Ms. Kelly review

Kelly Rowland has to work hard

A popular solo artist is surely an enviable profession but on the other hand it is not that easy to be in this business. You have to prove all the time that you're better than others and that you're not like others. It may seem strange but unlike many other performers who try to make it work Kelly Rowland has to work twice harder to cope with these tasks. Yes, a membership in the most successful girls band Destiny's Child has made her famous. But the same very thing made her counterpart Beyonce extremely famous. Everything and every person connected with this band associates with Beyonce even other members of the band. And maybe Beyonce doesn't really like it herself but it is just the way the things are. Nevertheless, Kelly Rowland isn't going to get upset about it and doing her best to become a full-fledged solo artist. Her debut record Simply Deep was well accepted by the audience and received lots of good references, and even despite Beyonce still managed to overshadow it with her Dangerously In Love this was quite a forceful start off for her solo career. Now, four years later Rowland comes back with her sophomore attempt Ms. Kelly, which demonstrates her independent artistic character and matured self-confidence.

The most of the album's material was written by Kelly Rowland

Rowland started working at her new record as far back as 2004 and in the end it turned out that such a prolonged time-frame affected the final result only in a positive way. Originally entitled My Story, the album's first version was actually scheduled for a release on June 6, 2006 but eventually Rowland decided to shelve the album's release and rework it since she considered that the track list was too full with mid tempos and ballads. And after listening to the album this move doesn’t seem to be wrong as the current version includes a good share of excellent party songs, which simply won't let this album pass unnoticed. The album's official singles may serve as a bright proof for that. Listen to Like This or Ghetto, Kelly indeed sounds bright and original. This is a huge departure from the constrained sounding of her debut record, these songs literally shed Kellie's professional confidence; she knows exactly what she is doing. It is quite possible that she managed to achieve such a level of performing skillfulness due to that she wrote most of the material herself. The songs sound very emotional and sincere and though Rowland's voice is far from being the strongest in the world, this very peculiarity compensates it in a full measure.

Rowland occupies her own niche

The album's production work deserves high praises either. Collaboration with such persons as Sean Garret, Scott Storch and Polo Da Don developed into a product of a highest quality. And despite that fact that the overall sounding of the songs rarely leaves the borders of R&B mainstream they managed to achieve very uncommon softness of the sound, even low-frequency beats possesses some gentle parameters. The album sounds powerfully and unbelievably womanly at the same time. It represents a very competent and interesting combination of specific peculiarities of Rowland's voice and overall sound production. It is especially appreciable on ballads, which actually prevail here. Better Without You is a good example, basically the song was built upon leading and backing vocals; arrangement plays purely accompanying role here. While Flashback and Every Thought Is You, in their turn, demonstrate an enviable diversity in their parties. It all sounds nice and beautiful, though for all that the sounding is a little bit rough here. The overall conclusion for Ms. Kelly is as follows: the album is definitely stronger than Rowland's debut record; both the material and performance are head and shoulders above it. Kelly managed to depart from the sticky associations with Beyonce, with the release of this album she has occupied her niche as a first-class ballad performer. In word, today Rowland has all chances to become as popular as her ex-colleague.