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Photo by Charley Gallay/Getty Images for Baby2BabyLast year, Kelly Rowland announced that she’s landed her own BET reality-based show, titled Chasing Destiny. Now, she’s telling ABC Radio what inspired her search for the next blazing-hot singing sensation at this point her career.
“Well, one, I felt like it was a void. It still is a void in the marketplace,” Kelly says. “Like around the time where I was 12 years old, I watch all these groups come out and be out at the same time, and it was all these different groups and…we only got three? You mean to tell me there’s only three groups out right now? One’s a boy group, there’s two female groups. Get out of here. There is such a void in the marketplace and I wanted to be the one, since I’ve done it, I wanted to be apart of bringing it back to life.”
The former Destiny’s Child member stresses she’s looking for women that collectively bring something fresh to the table while paying homage to previous groups, in the same way her own singing group with Beyonce and Michelle Williams emulated the legendary En Vogue.
“First of all, I think Destiny’s Child is great, I really do, and I think that in the time that where we came up we were wanting to mock everything that En Vogue did but make it our own, so we learned from the best,” Rowland recalls. “We watched tapes of En Vogue, we wanted to walk like them, we wanted to be poised like them and I think one of the things that I want to contribute to the girls with the show is watching greats like En Vogue, watching greats like Destiny’s Child, watching greats like all these girl groups that have gone before them and done it in their own way. I think that’s really important, too, that they understand that they have to be unique.”
So why are there fewer groups out right now? “Everybody wants to be a solo artist and I don’t think anybody wants to share the light to sparkle brighter,” Kelly says. “We’re in a selfie-made world right now where everybody is selfie-absorbed — and I love my selfies, I’m sure you’ve taken a selfie or five — but at the same time, its really time for a new generation to seek camaraderie, like, I don’t know if they even know what that is.”
Chasing Destiny premieres April 5 at 10 p.m. ET on BET. Frank Gatson, who has a long association with Rowland, Beyonce and other female music stars, will serve as the new series’ creative director/choreographer.
The upcoming special marks Kelly’s return to TV after judging stints on the U.S. and U.K. versions of The X Factor.
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