Kelly Rowland tunes in to Cup fever
April 23, 2010
By Therese Owen
“Babe, I saw you trying to do the Zulu dance!” quips one of the directors. “Yeah, but it’s hard in heels and this dress.”
The beautiful creature in question is Kelly Rowland and the occasion is the filming of MTN’s official song for our much-anticipated World Cup.
Everywhere You Go features some of the biggest artists on the African continent: the beautiful Samini from Ghana, Awadi from Senegal, 2Face and our favourite South African rappers – Jozi, Slikour, Zuluboy and the up-and-coming Kwesta.
The idea was conceived by Antos Stella of AS Entertainment, who is the person behind the success of such legends as Lucky Dube.
“I’d always wanted to do a song featuring Africa’s top artists,” she said. “I’d covered the whole of Africa and realised hip hop is happening on this continent. But I wanted to do a track with artists who use traditional African elements in hip hop.”
Enter MTN, which was looking for an official song for their World Cup campaign. This resulted in big-time producer Steve Moralis getting involved and when Kelly heard the track she was sold!
“I got word through my management team and when I heard it, I knew it would be great to be involved,” she told Tonight from her home in Los Angeles earlier this month. “This song is about coming together and doing something new and cool. There is no song quite like this.”
On Tuesday night, Kelly and the nine African artists performed the track at the Turbine Hall in Newtown, Joburg, to an exclusive audience. The performance was great, although the sound was a bit naff and the stage was too low.
The group Jozi rocked da house and when the African rappers hit the stage, Kelly’s
performance fitted in perfectly with Africa’s superstars.
That afternoon, before the gig, she enjoyed lunch with the African rappers and even tried to learn Zulu dancing from Zuluboy!
The next day the filming of the video took place and I arrived just in time to see my favourites, Jozi’s Ishmael and Da Les, dance in front of the green screen for their part on the track. Of course, Jozi were fantastically fun. Then it was the turn of Samini, who made Ntando look rather plain with his good looks and sexy moves.
A long break was taken before Ms Rowland took to the green screen. And she was perfect. Dressed in a yellow dress designed by Stoned Cherrie, she was the ultimate talented perfectionist.
And there was no hint of diva behaviour. She carefully listened to director Andrew Wessels and laughed with the crew. When the cameras started rolling, her poise (the reason why she is one of the greatest singers of our time) began to shine through. Thankfully, she does not have the over- bearing confidence of Beyoncé.
Instead, this former Destiny’s Child star has her own understated style and sweetness. And her beauty is astonishing. As the director shouts “cut”, she whirls around on her unendingily high heels, looks at the camera, and winks. Perfect.
Okay, green screens aside, the idea behind the video, says Stella, is to have a cutting-edge video that is going to stand the test of time.
“We want to reflect what is happening in urban Africa. I am hoping that this video will be relevant in five years’ time. It’s not just part of the World Cup. Our audience is the MTV market, first in Africa and then in the rest of Europe.”
The final video will be aired in two weeks’ time. Check out the MTN World Cup campaign in the media in the meantime.
