Kelly Rowland: Destiny’s Child Reunion Probably A Long Way Off

Kelly Rowland‘s new album Here I Am drops today, and last night she participated in a live Q&A with Billboard to discuss the record, its R&B/Hip-Hop chart-topper “Motivation,” and Destiny’s Child reunion rumors.

Rowland, thrilled at the success of “Motivation” (not only for its own sake, but because it signaled that the record would not be pushed back again, as it had last year), was breathless with praise for all of her collaborators, but especially for Lil Wayne’s verse on her single: “I literally was at a loss for words.” To hear Rowland tell it, her process in preparing the record was not dissimilar to Dr. Dre’s in preparing Detox (though she herself did not make that comparison). “The only thing that could have been holding me back would be myself,” she told Billboard.

As for the Destiny’s Child question? It’s already a Catch-22, because the only time a question like that can really be asked is when a member is in the early stage of promotion for a solo record (as Rowland is, here). A Destiny’s Child reunion is already not coming until the album cycles of Here I Am and Beyoncé‘s 4 are over. That said, Rowland wasn’t exactly making promises for the far future either. “To be honest with you—myself, Michelle and B—we haven’t talked about it. It has not come up in our conversations. We talk about everything else,” she said, insisting that they all remain good friends despite constant rumors of feuding, particularly between her and Beyoncé. In fact, she took the moment to stump for her sister-in-arms: “What kind of angers me a bit is just the fact that Michelle is in Destiny’s Child, too, and respect her and know that it’s three of us—it’s not two.” All in all, a well-handled response to an oft-asked question