"The Writing's On the Wall" came out in 1999, and it marked the start of a new era of R&B as the then-quartet Destiny's Child came out with their second album. This album had the group working as Beyonce Knowles, Kelly Rowland, LeToya Luckett and LaTavia Roberson came out with a brand new sound for R&B as we ease our way out of the 20th century, and into this one.
1. "Intro"
2. "So Good"
Here's a nice little one that really fits into the way that R&B was changing, and what developments were made towards the sound that is prevalent today. The thing is rather straight-forward in its content as they just speak on how they are doing well, and simply don't have any worries in their lives at the moment. It is a straight up-lifter, without any real flaws.
**Four Stars**
3. "Bills, Bills, Bills"
Personally, I saw this to be the best single off the album, and has them doing a track which gets them making full use of the She'kspere production which they were given as they sing to the melodies which he creates in the funky beats. You have them singing a song which takes from the "No Scxrubs" song that TLC came with from earlier on in the year as they speak on how their man does nothing but scrounge off them.
**Four Stars**
4. "Confessions"
I truely saw this as the weakest offering from the release
as it just didn't have a lot goging for it, and all it seemed to do was take from all the best elements of their big singles, and take these to form a track, however without great prodution, it didn't come together that well at all.
**Two Stars**
5. "Bug A Boo"
This, the second single back up the opener to a similar level of quality, and there's no way that you would be able to fault it in what it does as it follows on from "Bills, Bills, Bills", with extremely engaging production, and has funny lyrics which keep you involved too. Here it follows on from the sort of themes from the first single, and gets them sensing towards clingy men, who do nothing but bother their partner.
This one has them smooth things out with a soothing track, which has hem showing that they can do the slow jam material which is in tune with the type of thing that the R&B of the time was going through. I saw this change to things to be a positive for them, and I felt that they worked well whilst doing this type of thing with Beyonce taking the lead role and the rest doing a great jobs of mellowing it in the backing vocals.
**Four Stars**
7. "Now That She's Gone"
This is a track which follows directly on from the one whihc came prior to it as it is a track with a low pace, and lots of focus being put on winding synth and bassy elements to give it a sensual overall sound. The whole thing came together well, however it wasn't delivered to their best ability.
I except that this one was a candidate for a single on the album, however I felt that it didn't quite achieve this due to the fact that the beats in it were pretty similar to a few of the other songs on this release. It is a funky one, and has them show off their ability to do the Hip Hop-influenced R&B.
**Four Stars**
9. "Hey Ladies"
This one is an eample of how the group are able to do a track which uses the strength of She'kspeare's production (which had been used in the big singles of the album), and this one utilises it all in a way which suits the fact that they worked so well with it before. It is well-written material too, and it all adds up to a banger of a tune from DC.
**Four Stars**
10. "If You Leave"
This one has the group perform alongside the memeber of the Male vocla group, Next. At the time they would have been considered the male counterparts of these, however they faded after this time (with hits uch as "Wifey", and "Too Close"), and I felt as though it was a pretty good one for what it does as they worked well together and motivation each other to perform to a similar standard.
**Three Stars**
11. "Jumpin' Jumpin'"
This was the club song by the group, and it gets them doing a feel good banger especially designed to be heard in such a setting. It was the first of many of them to live up to this kind of hype, and you can't say that it doesn't live up to this high standard of performance. It is a feel-good track, and fits right in with the material without seeming to be in any way similar to the rest. They show that they are versatile.
**Five Stars**
12. "Say My Name"
This is probably one of the biggest singles to come off the album, and I can't say that I liked it as much as "Bills, Bills, Bills" and "Bug A boo", but it does have a lot going for it as they sing to the production of Darkchild, who was to the top of his game in composing R&B beats in the late nineties. It gets them doing a song to support the suspicion which they face towards their boyfriends, and how they don't believe they have been as faithful as they claim to be.
**Five Stars**
13. "She Can't Love You"
Although clearly hinting on jealousy, this one has the group, led by Beyonce, doing a song that has them singing about how they can't stand to see their ex with a new lover, and they know that the new love can't possibly be as strong as it is was with them originally. I felt that the results to the thing were decent, but not all that strong.
**Three Stars**
14. "Stay"
Although I'm unable to say that I enjoyed this one to the level that I did with all the singles on the album, this one was a nice one as it has the group doing a song which displays that they are working with the times, and so they do one that gets them performing the type of slow jams that were found throughout the nineties. The female version to what was usually heard, seemed a little strange at first, but it did work.
**Three Stars**
15. "Sweet Sixteen"
I felt that an obvious comparison to this one would be the spool single from Kelly Rowland, "Stole", and this one has the singers come together in a track that has them deal with a similar issue where a girl throws her life away at an early age in order to get pregnant, and ends up in a difficult situation as a results of the man (who got her in that state) left her with no hope of being able to rectify her mistakes.
**Three Stars**
16. "Outro"
"The Writing's On The Wall" is a good release from the artists, and you have to enjoy it. However it is obviously flawed with inconsistency and them often repeating the beats and themes. You get their best material of all time on this album with a series of banging singles, however only a few of the others tracks were able to match this level of quality.
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