Beyonce Knowles follows her destiny

By KATHERINE TULICH

So much for time off. In her downtime from Destiny's Child, Beyonce Knowles has made her cinema debut as the dirty talkin' afro-ed Foxxy Cleopatra in last year's Austin Powers 3: Goldmember, and she is now fronting two major ad campaigns in the US - one for L'Oreal and one for Pepsi.

She has just finished shooting her second movie, The Fighting Temptations alongside Cuba Gooding jnr, and is now making a bid for the charts with her first solo album called Dangerously in Love.

These days, the star would prefer to be known as just Beyonce.

"All the divas go by one name," she says, laughing and flicking her long honey brown hair. But that doesn't mean she plans on becoming the next J-Lo.

While Destiny's Child is the biggest-selling female group of all time and Beyonce was once described by Madonna as "the most exciting and sexy singer to come out of America in years", the 21-year-old Houston-born singer has never been known for her diva-like demands.

Instead she has a reputation for her gracious and humble behaviour. Even as lead singer of Destiny's Child she has been happy to share the limelight with fellow members, Michelle Williams and Kelly Rowland, who are all finding success with their own solo projects.

"If not for anything else, I hope Destiny's Child will set an example for women and girl groups, that you can do things individually and do things together and not be so competitive and not have to fight and break up," she says in her liquid southern drawl.

Knowles is in Los Angeles to promote Dangerously in Love. It's edging towards the end of a busy day, but the singer remains bright and bubbly with no sign of question-fatigue.

"My album is finally done, it was a long time coming but it's finally finished, so I feel I can breathe again and relax," she says as she scoops herself into a large lounge chair in a suite at the posh Beverly Wilshire Hotel. "I've been getting some great feedback, so I'm happy."

A giant poster of her album cover sits behind her. It's shimmery silver and blue disco-retro with her hair blow-dried into a '70s Farrah Fawcett-like mane, and she's wearing, well ... very little. The outfit is a blaze of rhinestones thinly strung together. Fortunately, with the help of a few strategically placed stones and a little airbrushing, Beyonce's modesty remains intact. But today her outfit is decidedly low key with a scoop-neck sleeveless combat-green T-shirt framing her toned arms and a baseball cap.

Not surprisingly, as the group's songwriter and lead singer, Beyonce's album dishes up a sound more familiar to Destiny fans - exciting vocals, musical arrangements that surge into the stratosphere, and a pot-pourri of musical influences from pop to hip-hop.

Knowles likes to describe Dangerously in Love as a concept album.

"The whole album celebrates love and a young lady becoming a woman," she says. "It talks about the different steps in a relationship from when you first meet a guy to you realising you like him, to being in love and then the problems, the break-up and learning to depend on yourself. It's a very romantic album and it's a very sexy album, but it's also a party album, so all the things I like.

"I wanted people to get a feel of who I am. Being in love puts you in a vulnerable state and I wanted to humanise myself on this album," she continues. "I think when you are so strong on other tracks, like Independent Woman and Bootylicious, people forget you are a real person and can be in love and can be sad, and that's what I wanted to get across this time."

According to the rumours and gossip pages, her focus of love these days is rapper Jay Z. Although she won't confirm or deny the relationship, he certainly figures prominently on her album, contributing to the album's first single, Crazy in Love and another track, That's How You Like It.

While Jay Z's tough background growing up in the housing projects of Brooklyn might seem a world away from Knowles' comfortable suburban Houston family household, the singer says they share a musical common ground.

"He is one of the best hip-hop artists and people say that I'm one of the best R&B artists so I think the combination when we're together is great," she says carefully sidestepping any personal revelations. "I think in general they complement each other really well - the hardness of hip hop mixed with the sweetness and the soul of R&B."

A hidden track on the album is called Daddy, in which she talks about finding a man just like her daddy. While a psychologist might have a field day with the lyrics, Beyonce laughs at the suggestion.

"There are certain things in my father - characteristics I love - he is a strong man, he is a very great family man, he takes care of his family and kids. My mum and dad have been together for 23 years and I want that. I literally don't want everything about my father but I respect him and I love him. I think there are so many great songs about positive women, I wanted to make a song about positive fathers."

It was her father, Mathew Knowles, who recognised her early potential when he saw Beyonce perform at a Houston talent show when she was 7. "I was always so shy as a kid, and then my parents saw me get up on stage and perform and they couldn't believe it was the same person."

Her childhood was spent practising, rehearsing and entering countless talent shows and contests. The first girl group they put together was Girls Tyme in 1991.

There were six members, including Kelly. Mathew Knowles quit his job as a salesman for Xerox to turn his full attention to management, while Beyonce's mother, Tina (who owned a hair dressing salon), became their stylist.

Still, it would take many years and many line-up changes before the final trio of Destiny's Child was put in place. One of the band's bumpiest times came on their first trip to Australia to promote the album, The Writing's on the Wall. At the time the band were a foursome but member Farrah Franklin refused to get on the plane.

When Franklin's departure was made public and the tabloids ran the story, they had a field day. Later, a radio DJ made the crack that being a member of Destiny's Child was like being in the TV show Survivor.

"It got me mad, but it turned out to be the inspiration for that song," Knowles recalls.

"I don't think people realise how hard it is to get the right mixture in a group. It's like a marriage - just because you sound well together doesn't mean you are well together. It took us a long time to get the right combination of girls.

"Everyone has to be talented and everyone has to be secure with themselves because any amount of small insecurity can just mess everything up."

The group plans to be back in the recording studio later in the year.

"I think the album will be very different. All of us will be at a whole other level after working on our own projects. When we come together as a group we will be so much stronger."

* Dangerously in Love is released on July 7.