Well it's been an interesting seven days for two former members of Destiny's Child - Kelly Rowland debuts a new slow-jam, Beyonce's Grown Woman leaks, and The-Dream unveils his separate collaborations with the two of them.
First up: Beyonce's Grown Woman. We LOVED this when we saw it live, and we're very pleased to say the studio version holds up just as well. Dodgy lyrics aside ("I'm a grown woman/ I know how to ride it" - sure, pal), it's a suitable Timbaland-led comeback for Queen Bey with a coda that's made for twerking. We're hoping the new album also has more of this Afrobeat vibe; a potential Fela Kuti-inspired Beyonce album is the stuff of our wet dreams.
Meanwhile, Kelly Rowland - who hasn't had a bad solo career at all - goes on to address Beyonce in Dirty Laundry. It's a raw little slow-jam, a bit unexpected, but perfectly maintaining the balance between confessional and cringe. While this dropped a week ago, it seems more fitting to write about it now, holding it up against something like Grown Woman to see the different directions these two Destiny's Children have gone. We can't imagine them swapping places on either of these songs.
But when it comes to their collaborations with R&B maestro The-Dream, there's one clear winner. While he wrote a modern classic for Bey with 1+1, Turnt (also featuring - shudder - 2 Chainz) really shows how not to use the most sought-after vocal in town. It's a dark cut, a little bit out of the norm for Mrs Carter, but it doesn't quite hold together. Meanwhile, the Kelly Rowland duet Where Have You Been is everything modern R&B should be. Sure it borrows liberally from Assata Jones's recent beauty, I Can Love You Better, but it's a great influence to have - Jones is creating similarly smooth and warm R&B, lilted to perfection on this here back-and-forth.
Needless to say, it'll be exciting to see where both Beyonce and Kelly's albums go from here. Although when it comes down to it, the one thing we keep thinking is: poor Michelle.