KELLY ROWLAND

Kelly Rowland is back and commanding the dance floor with her third solo album

Blending American R ’n’ B with Euro-dance beats has been a winning combination for Kelly Rowland (along with David Guetta) since hitting the top of the charts with club anthem When Love Takes Over last year.  Having been in the studio for most of 2010, her third solo album is near complete but finding a title has proved a bit of a struggle.  “I said Freedom,” the singer says of one of her suggestions.  “Then I researched and, of course, Alicia Keys put out her album The Element of Freedom.”
    Title block aside, Rowland is on incredibly confident form and looking forward to sharing her new music, which she feels is her most personal to date and has a fresh, but familiar, sound. ‘I remember coming back from Europe after I finished When Love Takes Over and bumping into Pharrell and he was like, “You’re on something!  Don’t loose that momentum.”
    “And then another writer here was like: “We’re so used to hearing you sing R ’n’ B and Urban music. You’re not going to totally lose that, are you?” And I said “No, not at all. I’m passionate about R ’n’ B as well, so why can’t we marry the two?”’
    Marriage is the term Rowland uses when discussing her relationship to music which she reveals is her only commitment at present. Having always kept her personal relationships out of the limelight (“You have to keep some things to yourself”), Rowland has recently opened up about her body issues – specifically a procedure on her breasts. “The only reason I decided to say something is that I live on the beach and one of the bathing suits that I absolutely love I wore before I got the surgery. Then afterwards I wore the bathing suit again and it looked completely cuter!” she laughs. “People make impulse decisions, and for me it is important to let young women know I wanted to get this done when I was 17 or 18 years old, but I waited 10 years and let my body develop. I thought long and hard about it, I thought about every single thing that could’ve gone wrong – everything!  And I finally just made the decision for myself.”

[Originally published in Wonderland Issue 23, September 2010. Photography Jonas Bresnan.]