we’re all happy in our space and we’re all still very close,” said Rowland. –nicholas robinson
