People
NEW YORK — If good things come in threes, then
Kelly Rowland is basking in her current moment of bliss.Less than a month ago the Grammy winner birthed her second child, Noah; she celebrated her milestone 40th birthday last week; and on Friday she's dropping a new EP, simply titled “K.”“A couple of months ago, I said I'll have two births: the birth of the baby and the birth of an album,” said Rowland, after cautioning that her 6-year-old son Titan or the cries of her newborn might interrupt the interview. “Some songs I've had for years, some of the songs I've had for maybe a year or a couple of months, but it's all come together so beautifully.”The result of her musical labor of love is a six-track project heavily influenced by Afrobeat rhythms. So how was it recording with a growing womb?“(I was) out of breath!” Rowland laughed.“K” features the toe-tapping dance track “Crazy,” as well as the sultry “Hitman,” a song that should be a staple in the type of sweaty basement parties the pandemic can't allow.On the island-flavored “Better,” Rowland emotionally sings: “You better love me/'Cause I'm not going nowhere.”“I definitely tell you some of me and Tim's business,” she said with a laugh, adding that she's fallen more in love with husband Tim Weatherspoon during the forced-closeness of the pandemic. “When I hear a song, I don't hear it for, 'Is this going to be a hit record?' I hear it for how it makes me feel. And with the records that everyone will hear on the (EP), there's a connection to all of them.”The single “Black Magic,” which features rhythmic percussion and triumphant horns, is an ode to being “unapologetically Black and proud and full of joy,” Rowland explained. It's a track exuding self-love and pride by a woman whose name, thanks to a Kanye West lyric, has become an adjective for a beautiful darker-toned Black woman. But Rowland didn't always possess that “Black Magic” confidence.“I did notice it with certain photo shoots or with people being honest and saying, `Well, we can't have her for this campaign. She's a bit too dark,'” she revealed. “Did it affect me? For a while it did because I was thinking, 'Well, if I'm darker, then does that mean I'm (not) going to get the same opportunities?”'But Rowland found comfort in the successes of artists like Janet Jackson, Whitey Houston and Brandy, along with encouragement from older women close to her, and became confident in her complexion. She's continued to breathe that esteem into girls who look to her.———
LONDON — <b>Prince William</b> said Monday that his grandfather, <b>Prince Philip,</b> is “OK” as the 99-year-old royal consort remains in a hospital for rest and observation.William was asked about Philip when he visited a coronavirus vaccination center in eastern England.“Yes, he's OK, they're keeping an eye on him,” William said, and gave a wink.Philip was admitted to the private King Edward VII's Hospital in London on Tuesday after falling ill. Buckingham Palace said the husband of Queen Elizabeth II was expected to remain in the hospital into this week for a period of “observation and rest.”Philip's illness is not believed to be related to COVID-19. Both he and the queen, 94, received a first dose of a vaccine in early January.
