Music Review: Kelly Rowland, 'Ms. Kelly'

07/02/2007 5:42 PM, AP
Nekesa Mumbi Moody

Kelly Rowland, "Ms. Kelly" (Columbia): Kelly Rowland's sophomore album starts with tantalizing promise in the form of the club banger "Like This," featuring the rapper Eve. Listening to that irresistible track, you begin to think the yearlong delay in releasing "Ms. Kelly" was worth it. That this is finally Rowland's time to emerge from the shadows of larger-than-life Beyonce and Destiny's Child and show formidable star power of her own.

But that promise quickly disintegrates as the album goes on, revealing a singer with a strong voice that is once again felled by mediocre material.

"Come Back" is a potent jam, and "Ghetto," featuring Snoop Dogg, is sexy and seductive. (Though the latter is yet another troubling song featuring a young black woman craving a thug. What's next, a song titled "Felon"?)

But things fall apart quickly after that. The synthesized "Flashback" is positively lackluster, and "The Show," featuring Tank, which is supposed to be a bedroom jam, fails to elicit much passion.

The rest of the album is filled with passable mid-tempo songs and ballads that may be entertaining enough for background music, but nothing you'd put on full blast. It's particularly disappointing considering Rowland has the pipes, the looks and the charm to be so much more than one-third of Destiny's Child. But if she doesn't produce better material, she'll have a hard time defining herself as anything else.