A Child Reborn

Usually, a musical group announcing a new album doesn't make many waves around the world, especially when it is a group which hasn't produced a studio album since 2006. However, most groups don't feature one of the biggest stars in the world like Destiny's Child does with founding member Beyonce Knowles, who announced this afternoon that the group would be releasing an album featuring new music at the end of this month. Now, I have a few of their tracks in my iTunes library, but would never consider myself a huge Destiny's Child fan. Still, there was simply no escaping them in the early 2000s, especially if you worked in radio, so I probably know more about their history then I ever intended. When they split in 2006 they were among the highest-selling musical acts at the time and (not-surprisingly), each had some initial solo success when they first went their separate ways. However, two of the members, Kelly Rowland and Michelle Williams had faded from the public spotlight since then. (You may remember I just saw Kelly Williams last month at the Macy's Christmas tree lighting ceremony and came away feeling kind of bad for her.) Only Beyonce has been able to keep herself at the top of her profession. It is that individual success which makes this reunion all the more surprising.

Acts breaking up to "pursue solo opportunities" while promising this break is only temporary and then never performing together again is common throughout music history. Acts reuniting before the one star member has to rarely happens. After all, the woman Beyonce is most often compared to, Diana Ross, never reunited with the Supremes (at least not the original line-up). Typically these kind of reunion tours only come around after everyone's solo careers have flopped, like when Creed reunited (and still flopped). If you would like another example of how this practice is practically a musical tradition, look no further than Van Halen, who swore they would never reunited with David Lee Roth... right up to the point when they stopped selling out arenas and ran out of other options. People tend to get over grudges a lot faster when the money stops rolling in. Again, that is what makes this particular reunion so rare in the music industry. Beyonce was always the brightest star in the group and released a very well-received album just a couple of years ago, not to mention she is married to Jay-Z, so I'm pretty sure she isn't hurting for money. Honestly, she may just like performing with Williams and Roland, which almost never happens in the music industry. The only other situation I can remember like this is when Gwen Stefani went back to No Doubt after having a very successful solo career which probably could have kept going if she wanted.

How rare is this situation in the music industry? I spent a little while this afternoon trying to think of another musical group which was once on a similar level of Destiny's Child before the members broke off to work on solo projects and then reunited as a group even though one of the original members was still in a midst of a successful solo career... and couldn't come up with any. (Just for clarification, I'm not counting super-bands like the Travelling Wilburys, Temple Of The Dog or The Highwaymen, where everyone was a star before joining the group and they got together for the fun of it.) Every reunion tour I could think of only came after every last cent had been squeezed out of every member's stalled solo careers and they were offered an insane amount of money to pretend they liked each other again. In fact, the closest example of a situation like this would be if Justin Timberlake decided it was time for an NSync reunion. (Not sure if it was by universal coincidence or a sign to his former bandmates that they shouldn't hold their breath, Timberlake announced this afternoon that he would be releasing his next solo album in the near future. Which is too bad, because I'm sure Joey Fatone has a clear calendar.) When I can only think of it happening twice before in music history you know this reunion makes for an uncommon situation.

Personally, I will be interested to see how this works out. So far there has been no announcement of a tour to follow, but if the album sells well than that should only be a formality. Also, I think the timing is rather convenient. Beyonce was announced as the Super Bowl halftime performer a few months ago and the game is in a few weeks. A Destiny's Child reunion could be exactly the kind of exciting, yet PC-friendly buzz the NFL has been dying to get from their biggest spectacle. Perhaps the ladies are waiting to see the reaction to that performance before going forward - will it be unbridled excitement from still-loyal fans or more along the lines of the apathy which greeted the Spice Girls reunion at the London Games over the summer? Judging by the reaction on the internet today, I would expect the former. I guess the only question then will be how long this trip down memory lane lasts. As anyone who has ever worked on a group project before knows, after a while you just get tired of having to listen to other people's ideas and want to go back to doing your own thing. Plus, I think we all know someone who has been in one of those dysfunctional relationships where a couple keeps breaking up and getting back together - the issues which led to the original break-up never really go away, they just go underground. That is why if this does lead to a full return of Destiny's Child to the top of the charts I would suggest you appreciate it while it is happening, because situations like this clearly don't come around too often.