Showing posts with label Destiny's Child. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Destiny's Child. Show all posts

Friday, May 31, 2024

Anjel - Heavenly (2003)

When original members of Destiny's Child, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson, left the group in 2000, they planned to form a new band called Anjel. They wanted a third member of the group, so Linda Casey, the mother of two members of Jagged Edge, held a talent search in Connecticut, and Natasha Ramos landed the gig. Due to personality differences, Ramos soon left the group, but before leaving she introduced them to Naty Quinones, who auditioned and was added in her place, and in 2001 Tiffany Beaudoin was introduced to them by a mutual friend, and joined after an audition. The new group made one live appearance in 2001 on 'Good Day, NY', where they talked about the album they were working on, and sang part of their song 'Missing You'. They recorded 22 songs for their album in Atlanta, with the assistance of Jagged Edge, and were preparing to release it on Columbia Records through Jagged Edge's production company 581 Productions. However, Jermaine Dupri's leaving Columbia Records caused problems with 581 Entertainment, and while these business issues were being sorted out, the individual members of Anjel decided to look into other projects. Before the issues could be resolved, 581 Records folded in 2003 and the album was cancelled, leading to the break-up of the group. Since the break-up, Beaudoin has appeared on Jagged Edge's 2003 album, 'Hard', while Luckett signed to Capitol Records in 2004 and released her platinum selling debut solo album in 2006. Quinones, now going by the name Nativida or Nati Q., still works with Phar-City and is on an independent label, Soul-Empire, while Natasha Ramos signed to Star Trak in 2005, recording an unreleased album of her own with the Neptunes in 2006. Here are twenty of the songs that the final track listing of their album would have been chosen from had it not been cancelled, and you can hear that Luckett and Roberson put their experience with Destiny's Child to good use on the sessions.  



Track listing

01 Reach The Top  
02 Break (Check This Out)
03 Let Em Know
04 Best Of All Time
05 I Ain't With That
06 Trippin'
07 Be With You
08 Holla Back (feat. Rocky)
09 Me & My Boyfriend
10 Missing U
11 Lonely
12 Lingerie
13 Keep It Real
14 U Can Get It (Feat. Jagged Edge) 
15 Misery Loves Company  
16 Movin On 
17 Officially (Givin' You The Keys To Me) 
18 Cryin' Shame
19 Ain't My Style  
20 Not The Way I Pictured It

Friday, February 16, 2024

Destiny's Child - Let's Do Us (2004)

Destiny's Child started life as a four-piece group called Girl's Tyme, comprising Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LaTavia Roberson, and LeToya Luckett. Over the course of the early years in their career, Girl's Tyme changed their name to Somethin' Fresh, Cliché, The Dolls, and finally to Destiny, under which name they were signed to Elektra Records, but they were dropped several months later before they could release an album. They then signed to Columbia Records in 1997, adding the word 'Child' to their name, as they were unable to trademark the name Destiny. The group was launched into mainstream recognition following the release of the song 'No, No, No' in 1997, and a debut album followed the next year, but it their best-selling second album, 'The Writing's On The Wall', in 1999 which cemented their reputation as a chart-topping group, containing the number-one singles 'Bills, Bills, Bills' and 'Say My Name'. Despite critical and commercial success, they were plagued by internal conflict and legal turmoil, as Roberson and Luckett attempted to split from the group's manager, Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles, citing favouritism of Knowles and Rowland. In early 2000, both Roberson and Luckett were replaced with Michelle Williams and Farrah Franklin, but Franklin quit after a few months, leaving the group as a trio. Their third album, 'Survivor', was released in 2001, and the title and themes were interpreted by the public as a channel for the group's recent experiences. It produced the worldwide hits 'Independent Women', 'Survivor' and 'Bootylicious', but in 2001 they announced a hiatus to pursue solo careers, reuniting two years later for the release of their fifth and final studio album, 'Destiny Fulfilled' in 2004, after which they officially disbanded in 2006. While writing songs for their records, they often had left-overs which had to be omitted from the final track listings, either due to time constraints, or because they didn't fit the feel of the album. This post collects thirteen of them, recorded between 1997 and 2004, mopping up all the songs that never made it to one of their studio albums.   



Track listing

01 Forever Starts Today
02 I Try
03 Never Had A Love Like Mine
04 Show Me
05 You & Me
06 Life Like This
07 Like Dat
08 Body Rock
09 Heart
10 Let's Do Us
11 Never Enough
12 Sugar Daddy
13 Twirk

Tracks 1-5 'Destiny's Child' out-takes 1997
Track 6 'The Writing's On The Wall' out-take 1999
Tracks 7 'Survivor' out-take 2001
Tracks 8-13 'Destiny Fulfilled' out-takes 2004