Music Review: Michelle Williams - Unexpected

In 2002, Michelle Williams decided to make her own spotlight by going solo from Destiny's Child with her first album, Heart To Yours. She got some success from it with one of the album cuts, "Heard A Word." After that song was released, her presence on her own seemed to diminish in the media. After returning to her doormat status in the world of Destiny's Child, she tried again with Do You Know, an album released before the final Destiny's Child album, Destiny Fulfilled.

The title of that final exodus is tragic in a way, as none of the girls in the present-day or past Destiny's Child lineup beyond Beyonce and her sister Solange have been hits with the public. There's many an obvious reason for that. The oldest one you could use in this case is that none of the others have the chops for the business.

There are things you have to do in order to get noticed. You have to be different, exciting, sexy, and the dream of every man or woman alive. Michelle Williams, Latavia Roberson, Kelly Rowland, and Letoya Luckett don't seem to want the spotlight as much as their former leader. I don't count Farah Franklin, given that her time in the group was shorter than anyone else who’s been in DC.

Beyonce, for all of her acclaim and sexiness, has no real chance to be herself. Coming from a musical catalog of hit songs discussing the art of booty shaking and dumping a trifling boyfriend, it's hard for her as she gets on in years to make that leap and still be relevant. Kelly Rowland actually tried that with "Stole", which she recorded for her first album Simply Deep. 

Because that song didn't involve anything remotely trivial and sounded too much like it belonged in another musical genre, the song got dismissed. Kicking herself probably for breaking from the DC formula, she returned to the more radio-friendly airwaves with her second album Ms. Kelly. It still didn't do anything in the states, but overseas apparently the album is killing the charts.

Michelle Williams is back this time with yet another album, Unexpected. The title basically informs the person buying it that this is not the Michelle Williams of Destiny's Child that no one pays attention to or largely ignores. This Michelle Williams is her own person and is ready to compete in the R&B genre without hesitation - that is if you believe that title. If you take a listen to the actual album, that's a different story.

Like Kelly Rowland's latest effort, Michelle Williams and her venture to party on this latest album feels dishonest. I understand that as an artist you have to do what's necessary to be able to eat. I also understand, however, that you have to do what's comfortable for you.

Article Author: Matthew Milam

Matthew Milam lives in Chicago, IL. You can reach me at mmilam@matthewmilam.com. You can also reach me on Twitter.

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