Kelly Rowland – Need A Reason (feat. Bei Major & Future)

Kelly Rowland's Here I Am should have been better. It really should have. For the former Destiny's Child star, with the prime-time audience of the X Factor acting as a ready-made promo platform, all the potential was there for her to launch a proper year defining smash. But instead it felt like a cobbled together collection of disparate half-made efforts.

And new track Need A Reason, to be honest, feels very symptomatic of everything that felt flat about the LP. As far as Kelly slow-jams go, sultry Keep It Between Us (one of the album's scant properly good tracks) does it a whole lot better - while Need A Reason, for all its smoothly produced niceties and shimmery synth backing, never feels like anything more than just 'nice'.

We're still waiting on another track as monumental as Kelly's Guetta collab Commander - whether she delivers that by the end of this year is anyone's guess though...

[Official Video] Kelly Rowland - Keep It Between Us

Kelly Rowland's Here I Am album felt, on the whole, like a bit of a let down. With the mass exposure afforded her by her duties as X Factor judge, the potential was there for the ex Destiny's Child star to deliver a truly stellar pop record that would be lapped up in its tens of thousands just as Cheryl Cole had done in previous years.

But instead, the album felt largely flat and uninteresting, a playing-over of by-the-numbers R&B/Pop - the kind of stuff the likes of Jason Derulo have built their careers on. And Kelly's better than that, we know she is. But when the album's best track was year-old dance anthem Commander, you knew things weren't going to end well.

But that's not to say the record didn't have its redeeming features, and new single Keep It Between Us was one of the best. A haunting, sensual slow-jam that sees Kelly exploring some more adventurous electronica laced chill-out vibes, the track is a delightful reminder of how good a star of Kelly's calibre can be when she wants to be. Beautiful, luscious, Keep It Between Us makes us want to fall in love with Miss Rowland all over again.

Kelly Rowland - "Keep It Between Us" from Kelly Rowland on Vimeo.

Kelly Rowland - Lay It On Me

Kelly Rowland can't have been pleased with the performance of her latest album, Here I Am. Despite her massive X Factor, it only managed a meagre chart placing of 43.

And the latest single to be taken from it, Lay It On Me, is as much a non-event as the album itself. It's a perfectly serviceable modern R&P/Pop number, but beyond that, its existence is a whimpering null. It slides without notice alongside its contemporaries and if not for the female vocal, could easily have been a cut from the latest Jason Derulo LP - hell, it even has a lyric about 'rollin solo'.

With its tinny beats and choppy synth rhythms, Lay It On Me is a pleasant enough listen, but it pales in comparison to the dancefloor-domineering power of Commander or the sonically more adventurous chill-out vibes of Keep It Between Us (for my money one of the best songs on the album).

Lay It On Me is released on the 6th February.

Kelly Rowland chats about her big break

With stars as big as global sensation turned X Factor judge Kelly Rowland, it's easy to forget that even they started somewhere - working their way up through the echelons of pop music to reach the lofty heights they inhabit today.

Chatting to the team behind the O2 December Sessions, Kelly explained just how things worked out for her:

Can you tell us about the one moment that gave you a big break in your career?

It was firstly meeting Whitney and secondly performing on the Grammy’s for the first time. You feel like you’ve really arrived in that moment because you’re performing in front of your peers and these are the people that actually vote for you to get a Grammy Award. I respect the Grammy’s so much.

Was performing live important for you when you were trying to get a name for yourself?

Absolutely. I just remember coming up with Destiny’s Child and we would watch video tapes of Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, The Jackson 5 and the Supremes and look at how they were having fun above anything but how they just commanded the audience and you have to embrace that as a performer and constantly work on that as well.  It’s pretty hard to go out there and do your first live performance. I mean you’re performing in front of so many people but it’s also important to have fun. You have to have fun.

People are saying right now that we need to nurture new talent more than ever because of record companies wanting to take less of a punt on new acts due to reduced budgets - would you agree and if so why do you think new talent is so important?

I think there are new ways to invest in new talent. I’m investing in myself. There used to be a time when record labels would shoot so many different video’s and have more of a budget but it is all stripped down now. But when you believe in something you put money behind it.

What advice would you give to up an up and coming act trying to break through right now?

Definitely self promote, find places to perform and get out there. Perform everywhere. And YouTube - i constantly go on to YouTube to find new things and ideas, it’s such a great inspiration.

You can read more about Kelly's big break at http://makingabreakforit.tumblr.com/

Kelly Rowland finding out Frankie's been kicked off the X Factor

Sometimes it's the simplest of premises that bring the most LOLz. Here's X Factor darling Kelly Rowland finding out Frankie Coke-cozza has been axed from the X Factor - in the middle of an interview!

Now, I love Kelly and she's been looking smoking-h.o.t. on the judging panel every week, but you've got to feel sorry for the girl as she clearly dies of first shock, and then embarrassment. Uttering a disbelieving 'whut?!', she quickly holds up her hand to shield her facial expression.

Amazing.

Martin Solveig feat. Kele - Ready 2 Go

For all of Kele Okereke's recent dabblings into the world of dance - both on his debut solo album and the more recent Bloc Party records - seeing him collaborate with Martin Solveig is not something I expected. The results are rather spectacular though.

Ready 2 Go is a fist-pumping bit of Daft Punk styled electro-house; a fizzy vocodered backbeat underpinning a classic Kele vocal. More poppy than we'd normally expect from the indie supremo, it's rather charming to see him deliver something that at times sounds like it's going to meld seamlessly into David Guetta and Kelly Rowland's When Love Takes Over.

You only need to look at the super-success of Solveig's previous single Hello to see how attuned the producer is to what works in a hit club track (as well as his skill at picking collaborators to vocal his tracks).

At this time of year, all the big dance hits of the summer are coming out in force and Ready 2 Go is easily up there with the best of them.

Ready 2 Go is released on the 26th June.