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Mathew Knowles, manager of Destiny's Child and new female group Play and
Ramiah, warned that all the blame shouldn't be put on his peers, however.
"The number one overwhelming inherent problem is the men that these
girls fall in love with," he insisted. "They have to establish the
difference between their business and their personal relationships.
Unfortunately, most women will listen to the guy about their professional
life. That is probably the single biggest thing that breaks these groups up,
because [the women] don't establish 'This is my personal life and I'm not
going to talk to you about your professional life. And I'd rather you didn't
talk about my professional life.'"
So what happens when the group is imploding?
"You deal with it as it happens," Ellerbee said matter-of-factly.
"You don't deal with it when it bursts. If you are a part of someone's
daily activity then you have what is called 'relationship in-conversations.'
You have to have these conversations to find out where the bug is. Either
you're going to spray it with Raid or you're just going to let it travel
through the house. I particularly like to spray it with Raid and sit down and
discuss what the problem is before it gets to the public."
If the strife does leak and become fodder for mass consumption, the professional
spin doctor suggested that coming clean is the way to go.
"It should never get there," Ellerbee said. "When it gets out
to the public it just makes it worse, because now
everyone is going to begin to take sides. I think that we are responsible to talk to
our fanbase. Simply say, 'You know what, I respect you all,
I love you all for what you have done supporting us over the years. Yes,
there have been problems and discrepancies, but we are trying to work them out.'
"You win a fanbase because you are being honest," he continued. "But don't wait one
year after and try to deal with this when the public already knows. That's
when they go hating on you. Be honest with them."
Fan backlash can certainly occur when what is familiar is tampered with. Obviously there are success stories when girl group members go out on their own (see Diana Ross), but more often than not, solo projects such as Coko's and Kandi Burruss' from Xscape don't come close to the success of their group efforts.
Even the number one cheerleader for Destiny's Child's solo projects said he
and the ladies know where their bread is buttered.
"They understand that the group is way better than being solo,"
Knowles said. "They make more money as a group, there is more
camaraderie as a group. It's easier as a group, and I think even though
they'll all have tremendous success [as solo artists], it helps reinforce how
important a group is."
No matter how many times you change lineups, or even if you shut your group down
altogether, you can always go home. Just ask the ladies of SWV, who recently
put aside their differences and are currently shopping for a record deal. And 702
have done them one better — not only are the original members back together
after being apart for a year, but they recently completed production on their
third album, Star, with help from the Neptunes, the Clipse, Loon and Mario
Winans. The project should be out in December.
"Thankfully we were mature enough and educated enough to know that it is
bigger than the three of us and we put our differences aside and put it back
together," said Kameelah, who initially left the group. "We
had so much fun recording this new record."
"I think what helps to keep a group together is learning your position
and importance in the circle," Irish chimed in. "Understanding that
you are not the only one and everybody in the circle has a relevance."
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