Kelly Rowland
Talk A Good Game

Kelly Rowland takes advantage of the new positive wave of mellow and R&B sounds to release her new studio album "Talk a Good Game". Precisely in a period marked by the positive return to the simple yet effective Timbaland-esque effusions of Mr. Timberlake in "The 20/20 Experience", the retro funk of the new Daft Punk for Get Lucky and a curious surprise at the top of the American Billboard, the lively "Blurred Lines" from crooner Robin Thicke with super producer Pharrell, Destiny's Child's eternal second seeks to temporarily replace the unrivaled reign of queen Beyoncé, offering a delightful collection of seductive, genuinely pop, catchy, sensual, and slightly melancholic-nostalgic pieces. To briefly outline the salient chronology of Rowland's career, we cannot avoid highlighting the young lady's inability to remotely reach the fame and success of her more famous colleague; despite the five-star debut with "Dilemma", with rapper Nelly, the trio of albums released (Simply Deep, Ms. Kelly, Here I Am) did not register significant numbers and only the recent foray into dance music, starting with the remix of Work and continuing with David Guetta's works, allowed the beautiful Destiny's Child to be recognized beyond anglophone borders. The last achievement unrelated to the dancefloor is the enticing Motivation, a track that flourished during a period still dominated by Lady Gaga's and various DJs' effervescent dancer vibes.

"Talk a Good Game" reflects the conscious desire to carve out, albeit belatedly, a respectable corner of paradise in the currently unstable and tense music biz, a battleground between the revival of "old-style" pop and the latest battalions of Saturday Night Fever. Kelly Rowland inserts herself into this clash by presenting an album semi-sweetened and semi-dark, poised between light-heartedness, conflict, languor, lightness, and atmosphere, a common denominator of songs infused with a straightforward and simple pop, yet refined, balanced, sometimes sumptuous and brilliant, other times melancholic and a bit decadent. In this context, standout pieces include cheerful, vaguely danceable tracks that blend desirably with the soft-sexy mood of the R&B ballads, for most reign supreme in the robust songbook.

The debut of Freak is probably Rowland's final farewell to synthesizer sounds, a dark-spicy track suitable for a very brief choreographed walk on the dance floor. With the arrival of Kisses Down Low, the first official single, the return to the R&B freshness of Motivation becomes a real event and anticipates the magnum opus of the tracklist by a few steps, Dirty Laundry, a magnificent piano-percussion ballad steeped in dark memories, hidden violence, and an inconvenient past. The ascent to light is instead sealed by You Changed, presented none other than with Her Majesty Beyoncé and Michelle Williams - the third and further overlooked Destiny's Child, together for a retro piece particularly akin to Girl, one of the trio's last hit songs. The peacekeeper between groove and melancholy is Red Wine, a pleasant disco-soul marriage, following the synthpop ballad I Remember and the R&B-chill out explorations of Down on Love. Soft and still soft is proposed to the listener in the second half of the album, with the mischievous hip hop of Street Life and romantic expressions for This is Love.

Beyoncé is currently on a world tour and her comeback has not yet been officially announced. To compensate for the disappointment of Ms. Carter's followers, grieving the lack of new music and new seductive images, comes to the rescue the former roommate of Destiny's house, surely an Everest below the queen of booty-shaking but no less worthy of attention and regard. Let us enjoy, and enjoy, a good sober and decent pop product and, perhaps, the young lady in black&white lingerie who reigns indiscreetly on the cover of "Talk a Good Game".

Kelly Rowland, Talk a Good Game

Freak - Kisses Down Low - Gone - Talk a Good Game - Down on Love - Dirty Laundry - You Changed - I Remember - Red Wine - This Is Love - Street Life - Stand in Front of Me -