June 24, 2003 @ 7:55 pm
Kelly Rowland - Simply Deep (Columbia)
For an R&B singer, a well-placed vocal cameo can change your life.
For an R&B singer, a well-placed vocal cameo can change your life. Kelly Rowland—one-third of Destiny’s Child—altered her future with “Dilemma,” a collaboration with Nelly. This dreamy number hit No. 1 on the pop and R&B charts. And suddenly Rowland was seen as more than just Beyoncé’s sidekick. Simply Deep, Rowland’s solo debut, marks an attempt to further establish herself as a singular talent, but the effort is as misguided as the Nelly hookup was savvy. On most of the set, she sounds just like Beyoncé, but without the appealing cheerleader sass. And an abundance of cheesy folk/R&B numbers make Rowland come off like Brandy fronting as India.Arie. The dreadfully overwrought first single, “Stole,” even tries to get listeners to accept the woman who once waxed about big booties as a wisdom-spouting prophet. Girl, please! Rowland fares better on “Can’t Nobody,” a morsel of airy hip hop funk crafted by producer Rich Harrison (Amerie, Mary J. Blige). But while the tune offers her a good rump-wiggling groove, it can’t quite fill the need for an authentic identity.
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