Fresh off her sizzling “Coffee” visual, Kelly Rowland spoke with Associated Press about her next album, new management deal with Roc Nation and her inspiration behind the feel-good single, which she described as her “ode to the beauty of black women.”
“I just wanted it to be an expression of black beauty and the different variations and tones and body shapes,” she told the outlet. “I was really inspired by black women.”
The former Destiny’s Child singer is gearing up to release her fifth studio album, which she says is just one song away from being finished.
“I’m very excited about this album,” Rowland shared. “I’m excited for the fact that it took years [for] me to find tempo… The whole album’s not up-tempo, but I’m excited to share my tempo.”
“I feel like I always had mids and slower records but yeah, I’m ready to dance,” she continued. “Especially when we come out of all this, we need to dance.”
Despite social distancing posing an extra challenge, Rowland is still determined to release the LP later this year. Although she’s still an independent artist, the album will be released through Roc Nation.
“It’s family and it just happened,” she said about her new management deal with JAY-Z’s entertainment agency. “It just really happened to work and it’s working out really well so far. My team, I have a great team. It’s not to say I didn’t have a great team before, I had a great team before. You evolve, you move on and that’s really it and Roc Nation is home now.”
“I think in my head it’s just navigating it all,” Rowland said about maintaining her artistic independence. “I’m definitely independent. It’s something about it that I’m really, really loving and there’s something about it where you’re just like, ‘Oh I need a little bit more of some budget money to execute some of this’… So I do feel that pressure, but I just want to take it a little easier on myself.”
Rowland’s forthcoming studio album will follow up 2013’s Talk A Good Game. Revisit her gorgeous “Coffee” visual below.