"An Interview with DC"

For the past 18 months, Destiny’s Child have not only been one of pop music’s most successful groups — repeatedly topping the charts with their glossy yet soulful and funky tunes — they’ve been one of the music’s biggest soap operas.

The first bomb dropped in February 2000. Just as the group’s second CD, The Writing’s On The Wall, was beginning to take wing behind the hit singles “Bills Bills Bills” and “Bug A Boo,” Destiny’s Child fractured when Beyonce Knowles and Kelly Rowland ousted the other two original group members, LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett.

Without missing a beat, Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin were recruited as replacements, only to see Franklin dismissed five months later amid criticisms about her dedication to the group after she missed several promotional appearances and performances.

Instead of derailing Destiny’s Child, the trio of Knowles, Rowland, and Williams only seemed to pick up steam as lawsuits and rumors swirled. The Writing’s On The Wall spawned two more major hits, “Say My Name” and “Jumpin’ Jumpin’,” and a song from the Charlie’s Angels movie soundtrack — “Independent Woman” — gave Destiny’s Child yet another hit single, and set the stage for the May release of the group’s current CD, Survivor.

Looking back, Rowland said the rollercoaster ride of the past 18 months has been worth it.

“Honestly, if I could do it all over again I would, because everything that we’ve gone through has made us stronger,” Rowland said. “You can hear that in the song ‘Survivor.’”

Indeed, there’s no mistaking the autobiographical overtones of “Survivor.” A pair of verses seem particularly pointed toward the drama that has surrounded Destiny’s Child: “Thought I’d be stressed without you/But I’m chillin’/Thought I wouldn’t sell without you/Sold by millions…Thought I’d be over by now/but it won’t stop/Thought I would self-destruct/But I’m still here.”

It’s hard to dispute the opinions in those lyrics. When Survivor was released, it debuted at number one, proving beyond a doubt that Destiny’s Child had become more popular than ever.

The growth of Destiny’s Child, though, goes beyond CD sales and chart positions. Survivor also represents a significant step forward on an artistic level. Musically, the songs cover plenty of emotional and stylistic territory.

There are playful and sexy uptempo tracks like “Bootylicious” and “Apple Pie A La Mode” and jamming songs like “Sexy Daddy” and “Nasty Girl” that are darker, more edgy and carry a street-level feel. There’s also “Happy Face,” a poppy tune that shows a decidedly sunny disposition, and “The Story Of Beauty” a life-affirming song inspired by a letter from a fan who said she had been molested by her step-father.

Knowles, whose lead vocals were central to the group’s previous two CDs, stepped up her involvement, co-writing all 15 tracks on Survivor and taking an active role in the studio by co-producing the entire CD.

“Well, it’s a great thing. I just want to say that above all,” Rowland said of Knowles’ central role to the Survivor CD. “One of the great things about being a producer, I know for Beyonce, is the fact that she loves to be patient with people and get the best out of people. She always has so much belief in them. Like me, I’d get in the studio and I’d be like ‘Beyonce, I can’t do this. No, you can forget about it.’ She’s like ‘No, I know you can do this part.’ And she just pumps you up and makes you feel comfortable.”

In fact, one of the key contrasts between Survivor and the group’s previous records is that all three group members step forward as lead vocalists, giving Destiny’s Child a more varied and richer vocal presence than ever before.

“That was Beyonce’s goal,” Rowland said. “Her main focus was making sure all of Destiny’s Child was featured. Of course, she got tired of all of that pressure being on her. She hates it, and I hate it when people are always putting her in the same category as Diana Ross [whose increasingly controlling role in the Supremes caused considerable resentment among the trio’s other two singers]. People are automatically putting her there. She didn’t ask for that. I mean, she can’t help it because she’s talented and she’s like the strength of Destiny’s Child.”

As Rowland’s comments suggest, the history of Destiny’s Child begins and focuses around Knowles and her family. It was a decade ago when Knowles, now 19, hooked up with Rowland, Roberson, and Luckett and the foursome began performing at schools, day care centers, and other events around their hometown of Houston.

Seeing the dedication his daughter and her friends were showing toward the group, Knowles’ father, Mathew, quit his job to manage the youthful quartet, while Knowles’ mother, Tina, became their stylist, designing the girls’ costumes.
Mathew Knowles structured summer camps filled with vocal and dance lessons, and by 1996, Destiny’s Child had drawn enough attention to land their deal with Columbia Records.

As time went on, though, tensions surfaced, as Roberson and Luckett came to resent Mathew Knowles’ all-encompassing role in guiding the career of Destiny’s Child. In early 2000, Roberson and Luckett voiced their intention to hire new managers, although they wanted to remain part of Destiny’s Child. Roberson and Luckett were promptly fired, a move that Rowland said was merely the culmination of what had been a gradual process of Destiny’s Child splitting into two camps, with Knowles and Rowland on one side and Roberson and Luckett on the other.

“I’m sure anyone would feel like when you have a group over here and a group over here, of course they’re going to bump heads and they don’t have the same outlook,” Rowland said. “When people are not focused and they don’t have their stuff together, then it tends to hurt the group. And you’re only as strong as your weakest link. And my whole outlook on Destiny’s Child is to totally be successful and totally work hard and always be there for our fans … If people don’t have that same outlook, then it does not work because their work ethics aren’t the same and it just doesn’t click right. It just crashes.”

Following their dismissal, Roberson and Luckett sued Mathew Knowles, Beyonce Knowles and Rowland, accusing Mathew Knowles of, among other things, retaining an unusually large share of the group’s profits. Beyonce Knowles and Rowland have settled their portion of the litigation, but the suit against Mathew Knowles is still pending.

The firing of Franklin after her five-month stint as the fourth singer in Destiny’s Child [Williams, a former backup singer for R&B singer Monica, joined at the same time] only added to the upheaval surrounding the group. Speculation swirled that Destiny’s Child wouldn’t survive the changes and that Knowles would leave to begin a solo career.

But after a year of recording and performing as a trio, Rowland feels Destiny’s Child have reached a new level of harmony and commitment to the group.
“The fact that we’re a trio now is a blessing from God,” she said. “It truly is, because I know everyone can sing lead now. That’s the big thing, everyone in Destiny’s Child can sing lead. In the past it was not like that. It was only Beyonce and I singing. And I sang [only] a little bit and that was because I was still growing [as a vocalist]. But now Michelle is here. Michelle can sing lead, I sing lead, and of course, Beyonce sings lead. So the group is showcased.”

“Of course, it’s so much better as three,” Rowland said. “We get along better. The unity between us is such a blessing. It’s so funny how all three of us are from different parts of the United States. Michelle is from Rockford, Illinois; I was born in Atlanta, Georgia; and Beyonce is from Houston, Texas. God brought us together. And we feel like Destiny’s Child is where it’s supposed to be right now.”