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The revolving door of members has stopped spinning and Destiny's Child are finally doing things their way. Survivor is a #1 smash, Beyoncé just can't stop writing big hits and they've put on a "Happy Face." |
ike a lucky charm, their #1 smash "Survivor" (RealAudio Excerpt) has gotten Destiny's Child through enough drama for a month's worth of "Behind the Music" episodes. Beyoncé, Michelle and Kelly have triumphed over all the member-shuffling and lawsuits, and their Destiny's Child tribe is doing quite well, thank you very much. In preparations for this summer's headlining tour, the Texas trio sat down with Heather Stas and Franklin Cumberpatch and talked about why it's harder for women in the business and how they deal with all those haters.
VH1: What exactly is the definition of "Bootylicious"?
Beyoncé Knowles: "Bootylicious" (RealAudio Excerpt) is a song that I wrote on a plane. We were bored on this long flight to London, and I started listening to this Stevie Nicks track ["Edge of Seventeen"] and I'm like, "This is hot!" The word "Bootylicious" just popped in my head. I was ashamed to tell Kelly and Michelle 'cause I didn't know what they were going to think. "Bootylicious" doesn't necessarily mean you have to have a big booty. It's all about attitude and feeling good about yourself and not looking like everybody on TV. You don't have to be small, you can have some junk in your trunk.
Michelle Williams: Some cornbread.
Beyoncé: That's right, some cake.
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Kelly Rowland: We've run into some nasty girls.
Beyoncé: The song has a positive message to it. It lets people know that it's about how you carry yourself in your clothes. Not saying you can't dress sexy, not saying you can't show a little cleavage.
Kelly: It's all about your attitude.
Beyoncé: And how you walk into a place. You know how you see a girl who's sexy and you say, "She looks good." But then you see a girl who's a little nasty and on top of that, and the way she's acting is nasty. That's what the song is about.
VH1: How would you describe the overall vibe of the album?
Kelly: It's full of moods: love moods, party moods, you're-chilling-in-the-club moods.
Beyoncé: It's the type of album you'd listen to if you were feeling kind of down or like you needed to conquer something or survive something. It gives you that confidence and self-esteem ... Everybody is singing lead on all of the songs, so it has a more Destiny's Child feel. It adds so much.
VH1: Beyoncé, you produced and wrote almost every single track on the album. Why?
Beyoncé: I didn't decide to write and produce the whole album. I only wanted to do like three songs.
Kelly: But she can't help herself. She just writes hits.
Beyoncé: Thank you, Kelly. I wrote and produced "Independent Women Part 1" and "Jumpin', Jumpin'." Then I did "Survivor" and "Bootylicious" and the label loved it. Same with "Nasty Girl," "Emotions," "Happy Face" and "Apple Pie a la Mode." The label kept saying, "Do another song, do another song, do another song." It wasn't planned. It wasn't like I said, "OK, I'm going to take charge."
Kelly: A great thing is Beyoncé is a writer and a producer. She will open up the doors to younger female writers and producers.
VH1: Still, as the group's leader, you must face a lot of pressure. Is the song "Happy Face" an attempt to explain what you go through every day?
Beyoncé: You read something [in the press], you hear something crazy and you get sad and depressed. I was the type of child that if someone didn't like me, it killed me. My whole thing was to wonder why and to fix it. When someone makes up something, it really hurts, and I'm very sensitive. That's why I went through a depression after the lineup changes in the group. One day I woke up and it was a beautiful day outside, and I was like, "You know, I can feel God. I'm happy and I'm blessed. All of us are blessed."
VH1: The Bee Gees' Maurice Gibb said he likes your cover of "Emotion."
Beyoncé: Whoa, that's amazing.
Kelly: You're always scared to do cover songs 'cause the artists, they're legends. The Bee Gees are legends and we just wanted to do it right, so if he says it's cool with him, then yay!
VH1: What made you choose, of all songs, to cover that one?
Beyoncé: Our manager, Mathew Knowles, told us we should do it. We always feel scared about doing cover songs, 'cause if they're not as good, then you shouldn't even waste your time. We didn't know if we could do it, so instead of trying to compete, we did it differently and added our Destiny's Child flavor to it. Vocally, it's the strongest song on our album. You can really hear all our voices. All of us are very thankful to the Bee Gees for writing that song.
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Beyoncé: It's the most important song on the album.
Kelly: I know that when we all wrote the song we were very emotional, because it was written for each other and ourselves. It was kind of hard to record it, because we got choked up.
Beyoncé: It's really funny, 'cause some people have criticized that "Thank You" thing. Whenever you do something different, people have something to say 'cause they don't understand it. I think we have made music history with this album, and I think people will start doing a lot more things like Survivor.
VH1: How do you feel about the position of women in the music business?
Beyoncé: I think a lot of great artists opened the doors for female artists, like the Supremes and Aretha Franklin, and now I know it's so much easier for women ... but it's still hard.
Beyoncé: Guys can go onstage and take off their shirts and girls are going to scream, scream, scream.
Kelly: And sometimes they don't even have a good body.
Beyoncé: But girls can get on the stage and they have to work extra hard. And for writers, it's very, very hard. And me being young, it's ridiculously hard. To this day people do not know that my name is [listed] last [in credits], even if I write the majority of the songs, or they don't even want to give me "co-produced" credit.
I didn't want people to know that I wrote songs for this album, because people automatically form an opinion. If it wasn't for the fans I would have put a different name on there. It's amazing, when people know you wrote a song they just have this whole little thing, especially when you're 19 and a woman.
VH1: I would think they'd respect you even more.
Beyoncé: Well, you get respect, but it's hard in the industry for critics to give you your props.
VH1: How important is it for a contemporary artist to be sexy? To look good and to dance well?
Beyoncé: I think it is important to look good and to dance, but I think it's more important to be a true artist than a half-talent, because beauty fades. There are millions of beautiful people in the world. There have been millions of beautiful bands that have come and gone, but if you don't have any substance and talent behind it, then after one or two albums there's another beautiful band there to take your place.
VH1: What should fans expect on your upcoming tour?
Beyoncé: It's our first headlining tour, and we're spending a lot of money on the set. We're gonna have pyrotechnics and a bunch of dance numbers and costume changes. We're gonna have a really elaborate set for the first time, which we're extremely excited about.
Kelly: Performing is when you put on your happy face.
Beyoncé: When I perform, that's the happiest I can be in my life ... There is nothing that compares to that joy, especially when you look to your right and to your left and you see these ladies. It is beautiful, and sometimes when we do all our thank-yous to each other, we get all teary-eyed and cry and just catch the Holy Spirit because it feels so good.
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