Kelly Rowland
Simply Deep
Columbia
This album is bad, REALLY bad. Its themes are generic, Rowland’s vocal stylings are uninspired and the production is flat. Most of the time, Simply Deep sounds like a pathetic attempt at ripping-off TLC. The only track worth re-listening to is “Dilemma,” the very (and only, outside of her work with Destiny’s Child) song that made the public aware of Rowland’s existence, and only because it’s a duet with Nelly (who sucks in his own right). Wasn’t this song a single from his latest album, anyway? I guess you’ve gotta sell albums somehow. Still, “Dilemma” has a infectious hook despite the inanity of its lyrics: “No matter what I do, all I think of is you/Even when I’m with my boo, you know I’m crazy over you.” This track takes me back to the summer when my wife and I, along with some friends, would slum at the Roo Bar in Hartford, CT. It was great: scantily clad “Bud Lite Girls,” frat boys and fat girls in crop-tops, all bumping and grinding to “Dilemma.” Beyond this ironic removal, what more is there to say, except, remember when R&B denoted the likes of Ruth Brown, Aretha Franklin and Roberta Flack?
Kelly Rowland: http://www.kellyrowlandonline.com
