Kelly Rowland ‘Here I Am’ (Album Review)

For years, Kelly Rowland shoop-shoo-wopped in Queen Beysus’ shadow as the girl-next-doorliest of Destiny’s six, unequally-loved, children. To many, she’d always be the greatest ‘Supreme’ to ever chirp back-up vocals in a bedazzled twosie & cowboy boots. Either that, or the most talented ‘Vandella’ to never be a ‘relevant’ solo artist, well, until  her chart-topping sexual paralyses anthem “Motivation” upgraded her latest album/re-invention project Here I Am to ‘highly-anticipated’ status.

As a seductively-kinetic summer album, Here I Am stands alone in a corny summer music scene plagued by pretentious Hibernation music. It’s polished, eclectic and creatively-frenetic when Kelly’s not desperately trying to ooze Swagu ‘edginess’ (“I’m Dat Chick”) or ‘insatiable sexy’ (“Motivation”). Is Here I Am completely original? No. Does it suffer from Keri Hilsalitis B? Sometimes. But there’s no denying jams like “Lay it on Me” (Feat. XS Sean), “Down For Whatever” & “Commander” (Feat. Dave Guetta).

After two mildly-successful albums & several ignored singles, Kelly finally dropped her definitive solo album. Yes, she sounds like a lonely virgin singing passages out of a Zane novel on “Motivation” (Feat. Lil Wayne) & sullied Uncle Luke’s legacy on the criminally-corny “All of the Night” (Feat. Rico Love), but Here I Am is a solid summer album made for grown women who don’t mind being confined to a wheelchair after sex.

Now, to address the pink elephant with periwinkle polka dots in the room, Kelly only needed 5 solid songs to win the ‘battle’ with the Creolian Lacefront Goddess (who only had 4 tolerable songs on her latest album 4). I counted 6. So yes, Here I Am is a better, more complete summer album than 4. It’s official: Kelly won. Fight me.

Overall, Here I Am proves Kelly has the ‘solo artist gene’ in her DNA. It’s vocally & conceptually-impressive when it’s not generic. With “Motivation”—2011’s official Ladies Anthem—Kelly changed the face of hoe-sh*t forever. “Lay it on Me” is 3-5 days away from being played 4296726870 times/day on urban radio. She’ll do 165K-180K first-week & debut at #1. 3/4 stars. Cop the Deluxe version.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the opinion of Def Pen Radio.