7 / 26 / 1999It's not easy to ignore Destiny's Child when they walk into a room. It's that winning combination of big hair, big smiles, exposed midriffs, and Southern accents so warm and thick they slide off syllables like treacle on spongecake.
But let's face it the four Houston--based sirens--Beyoncé, Kelly, LeToya, and Latavia--have a lot to be happy about. With an average age of just 17 they have already released a gold-certified debut album featuring the Wyclef-remixed smash single "No, No, No," toured with Boyz II Men, looped the globe, worked with mega-producers R. Kelly and Timbaland on soundtracks, and recorded their all-important sophomore album, Writing's On The Wall, which is set to keep their star firmly ascendant.
You'd think they had a lot to be happy about. However, a listen to the first single from the new album--the funky, dramatic "Bills, Bills, Bills"--may indicate otherwise. It's a wake-up call to all potential suitors who let their Rico Suavé act drop after a few months of dating. Penned and produced by the same team responsible for TLC's "No Scrubs" (producer Kevin "She'kspeare" Briggs and former Xscape-er Kandi Burres, who worked on four of the album's 16 songs), doesn't it seem a touch mature and cynical for women so young?
"People might say, 'Y'all are gold-diggers' when they hear 'Bills,' but it's totally different," defends the statuesque Kelly. "This song is about a relationship and when it starts out the guy is really nice, caring and considerate, but three or four months down the line he starts slacking, borrowing your car and when he gives it back to you, the tank is on empty. He'll use your cell-phone and run it up, he'll buy you gifts with your own money." In another words, a true gentleman.
"Also, I know older friends who have gone through those things," says the sassy, redheaded Latavia. "But don't get the wrong impression. We're not men-haters! In fact, we know probably more women do it than men."
The song is just one scenario on a concept album that represents the full gamut of relationships--friendship, love, pain, and more, or as Latavia says, "the realness of life, the gray areas." The album's title came about because "it really spells out what will happen in a relationship if people treat each other a certain way," says Destiny's Child's striking, caramel-complexioned lead singer, Beyoncé.
With other notable writer/ producers such as Rodney Jerkins (the innovative "Say My Name"), Missy Elliott (the tongue-in-cheek "Confessing"), and Darryl Simmons (the lush, melancholy "Stay") filling in the ranks, Destiny's Child's destiny looks good indeed. But then, the group always knew it would--thus the name.
"Most people don't realize that we really have dedicated our lives to this," says Beyoncé, who has been in the group, remarkably, since she was nine years old. "Some people in Houston used to say we were crazy trying to get a record deal because no one's ever really done it from there before. But we are proof that whatever you put your mind to you can achieve. This is just the start for us."
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