Destiny Fulfilled
Destiny Fulfilled is the fifth and final studio album by American girl group Destiny's Child. It was released on November 8, 2004, by Columbia Records and Sony Urban Music. Following the conclusion of promotional activities for their globally successful third studio album Survivor, Destiny's Child embarked on a two-year hiatus, during which each member released solo albums to varying levels of success. They reunited in the summer of 2004 to record Destiny Fulfilled, primarily at the Sony Music Studios in New York City. Unlike the group's previous recordings, the album saw each member equally contributing to the songwriting and production, drawing inspiration from the events in their lives while being apart.
Executive producing Destiny Fulfilled alongside their manager Mathew Knowles, Destiny's Child further worked with frequent collaborators such as Rockwilder and Rodney Jerkins, as well as several new ones, including 9th Wonder, Sean Garrett and Rich Harrison. Their efforts resulted with an R&B record further exploring genres such as crunk, dance, hip hop and funk. Lyrically a concept album, each of its tracks is a continuation of its predecessor, altogether telling a complete story tracing a woman's relationship journey. The balladry and lyrical content were met with generally mixed reviews from music critics, who nevertheless praised the equality of contributions among members and their vocal performances.
A highly-anticipated comeback album, Destiny Fulfilled went through several release date alterations due to a concern over Internet leaks, ultimately being released a day earlier. Its street date violation resulted with a premature debut at number 19 on the US Billboard 200. The album's sales were principally unaffected by the unconventional release as it subsequently peaked at number two, selling 558,000 units within its first eight days of release, and went on to be certified triple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Despite its mixed critical reception, the album garnered five Grammy Award nominations, including Best Contemporary R&B Album. One of the best-selling girl group albums of all time, the album has sold over seven million copies worldwide.
Destiny Fulfilled produced four singles. "Lose My Breath" and "Soldier" both peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100 and achieved widespread international commercial success. "Girl" peaked only at number 23 on the US Billboard Hot 100 but was a top-10 hit in Australia, Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, "Cater 2 U" fared better on the US Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 14. Destiny's Child further promoted the album with their world tour Destiny Fulfilled... and Lovin' It. During the tour's Palau Sant Jordi show in Barcelona on June 11, 2005, the group announced their disbandment; they formally disbanded following the release of the live album Live in Atlanta.
Background and development
In April 2001, Destiny's Child released their highly-anticipated third studio album Survivor. Fueled by the widespread commercial success of "Independent Women Part I" and "Survivor", it became their first US Billboard 200 number-one album. The album sold steadily and went on to be certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Furthermore, it was nominated for Best R&B Album at the 44th Annual Grammy Awards, and has sold over ten million copies worldwide. While recording Survivor in December 2000, Beyoncé announced that Destiny's Child would eventually embark on a hiatus which would allow each member to release a solo album, which they hoped would further increase interest in the group. The idea of solo albums emanated from the group's manager and Beyoncé's father Mathew Knowles. Kelly Rowland further explained in an interview that Destiny's Child had been present in the media for a long time and they wanted to "give the public eye a rest from DC for a minute". During that same interview, she acknowledged that the trio would reunite during the fall of 2003 to start recording a new album.During the hiatus, Michelle Williams released two gospel studio albums-Heart to Yours and Do You Know. The former peaked atop the US Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart, becoming 2002's biggest selling gospel album; with over 220,000 copies sold in the US and 500,000 worldwide. Furthermore, Williams won a British MOBO Award for "Best Gospel Act" in 2002 and made her Broadway debut, as the lead in the musical Aida on November 18, 2003. Although Beyoncé's solo album was initially scheduled for October 2002, its release was postponed due to the success of Kelly Rowland's collaboration with Nelly, "Dilemma", which peaked atop the US Billboard Hot 100 for a cumulative 10 weeks and won a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Performance at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards. Therefore, Rowland's pop rock-oriented solo debut Simply Deep was moved up to October, ahead of Beyoncé's album. Simply Deep debuted at number 12 on the US Billboard 200, and has gone on to be certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, selling over 600,000 copies in the US and over 2.5 million worldwide. Beyoncé, who was the last member to release an album, was regarded the most successful with Dangerously in Love. The album debuted atop the US Billboard 200, enjoying international commercial success and widespread critical acclaim. Furthermore, it produced two US Billboard Hot 100 number-one hits-"Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy"-and won five Grammy Awards at the 46th Annual Grammy Awards, causing Beyoncé to tie for winning the most Grammy Awards at a single ceremony among women. The members' respective solo achievements led to intense speculation over the disbandment of Destiny's Child. In July 2004, amidst the rumors, Rowland announced the group's return to the studio to record Destiny Fulfilled. The group claimed the reunion was destined to happen, and that their affinity for each other kept them together.
Recording and production
Production of Destiny Fulfilled commenced during the summer of 2004, with Destiny's Child enlisting frequent collaborators such as Rockwilder and Rodney Jerkins, as well as new ones, including 9th Wonder, Sean Garrett and Rich Harrison. 9th Wonder initially met Beyoncé while she was in the recording studio as her now-husband, rapper Jay-Z recorded the song "Threat" for his album The Black Album. After Jay-Z went through the CD of tracks 9th Wonder had handed to him, Beyoncé mentioned that she liked what she heard from him. Several months later, 9th Wonder received a call from Jay-Z, asking for him to give the CD to Destiny's Child. He was surprised at being contacted by the rapper about working with the group, as he confessed that he had never owned an album by them. He later traveled to Los Angeles to work with the trio for their next album. During the three-day session, he produced the songs "Girl", "Is She the Reason" and "Game Over". Garrett, who co-wrote "Lose My Breath", "Soldier", "T-Shirt", "Is She the Reason", "Girl" and "Through with Love", recalled working on the album: "There was so much magic going on in the studio. We probably recorded all the songs in about a month and every day it was a new song coming out. 'Lose My Breath' was towards the latter part of the album and that was an amazing song that we felt could not only be big on the radio but big with bands and marching bands. I was on a natural high after that."Destiny's Child recorded Destiny Fulfilled within a three-week period, mostly at the Sony Music Studios in New York City, where all tracks except "Through with Love" were recorded. They took the role of executive producing, alongside their manager Mathew Knowles. Beyoncé, who vocally produced the songs, commented that it was important for her to make sure their voices were audible and identifiable. Taking it as one of her goals, the group decided to focus on mid-tempo songs and on few dance tracks and ballads—which they considered songs listeners cannot sing along with. Beyoncé further elaborated: "We wanted to make sure that the songs would be something that we were proud of 10 years from now, 20 years from now. We wanted it to be something that people can really feel an emotion to. Up-tempo songs can do that, but they more make you wanna dance." Jerkins, who had worked with the group on their previous studio albums and with Beyoncé for her solo debut Dangerously in Love, was concerned with how he would manage the production, saying: "How is this going to work?' Cause Beyoncé, she blew up solo, so how's it going to work in a group together?". However, he stated his skepticism vanished once the recording commenced, as he saw the group's "excitement being back in the studio together", calling the process "natural".
The members stated the first week of recording Destiny Fulfilled was spent solely on conversations about the events in their lives while being apart, as they hadn't spent quality time together for an extended period. This further inspired them to record the conversations and use it as the main theme of the record. In most cases, producers would send the group a CD containing a track which would serve as the basis in the songwriting process; without the producers' supervision of which part to sing, a new direction of their style was formed, differing from their previous records. The traditional approach where each member sang one verse and chimed in the chorus was replaced; on some tracks from Destiny Fulfilled, their vocals alternated on every line of the lyrics, a technique similar to hip hop artists. Differing from Survivor, on which Beyoncé had taken an active role in writing and producing, Destiny Fulfilled saw each member contributing inputs culled from personal experiences, individual opinions and points of view independent of those from the other members. As Kelly Rowland was recently engaged during the songwriting process, her writing was further influenced by the engagement. She also cited that being apart from the group affected the lyrical themes as well: "All of us have been in three different places ... so there's a lot to talk about, a lot that's gone on, personally. I think it's important to talk about that on this new record, to put what we've been going through separately into the new record."