MUSIC CD THE WRITINGS ON THE WALL BY DESTINY’S CHILD

Bibliographic Information:

Release date: July 27th 1999

Artists: Destiny’s Child

Label: Columbia

Producers: Kevin She’kspere’ Briggs; Beyoncé; Missy Elliot; Kandi Burruss

Genre: Pop; R&B

Summary: The Writings on the Wall was Destiny’s Child’s second album. At this time, this album reflected songs sung by the original members of Destiny’s Child: Beyoncé Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LaToya Luckett, and LaTavia Roberson. There were many producers for this album including Beyoncé herself, Kevin She’kspere’ Briggs, Missy Elliot, and Kandi Burruss just to name a few. The Writings on the Wall was Destiny’s Child’s best selling set, in total selling 64.4 million units. This album made it towards the top of the charts; on the R&B Hip Hop albums chart, on August 14th 1999, it both debuted and peaked at the number two spot. On the same day it debuted as number six on the Billboard 200 chart.

 

Critical Evaluation: This is an amazing and classic album. It tends to be primarily centered around cheating, and the sixteen tracks almost create a revenge plan put into action. From the perspective of constantly trying to get even, the album may come off as childish. However this isn’t a male bashing album at all, it appears that the girls are just discussing the causes and effects of cheating as well as trying to find clarity through those difficult situations. There are also some other prevalent themes in the album such as self-worth, and satisfaction. All the songs are extremely relatable, and cover issues that decent young women often run into when dating. Many of the songs also reflect underlying messages that are supposed to empower women. For examples, the “So Good” track is a response to the people that didn’t believe in the girls’ talent and said that they wouldn’t make it. Songs that specifically deal with women knowing their self-worth include: “Bills, Bills, Bills” and “Hey Ladies”.

Reader’s Annotation: N/a

Artist Information: In 1990, before Destiny’s Child as a group came about, Beyoncé and LaTavia met auditioning for a girls group. They went on to join a girls group called Girls Tyme with four other group members. After a debut on “Star Search” didn’t turn out well. Beyoncé’s father decided to cut three of the members and add LaToya Luckett. It was then that they changed the group name to Destiny’s Child which was inspired from a passage from the book of Isiah in the bible.

The four group members had a successful career together especially since the album The Writings on the Wall did so well, but things started to go south. In December 1999, both LaTavia and LaToya felt that Matthew Knowles favored Beyoncé and Kelly, and they accused him of not giving them their share of their earned money. The two went to look for another manager, only to find that Matthew Knowles cut them out of the group and brought in a new member Farrah Franklin right before they were going to make their music video of “Say My Name”. This was an even bigger deal because “Say My Name” was their highest charting single at that time. Eventually Farrah too would be dismissed from the group for absences and a supposed lack of intrest in the group. Michelle Williams joined the group a while later creating a three-member girl group with members Beyoncé and Kelly; they went on to sell many records together.

https://stylecaster.com/destinys-child-former-members/

Genre: Pop R&B

Curriculum Ties: N/a

Book Talk ideas: N/a

Interest Age: 13 and up

Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:

Challenge Issue: Mature Content

Review: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/destinys-child-the-writings-on-the-wall/

10 Facts About Destiny’s Child’s The Writing on the Wall: https://www.capitalxtra.com/artists/beyonce/lists/the-writings-on-the-wall-album-facts/billboard-200/

The 10 Commandments of Love Within Destiny’s Child’s “The Writing on the Wall”: https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/the-juice/6190986/destinys-childs-the-writings-on-the-wall-ten-10-lessons

Why included: The ladies of Destiny’s Child were and are very good role models for teenage girls. Their music wasn’t at all sex based and actually had some powerful messages underneath their lyrics. There isn’t a whole lot of profanity in their music either. It is a shame that other girl groups and singers that came after them didn’t follow in their footsteps. Through their work, Destiny’s Child shows teenage girls that they don’t have to follow society’s footsteps on how a woman should look, feel, and think.