FEATURE:
Say My Name
Destiny's Child’s The Writing's on the Wall at Twenty-Five
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EVEN though the album was…
IN THIS PHOTO: Destiny’s Child in 1999/PHOTO CREDIT: REX/Shutterstock
released in Japan on 14th July, Destiny’s Child’s The Writing’s on the Wall came out in the U.S. on 27th July, 1999. Because of that, I wanted to mark twenty-five years of one of the most important and still underrated albums of that decade. As the group were unhappy with their 1998 debut album, Destiny’s Child, they sought more creative control and direction of the follow-up. Selecting a range of producers and collaborators, the results show. The Writing’s on the Wall is a more eclectic, confident and consistent album. With the vocal arrangements and compositions bolder and more experimental in places, this was an album that took Destiny’s Child to the next level. Mixing unconventional with classic, we get R&B, Neo-Soul and a range of other genres mixed together. In terms of the album itself, The Writing’s on the Wall was intended a concept album around the Ten Commandments. Each of the tracks represented a different state or sin. Infidelity, deception and separation for example. There are religious themes and references through the album, though I think most people love The Writing’s on the Wall because of the blend of vocals and the incredible songs. There was a lot of issues and controversy around the album due to the departure of original members, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson. Internal group strife and split. Farrah Franklin and Michelle Williams stepping in. I always think of Destiny’s Child as led by Beyoncé. She is very much the driving force of the group. Even though there was a change of personnel and not everything was as harmonious as it could be, the second album from Destiny’s Child is incredibly strong.
I want to bring in a few features about The Writing’s on the Wall. Consequence wrote about the album in 2019. They discuss and dissect the group changes and spotlight the amazing and timeless songs. Without doubt, one of the finest albums of the 1990s. Hugely influencing R&B and putting Destiny’s Child among the greatest and most important girl groups ever, one cannot deny the sheet importance of The Writing’s on the Wall:
“Because it was already clear that Beyoncé was the star. She was the leading voice on Destiny’s Child, but she would dominate on 1999’s The Writing’s on the Wall. The group dynamic had changed. From a young age, the girls had performed together. Now one was elevated above the others. As they were finishing The Writing’s on the Wall, this was bothering LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Tuckett.
It didn’t help that Matthew Knowles was paying himself above the standard management rate. He had financed the group and then quit his job to pursue this dream. He now felt entitled to a bigger share of the financial success. And that success was coming quickly. A month before their second album dropped, lead single, “Bills, Bills, Bills,” debuted at No. 84. Five weeks later, it was the No. 1 song in the country.
Written by Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs along with Kandi Burress of Xscape, the song brought new attitude to Destiny’s Child. If their debut album was about anything, it was about trying to find love. Now Destiny’s Child cared about something more: Respect. The protagonist of “Bills, Bills, Bills” isn’t some idle sugar baby. She’s tired of loaning out her car, her cell phone, her credit cards, and more. She’s an independent woman exhausted with her dependent man.
Buoyed by “Bills, Bills, Bills”, The Writing’s on the Wall entered the charts as the No. 6 album in the country. It opens with a playful, Godfather-inspired sketch. The girls are introduced with mobster names. In need of counsel, they seek out “Destiny’s Child’s Commandments for Relationships.” Every song is introduced with a menacing commandment, so yes, The Godfather is being blended with the Bible. It’s silly and fun, even if it does go on a bit long. The first song is introduced with Thou Shalt Not Hate.
After that comes Thou Shalt Pay Bills, Thou Shalt Confess, and Thou Shalt Not Bug. These four resulting songs fit together like gears in a clock. The glow-up of “So Good” whirls into “Bills, Bills, Bills”. With Missy Elliott’s help, “Confessions” spins into the catchy kiss-off of “Bug a Boo.” It’s a killer four-track run.
“Bug a Boo” is another single from She’kspere and Burress. Looking back, it’s clear She’kspere and Burress, an R&B trailblazer with Xscape, deserve at least some credit for shaping Beyoncé’s image. The attitude in these Destiny’s Child songs is, to a certain extent, the attitude of the ghostwriters. On the other hand, imagine She’kspere starting with the thin voices and clumsy flows of TLC and then moving on to Beyoncé. On “Bug a Boo”, Beyoncé just about sings faster than Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes ever rapped. Better yet, you can hear every word. This is the album where we start to appreciate Beyoncé’s incredible technical skill.
“Bug a Boo” was the last music video featuring Roberson and Tuckett. In December of 1999, they began a lawsuit. They hoped to get a new manager, someone objective who wasn’t related to Kelly Rowland and Beyoncé. They wanted a more standard financial arrangement with their manager. They wanted to be taken seriously as founding members of one of the most popular groups in the world.
They didn’t know they’d been kicked out until they saw the new music video on MTV.
Perhaps Roberson and Luckett had a point, and Matthew Knowles was stealing from them. Perhaps they took some bad advice. Perhaps they would have been unhappy as semi-anonymous backup dancers, always standing behind Beyoncé in slightly worse light. Or maybe they had been part of the group for so long that they couldn’t imagine it without them. Now, like Big Brother and the Holding Company, they are footnotes in someone else’s story.
Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin appeared in the “Say My Name” music video, pretending to sing Roberson and Luckett’s parts. The controversy helped promote the song, as did the color block music video directed by Joseph Kahn. The story within the song is wonderfully specific. The cheating didn’t happen in the past; it is currently happening during this phone call.
Produced by Darkchild (“The Boy Is Mine”), “Say My Name” is actually quite weird. The music starts out simply enough, with a melodic guitar and sharp 808s. But the chorus fills up with all sorts of musical boings and wobbles, with guitar wahs and electric beeps. It’s the melody, though, that is the most striking aspect of the song. The notes comes in staccato bursts, demanding perfect precision from vocal chords and tongue. Today we take for granted the influence of hip-hop on pop music. Destiny’s Child is a big reason why.
There aren’t many dull spots on The Writing’s on the Wall, but they have in common that they waste Beyoncé. “If You Leave” is a group duet with the ladies of Destiny’s Child and the gentlemen of Next. It’s a boilerplate ballad, like a B-side from K-Ci and JoJo. “Temptation” has a boring, undemanding melody. Considering the steamy subject, there’s a real lack of heat.
But altogether, and especially for a pop album, the non-singles are remarkably good. “Now That She’s Gone” would sound pathetic in a collection of love songs, but here it sounds vulnerable, like a rare moment of weakness. “Hey Ladies” vibrates with rage and frustration. The lyrics veer about for targets, sometimes twisting into self-loathing before lunging again at the cheating man.
The album’s layout is easy on the ear. Some albums frontload the singles and backload the ballads, which is like getting all the taco meat in one bite and all the sour cream in another. Here, there’s a really nice distribution of the uptempo, the down-tempo, and the earworms.
The Writing’s on the Wall produced one more single, “Jumpin’ Jumpin’”, which became their second No. 1. Having conquered radio, there was nothing left for Destiny’s Child to do but rule the clubs. The music video was the last to feature Farrah Franklin. She wasn’t a good fit for the group. Rather than replace her, Destiny’s Child downsized to a trio. Fittingly, Beyoncé recorded, “Jumpin’ Jumpin’” by herself, and so hers is the only voice we hear anyway.
By the end of the promotional cycle for The Writing’s on the Wall, the thing that was already happening behind the scenes exploded in front of our eyes. Beyoncé was the star. When two of the founding members disagreed, they were no longer part of the group. I don’t want to minimize their experience, which was no doubt full of mental distress. It’s hard thinking you’re part of the core and being told you’re not. Most of us would struggle. But it feels like they missed out. If you’re not a Destiny’s Child superfan, you might’ve already forgotten their names”.
Can we really talk about Destiny’s Child in 1999 and not mention Beyoncé?! She was already established herself as someone who could forge a solo career. An incredible talent who was very much at the heart and centre of the best moments from The Writing’s on the Wall. Even so, it is as group effort. In 2019, Stereogum marked twenty years of Destiny’s Child stunning sophomore album:
“Around the same time Destiny’s Child were making that first album, Timbaland and Missy Elliott were reshaping the way rap and R&B would sound. Timbaland’s production — globular bass, tricky counter-melodies, sci-fi beep-whirrs, weird rhythmic hiccups, vast expanses of negative space — was a radical departure from the relatively straightforward swingbeat of its era. It took rap music months to absorb those new ideas, and it took R&B years. But by the time Destiny’s Child made their mind-bogglingly successful sophomore album, it had happened. Three months before The Writing’s On The Wall hit stores, TLC’s sublime “No Scrubs” made it to #1. On that song, producer Kevin “She’kspere” Briggs took a glimmering and processed acoustic-guitar figure and ran it through a post-Timbaland prism, supercharging it with clicks and blips and stutters. That style became the template for Destiny’s Child, who did great things with it and who got huge in the process.
he’kspere produced five songs on The Writing’s On The Wall, including two of the four singles. He co-wrote all five of them with his then-girlfriend Kandi Burruss, the former Xscape member and current Real Housewife. When Destiny’s Child brought She’skpere and Burruss to Houston, the duo were told that there was only space for one more song on the record. But the duo gave them “Bug A Boo,” and the group ended up building the entire album around that sound. Beyoncé, in particular, had a flair for it. Thanks in part to her father’s boot camps, she was able to sing intricate and sophisticated melodic lines over these intricate and sophisticated tracks. She was also able to personalize the songs. All four members of Destiny’s Child got co-writing credits on the album’s songs because they would rewrite the lyrics, twisting them into the right shapes. But Beyoncé in particular could sing this stuff like she meant it.
That post-Timbaland sound is all over The Writing’s On The Wall. Superstar producer Rodney Jerkins brought it to the eventual #1 hit “Say My Name,” refracting and atomizing a traditional R&B ballad into a skittering, panting masterpiece. Beyoncé co-produced “Jumpin’, Jumpin’,” another future hit, building a club jam out of oscillating synth-lasers. Missy Elliott herself produced and rapped on “Confessions,” adding a computerized alien moan. There are more conventionally mid-’90s R&B moments all over The Writing’s On The Wall, like “Sweet Sixteen” or “If You Leave,” the duet with the R&B boy band Next. There’s even a lovely album-closing rendition of “Amazing Grace” that’s clearly there to show the group’s pure vocal bona fides. But this is an album with its heart in the future.
It’s also an album with a cynical, jaded, sometimes-transactional view of love. All through the album, men are letting down the members of Destiny’s Child. On “Bills, Bills, Bills,” they’re mad at no-account men sponging off of them. On “Bug A Boo” and “Say My Name,” they’re suspicious, sure their men are creeping. On “Jumpin’, Jumpin’,” they’re ready to cheat themselves. After all, who needs a healthy relationship when the club is full of ballers with their pockets full grown? When a full-grown Beyoncé went back into accusatory mode years later on Lemonade, she had the weight of cultural memory working for her. We’d already known since she was a kid that she wasn’t taking any bullshit.
But Destiny’s Child itself became a cynical, jaded, transactional entity soon afterward. Original members LaTavia Roberson and LeToya Luckett tried to separate themselves from Mathew Knowles, convinced that Beyoncé and Kelly Rowland were getting more money and attention. They found out that they were out of the group when they saw other girls lip-syncing their parts in the “Say My Name” video. They sued. Thanks to the resulting public-relations shitstorm, Beyoncé spent the next year or so in damage-control mode. But there was no lasting damage. In the end, Destiny’s Child got even bigger, and The Writing’s On The Wall kept selling.
It sold, and it sold. The Writing’s On The Wall debuted at #5, and it never climbed any higher. But as all four singles rolled out, the album kept moving units. Its biggest sales week came after it had been out for a year. In the end, it moved more than eight million copies. And it turned Beyoncé into a star. Beyoncé, who dominated every track on The Writing’s On The Wall, was young enough to take immediately to the new sounds that were suddenly reshaping R&B aesthetics. And she’d practiced hard enough that she had the technical skills to handle tracks like that while still broadcasting personality all over them. She was made for her times. She became a conqueror”.
I am going to end up with another great feature. This one ranked the tracks on The Writing’s on the Wall. Also in 2019, Stylist wrote how Destiny’s Child captured an impressively full picture of what it is be a woman. Teenagers when the album was released, it is startling mature and confident. So worldly-wise and experienced. Feminist and empowering, it is small wonder The Writing’s on the Wall inspired so many others. Feminist-themed and led music by everyone from Rihanna to Megan Thee Stallion. Two years later, in 2001, Survivor was released. It featured the classic line-up of Beyoncé, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland. I still think The Writing’s on the Wall is the group’s best album:
“Despite being only 17 when the album was released, Destiny’s Child had already cultivated a feminist message that stood out amid the saccharine girl-pop and heartbroken ballads of their contemporaries.
For artists who had lived so little, they managed to capture an impressively full picture of what it meant to be a woman
Playing off the theme of the 10 commandments, interludes like “Thou shall know when he’s got to go” punctuate songs about financial freedom, toxic relationships and sexual expression.
For artists who had lived so little, they managed to capture an impressively full picture of what it meant to be a woman.
There are the unashamed celebrations: opener So Good is boastful, laughing in the face of anyone who ever doubted them. Club anthem Jumpin’ Jumpin’ is an ode to having fun with your friends – and, more importantly, without your partner. Temptation tells the tale of a woman lusting after a man, a refreshing flip of the age-old script.
PHOTO CREDIT: Getty Images
Then there are the warnings: beware of the scrub who won’t pull his weight, says Bills, Bills, Bills. Remove yourself from obsessive, claustrophobic relationships, says Bug A Boo. Don’t ignore the signs of a cheater, says Say My Name.
And it was these, the original “leave him, sis” anthems, that were far and away the biggest singles from the album. They validated so many women’s romantic experiences, giving us permission to point our fingers and nod our heads at each other in recognition.
They weren’t mopey, sentimental songs about heartbreak. They were knowing. They were powerful. They were full of fight.
And it’s no coincidence that, over the next 20 years, Beyoncé would weave this empowering magic into a personal brand – it’s evident on everything from Run The World (Girls) to Single Ladies to Sorry.
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With writing credits on 11 of The Writing’s On The Wall’s 16 tracks and the lion’s share of the vocals, it’s fair to say this was a warm-up for baby Beyoncé.
Her father was no fool making the young Destiny’s Child sit and study videos of The Jackson 5 and The Supremes for hours on end – it was always the plan that Beyonce would go the way of Michael Jackson and Diana Ross, rising from a successful group to become a world-dominating star in her own right.
The fact that someone as talented and luminous as Kelly Rowland could be overshadowed is truly testament to Beyonce’s dazzling star quality, even as a teenager.
And as early as The Writing’s On The Wall, she was already head and shoulders above the rest, straining to get ahead. She was experimenting with what worked, what connected with women everywhere, and she’s been honing that craft ever since.
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The chopping and changing of the group’s line-up would have detracted from the music in most cases, but the drama became background noise as we focused firmly on the woman standing in the spotlight.
A seminal classic, The Writing’s On The Wall was the official announcement that a star had been born. It gave us the first taste of the proud, joyful feminism so many of us were lucky enough to grow up on. Thou shall listen to it on repeat”.
On 27th July, it is twenty-five years since The Writing’s on the Wall was released in the U.S. A seminal and hugely groundbreaking album, it launched Destiny’s Child to the world. Iconic songs like Say My Name and Bills, Bills, Bills. The album still sounds fresh and alive today. You can see the artists it has influenced and how it changed R&B. A massively successful achievement from Destiny’s Child, The Writing’s on the Wall has lost one of its power…
AFTER quarter of a century.