Let's say that you are one of the biggest selling female groups, ever. Your combined record sales total over 40 million records, worldwide. You've seen your albums debut at the top of the charts, and stay there. You've racked up enumerable industry awards, accolades, and platinum or gold records. Not only is your group successful, but its individual members have all had superlative solo achievements and as a result you that collectively and on your own, you are what modern female pop/R&B is meant to sound, feel and sell like. How do you possibly attempt match, much less top, your impressive statistics?

When you're Destiny's Child, the answer's easy. You see your past as a guide to your potential and seize the future with the most compelling music of your career. In short, you fulfill your destiny.

Destiny Fulfilled is Destiny's Child's sixth album. Filled with soaring harmonies, rich with rhythm and nuance, and brimming with a passionate, purposeful style that is quintessentially their own, "Destiny Fulfilled" is not only the strongest album of the group's career: it is the album they were destined to make.

"Destiny Fulfilled" is executive produced by Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams, and Mathew Knowles. Beyonce is the key producer of all the album's tracks, and the record's musical concepts and vocal arrangements are the result of her artistic vision. Her tireless work ethic and attention to studio details have created the masterfully seamless flow, boundless energy and exquisite polish of Destiny Fulfilled.

Listening to "Destiny Fulfilled", you are immediately struck by Destiny's Child's growth as singers, songwriters, artists, and women. "Destiny Fulfilled" is markedly more mature and focused, reflecting Beyonce's, Kelly's, and Michelle's emotional development while mirroring their true-life experiences.

"You hear our vulnerability," Beyonce offers. "We've always had strong songs that encouraged women and you still hear that this time, but you will also hear our weaknesses: the crying, the laughter, the friendship. The song on this album are far more layered and involved because we have the tools to talk about a lot more, because we're older and have experienced a lot more than we did when we were teenagers."

While "Destiny Fulfilled" might surprise some long time fans with its breadth and depth, it is also an album that many of those same fans thought might never see the light of day. After all it's been three years since 2001'survivor, and as any one can tell you, three years away from the game can be a lifetime. In addition, during the group's hiatus, each of the ladies embarked on solo projects. Yet after all those individual accomplishments, Destiny's Child are back on the charts; putting all those rumors to rest.

"We always said we were going to do solo records after Survivor and then come back and do another record," Kelly explains, referring to DC's game plan. "We've maintained our friendship and supported each other's projects and enjoy each other," Beyonce continues. "We wanted to do another record. I know we have a lot of fans that want to hear it and, more importantly, we wanted to do it because we love this collaboration. It was important for us to do our own things, so that we'd have the opportunity to grow and see what we could do on our own. It's really beautiful to do that and then also have the opportunity to come back together and have the fun we have when we are together. When you have that sort of friendship, recording doesn't feel like work."

Acknowledging that in the past some listeners might not have been completely aware of the extent of Kelly and Michelle's contributions to the group's music, Beyonce points out that solo projects offered each of them a platform to establish a personal musical identity. When it came time to record "Destiny Fulfilled", she explains that "as the vocal producer, my main job was to let people know how beautiful Kelly and Michelle sound and how talented they are. It's amazing that we have a group with three women who are singers. Not dancers but singers. Our solo projects and now this album prove once and for all what we already knew: that every woman in this group can stand on her own."
"Destiny Fulfilled" encompasses a wide array of sonic influences from the lush orchestration of Philly soul to club-savvy crunk to contemporary gospel. Vocally the group looked to "the true hard R&B singers (like Jodeci and SWV) for inspiration. When it comes to the harmonies and arrangements we really challenged ourselves and did things we've never done before,"Kelly observes.

One of the biggest challenges came in the form of Destiny Fulfilled's thematic approach. More than a collection of songs, "Destiny Fulfilled" is as tony of a woman's journey through the highs and lows of falling in and out of love. Unfolding chapter by chapter, the story begins with the propulsive and sexually charged "Lose My Breath," which reunites Destiny's Child with longtime friend and collaborator Rodney Jerkins. "Working with Rodney again was wonderful," Michelle declares. "He came in with this new energy and this new sound."

"When we first heard 'Lose My Breath,' we were very excited because it was just so up-tempo and even the up-tempo songs these days aren't really that energized," Beyonce continues. "The beat reminded me of college football drumlines. It reminded me of childhood rhythms that made you wanna dance really hard which is where we got the title from, 'cause when you move like that you lose your breath."

Following the exhilaration of meeting the guy, the story segues into the rough and rugged "Soldier," produced by Rich Harrison and featuring LilWayne and T.I. If "Lose My Breath" captures the first rush of lust, then the down and dirty south grooves of "Soldier" breaks things down to a woman's expectations and the undeniable fact that she needs a soldier to protect her. From "Soldier" comes the vulnerability and naked devotion expressed in the Jerkins-produced "Cater 2 U." With lines like, "Let me help you take off your shoes/ let me feed you whatever you desire," "Cater2 U" is about finding that special "soldier" and doing everything you canto please him. Quite a shift from "Independent Woman"! "Yeah we're showing our softer side," agrees Kelly. "I know some people will be shocked by that song but it's about doing these things for your man only if he's really worthy of them." continue...