This week’s selection for From The Vault comes from Beyonce. ‘Work It Out’ served as the lead single from the ‘Austin Power in Goldmember’ film and was one of the singer’s first major attempts at solo success. However, despite the Tina Turner-inspired setup of the Mathew Rolsten-directed clip, and respectable promotion from her label, the song failed to enter the Billboard Hot 100.
By comparison, Beyonce’s bandmate Kelly Rowland’s duet with Nelly, ‘Dilemma’, was #1 on that tally for 10 weeks, initially climbing to the top spot without promotion and even before a music video has released.
Judging by the large disparity between the success of ‘Work It Out’ and ‘Dilemma’, it is quite puzzling that Beyonce’s label continued to focus on forging her solo career while almost ignoring Rowland altogether. In fact, it seems that Mathew Knowles ensured that his daughter’s first solo album, ‘Dangerously In Love’, was equipped with several of the industry’s then heavyweight producers whereas Rowland was given many of her leftovers.
Certainly this scenario provides ample evidence of the politics occurring behind the scenes at the Knowles camp. Indeed, why would they continue to emphasise only Beyonce’s endeavours but overlook Rowland who was, at that time, the more commercially viable act?
Imagine the kind of career that both artists would have had if given equal opportunities. Then again, they shoulda would coulda but didn’t. O well.