- Fri, 2008-02-15 12:00
Kelly Rowland is well and truly back! She's just played 1Xtra Live and recently released her fabulous new single, Work, in its original R&B glory and with a brand new Freemasons Remix. Ms Kelly, her new album, is out now, released March 10th 2008.
Work follows Kelly’s recent UK Top 5 smash Like This, which spent 4 weeks in the Top Ten and is taken from Kelly’s album Ms Kelly, re-made, re-modelled and packed with new goodies. This follows up Kellys other solo smash hits including Stole, Can’t Nobody and the Grammy winning global hit Dilemma featuring Nelly.
I Like Music caught up with Kelly Rowland to talk about her new album, Destinys Child’s last gig and working with Eve and Snoop Dogg.
''I Like Music because.... music sets me free. It’s freedom.” Kelly Rowland
ILM: Your new single Work is out now. And it's fabulous. Please describe the track and it’s whole vibe. (great Freemasons Remix - follows Kelly’s recent UK Top 5 smash Like This, which spent 4 weeks in the Top Ten)
Kelly: The track is really a party track and the original was definitely a party track. I’m really grateful to the Freemasons for coming along and giving the track a new life, because it’s something that I couldn't have got. You always need an extra brain there and they just gave it a new vibe. I really love it and I’m happy that everyone else loves it and it’s doing really well and I hope everybody goes and downloads the single and enjoys it.
ILM: Your album Ms Kelly is in March 2008, which track did you enjoy laying down the most and why?
Kelly: It has to be Work. I had a good time… I was in the studio with Scott Storch and we wanted to have a party record, a record that’d make you get up and dance. So we literally went out and we went to a club and partied and we got a little inspiration, then went back into the studio and wrote the song in an hour, then we left and came back the next day and recorded the song.
ILM: Ms. Kelly is the album you really were meant to make; passionate and playful, with a dance and club vibe, it’s young and uplifting… Please can you describe the Kelly Rowland music making process? Is it lyrics first then melody or vice versa or random?
Kelly: It really depends on what state of mind you’re in really. I live in Miami and I recorded some of the album in Miami, so I would wake up some days and have a melody in my head, go to the studio and sing it to the producers and we’d finish the song that way, or, sometimes they’d have a track and I would write for the track, so it really depends.
ILM: You worked with Eve and Snoop Dogg on this album too. What’s Snoop like to work with – bet he’s a real laugh.
Kelly: Snoop is fun. I actually didn’t get a chance to be in the studio with Snoop until we did the video, we shot the video together. Snoop is a riot. We had so much fun together on the set. I’ve loved Snoop ever since his first album Doggy Style and I’m just happy we got the chance to collaborate. And Eve…I’ve loved Eve forever, so I put in a phone call to Eve and she was right there, she came the next day and we had fun in the studio.
ILM: Last year at Cannes you played a hot gig as you performed in front of Brad Pitt and George Clooney, as well as Jay Z and Beyonce. How was that?
Kelly: It was fun. The good thing is I didn’t know those people were there, because that could’ve made me a little bit more nervous, but overall it was great.
ILM: Destiny's Child is the top-selling female recording group of all-time, while you’re a best-selling Grammy-winning solo artist - so you’ve certainly pursued and achieved your dream career -What advice would you give to young people on following their dreams to get the career they want for themselves?
Kelly: I’d say that it takes passion to do whatever it is you really want to do. You have to have your mindset and already see it before it happens. You have to work hard. Everybody I know who’s successful, everyone works hard at what they do, and that’s why they’ve accomplished greatness. So, it takes hard work and passion.
ILM: If you weren’t a musician, what would your second career choice have been/what would you be doing if you weren’t a singer/songwriter?
Kelly: I’d probably still be trying to work somewhere in the music industry, because I like music so much. I’d have to be there somewhere.
ILM: Did you go on to college or uni after school?
Kelly: We had tutors. Destinys Child had tutors until we finished high school. I didn’t go to college, but I was on the road touring.
ILM: Like This, featuring Eve sends a clear message to the fellas: don't mess - as someone young women look up to, what’s your advice to young people about gaining respect from their peers and not succumbing to peer pressure?
Kelly: It takes security within oneself whether you’re male or female. It’s important to have a sense of self and know who you are and really know your self. My grandma used to say when I was little, “Don’t settle for nothing; because you’re fall for anything,” and I never understood that and I get it now. Because, you have to know who you are when you walk down the street as a person, as a kid, as a teenager, you never want anyone take advantage of who you are, and you always want to give the best of yourself.
ILM: What’s been your absolute favourite live gig as a solo artist and also as part of Destinys Child?
Kelly: The first time I did a show by myself, I was terrified, but it was really a great experience, I must say. And with Destinys Child, our very last show that we performed together for Destiny Fulfilled.
ILM: That must have been emotional?
Kelly: It was very emotional but I think that all three of us where already thinking about our careers and it brought more soul and emotion to the show. It was a really amazing show.
ILM: The audience must’ve connected more on that level as well.
Kelly: Oh definitely.
