Kelly Rowland has been hard at work preparing for the debut of her new album. In a recent interview with Rap-Up.com, producer Jim Jonsin has provided some details about the yet entitled record which features contributions from Nelly, Rico Love, Jonsin and David Guetta. Here is an excerpt from the interview below:
“I’ve been working on her album with [songwriter] Rico Love,” Jonsin tells Rap-Up.com. “We’ve done four songs.”
Fans of her David Guetta collaboration, ‘When Love Takes Over’ will be in for a treat. “She’s doing a pop-house and R&B sound, like a mixture,” Jonsin reveals. “It’s really cool. Some uptempo stuff, some ballads, all around really nice—more like a Donna Summer sound.”
Although Rowland, who was formerly signed to Columbia Records/Music World Entertainment, hasn’t officially announced a new label deal yet, Jonsin dropped a hint as to where she may end up. “I believe she’s in talks with Universal Motown right now, and a couple others.”
This is certainly some interesting news. It’s great to see Rowland continuing to develop an international sound and target markets beyond the US. However, having not made a major impact on the Billboard Hot 100 since ‘Dilema’, it is crucial that she caters for her US consumers, something that Jonsin and the rest of her team seems to have considered by incorporating such a “mixture” of sounds. My only concern now is her voice. In recent performances, Rowland has been struggling to deliver on the vocal front. Whether it is fair comparison or not, people are always going to compare her to Beyonce in every aspect of her career, thus she has to make sure that she is on point, both in the studio and in her live showings. We all know what she is capable of doing and now it’s time for her to show it.
Sam Update On Kelly’s label situation:
Please note that, contrary to reports, no new label deal has been finalised with Kelly as at writing. She is in the advanced stages of negotiation with a number of labels – one of which is Universal Motown, however nothing has been signed. Kelly was indeed in New York this time last week and did meet with a Universal exec, but has yet to sign on the dotted line. This is the official word from Kelly’s camp. There’ll no doubt be official word out shortly, I’m sure though.