Actually, Kelly Rowland Will Be the One to Save Pop in 2017
The year is 2017, and it's an extraordinarily nerve-racking time to be alive. (#AlternativeFact: Everything is going great!)
When it comes to the Business of Pop, especially in troubled times, there's nothing more vital in between engaging in fruitless political Twitter debates with racist egg avatars and marching across all seven continents in protest of an ideology rooted in hatred than a bop to briefly distract us from these nightmarish conditions.
Enter Kelendria Trene Rowland, the woman and (Destiny's) child who very well might Save Pop in 2017. (To be clear, one officially "saves pop" by holding the pop listening community's interest for more than 48 hours — no small undertaking in an age of left swipes and musical.ly celebrities.)
There's no question that a certain other member of Kelly Rowland's girl group predominantly stole the spotlight in the time since their record-breaking run from the late '90s to the mid '00s. Yes, I'm talking about LaTavia Roberson.
That said, Ms. Kelly's musical output has never actually stopped being stellar, even if she hasn't always notched Top 40 radio hits: from her earliest solo days texting Nelly via Excel spreadsheet with "Dilemma," to her dance floor-dominating smashers like "Work," "Commander" and "When Love Takes Over" to everyone and their mother's favorite ode to oral pleasure, "Kisses Down Low," K.Row has never once faltered.
Now, the True Gay Icon is ramping up to release a follow-up to her 2013 studio album, Talk a Good Game. (Side note: do you even know how good "Freak" is? Who cares if it's a cover of a Jamie Foxx song from three years before? It's incredible.)
In typical Kelly Rowland form, she's doing a thousand things at the same time, including writing a book about having a baby (Whoa, Baby!), debuting a makeup line and mentoring her Chasing Destiny girl group, June's Diary.
But! New music is apparently coming, too.
And in a recent interview with Ilana Kaplan for Lenny Letter, Kelly supplied the slightest hint of what's to come with the new stuff. (Spoiler alert: she still wants to be our commander.)
IK: You have a new record coming out. What can we expect on this LP?
KR: It's happy. I said I wanted a record full of up-tempos. A lot of my albums and songs have been slow, except for tracks like "Commander" or "When Love Takes Over." I said I wanted this record to be happy because we need that right now, more than ever. That's where my heart is.
"Happy." "Uptempos." "That's where my heart is." See? She gets it, because Kelly Rowland always gets it — which is why she very well might just Save Pop in 2017.
We've had our wave of chorus-less, trop-pop bangers, and our moody downtempo movement. Now, it's time to pump this s--t up again.
Let us now revisit just a few reasons why Kelly very well may Save Pop in 2017. (And if she doesn't, Carly Rae Jepsen certainly will.)
Exhibit A:
Exhibit B:
Exhibit C:
Exhibit D:
Exhibit E:
Also, here's a playlist for extra motivation (REFERENCE). Thank you for your consideration.
Pop Group Members Who Went Solo: