ms. rowland

"Like This"
Kelly Rowland feat. Eve
dir., Mike Ruiz
2007

I really wanted to like this song and video. I was always partial to the spunk and individuality Kelly Rowland expressed during her weave free days of Destiny's Child. Now, she has piled on the weave and got an Amerie leftover. Polow Da Don is somewhat responsible for this and to his credit he may provide Fergie and Ciara with the jams, but those songs seemed tailored to their style and vocal capabilities, where as I was hoping Ms. Rowland would burst out onto the contemporary pop/r&b scene with something she's been dying to say and really show us what she's made of since her DC3 days ended when Beyonce wanted to be the 21st century Diana Ross. Although the song's chorus is catchy, it sounds like it's coming from some overly-produced drone who isn't certain who she is or what she wants to be. The Eve guest appearance seems like an after thought that doesn't have the same punch or relevance as some of her other and better collaborations. As for the video, I'm not sure what she's conveying. We've always known you're hot Kelly, so showing up in a towel at the beginning offers us nothing new. The straddling the chair bit while covered in body glitter seems like something Beyonce would have done on the last album. And don't even get me started on the bizarre Photoshop filter effects at the end or the odd surveillance camera that pops up randomly throughout the video. It's a worthy effort Ms. Rowland, but I expect more out of you and let's hope, similar to your former group mate, that the second single and video will provide us the ray of pop sunniness that we've been waiting from you.