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| KELLY ROWLAND |
“While my sister was onstage, killing it like a motherf - - ker, I was enraged, feeling it like a motherf - - ker,” she sang. “Bird in a cage, you would never know what I was dealing with.”
In addition to her jealousy, Rowland was also grappling with her past relationship with an abusive boyfriend. As these memories spilled out during the performance, it all became too much for her. After delivering the lines “He pulled me out/He said ‘Don’t nobody love you but me/Not your mama, not your daddy and especially not Bey’/He turned me against my sister,” Rowland broke down in tears before being encouraged by the crowd to finish the song.
Footage of the incident has been circulating on YouTube ever since, and it’s tough to watch. But as the 32-year-old explains, there is thankfully no need to send her recommendations for therapists or women’s shelters.
“I’m in a good place,” she cheerily tells says during a break from filming “X Factor,” on which she is replacing Britney Spears for the new fall season. “When that happened, I sort of forgot that I was in a room of people. I didn’t realize that was going to happen, but it just did it. A lot of fans appreciated that I allowed myself to be so transparent.”
It’s not the first time it’s happened, either. The album version reportedly took Rowland several attempts to record without crying. She credits her producer for that track, The-Dream, for finally coaxing the right performance out of her.
“The guy in that song knows who he is,” she says of the abusive ex in the song. “But just like me, we’re two different people than we were back then. He’s a good guy now and a great father. We’re happy for each other.”
In addition, Rowland is quick to add that despite her past enviousness, the core trio of Destiny’s Child (completed by Michelle Williams) is still very close, and there’s plenty of evidence to back it up. Earlier in the year, they reunited to play a medley of hits at the Super Bowl halftime show, as well as recording the Pharrell Williams -produced track, “Nuclear,” for a new Destiny’s Child compilation.
Furthermore, both Bey and Michelle have reunited again on Rowland’s new album, singing together on the upbeat cut “You Changed.” The old magic is still very much there, and as Rowland continues, it’s not the sort of thing that is borne out of animosity.
“When I wrote ‘Dirty Laundry,’ I called my sister [Beyoncé] and told her about the song,” she continues. “I had her hear it, and she was very supportive — as she always has been. It was the same with ‘You Changed.’ All it took was a phone call to make it happen. It was that simple. We have great communication to this day. I have wonderful sisters.”
Rowland’s honest streak is certainly not a one-off. Much of “Talk a Good Game” combines a classic, ’90s-style R&B sound with some of the most personal lyrics of her solo career, something, for which she makes no apologies.
“Everything always seems so nice and glossy and glam when you see someone in a magazine or you see them on television, but you don’t really know what they’re going through. I think it pays to be personal as an artist because I’m not the only one that has these emotions and I’m not the only one to have gone through these things in my life. It’s something that fans can relate to.”
But it’s not just trauma that she opens up about. There are more than a few moments of sultry pillow talk and naked sexual desire, not least on the racy “Kisses Down Low,” which served as the album’s leadoff single.
It’s kind of hard imagining the singer coming home to her family and playing some of this material, but she insists the new album comes with Mama Rowland’s rubber stamp.
“My mom is really cool about it,” she laughs. “You know my mom says ‘You’re past 21, you can sing what you want to — as long as you run it by me first!’ ”
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