Let’s get it out of the way: There’s no Beyoncé on this list. I’m a huge fan of LeToya, Kelly, and Michelle, but the back half of Beyoncé’s career is far eclipsing anything being released by anyone else in music, so it would be unfair to add her to this list. A Best Of… list for music in general after 2012 is going to feature Beyoncé so heavily, there’s no need to add her to this playlist when my goal is to make sure we give the other ladies their flowers.
Now that we got that sorted…
I was on Twitter the other day and I saw Michelle’s new ad for Uber Eats. I wish she didn’t have to have such a good sense of humor about it all, but I’m glad she came through the Poor Michelle tumblr-era with a positive outlook and no issues having a chuckle at her public persona.
If you didn’t know, Michelle is genuinely one of the most delightful people in the enertainment industry, if not the world. How can you not stan when she’s so infectious and effortless in interviews?
And we also need to acknowledge real quick that she is definitely the best-dressed member of the group, and has been for quite some time.
Anyway, this is not a Michelle Fanclub post, but I got sidetracked. This is a music post to share with y’all my favorite songs from the crew so we can remember that Destiny’s Child is not just the group who gave us Beyoncé. Because of the short-sighted nature of the industry, the Destiny’s Child conversation is so dominated by Beyoncé’s excellence, I think the other ladies have released some excellent material that doesn’t always get its just due. By any other metric not in comparison to Beyoncé (as a once-in-a-lifetime generational talent) LeToya, Kelly, and Michelle are all successful musicians. So let’s get into it!
20. Kelly Rowland “Better Without You”
From Kelly’s excellent sophomore album Ms. Kelly, “Better Without You” was one of my favorites from first listen. It’s the cycling of the five eighth-notes in the chorus (instead of the expected four eighth-notes) that keeps you slightly off-center and grabs interest.
19. LeToya Luckett “So Special”
Question: Who is the only former member of Destiny’s Child to land a #1 album other than Beyoncé ?
Answer: LeToya!
LeToya debuted at #1 with her first album, and the first song on the album is still one of my favorites. “So Special” isn’t doing too much, but it set the tone for the rest of an excellent debut project.
18. Kelly “When Love Takes Over” (with David Guetta)
For a hot minute there, Kelly was in her EDM bag and a big chunk of the Alphabet Mafia wanted her to stay the course and be the dancefloor queen we felt she was becoming. She ultimately left the DJs behind and went back to R&B full-time, but this isn’t the only four-on-the-floor club moment you’ll see on this list.
17. Kelly “Still in Love With My Ex”
Also from Kelly’s sophomore album, “Still In Love With My Ex” should have been a radio hit. Produced by Soulshock & Karlin (Whitney “Heartbreak Hotel”… Monica “Before You Walk Out My Life”… Fantasia “Truth Is” etc.), this is top tier 00s R&B.
16. LeToya “She Ain’t Got”
This was my favorite LeToya song for the longest time! I love a pretty girl with an angry attitude in the booth! It was a bigger hit on the Dance charts than the R&B or main chart, and I can confirm that they did play this song at Splash on Thursday nights back in the day.
15. Michelle “We Break The Dawn”
Michelle came down out of the pulpit and released some worldly music after a pair of gospel albums introduced her as a solo artist. Personally, I was not sold on this song when it was released! Now in my big age, I’ve come to realize that it has aged really well for R&B in this Euro-vibe sound. After hitting number one on the Dance Airplay Chart with this song, Michelle went back to gospel after her one secular album.
14. Kelly “Down on Love”
Kelly’s most recent album, Talk a Good Game, was released way back in 2013, and a lot of the music was overshadowed by all the press garnered by “Dirty Laundry” where she opened up about how she felt standing in Beyoncé’s shadow. Go back to the album as soon as possible and really listen to it though and you’ll find some excellent R&B you should have listened to. “Down on Love” is one of those songs you missed.
13. Kelly “Red Wine”
Also from Talk a Good Game, “Red Wine” was a little different for Kelly. I actually call this vibe of low-fi R&B “red wine and weed R&B” because that’s the mood I get from listening to it and the mood I can imagine while it was being recorded. Production aside, Kelly was also digging into her Brandy Bag of Backgrounds with the stacking.
12. LeToya “Lazy”
“Lazy” was not one of the four singles from LeToya’s second album, but it should have been! Of Destiny’s Children, LeToya doesn’t have the biggest voice, but I felt every word she was singing on this one.
11. Kelly “Can’t Nobody”
Time for a throwback! Kelly was actually the first one of the girls to grab a #1 single without the group (with Nelly on “Dilemma”), and to capitalize on that, the record label decided to push her debut album out as quickly as as possible. The whole project was done in about three weeks, so a lot of it is forgettable. Kelly has matured as a vocalist since those early years, so the down-tempo songs don’t hit with me, but “Can’t Nobody” was cute little tip-toe through the calm part of the dancefloor.
(Also: “Crazy In Love” probably wouldn’t have happened if Kelly hadn’t made such a big splash. Beyoncé’s release date was pushed in order to get as much out of Kelly’s project as possible, which gave Beyoncé more time to add some additional songs to Dangerously In Love, including “Crazy in Love” which was recorded during the delay.)
Time for the Top Ten!
Before that, shout-out to Latavia Roberson, who lost a lot of her confidence after being kicked out of the group, so I’ve never heard any music from her. She popped up on a season of R&B Divas and barely sang four notes, and when I went searching for music (to make sure nothing had skipped by me) I only found a colllab with another artist where she’s just speaking on the track.
And small shoutout to Luggage because I did actually think “Lollipop” was cute for a hot second back in the day.
Lastly, if you’re on any of the R&B parts of Instagram, you might see Anjel pop up from time to time. Latavia and LeToya were briefly in another girl group after being kicked out of Destiny’s Child, but the album never came out. You can find it on YouTube, but the only song that I was mildly interested in was “Missing You” so none of those songs made the cut here.
Back to the list!
10. Kelly “Work”
There’s a Freemasons remix of “Work” that seems to be the version played by all the bars and clubs, but it’s missing the frenetic energy of the original! I loved this song immediately, because Destiny’s Child as an identity in my mind were “those girls with the light skinned lead who sings fast” so I was happy to get some of that energy into a Kelly Rowland project.
9. LeToya “Regret”
The only reason this song isn’t higher is because 30% of why I had it on repeat for so long was the feature from Ludacris. Line for line, these are my favorite Ludacris bars. Without Ludacris, it would probably land around 13 or 14, so I figure 9 is a good split the middle.
8. Kelly “Turn It Up”
This was Kelly on her third album, still in her dancefloor bag. But! This is also my favorite Kelly Rowland vocal and the one I sound best on in the shower. When she took it up a third after the bridge? Heaven.
7. Kelly “Don’t You Worry”
In 2019, six years after her last album, Kelly surprise-released a three-track EP called The Kelly Rowland Edition with a throwback late 90s R&B sound. I am still unsure about what that project was because it looked to be sponsored by Red Bull for some reason? And there was no press or promotion behind it? But it did give me one of my favorite songs of 2019, so that’s enough for me.
6. Michelle “If We Had Your Eyes”
Michelle’s first gospel album after her secular experiment was bigger than her first two gospel albums combined. The production was better, the collabs were more impressive, and the videos got the full treatment. “If We Had Your Eyes” is a complete Derek Blanks Tragic Affair and the album version brought Fantasia in to feature on the second verse. Michelle’s brand of gospel music doesn’t really hit the mark with me for the most part, because I like traditional gospel that sounds like church music, as opposed to radio gospel that sounds like R&B songs about Jesus, so that’s why she doesn’t appear on this list more. However! If that’s your vibe! I highly recommend Journey to Freedom as a full listen.
Lemme throw a few honorable mentions in here before the Top 5 because, while they’re not in my top 20 faves, some of y’all’s bops are still good listening:
Kelly “Motivation”
Kelly “Speed of Love”
Kelly “Stole”
Kelly “Commander”
Michelle “It’s Good to Be Here”
Michelle “Free”
LeToya “Torn”
LeToya “Not Anymore”
LeToya “Don’t Make Me Wait”
Also, both Michelle and Kelly had songs on their solo projects that featured the other DC members, so I didn’t include them as solo bops, but they’re amazing and you should add them to you life in case you missed them:
And my favorites are…
5. LeToya “I’m Good”
I….was not the biggest Beyoncé fan back in the day and I didn’t really vibe with her whenever she tried to sound a little “hood” on a track. To me, LeToya sounded way more authentic and the way she delivered this chorus felt natural to me. To this day I do not know every word she’s singing at the beginning of the chorus, and I refuse to look them up because I’ve been singing my own syllables for twenty years now. Plus, nothing sounds more early 00s than a Scott Storch production.
4. Kelly “I Get It”
Kelly was in her Janet BAG to play a fictional early-90s R&B star in Justin Simen’s Bad Hair. New Jack Swing is my single favorite sub-genre of R&B, so having Kelly Rowland give me three brand new bops of that type in 2020 was heaven. “I Get It” is my favorite of the three, but all of them are excellent productions.
Also, the choreo is lacking a bit, but it’s not because Kelly can’t dance. Check out the Frank Gatson choreography in “Dumb” if you’ve never seen it before (I don’t really like the song, so it’s not on my list, but I love the energy of the video).
3. LeToya “I’m Ready”
“I’m Ready” dropped in 2015, seemingly as a one-off track because she hadn’t announced a third album. A couple of years later it made its way onto Back 2 Life as the lead-off track. LeToya sounds heavenly on the song, but it was really D’Mile’s production (Janet “Feedback”…Victoria Monet Jaguar…Mary J. Blige “Gonna Breakthrough”) that took it to a next level because that guy really understands rhythm and how to push a song forward.
2. LeToya “Grey”
LeToya and Ludacris made magic a second time, but for “Grey” I love the mood, the vibe, the production, the vocal arrangement, and LeToya’s delivery so much even without Ludacris. This was actually my favorite R&B song of 2017, and second favorite overall behind Nothing More’s “Funny Little Creatures.”
1. Kelly “Keep It Between Us”
Very easy choice for me, no debate here. “Keep It Between Us” was my favorite Kelly Rowland song the first time I heard it and it’s probably one of my Top 20 R&B songs of all time. It has the exact right amount of build, the pacing is perfect, and Kelly was in her best voice on that album. If someone from another planet asked me how to make a mid-tempo R&B song, I would probably play them this.
So that’s it! Hope everyone appreciates all the ladies as we launch headfirst into a new Beyoncé era and I hope you found some new gems! I do have a playlist of all my faves with about 60 songs so you might find some more in there if you’re interested.
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