Destiny’s Child, Soul Survivors (2001 Interview)
While conducting interviews with various artists for this magazine during that era, Destiny’s Child was the group that came up the most. Now the group’s driving force speaks.
Translator’s Note: Written by Minako Ikeshiro for bmr (Black Music Review) in an May 2001 magazine issue number 273. Originally written in Japanese; translated into English for publication. All rights reserved.
The massive success of The Writing’s on the Wall propelled Destiny’s Child into supergroup status. But having scored hits with “male-bashing songs” and weathered two lineup changes, they are now as much targets of criticism and ridicule as they are the talk of the town. Just before the release of Survivor, what does Beyoncé, the hardest-working woman at the center of it all, have to say?
“Being strong and positive is what Destiny’s Child is about.” How’s that for an opening statement? After being stood up four times, the interview that finally materialized was a ten-minute, Beyoncé-only session. A far cry from the early summer of 1999, when an entire day had been set aside for Japanese press. “No, No, No, Pt. 1” was the hit, and the self-titled debut album had reached gold in 1998. “We want to get it to platinum so badly,” she’d said at the time, eyes shining. As of March 2001, The Writing’s on the Wall has sold over ten million copies worldwide. It hardly needs emphasizing, but they are no longer just an R&B group; they are a supergroup representing America. They’re discussed in the same breath as Britney Spears and Christina Aguilera as part of the teen sensation wave.
I asked Beyoncé to analyze the key to their success.
“To have sold over ten million copies worldwide, I feel very fortunate. I’m happy, I’m excited, and I’m astonished. I also think it’s the result of working our hardest. We can feel ourselves progressing.”
In that time, you’ve gone from R&B idol group to national superstars. You also seem to have grown from “girls” into “ladies.” Are you enjoying where things are now?
“Of course. We debuted when we were fifteen, and now we’re eighteen to twenty. And I think it’s wonderful to be able to share our experiences with others through writing and producing. I tried my hand at producing on ‘Jumpin’, Jumpin’‘ and ‘Independent Women Pt. 1,’ and I did a lot on this album too. If you listen to the album, you should be able to hear that we’ve grown. If you want to know us, listen to the new record. We’re singing about things we’ve experienced with family and friends, things from being on tour.”
If there’s something difficult behind the success, what would it be?
“It really is incredibly tough. We’ve been working nonstop and haven’t been home, and for the next two months there’s no time off at all. I’m grateful for the success, but there isn’t even time to savor it or spend the money we’ve earned. We travel the world, but the schedule is so grueling there’s no room to look around. Sometimes that makes me sad, but it’s still much better than never having the chance to go anywhere. When I look at the big picture, the downsides are nothing.”
The big picture. Every single cracks the charts. They sweep the Grammys and every other award. They grace the covers of the biggest magazines. They’re called “the next Supremes.” The first single from the previous album, “Bills, Bills, Bills,” and the third, “Say My Name,” became the defining pop songs of 1999 and 2000. Then, as if to seal the deal, “Independent Women Pt. 1,” the theme from the blockbuster Charlie’s Angels, became a massive hit. That song must have been a crucial turning point, proving the new three-member Destiny’s Child could hold their own.
I’ve been running through all this like a record-label press sheet, but to be honest, as one of many Destiny’s Child fans and observers, there’s also a part of me that thinks, “What’s the deal with the current lineup, though?” LeToya and LaTavia were great too. When different members suddenly appeared in the “Say My Name” video, I felt a pang of resentment. And yet, the sheer coolness of the three of them kicking their legs up in the “Independent Women” video was undeniable. Every time it came on TV, I stopped what I was doing and stared at the screen. “Undeniable.” That’s probably the prevailing feeling toward the current Destiny’s Child, who radiate an overwhelming brilliance even as they take fire that borders on outright bashing.
Which makes it hard to harbor negative feelings toward Beyoncé, Kelly, and Michelle, who are apparently nineteen and twenty years old and working like draft horses with no time to sleep. Hard, but it’s also true that there are elements, starting with the repeated lineup changes, that can’t help but be taken negatively. So even though it feels like tabloid reporting and I’m reluctant, let me briefly address that side of things. The current members’ account of the lineup changes was covered extensively in Vibe, so I won’t repeat it, but the departed members’ perspective appeared in Sister 2 Sister, a magazine with its own tabloid leanings, so I’ll summarize. According to LeToya and LaTavia’s interview in the June 2000 issue, they didn’t quit; they were fired, and they learned of it in writing at almost the same time they saw two new members in the “Say My Name” video.
Their conflict wasn’t with Beyoncé and Kelly but with management, specifically Beyoncé’s father, Mathew Knowles. “The finances were opaque, and every time we pushed for a review of the contracts we’d signed at age nine, it became a problem.” As for LeToya, she had reportedly “been told she was fired five times,” suggesting the relationship had seriously deteriorated. Before its debut, Destiny’s Child had a female manager named Andretta Tillman alongside Knowles; the debut album carries a dedication to her. After Tillman passed away from bronchitis shortly before the group’s debut, Knowles took full control of the group, and Beyoncé’s mother took over all styling duties. Losing Andretta Tillman may have been an especially unfortunate turn of events for LeToya and LaTavia. That said, it’s also true that Knowles had been organizing training camps and looking after the girls as a trainer since they were in elementary school (as mentioned in our previous interview), and Kelly told MTV, “Mr. Knowles sold his house and cars to support us before we made it.”
During our previous interview, when I’d spent an entire day with the group, there were moments when LaTavia and LeToya lost focus. When I relayed to Beyoncé my impression that “there seemed to be a gap in professionalism between the members who left and the two of you,” she responded:
“That’s exactly right. A lot of people said the same thing. My and Kelly’s professionalism was different from theirs. We’re willing to make any sacrifice for success. I’m not going to knock anyone else’s approach, but we don’t need to get dragged into it, either. You can do whatever you want, but I don’t want people around me who aren’t motivated. Or people who think negatively. A lot of things happened, but people still accept us, and we keep selling hundreds of thousands of copies. Everyone approached this album with the same level of commitment, so I can say our situation has gotten much better. A weight has been lifted off my shoulders, and I can focus on the creative side, producing and writing. Other producers must find it easier dealing with the whole group through one person rather than separately with each member. You can hear it in the music; it’s much more cohesive. And in our performances and interviews, you should be able to feel that everyone has the same level of professionalism.”
A forceful statement. She arguably didn’t need to speak this harshly about departed members, but considering the ferocious attacks Beyoncé endured on the internet and in magazine letters pages during the departures, her drive to defend herself isn’t entirely incomprehensible. Farrah, who was in the group for only one stretch, also spoke to Sister 2 Sister, saying, “They changed my name (her real nickname was, of all things, ‘Destiny’), made me tan so Beyoncé would stand out more, dyed my hair. It was really painful.” But regarding Farrah, the current members offered a blunt assessment: “We felt like Farrah wasn’t quite clicking, but we had bigger things going on. She wasn’t committed to the work, and she didn’t make an effort to improve. She went from being a supermarket employee to a superstar, so I get it, but still.” In a group whose motto is winning at all costs, apparently there is no room for anyone who complains.
In any case, the new Destiny’s Child puts Beyoncé front and center. You could say that having the most talented member also be the most beautiful invited all kinds of trouble, and you can also imagine that being childhood friends created a familiarity that made it harder to function as professionals. On The Writing’s on the Wall, every member had writing credits; this time, no names other than Beyoncé’s appear. Her increased focus on producing stands out, though when it comes to other producers, she says, “They just send tracks, so I don’t really know them.” Rodney Jerkins, who helped drive the previous album to massive sales, wasn’t available for scheduling reasons and doesn’t appear this time. In his place, Anthony Dent, Cory Rooney, and others from the same production company are on board. Dwayne Wiggins is the only name that carries over from the first album. Hit-makers who previously contributed, such as Wyclef Jean, Missy Elliott, R. Kelly, and Timbaland, are all absent. In a producer-driven R&B world, that’s a bold move, but it also reflects the fact that the group’s name itself is a more powerful selling point than any producer’s.
I asked Beyoncé about the new album.
“I think last time’s success was partly due to working with new producers, so this time I asked some new people for a few songs. I wrote on both albums, so there’s continuity in that sense, but I wanted the sound to feel new again.”
With such a hectic schedule, how did you find time for the music?
“That was really hard too. I was recording while shooting a TV drama, and there wasn’t a single time I could get into the studio two days in a row. The recording took fifty days, but I was juggling other work and couldn’t focus every day. I had to keep switching from actress to writer to performer, and that was tough. The drama was MTV’s remake of Carmen, with me in the lead. The other members would come to set sometimes too. What makes us completely different from other female groups is how much we support each other. When one person has a job, the others give full support. For example, Kelly did a solo track for the Down to Earth soundtrack, and she personally asked me to produce it. You almost never see members of other groups doing that for each other’s solo work.”
“Brown Eyes” is a gentle love song. Is it addressed to anyone in particular?
“I was in a relationship before. I don’t have a boyfriend now, but when I write love songs, I try to recall the feelings from that time.”
The last album dealt with various relationship situations, especially with a lot of tough talk aimed at no-good men. Did you cover different topics this time?
“The last album definitely had a lot of songs about bad men, but we don’t hate men, and we’re not bashing men in general. We just don’t like bad men. This time there’s other stuff too, songs about surviving difficult situations, love songs. I tried to include a more sensitive side of Destiny’s Child. We’ve shown the strong side plenty, so I wanted to do something new.”
The title Survivor has an intense ring to it, but there’s no question it will be the litmus test for whether the new Destiny’s Child is the real deal. Based on the eight tracks I received before the interview, Michelle’s husky, low voice blends effectively with the similar-ranged voices of the other two, and the early signs are promising. Michelle has said she “aimed to be a team player from the start,” and she seems to have been the right fit for joining a group whose identity and status were already fully established. Beyond Beyoncé, Kelly has shown interest in acting, and there’s talk of solo albums for all three, so the Destiny’s Child offensive looks set to continue for a while.
Over the past year and a half, while conducting interviews with various artists for this magazine, Destiny’s Child was the group that came up the most. Everyone from Kevon Edmonds to India.Arie mentioned them by name. Being on that many lips is proof of how much attention they command, and regardless of individual opinions, when you look at the full landscape across genre and race, it can only be a positive that R&B has produced an icon this powerful. Personally, I’ve grown even fonder of Kelly, who is easygoing and straightforward, and I want to root for all three of them, Kelly and Michelle included, to “survive” as superstars.
Denying the current Destiny’s Child is, indeed, a difficult thing to do.